5 Months to CAT 2026: Your Section-Wise Study Plan

You have about five months until CAT 2026 on 29 November, so here's the plan in one line. Spend July to August finishing the syllabus by practising questions. Then spend September to November lifting your score with mocks. Right now you're in the build phase, so this post focuses on the first two months and how to attack each section. Get this stretch right and the mock phase takes care of itself.

The 5-Month Plan at a Glance

The two phases need different mindsets. The build phase is about accuracy and coverage. The mock phase is about timing and temperament. Mixing them up is the most common mistake, so keep this stretch about getting the basics solid.

Your Section-by-Section Plan for July to August

Each section rewards a different kind of practice. Here's the quick version, then the detail underneath.

VARC: Master Reading Comprehension First

Reading comprehension is the biggest part of the verbal section. Master it and the rest of verbal stops feeling like a wall. So start here.

RC needs two separate skills: reading the passage well, then solving the questions well. For reading, use para-summary, where you capture the gist of each paragraph in a few words. For solving, use elimination, where you knock out the clearly wrong options before you pick. Those two habits carry most of your accuracy.

Your job for these two months is simple. Do at least two RCs every day using both techniques. Skip the timer for now. That stage comes after September. Take all the time you need. Ask yourself one thing each time: did the two techniques lift my accuracy?

For reading material, online news editorials work best. The Hindu and LiveMint sit at or above CAT's reading level, so they build the right muscle. You don't need anything harder than that.

DILR: Practise Mixed Variety, Not Just Hard Sets

The code to cracking DILR surprises people. You don't need only hard, CAT-level sets.

The real key is variety: mixed difficulty at mixed types. Many aspirants practise sets from all kinds of exams, SBI, Railways, every competitive paper they can find. That range is what opens up your thinking. This section rewards a logical bent of mind. You build it by seeing many shapes of problem.

The technique to learn is finding the opening constraint. Every set has one clue that gets the whole thing moving. That's the opening constraint, the statement the solution starts from. To train it, solve a set without a timer, then open the solution and find which line was the starting point. Do that often enough and you start spotting it yourself. You'll find plenty of free practice sets online to work through.

Quant: Cover the Syllabus Fast, Then Go Deep

Quant is the hardest to cover, simply because it has the most chapters. If you're short on time, you don't have to do all of them. Prioritise the chapters that show up most and are friendlier to learn.

Arithmetic is the place to start. It's the largest bucket in CAT Quant and the most beginner-friendly: percentages, ratios, averages, time and work, time, speed and distance. Clear these first, then move on to algebra, numbers and geometry.

For each chapter, learn the concept from a video or any book you like, then practise questions. The practice technique that matters most: stop expecting to solve a question on the first try. If you're out of touch with maths, you'll check the solution again and again to learn the method. That's fine. That's the whole point of this phase.

Quant percentile usually only climbs after October. Until then you’re still learning how to solve and revising formulas. So for now, don't chase marks in Quant. Your only goal is to cover the syllabus as fast as you can.

The Bottom Line

From July to August, your job is narrow: cover the syllabus and build accuracy, one section at a time. Speed, timing and mocks belong to the next phase. Keep your target weekly rather than daily. Protect your energy on the hard days.

Frequently Asked Questions

When should I start solving past-year questions?

After you finish the syllabus, usually around the end of August. The one exception is chapter-wise past papers. If you're doing those, solve a chapter's past questions as soon as you finish that chapter.

Should I take mock tests in July or August?

One or two a month is fine, but only to get used to the pattern. Don't read into your marks yet. If you haven't finished the Quant syllabus, a low Quant score tells you nothing useful.

What should I read for reading comprehension?

Online news editorials. The Hindu and LiveMint work well and sit at or above the real CAT level. You don't need anything tougher.

How many hours a day should I study?

Think in questions per week, not hours per day. Set a weekly question target and work backwards from the exam date. Hit the weekly number and your syllabus stays on track.

I can't stay consistent. How do I fix that?

Sort your days by energy. On a high-energy day, do 20 to 30 questions across the three sections. On an average day, 10 to 20. On a low day, skip or just do one RC or a few small puzzles. Your target is weekly, so a missed day is fine if you make it up elsewhere. The real damage is the guilt on low days, not the low days themselves.