What is an effective prep approach for CAT VARC, DILR and Quant using TIME, MBA Pathshala and Cracku resources?

A three-resource combination of TIME booklets, MBA Pathshala YouTube, and Cracku mocks covers the CAT syllabus well, but the way you sequence them across sections matters more than how many hours you log.

Quant: Build Foundations First, Then Go Hard

Start Quant with MBA Pathshala's free YouTube videos for every topic you find shaky. Maths fundamentals (Number Theory, Algebra, Geometry) are covered clearly, and re-watching a 20-minute video is faster than rereading a dense chapter.

Once the concept clicks, shift to TIME booklets for structured practice sets. TIME's chapter-wise problems are graded by difficulty, which lets you identify weak zones before you hit mocks.

After finishing the syllabus, Cracku's harder quant sets and full mocks push you into the 99th percentile territory. Cracku mocks are widely considered tougher than the actual CAT on Quant, which is exactly what you want for calibration.

Do not skip the Cracku explanations; they often show a faster approach than the one you used.

VARC: Mocks Beat Topic Drills

For VARC, dedicated topic prep (para-jumbles, summary, RC strategies from handbooks) has a low return on time. What actually moves your score is reading high-quality material daily: The Hindu editorials, Aeon essays, and The Economist work well.

Build this into 30-45 minutes every morning, months before CAT.

Replace topic-drilling with consistent mock-taking from September onward. Analyze every RC set for why wrong options seemed right.

That error-pattern review is the real prep. Cracku's VARC sectional mocks are particularly useful here because they flag common traps in option framing.

DILR: Consistency Over Guessing

DILR is where careless strategy destroys scores. The tukka (random guess) approach in DILR is genuinely dangerous because negative marking compounds across a set when you haven't even decoded the data correctly.

Pick 3-4 sets per mock, attempt them fully, and leave the rest untouched rather than guessing.

For DILR, Previous Year Questions from 2020 onward are non-negotiable. Treat each PYQ paper as a timed mock, not a casual exercise. CAT setters recycle puzzle structures, so pattern familiarity is your biggest edge.

Mock Schedule and Timing

Run your first full mock no later than July, even if the syllabus feels incomplete. Early mocks expose gaps faster than any syllabus checklist.

By October, aim for two full mocks per week, with one full day reserved for analysis. Your mock percentile will fluctuate; a single bad mock means nothing.

Track your 6-mock rolling average instead.

Finish all PYQs from 2020 through 2024 before CAT 2026. That is roughly five papers and represents the most reliable difficulty benchmark available. Everything else is supplementary.

This path is genuinely demanding. Anyone promising a shortcut to 99+ percentile in under three months is selling you something.

The combination works only if your mock analysis is honest and your weak sections get more time than your strong ones.