Tejas Sharma scored 99.09 percentile in CAT 2025 and has joined SJMSOM, IIT Bombay. A B.Com graduate from the Institute for Excellence in Higher Education (IEHE), Bhopal, Tejas scored 86.6% in Class X, 89% in Class XII, and 80.8% in graduation.
For the last four years, he has been assisting his parents in their retail business. Apart from academics and work, he is also a State-Level Gold Medalist in Taekwondo and enjoys playing football and badminton.
What makes Tejas' journey relatable is that he started almost from scratch. He had left Mathematics after Class 10, had never been a regular reader, and found DILR confusing when he first attempted it. Despite that, he improved from 87 percentile in his first CAT attempt to 99.09 percentile in his second attempt.
How Did Tejas Prepare For CAT?
CAT 2025 was Tejas' second attempt.
During his first attempt, while he was still in the final year of college, he prepared for only one to one-and-a-half months and scored 87 percentile.
For CAT 2025, he prepared consistently for around seven to eight months.
One of the first things he did was attempt two previous CAT papers under actual exam conditions. He selected papers from 2021 to 2024 (avoiding 2023), attempted them on the Cracku platform with a timer, and didn't worry about the scores.
He even remembers getting negative marks in one section.
But that wasn't the objective.
The idea was to understand where he stood, how each section felt under time pressure, and what level of preparation would be required. According to him, solving questions on a timer is completely different from solving them casually.
The Resources He Used
Throughout his preparation, Tejas relied on a focused set of resources instead of collecting multiple courses.
His primary resources included:
- Previous Year CAT Papers (2017–2024)
- Takshzila QA Course
- Cracku Full Course and Mock Tests
- IMS Mock Series
- YouTube channels like Gejo Speaks, Aptitude Jab, 2IIM and Point 99
Among these, he considers Previous Year CAT Papers to be the single most valuable resource during his preparation.
How Did He Prepare For VARC?
Since reading had never been his strength, Tejas didn't force himself to begin with dense editorials or philosophical essays.
Instead, he built the habit gradually.
He started by reading books that genuinely interested him, such as The Alchemist, Shoe Dog, and sports-related content. Only after developing a reading habit did he move towards more demanding material.
To understand Reading Comprehension strategy, he watched videos from Gejo Speaks before moving to structured preparation through Cracku and IMS.
Initially, he practiced RCs and Verbal Ability questions without a timer.
Once he became comfortable, every practice session was timed.
According to him, that transition made a significant difference.
How Did He Improve In DILR?
DILR was the toughest section throughout his preparation.
To improve, Tejas solved nearly 400 DILR sets before CAT.
He began with topic-wise practice for about a month before moving to mixed sets.
One habit that helped him immensely was resisting the temptation to look at solutions immediately.
He would first attempt every set for 15–20 minutes.
If he still couldn't solve it, he continued working on it independently, even if it took an hour. Only after exhausting every possible approach would he look at a small portion of the solution, use it as a hint, and solve the remaining set himself.
According to him, this process gradually developed the intuition required to solve unfamiliar sets.
After completing nearly 250–300 sets, his focus shifted from solving sets to selecting the right ones.
He believes that in DILR, choosing the correct set is often more important than solving every difficult one.
He also shares a valuable lesson he learned from CAT 100 percentiler Shashank Prabhu—instead of trying to master every difficult set, understand what makes a set difficult so that you can identify and leave similar ones during the actual exam.
How Did He Prepare For Quant?
Having left Mathematics after Class 10, Quant naturally felt intimidating.
However, instead of viewing it as an impossible section, Tejas focused heavily on Arithmetic, which contributes nearly 40% of CAT QA.
He ensured he became comfortable with every arithmetic topic before moving to others.
On the actual CAT exam, he solved seven Arithmetic questions and one Algebra question, which helped him score 98.77 percentile in QA.
He also believes that lectures alone are not preparation.
According to him, lectures contribute only a small part of the learning process, while actual preparation comes through extensive practice.
Whenever he attended a lecture, he paused before the instructor solved a question and first attempted it himself before watching the solution.
What Was The Most Important Aspect Of His Preparation?
For Tejas, the answer is simple—consistency.
He believes every aspirant should have a strong personal reason for pursuing an MBA because there will inevitably be phases where motivation drops and mock scores are disappointing.
To maintain consistency, he followed a simple principle called "No Zero Days."
No matter how busy the day was, he ensured that he did at least one CAT-related activity, even if it was only for fifteen minutes.
While he admits there were a few exceptions, consciously trying to avoid zero days helped him stay disciplined throughout his preparation.
He also believes it's equally important to have something meaningful outside CAT preparation.
For him, that meant playing football with friends every week and occasionally watching movies to avoid burnout.
How Important Were Mock Tests?
Mock tests formed one of the most important parts of Tejas' preparation.
He attempted 26 full-length mock tests, around 20 VARC sectionals, 20 DILR sectionals, and 10 QA sectionals.
According to him, mocks and previous-year papers teach one skill that ultimately decides CAT performance—knowing what to attempt and what to leave.
This becomes especially critical in DILR, where choosing the wrong set can cost fifteen valuable minutes.
Mocks also allowed him to experiment with different strategies.
In VARC, for example, he tried solving Reading Comprehension first, Verbal Ability first, and even mixed approaches before settling on the strategy that suited him best.
On the actual CAT day, he remained flexible instead of rigidly following one plan.
That adaptability eventually helped him achieve one of his best VARC performances.
CAT 2025 Performance
Tejas secured an overall score of 85.87, translating into an overall percentile of 99.09.
His sectional performance was:
- VARC: 36.30 marks | 96.22 percentile
- DILR: 25.91 marks | 97.98 percentile
- QA: 25.65 marks | 98.77 percentile
How Did He Prepare For Interviews?
For interview preparation, Tejas took guidance from Preparoo and also attended a few mock interviews conducted by TIME in his city.
He focused primarily on revising his graduation subjects, especially Financial Accounting, using college notes, YouTube lectures, and coaching material.
He also prepared behavioural questions like Tell me about yourself, Why MBA?, strengths and weaknesses, along with current affairs.
According to him, while staying updated is important, it's equally acceptable to admit honestly when you don't know the answer to a question.
Which Interview Calls Did He Receive?
Tejas received interview calls from:
- SJMSOM, IIT Bombay
- IIFT
- IIM Mumbai
- IIM Shillong
- IIM Udaipur
- IIM Jammu
- IIM Amritsar
- IIM Kashipur
- IIM Ranchi
He converted:
- SJMSOM, IIT Bombay
- IIM Ranchi
- IIM Kashipur
He has joined SJMSOM, IIT Bombay.
What Was His IIT Bombay Interview Like?
According to Tejas, the IIT Bombay interview was the best interview he attended.
The panel discussed a variety of topics, including his hobbies, sports, movies, books, graduation academics, and the GST-related aspects of his family's retail business.
Although he fumbled slightly while answering a few current affairs questions, he was able to discuss the direct impact of geopolitical developments on their business.
One interesting moment came when the panel learned about his interest in sports and asked him about the previous day's T20 Cricket World Cup semi-final between New Zealand and South Africa.
Fortunately, he had watched the match and answered confidently.
Tejas' Advice To Future CAT Aspirants
Tejas believes that CAT can be cracked even by someone who starts from scratch.
His advice is to begin by understanding the exam through previous-year papers, build strong fundamentals instead of looking for shortcuts, practice extensively, and analyze mocks carefully.
Most importantly, remain consistent.
Whether it meant solving 400 DILR sets, following his "No Zero Days" principle, or making time for football every week to avoid burnout, Tejas stayed consistent throughout his preparation.
That consistency helped him improve from 87 percentile in his first CAT attempt to 99.09 percentile, eventually earning him admission to SJMSOM, IIT Bombay.