How To Prepare For CAT 2021's VARC Section - Tips By An IIM L Student

The verbal section is usually taken very lightly. People tend to focus more on quants and DI & LR and think the verbal can be handled easily. But there is one thing which most of us forget. Verbal can’t get into your head in one day or even one month. It is a habit, it has to be made a habit. As I have always said, CAT is all about consistency and the Verbal section is a testament to that. So, how do we actually prepare for it? First and foremost, thing is, reading speed has to be increased. When we have to solve 5 or 6 RCs in a time frame of 50 minutes, leaving 10 minutes for Para jumbles, we need exceptional reading speed and diverse reading practice. You just can’t read about your favourite genre and expect to attain the same level of accuracy across different genres. Start with reading The Hindu, make a habit to read editorials of The Hindu for 1 hour, you get 2 benefits from it, first, your speeding habit is developed and you get to read different varieties of articles. Secondly, your knowledge of current happenings is automatically engrossed in your mind. This will anyhow help you in your interviews once you reach at that level. What next? Take mocks. Start with sectional mocks, I used to refer to Time sectionals, there were ideally 3Rcs to be solved in 30 minutes, starting with an easy level. But what is important to note is – focus on accuracy for the initial level and then move to speed plus accuracy. Try to achieve 80% accuracy first, then, move to 90% accuracy. The trick which always works! Now, this is the secret to improving accuracy.

Never go for finding the right answer, rather look for wrong answers.

Start with the elimination of wrong answers, drill down to a maximum of 2 options, and then, see which one fits the question the best. Usually, students are stuck as to how to exactly approach the RCs? So, what I used to do was, first quickly glance through the questions in order to get an overall idea. And then, looking at the RC and summarising each and every para and then, after reading the entire passage, making an overall summary of the passage. When I started with this strategy, I used to write the summary of every passage to make a structure in my head, later, when I got used to it, it was only rarely for some passages that I had to write. One thing I believe which sometimes proves useful is writing the authors or name of books which are mentioned because more than often, these questions are usually asked and you can answer these directly if while reading, you have already written it somewhere. Now, jumping to basics! How to decide which RC to attempt, should you attempt all the RCs in the sequence in which they are given? The answer is No. You should wisely choose the RCs, starting with the genre in which you are very comfortable, for example, I was very comfortable in business articles or economy articles, If there is any related article to that, I selected it first, then, moved to topics in which I was not very confident. But one thing to note is, you should not judge the complexity of the passage by the length of the RC. It is a deceptive way and that is the CAT way, I guess. Should we always attempt all the questions? There is no point in wasting your time on something in which you cannot improve. But, first practice, practice hard and then, decide if you are really not making any progress on it and then decide that if such kinds of questions come, I am definitely going to leave it but never start with this approach. Be consistent, read daily and learn every day. All the best!

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