CAT Toppers: Who are the CAT 2025 Toppers? How do CAT toppers actually prepare? How many CAT mock tests do they take? How many hours do they actually study? Every aspirant wants to know answers to these questions. To find accurate answers, MBAUniverse.com has interviewed 50+ CAT toppers from CAT 2019 to CAT 2025 who went on to join top B-schools like IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Calcutta, SPJIMR Mumbai, MDI Gurgaon and other top B-schools. Their answers reveal a clear pattern. The median topper took about 37 full-length mocks. Almost 50% CAT toppers prepared without regular coaching, and still scored 99+ percentile! And, about 35% cracked CAT on a second or third attempt.
With CAT 2026 on Sunday, November 29, 2026, conducted by IIM Indore, this article on CAT Toppers brings together what these toppers did section by section: VARC, DILR and Quant, mock tests, books, coaching, study hours, the final 60 days and how they handled setbacks. You can download free PDF guide for each section and use in your own preparation! Also read full interviews with 50+ toppers from the links at the end of this page.
Let’s start with the CAT Toppers 2025 highlights. How many students get 100 percentile in CAT 2026? Twelve candidates scored 100 percentile in CAT 2025, and three in four of them came from non-engineering backgrounds, according to the result declared by IIM Kozhikode on December 24, 2025. Check list of CAT Toppers 2025, which includes CAT 100 Percentile 2025, below:
Check complete CAT 2025 Topper List and answer to question how many students get 100 percentile in CAT 2025 in the table below.
Table: CAT 2025 Toppers State-wise Count, Gender, Discipline
Overall Percentile | Total Count | Gender and Discipline | State-wise distribution | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
CAT 100 Percentile 2025 | 12 | Female - 2 | Uttar Pradesh | 1 |
Karnataka | 1 | |||
Maharashtra | 1 | |||
Delhi | 3 | |||
Haryana | 2 | |||
Gujarat | 2 | |||
Jharkhand | 1 | |||
Odisha | 1 | |||
99.99 percentiles | 26 | Female - 4 | Tamil Nadu | 2 |
Uttar Pradesh | 4 | |||
Maharashtra | 4 | |||
Gujarat | 1 | |||
Delhi | 1 | |||
Haryana | 5 | |||
Madhya Pradesh | 2 | |||
Chhattisgarh | 1 | |||
West Bengal | 2 | |||
Rajasthan | 3 | |||
Andhra Pradesh | 1 | |||
99.98 percentiles | 26 | Female - 5 | Gujarat | 2 |
West Bengal | 3 | |||
Delhi | 4 | |||
Maharashtra | 2 | |||
Uttar Pradesh | 7 | |||
Rajasthan | 1 | |||
Chandigarh | 1 | |||
Madhya Pradesh | 2 | |||
Karnataka | 1 | |||
Odisha | 1 | |||
Haryana | 2 | |||
CAT 2025 Toppers List
Check names and scores of CAT toppers 2025
Sr.No. | Name of CAT 2025 Toppers | CAT Percentile |
|---|---|---|
1 | Vinayak Aggarwal (Read Interview Below) | 99.99 |
2 | Vihaan Verma (Read Interview Below) | 99.99 |
3 | Prashansa Shah | 99.98 |
4 | Parav Goyal | 99.98 |
5 | Rishit Thakur | 99.98 |
6 | Soumyadip Mukherjee | 99.97 |
7 | Anmol Gupta (Read Interview Below) | 99.96 |
8 | Harsh Khudania (Read Interview Below) | 99.93 |
9 | Prateek Pradhan (Read Interview Below) | 99.83 |
10 | Pranshav Shah (Read Interview Below) | 99.80 |
11 | Arkadipta Chatterjee | 99.78 |
12 | Nisheeta Odedra | 99.61 |
13 | Lakshay Gupta (Read Interview Below) | 99.56 |
14 | Lakshya Khandelwal | 99.56 |
15 | Kashvi Bhatia | 99.53 |
16 | Amaan Hussain (Read Interview Below) | 99.47 |
17 | Neha Altagi | 99.48 |
18 | Lakshya Dugar | 99.44 |
19 | Ehsaas Agrawal | 99.41 |
20 | Hardik Bansal | 99.33 |
21 | Kushagra Barai | 99.33 |
22 | Prosenjit Ov | 99.32 |
23 | Kunal Bohra (Read Interview Below) | 99.26 |
24 | Priyansh Jain | 99.25 |
25 | Nivedha Rajkumar | 99.20 |
26 | Aishiki Sen (Read Interview Below) | 99.18 |
27 | Jahnavi Shah | 99.18 |
28 | Suhani Verma | 99.06 |
The CAT toppers 2025 interviewed by MBAUniverse.com included Anmol Gupta, CAT 2025, 99.96; Harsh Khudania, CAT 2025, 99.93; Pranshav Shah, CAT 2025, 99.80; and Amaan Hussain, CAT 2025, 99.47. Check details in the table below. CAT 2026 toppers will be published soon after CAT 2026 result is released in last week of December 2026.
CAT Topper | What they did |
|---|---|
Third attempt while working a six-day, work-from-office job; scored 100 percentile in DILR | |
Began full-fledged preparation only in mid-August; improved from 98.83 percentile in CAT 2024 | |
First attempt; solved 4 RCs, 4 DILR sets and 30–40 Quant questions every day, all timed | |
Moved up from 95.94 percentile in CAT 2024 by giving most of his time to Quant, his weakest section |
In the final weeks to CAT exam, CAT toppers moved almost entirely to mocks and revision. Several took a mock every day in the last month, about one in ten practised mocks at their actual CAT slot time, and most took their last full mock two to seven days before the exam. On exam day, they focused on staying calm rather than learning anything new. Check toppers preparation tips in the table below. Follow the complete CAT preparation plan for the last 60 days.
CAT Topper | What they did |
|---|---|
Prepared in about 75 days; spent the final phase on mocks and stress tests, and took a mock the day before CAT to keep his momentum | |
Took 20 mocks in the final month; advises keeping the last two months only for mocks and revision | |
Took mocks in his CAT slot time after the admit card came out, and practised sitting idle for 30–45 minutes before mocks | |
Took one mock a day in the final month before CAT | |
A poor mock the day before CAT affected his VARC; advises skipping mocks on the penultimate day and sleeping well | |
Kept a peaceful state of mind through the whole preparation: "CAT is about 50% preparation and 50% state of mind" |
Download CAT Toppers' Last 60 Days and Exam Day Checklist PDF
The typical CAT topper took 35–40 full-length mocks, and about two in three took between 20 and 45. But toppers stress that analysis matters more than the count: some scored 99+ and even 100 percentile with fewer than 20 mocks, because they analysed every mistake and revisited every question they missed. Check how many mocks toppers took. Start practising with free CAT mock tests on MBAUniverse.com.
CAT Topper | What they did |
|---|---|
Took only 15–16 mocks while working; started them as soon as they were released and analysed each one | |
Took about 30 mocks and spent up to 7 hours analysing one; tracked a score-to-time ratio for question types | |
"Giving 20 mocks and analyzing them is much better than appearing for 50+ mocks without analysis" | |
Took 40+ mocks in a cycle: take a mock, analyse it, fix weak topics, take the next mock | |
Took about 100 mocks including sectionals; compared her wrong answers with how other test-takers fared | |
Took mocks weekly, then twice a week; made mock analysis his main learning tool |
Download CAT Toppers' Mock Analysis Template PDF
About 40% of CAT toppers named VARC as their weakest section, and nine in ten of them were engineers! They fixed it through daily reading of diverse articles, a fixed number of RCs every day, and smarter exam tactics such as skimming all passages before choosing and eliminating options instead of hunting for the right one. Check table on how CAT toppers prepared for VARC and download PDF for complete strategies from the link below.
CAT Topper | What they did |
|---|---|
Read 6–7 articles and solved 4–5 RCs every day; moved from the 50s in VARC mocks to 94 percentile in CAT | |
Solved 2 RCs and 4 VA questions daily; in the exam, skimmed all RCs for 10–15 seconds before choosing | |
Spent about 75% of his preparation time on VARC; read JSTOR Daily and took a recorded VARC course | |
Found that Para Jumbles and Para Summary cost her marks, so attempted only RCs; her overall score improved | |
Built a newspaper reading habit; eliminated three options before marking any RC answer | |
Switched from fully solving 3 RCs to attempting all RCs partially, which improved his accuracy |
Download CAT Toppers VARC Strategy Guide PDF
Nearly a quarter of CAT toppers named DILR as their weakest section. Their common fix was to build comfort first by solving sets without a timer, then add time limits. In the exam, set selection decided their score: toppers scanned all sets first and dropped any set they could not structure within a few minutes. Check table on how CAT toppers prepared for DILR and download PDF for complete strategies from the link below.
CAT Topper | What they did |
|---|---|
Skipped any set that took more than 3 minutes to structure; left complex set types for last | |
Rarely solved more than 2 sets in early mocks; practised untimed, sometimes 1–2 hours on a single set | |
Overcame her fear of DILR by solving sets untimed and repeating them; targeted 2 of 4 sets in the exam | |
Read all the sets in the first 7 minutes, then solved them in order of her comfort | |
Aimed for exposure to around 400 DILR sets so that new set types felt familiar | |
Was weak in DILR; worked with his mentors on set selection, which he calls the most critical skill |
Download CAT Toppers DILR Strategy Guide PDF
About one in four CAT toppers named Quant as their weakest section, and nearly 80% of them were non-engineers. They did not try to cover everything. Instead, they rebuilt basics, focused on Arithmetic and Algebra, solved easy and moderate questions first, and protected their accuracy rather than chasing the number of attempts. Check how CAT toppers prepared for Quant and download PDF for complete strategies from the link below.
CAT Topper | What they did |
|---|---|
Scored 71 percentile in Quant in CAT 2024; then spent about 80% of his time on Quant, focusing on Arithmetic and Algebra | |
Had Maths only till Class 10; restarted from Class 9–10 basics, moving from easy to tough questions | |
A nine-year gap from Maths; chose accuracy over attempts and reached 92.85% accuracy in Quant in CAT | |
Kept a formula book, practised tables, squares and cubes daily, and marked an answer only when 75% sure | |
Attempted only easy-to-moderate questions and aimed for 6–7 correct answers without risking negative marks | |
Prepared for three months, focused mainly on Arithmetic, and joined IIM Ahmedabad with 80 percentile in Quant |
Download CAT Toppers Quant Strategy Guide PDF
More than one in four CAT toppers named Arun Sharma's books, making them the most cited resource across VARC, DILR and Quant. Toppers also used Nishit K. Sinha's books, Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis for vocabulary, and their coaching material. Most used books to build basics, then moved to mocks and previous year papers. Check best CAT books by toppers in the table below. Compare editions and prices of the best books for CAT preparation.
CAT Topper | What they did |
|---|---|
Practised the Level 1 and 2 questions of Arun Sharma's Quant book multiple times; used his DILR book and Meenakshi Upadhyay's VARC book | |
Completed Arun Sharma's Quant book first, then practice tests; read Word Power Made Easy every night | |
Followed Nishit K. Sinha's Quantitative Ability and VARC books; made detailed notes and revised them regularly | |
Self-prepared with the Arun Sharma set, covering different topics in about two hours a day | |
Used his coaching material, solved selected questions from Arun Sharma's books and read Word Power Made Easy | |
Practised VARC with GMAT material for its clear explanations; brushed up concepts from coaching material |
CAT toppers split almost evenly: about half took classroom or online coaching, and about half prepared on their own, mostly with a paid mock series. Nearly three in four self-preparers still scored 99+ percentile. Toppers chose coaching for structure and doubt-solving, and self-study for flexibility around work. Compare fees and ratings of top CAT coaching institutes.
CAT Topper | What they did |
|---|---|
Took online coaching so he would not spend energy finding material or planning which chapters to learn first | |
Attended Elites Grid online classes, including late-night weekday sessions, to stay consistent despite work | |
Joined coaching to complete the syllabus on time and get her doubts cleared by faculty | |
Self-prepared because he could not attend classes alongside work and found self-learning more efficient | |
Self-prepared with mocks while working full-time; as a CA, she was used to self-study | |
Took coaching for her first attempt, then self-prepared with a mock series and YouTube for her second |
Many CAT toppers faced bad mocks, self-doubt or a failed attempt, and about one in three cracked CAT only on a second or third attempt. They coped by treating mock scores as feedback rather than verdicts, taking regular breaks, leaning on family and friends, and staying calm when something went wrong on exam day.
CAT Topper | What they did |
|---|---|
Waitlisted at number 1 after CAT 2023; scored minus 5 in a VARC mock in November 2025, then scored 99.96 percentile in CAT 2025. | |
Scored 53 percentile in her last-but-one mock; kept going with a relaxed schedule and weekend breaks | |
Could not complete her first mock; overcame her fear of failing by accepting that mocks get worse before they get better | |
Faced a technical glitch in DILR on exam day; stayed calm and made up for it with his strongest section, Quant | |
Scored about 70 percentile in an unprepared first attempt; was rejected by IIM Ahmedabad, yet converted IIM Calcutta | |
Missed his target on his first attempt; fought monotony with breaks, sport and social time |
CAT toppers who shared their schedules typically studied two to three hours on weekdays and more on weekends, because about three in four were working while they prepared. Their advantage was not long hours but fixed slots: early mornings before office, travel time, lunch breaks and longer weekend sessions for full-length mocks.
CAT Topper | What they did |
|---|---|
Started at 4 a.m. before classes and her bank job; solved an RC or DILR set in lunch breaks; revised till about 11 p.m. | |
Studied 2–3 hours every weekday and 6–10 hours on weekends while working | |
Followed a daily schedule of 2–2.5 hours of self-study, with mocks on weekends | |
Studied about 3 hours on weekdays and used her daily train travel in Mumbai to read RC passages | |
Spent 1.5 hours on VARC every morning before office and 6–8 hours on Saturdays | |
Gave 3–4 hours a day to Quant, his weakest section, through a year of preparation |
MBAUniverse.com has interviewed 50+ CAT toppers from CAT 2019 to CAT 2025 who went on to join top B-schools like IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Calcutta, SPJIMR Mumbai, MDI Gurgaon and other top B-schools. In this article, read how 50+ CAT toppers, now studying at IIMA, IIMB, IIMC prepared for VARC, DILR, Quant strategies, mocks, books, coaching, exam day tips. Download PDF guides. With CAT 2026 on Sunday, November 29, 2026, CAT 2026 toppers will be published and interviewed on this page. Read full interviews with 50+ toppers from the links at the end of this page.
