89.56 percentile in first real attempt (6 weeks of prep) — should I take what I get this year or go for CAT 2026?
Asked by Anonymous on 2026-03-31 in Profile Review
Hi everyone, Looking for some honest perspectives on my situation because I'm genuinely stuck. A little background — I have 3 years of work experience (2 years HR + 1 year Associate PM). I gave CAT in 2023 and 2024 while working a 6-day week job with no time or energy to study. Got around 70 percentile both times, essentially cold. I was the sole earning member of my family so leaving wasn't an option back then. I finally left my job in 2025 to give myself a real shot at this. However, life being what it is, I only seriously started studying in October — mostly solving previous year papers. CAT was end of November, so that's roughly 6 weeks of actual prep. Got 89.56 percentile. Current status:
TAPMI Core — Waitlisted at 327 IMI Delhi — Waitlisted GIM — Interview possibly coming IIM Sambalpur — Interview on 8th April
Now here's my dilemma. A part of me feels like if I got 89.56 with just 6 weeks of self-study, a full year of structured preparation could get me somewhere significantly better. But another part of me wonders if I should just take what comes this year and stop stretching the timeline. I'm not in financial distress, so a gap year is possible. But I also don't want to be naive about the risks. Has anyone been in a similar spot? Would love to hear from people who took the gap year gamble and from those who didn't — both sides welcome. Being brutally honest is appreciated more than reassurance here. Thanks in advance 🙏
2 Answers
Radha · 2026-03-31 · 2 helpful
You did great at first attempt, I'm in second year, I also wanna to score good percentile
Shweta Arora(Mentor) · 2026-04-01 · 1 helpful
Based on the percentile that you have scored in the last few attempts, it seems that you can get better options. However, please note that it is better to get work experience alongside rather than extending the gap. Even though taking a gap is not a problem, you would not require an entire year to prepare for an exam like CAT without doing anything alongside. So justifying it during the interviews may become difficult. My recommendation would be to continue the work and then prepare for CAT since you already have an experience around the syllabus.