Issue 01 · 2026
The Karma Yogi Journal. Field notes for the long grind.
- Essays
- 94
- Exam tracks
- 5
- Topics
- 63
The Lead
The essay we keep coming back to.
The Archive
Everything else worth reading, ordered by date.
Page 8 / 10 · 93 entries
JEE Main vs Advanced: One Topic, Two Different Questions
Main and Advanced are not the same exam at different difficulty settings - they test different skills. Two contrasting example problems show exactly what changes, and what to do about it in the short gap between results.
NEET 2027 Exam Pattern: 180 Questions, 720 Marks, No Choice
45 Physics, 45 Chemistry, 90 Biology, 720 marks, one minute a question on average. The exact split, in marks, and why it should reorganize your study calendar more than any advice does.
JEE Main 2027 Exam Pattern: 75 Questions, 300 Marks, 3 Hours
JEE Main 2027 pattern, syllabus, and the actual formula NTA uses to turn a raw score into a percentile - with a worked illustration of why the same 220/300 can mean two different things in two different shifts.
CAT Preparation Without Coaching: What I Built to Replace It
I haven't enrolled in a single coaching institute for CAT. What I did instead was write a month-by-month plan, buy standalone mock series, and build my own tracker when nothing on the market did what I needed. 340 logged sessions later, here is what actually replaced coaching and what didn't.
CAT Selection Process: WAT, GD, and Personal Interview
I haven't sat a WAT-GD-PI round myself - my CAT is in November, so any interview process is still months off if it happens at all. What follows is what the process actually involves and how I'm planning to prepare for it, not a memoir of a round I haven't lived yet.
Why Studying With Friends Beats Studying Alone for CAT Prep
My own average session mood is 3.60 out of 5 - not high, mostly just 'showed up anyway.' That's exactly the kind of day solo willpower fails and a friend who can see your log doesn't care that you weren't excited about it.
How to Analyse CAT Mocks: 5 Steps, One 96-40-94 Week
On 29 July I scored 96. On 30 July, 40. On 1 August, 94. Same person, four days, three mocks. Here is the actual analysis framework, worked through that stretch and one sectional test, rather than asserted in the abstract.
CAT Preparation for Non-Engineers: What a B.Tech Doesn't Buy
I have an engineering degree from BITS Pilani, so I can't speak firsthand to the non-engineer experience. What I can tell you is which section that degree actually helped with, and which one it did nothing for at all - my own DILR score moved two marks in three months of deliberate practice.
CAT Exam Time Management: What a 96-to-40 Crash Cost Me
On 29 July I scored 96. On 30 July, same knowledge, same person, I scored 40 - with 2 marks in DILR. The gap was not ability. It was 40 seconds spent staying on a set I should have abandoned. Here is what that mock taught me about time management.
CAT Reading Comprehension: The 6 Question Types It Tests
On 28 June my VARC score was 5, at the 15th percentile. The question that broke it: a passage about Descartes, an answer option that said "Descartes and other philosophers," and I picked it. Here is the inference-vs-overreach line that question sits on, and the other five RC question types CAT actually tests.
Colophon
Written between mocks. Edited between sits.
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