“What is the main point of this paragraph?” and the answer choices could be:
A. A country shouldn’t be too harsh on corruption, because it can actually help economic growth by attracting investment.
B. Corruption increases predictability in business operations and helps companies grease the government machinery.
C. Corruption is a necessary evil if a company is to do business in the world today.
D. Ironically, corruption might have positive side-effects for a country’s economy by helping businesses overcome its cumbersome red-tape.
If you really understood the paragraph, you should be able to eliminate choices A and C. The paragraph has nothing to say about a country cracking down on corruption, so the writer doesn’t appear to be defending corruption from attack. C puts a negative spin on corruption, saying something along the lines of “we’ve got to live with it.” The writer observes a positive consequence of corruption for a country’s economy; he doesn’t say it’s evil, or even that it is necessary.
Now, between B and D, which would you think is the main idea of the paragraph? What is the writer really trying to say? If you pause to ask yourself this, you will recognise the difference between B and D.
Ready for the answer?
It’s Option D.
The writer isn’t interested in only saying that corruption helps a business, which is what option B does. He goes further than that – he argues that because corruption helps a business, it can help the government too. Once you understand the difference between the two options, it becomes obvious that D is the answer.
What shortcut did you need to solve this question? What mystical knowledge helps the expert solve this question? Nothing more than simply realising that RC is not designed to torture you. It’s designed to test whether you can understand ideas and reflect on them. Reflect on them to use them to relate to the answer options. That’s all.
Now I say that’s what the examiners want to test, but what they’re also testing is to see if you have a reading habit. That’s because this is a pressure exam, and the two things that we’ve seen: Comprehension and Reflection, they’re skills that you pick up if you have a reading habit. Specifically, they’re skills that you can call to action in an exam setting, where the clock is ticking, if you practice them by reading every day. But more on that in another article on how to prepare for RC.
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About the Author:
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Rajesh Balasubramanian runs 2IIM’s CAT program and handles more than half the classes for CAT preparation. He completed his Electrical engineering from IIT Madras in 2001 and PGDM from IIM Bangalore in 2003. He worked as an equity Research Analyst at Credit Suisse, London. This was an enriching experience, in a literal sense; and a soul-sapping experience otherwise. He finally quit his job in 2009 and joined 2IIM as director in 2010.
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