CAT 2024 VARC PREPARATION: KEY ASPECTS
There are three parts one needs to focus on to ace the VARC section –
Reading – To excel in the CAT 2024 VARC Preparation, One must have at least 200 words/min reading speed. You can improve your reading speed by reading a few articles daily from websites like aeon.co, guardian, and newspapers like The Hindu, and Economic Times. Reading, although not necessary does play a vital role in solving reading comprehension. You can start by reading about things that interest you and then picking up articles randomly on websites like Aeon. Everything you read might not make sense at the beginning, but a few weeks down the line you’ll start understanding the written text in broader terms.
Vocabulary – CAT doesn’t test your vocabulary directly. So, this might seem like a waste of time. But do you want to be someone who reads the entire passage and while answering a specific question gets stuck because of a word or two and fails to understand its meaning? Why not brush up your vocabulary to become an efficient reader and improve your skills?
‘Word Power Made Easy’ by Norman Lewis is a good read for improving your vocabulary.
Grammar – Again, grammar is something that isn’t directly tested in CAT but there can be times when zeroing done upon an option can depend upon grammatical issues.
HOW TO PREPARE FOR VARC
As we have already discussed a few aspects of CAT 2024 VARC Preparation, now let’s talk about the preparation strategy.
Read daily. Read a few articles from the sources mentioned above and solve around 3-4 RCs daily. While you do so, don’t forget to analyze the RCs. You might have got the correct answer to a question but your reason to choose that option might not be correct. it is always a good option to go through the answers and explanations to understand the appropriate answer choice and the reason behind it for being so. You need to maintain a balance between your speed and accuracy and that is the reason why this approach is needed. Reading daily will gradually increase your speed and analyzing the RCs will help you work on your accuracy.
The RCs that appear in CAT are from varied areas such as (not limited to) –
- Philosophy
- Science and technology
- Biology and genetics
- History
- Arts and Museums
- Abstract
Follow the instructions stated in the book Word Power Made Easy and read the book at least once if not twice.
While RCs are the most important part of the section, the VA section offers an advantage if you can ace it. Practice at least 5 questions from various topics under the VA section daily and similar to the RCs rigorously analyze them too. Although these are ‘TITA – Type in the answer’ questions and have no negative marks, getting them correct can help you fetch a better percentile in this high-scoring section
APPROACH
Reading Comprehension – Different types of questions are asked in an RC. These can be broadly classified as follows –
Central Idea – These questions can only be answered if you read the entire passage thoroughly and you know the major points that the author tried to focus upon. The main theme needs to be figured out here. The question can be asked in the following ways –
The main theme of the passage is –
In the passage, the author is primarily interested in –
The primary purpose of the passage is – etc.
Inference-Based Questions – You have to read between the lines to answer these questions. Understand what is not said, but implied. Remember anything that is directly stated in the passage is not an inference, the inference is an indirect conclusion. Be careful while answering these questions. These might seem tough at first sight but with practice, it is possible to understand their complex nature. The questions would look as follows –
What can be inferred when the author of the passage says –
The following lines from the passage imply that –
Which of the following can/cannot be inferred from the passage
Fact-Based Questions – These can also be classified as specific questions, as they will try to test you on specific facts mentioned or not mentioned in the passage. These are direct questions for which you need to refer to the passage or lines that the question focuses on. The question can ask about the true and false statements according to the passage or can focus on some specific argument that is stated.
The most important thing to keep in mind while solving an RC is that you should not have an opinion. The opinion of the author is all that matters. Do not try to logically conclude the unsaid unless the author implies it.
While you go through an RC, write down a one-two-line summary of each paragraph. This helps in understanding the flow of the RC and also gives a sense of what is being said. These summaries help in answering the Central idea questions and the direct/specific questions if any. Also, while doing so, note the connecting words like – however, nonetheless, not only but also, consequently, etc. which are used to either switch sides or continue with the opinion. These words are the ones that help you understand the stance of the author.
Lastly, the key to answering the RC questions is elimination. Answers to RC questions aren’t as subjective as questions in the other section; hence, getting to the closest answer is important. Use the elimination technique to zero down on a few close options and then read the options carefully and comprehend what is being said. Although two options might always seem correct, there would be some fault in all the options but one. Practice and analyze to understand these minute differences.
Verbal Ability – The verbal ability usually comprises three different types of questions. The ParaJumbles and odd-one-out questions usually do not carry any negative marks but don’t have options either. Solving these becomes tricky if you aren’t good at connecting sentences.
ParaJumbles can be solved in many ways. One possible way is to find the starting sentence of the paragraph and then connect the other sentences. It is also possible to find groups of sentences that can only occur together and then find preceding and succeeding sentences to such groups to form a meaningful paragraph.
Similarly, for the odd one out. One approach is to form a meaningful sentence from four sentences and find the one that doesn’t fit it. Otherwise, there can be a sentence that talks about a different topic altogether (very rare to happen).
Summary-based questions will have options. Similar to the RCs, read the pre-text given comprehend the general idea, and then closely look at the options to see which one is closest to what is being said. These questions can sometimes test your grammar too.
All the best for your preparation!
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