What exactly is the Reverse Calendar?

It’s exactly what it sounds like: instead of planning your days forward, you start from the end CAT day and move backward. You begin by imagining what your prep should look like in the final week before CAT, then work your way back to today. 

This backward design removes the guesswork from your daily grind and ensures your final days are focused, not frantic. Also, when you reverse-engineer a goal, it creates clarity. 

Visualising the Last 7 Days

The final week before CAT should be sacred. Not for panic. So, this week should be about light revision, controlled mocks, error-log reviews, and sleeping like your percentile depends on it. When you plan backwards, you automatically prioritize these final days as your cool-down phase, not your catch-up phase. And this shift changes everything.

Mocks and Analysis

With the final week locked in as low-intensity, you now know that your mock-heavy period lies somewhere between Day 8 and Day 30 before CAT. This is the zone where you simulate the real thing as much as possible. In the reverse calendar method, every mock is followed by a full day of analysis. That’s non-negotiable. This is when you dissect your mistakes, identify patterns, and make micro-adjustments to strategy. You don’t just want to solve questions, you want to study yourself solving them.

The Foundation Block: First 15 Days

Now that the last 30 days are planned backwards, the first 15 (i.e., Day 45 to Day 30) become your refinement window. This is when you brush up on concepts. No new topics. You stick to your syllabus, your weak spots, your needs. That’s the strength of working backwards, you’re following a customized map you’ve built for yourself.

Routine Matters More Than Hustle

The reverse calendar works best when your days follow a rhythm. If your CAT slot is in the morning, your mocks should be in the morning. The last 45 days aren’t about how much you study; it’s about how well you stick to a routine that simulates the real thing. These tiny rituals reduce anxiety and build muscle memory. 

Why This Approach Actually Works

Because it turns chaos into clarity. Because it stops you from blindly following someone else’s prep strategy and instead hands you the steering wheel. It doesn’t matter if you’ve finished the syllabus or not. What matters is whether you know how to spend each day until the CAT with intention. The reverse calendar strips away the illusion of “I still have time” and replaces it with: “Here’s what I need to do today so I’m my best then.”

Be in charge of your clock

You can’t control how much you’ll score in the CAT. But you can control what you do in the next 45 days. And that’s all the power you need. So open a blank notebook. Write "CAT Day" on the last page. And start filling the pages backwards. Every plan that works forward was once mapped in reverse.