CAT 2010: Trick to Crack Reading Comprehension Section

CAT 2010: Trick to Crack Reading Comprehension Section


Reading Comprehension (RC) section of CAT examination paper is looked upon as the most difficult section of the exam by huge multitude of students aspiring to get admission in B-schools.

There is a wide misconception among students that RC-based questions are subjective and that the correct answer depends on the choice of test takers. And, they also think that RC is more difficult because of its online format.

Here are some examples of false beliefs,, which exist in the minds of a large number of aspirants:

1. Due to the online format of RC-based questions, aspirants find themselves unable to underline the significant sections in the passage & hence it’s difficult to spot the correct answer in the passage.
2. The passage is visible only on half of the screen, which pesters students in scrolling up & down many a times.
3. Aspirants cannot see all questions at one go on the screen; only one question is displayed at a time. Viewing all the questions repeatedly is a sheer wastage of time.

These example shows the misconceptions related to Reading Comprehension section. However, these misconceptions are more or less a myth.
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If we talk about the third point listed above, simply flush out this concept from your mind. All the questions are available on the right half of the screen, while the paragraph gets displayed on the left. It means that test takers can see both the paragraph and questions simultaneously.

Always remember that you need to understand the substance of the passage & simply not focus on the details. Scrolling the screen up & down many a times is not going to help you out in any way since you are expected to comprehend the underlying idea of that passage.

In most cases, candidates cannot attempt each question based on each paragraph. The best way candidates can resort to is that they can select the passage well understood by them. Always keep in mind that every RC passage contains one-line gist. If there are 10-line gists, it means you did not comprehend the underlying idea.

The Concept of cracking the RC section of CBT CAT:

There are a few points, which will guide you about the ways to crack the RC section of CBT CAT:

"Dot Diagram" of the paragraph
You can easily recollect the dot diagrams placed in the kids section of the newspaper & magazines & your practice of connecting one dot with the other and making a big image out of it. Also, you must be remembering how the other untouched dots used to become useless once you made a complete picture. The Reading Comprehension is same as dot diagram. The hundreds of words can be taken as the hundreds of dots. The questions gyrate around the picture not the words. So, you can get the picture out of the dot diagram.

How do you connect the dots? Our Recommendation:

Pre-read (First reading: 1 min)
You should get a feel of the paragraph by reading the starting lines of each paragraph (the opening paragraph in particular) as well as the concluding lines of the last paragraph. Also, you must have a look at the question & not the options.

Speed read (Second reading: 3 min)
You should read the article very carefully and also give it a fast re-reading if required..

I keep forgetting as I proceed
You should read the first paragraph fast and write down its summary in a single phrase on the scratch sheet. Repeat this exercise for other paragraphs too. Now, you possess ideas same in number as paragraphs. However, the common factor among these ideas is your dot diagram.

Post-read (Third reading: 30 sec)
You need to ensure that the picture you made was correct. Simply screen the repetitive words and phrases in that paragraph, which need to be part of the picture.

Always remember that the first & last paragraphs are really important. However, this is to be kept in mind that test-makers are wiser when compared to the Test-Takers.

Connecting the answers
At the end, you will be able to see all the questions at one go. You need to make sure that the answers to various questions based on the RC should have some link. And, the link should be a part of the picture you’ve come up with.