3 Key Ideas to nail VARC Section of CAT

Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension for CAT aim to test your reading and comprehension skills. These skills are essential to survive in the corporate world. To be a leader, you have to be an excellent communicator and orator who can influence the masses in the office.

Similar to the other two sections of the examination, this section also holds a significant role to play. The beauty of this section is that it has the highest marking potential. And if you are hardworking enough, you will get the desired result to get admission into your dream college. Every year you will find that VARC is the section where toppers score the highest marks.

If you are reading this blog, then probably you are also preparing for the CAT examination and looking for tailor-made tips to excel in the VARC for CAT. If yes, then you are at the right place as we are giving three essential tips to clear this section effortlessly.

Don’t try to meet the timelines

VARC is not a time-bound section, and you cannot simply bind the questions within a specific time limit. This part is all about reading speed and concentration, which is the biggest challenge. If you are not a good reader, then you might not score well in the examination. So how can you cure this problem? Simple, by increasing the reading speed, and how can you do this? By reading more and more. There is no other way than reading by which you can analyze the passage fast.

The best way to analyze your progress is working in a strictly controlled environment where you can time-bound your practice with a clock. You can take a paragraph, start reading it, and not the time of your first read. Now retake the same paragraph and start reading it but with more speed. This process is time-consuming, but slowly you will build familiarity with the words and score well in the examination.

Some questions are worth leaving

CAT is the exam designed to test your speed and accuracy, and for this, the conducting authorities make provisions for negative marking. Hence quality over quantity becomes dominant here. Your result will not be hampered if you leave some questions unattempted, but if you mark them incorrectly, then there is undoubtedly the chance that you will lose those precious 1 or percentile that will land you in your dream college.

To get the desired accuracy, you can use the elimination method for the examination. This method eliminates all non-related and not potential options for the given question and brings it down to 2 and eventually 1. Just like questions to attempt, one thing also kept in mind is that you under any circumstance must not stick to a single question and move forward as soon as you spend 2 or 3 minutes whether you get the answer or not. Your aim should remain at maintaining the accuracy and not the number of questions solved.

Reading Comprehension is not for the 11th hour

What do you mean by this? It means that you should leave the RC section for the last few minutes. Applicants have the tendency to complete this part of VARC in the last 15 minutes or so because of the perception that reading passages are an easy affair. But believe me, friends, they are not. Humans tend to panic in a pressure state. The same goes for the exam. If you keep at the last minute to counter this part, you will look more on the needles of the watch rather than the needle of a pen.

Another situation will follow when you somehow finish this section but spend a lot of energy and concentration on it. This situation builds the chances that you will mark the wrong answer even after knowing the right one. This condition will adversely affect your performance in other sections. Hence it is advisable that you maintain calm and spend your time wisely.

VARC for CAT seems challenging and unconquerable, but in reality, it is not because you have a good strategy, excellent resources, and great mentors; now, all you need is a balance of time management with some reading skills and you are all set to go.