1. Confirmation Bias: “I Knew I Was Bad at LRDI…”

You struggle with LRDI in one mock. So the next time a tough-looking set appears, your brain goes: “Yep, I knew it. I’m terrible at this.”

You skip it. Panic. Try another one. Mess that up, too. Confidence spirals.

That’s confirmation bias.

Your brain’s way of proving itself right, even if it means ignoring actual progress you’ve made.

It doesn’t care that you solved five LRDI sets well last week. It just remembers the one that went wrong and plays it on loop.

2. Recency Bias: “That Worked Last Time, So I’ll Do It Again”

In your last mock, you attempted RCs first and ended up with a great VARC score. So now, it’s locked in as your “holy grail strategy.”

Except today’s paper is different. The first RC is a dense, abstract philosophy piece. It drains your time and brain power. Your score tanks.

That’s recency bias.

Just because something worked last time doesn’t mean it’ll always work. Mocks demand adaptability, not autopilot.

3. Sunk Cost Fallacy: “I’ve Spent 8 Minutes on This Set… Might As Well Finish It”

You’re deep into a DI set. It’s messy. But you’ve already wasted eight minutes, so you keep pushing, hoping to salvage something.

By the time you give up, 12 minutes are gone and you’ve gained nothing. We’ve all been there.

That’s the sunk cost fallacy.

Your brain hates losing effort more than marks, so it keeps you trapped. Even when the smart thing is to let go and move on.

4. Overconfidence Bias: “Easy Mock. I’ve Cracked It.”

You get a 98 percentile in a mock that happened to play to your strengths. QA was Arithmetic-heavy, VARC was your comfort zone, and LRDI was straightforward. You think: “This is it. I’m ready.”

Next mock? Reality check.

Your score drops. Confidence dips. You question everything again.

That’s overconfidence bias.

We love attaching meaning to outliers, especially when they flatter us. But one easy paper doesn’t mean you’ve arrived. It just means CAT gave you a hug before slapping you in the next one.

5. Anchoring Bias: “This Question Feels Hard, So It Must Be”

You see a big paragraph. Long question. Four diagrams. You assume: “Too hard. Not worth it.”

Except it was actually simple once you got past the scary look. But now it’s too late.

That’s anchoring bias.

Your brain gets stuck on surface-level features and forms a judgment before you engage with the actual content.

CAT loves throwing questions that are designed to look harder than they are.

So, What Do You Do With All This?

Here’s the good news: just knowing these biases exist gives you an edge most people don’t have. So, the next time you find yourself obsessing over one bad section or forcing yourself to finish a DI set out of guilt, pause. Ask yourself: “Is this a real strategy… or is my brain being dramatic again?”