Some IIM students give CAT yearly for ego validation, coaching industry employment, or genuine intellectual challenge - though the last justification is widely mocked. The news article highlighted Soham Katkar, a 23-year-old IIM Calcutta student who scored 100 percentile in CAT 2024 for the second time, calling it "an intellectual challenge." At IIM Calcutta (Rs 27L fees, Rs 34.23 LPA avg, 99%+ CAT cutoff), already-admitted students have little practical benefit from retaking CAT. The Reddit thread largely mocked the intellectual challenge framing - multiple commenters noted coaching institutes pay teachers to retake CAT yearly to understand exam difficulty and build credibility. The hidden motivations: (
- Coaching business startup (selling as "3x 100 percentiler"), (
- Ego boost from repeated top scores, (
- Genuine intellectual curiosity (rare but possible), (
- Scrambling normalisation curves unintentionally. The community consensus: giving CAT from an IIM seat is problematic because it can marginally affect normalisation for genuine aspirants. If the 100 percentile is his, someone at 99.9 might miss a call they'd otherwise get. The ethical question: is it fair to take exam slots you don't need? The hosting teacher/coach angle: teachers giving CAT for domain knowledge is legitimate; students giving for "fun" is questionable. Don't follow this pattern yourself - if you're in IIM, focus on your studies and placements. Check your eligibility at collvera.com/eligibility