CAT Reading Comprehension Questions With Solutions

Reading Comprehension (RC) questions give you a passage of a few hundred words followed by questions on its main idea, specific details, inferences, the author's tone and the passage's structure.

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Why Reading Comprehension matters in CAT

RC carries the largest share of VARC marks, so your VARC score depends mostly on how accurate you are with passages.

Key reading comprehension concepts

• Main idea versus supporting detail
• Inference: what must be true based on the text, not what could be true
• Author's tone and attitude
• Structure: how paragraphs relate to each other
• Option traps: out of scope, extreme wording, partial truth, reversal

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Common mistakes

• Bringing outside knowledge into inference questions.
• Picking options with absolute words such as always or never when the author is cautious.
• Rereading the whole passage for every question instead of noting where each idea appears.

Practical solving approaches

• Read actively: after each paragraph, note its purpose in a few words.
• Go back to the passage line that supports an answer before you mark it.
• Eliminate options first. Two choices usually fail quickly, and the real decision is between the other two.

Reading Comprehension FAQs

How many RC passages should I practise each day?

Two to three passages with careful review is more useful than many passages read quickly. The review, where you check why each option was wrong, is where you improve.

Should I read the questions before the passage?

It depends on the person. Try both methods on timed practice sets and keep the one that gives you better accuracy.

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CAT Reading Comprehension Questions With Solutions

Reading Comprehension (RC) questions give you a passage of a few hundred words followed by questions on its main idea, specific details, inferences, the author's tone and the passage's structure.

19 free reading comprehension practice questions. Answers and available explanations are shown after sign-in.

Why Reading Comprehension matters in CAT

RC carries the largest share of VARC marks, so your VARC score depends mostly on how accurate you are with passages.

Key reading comprehension concepts

• Main idea versus supporting detail
• Inference: what must be true based on the text, not what could be true
• Author's tone and attitude
• Structure: how paragraphs relate to each other
• Option traps: out of scope, extreme wording, partial truth, reversal

CAT reading comprehension practice questions

Common mistakes

• Bringing outside knowledge into inference questions.
• Picking options with absolute words such as always or never when the author is cautious.
• Rereading the whole passage for every question instead of noting where each idea appears.

Practical solving approaches

• Read actively: after each paragraph, note its purpose in a few words.
• Go back to the passage line that supports an answer before you mark it.
• Eliminate options first. Two choices usually fail quickly, and the real decision is between the other two.

Reading Comprehension FAQs

How many RC passages should I practise each day?

Two to three passages with careful review is more useful than many passages read quickly. The review, where you check why each option was wrong, is where you improve.

Should I read the questions before the passage?

It depends on the person. Try both methods on timed practice sets and keep the one that gives you better accuracy.

Related VARC topics

• CAT Verbal Ability questions