I had left my job in April 2025 for a serious cat prep. However, I was not able to score well and am thinking of giving CAT 2026. I have started serious prep from this week. My profile is 8/6/7 with 27 months of workex in sales and marketing. Since the cat form only allows workex till july 2026 so should I take a drop again and score a good percentile or just take a job which will be valid for only 2 months affecting my prep time? Totally confused as of now please help. Also to be very honest last year I only did cat prep and now I have completed my project management course a few days back. Can you also guide me if I take a gap how do I justify this in my interviews?

Hi Utkarsh, we would never suggest any one to take up a gap year as it may hamper continuity in the profile, having said that with already having a work experience of 27 months is really big profile booster in your profile. our suggestion is if you are confident in getting more than 98-99 percentile in 2026 attempt you can afford to take a gap year without any hesitation. To make things easier we would suggest you to do any upskilling courses/certifications and internships if possible to show some work and growth mindset in the interviews that you are going to face. your project management course is going to add a lot of value to your overall profile and can really drive your interviews. keep practising.