where your cab can actually stop
This is low-effort preparation with a very high downside if ignored.
Your slot is not a prediction of difficulty
The admit card will tell you the session allotted to you.
Your first thought may be:
> “Is Slot 1 easier?”
Or:
> “I always perform badly in the afternoon.”
Do not spend November searching for slot astrology.
CAT uses a normalization/scaling process because multiple sessions can differ in difficulty.
You cannot choose the slot anyway.
What you can do is adapt your routine.
Practise near your slot time
Once the session is known, take some serious mocks/sectionals at a similar time of day.
Not every test.
Enough to understand:
- hunger
- sleepiness
- caffeine timing
- concentration
- travel fatigue
If you receive an early slot, your preparation should include waking and performing early.
If your slot is later, test how your focus behaves after a normal morning.
This is behavioural rehearsal.
Read the reporting and gate-closing instructions
The exact CAT 2026 admit card is the final authority.
Do not copy last year's reporting time from a YouTube thumbnail.
Write your own schedule backwards.
Example:
Gate closes: as printed on card
Arrive at centre: comfortably before that
Leave home/hotel: travel time + buffer
Wake/eat: planned around departure
Build buffer.
CAT day is the wrong day to optimise travel to the final five minutes.
Check what you must carry
Recent CAT admit-card instructions have required a printed admit card and an original valid photo ID, along with specific photograph/instruction requirements.
But rules can change.
Follow your CAT 2026 admit card.
Do not assume:
- digital ID screenshot is sufficient
- personal stationery is allowed
- bags can be stored safely
- a physical calculator is allowed
If the admit card says no, it is no.
Do not let the admit card change your study plan dramatically
The slot number is logistics information.
It is not feedback on your preparation.
After the route, ID and timing are sorted, return to: