CAT 2015 coming with totally modified structure and content in a single day on November 29, 2015 will test your nerves in 3 sections instead of 2 sections in earlier exams. The Verbal Ability section in CAT 2015 has lost its ‘Ability’ and has got a high sounding Reading Comprehension ‘(RC)’ added to it known as ‘VRC’ instead of ‘VALR’.
No LR with VA in CAT 2015
The Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning (VALR) section will no longer have the Logical Reasoning questions as they form another section with Data Interpretation questions. With the reduced number of questions in Verbal & Reading Comprehension (VRC) section from 50 to 34, without no sign of LR questions, the 16 questions on RC passages will command higher weightage than earlier.
Weightage on RC increased to 50% from 33%
Questions based on Reading Comprehension had the share of 33% in CAT 2014 in VALR section. Candidates could skip number of RC passage questions as the option of attempting more LR questions was there. No such facility exists now. In CAT 2015 most of the VRC section moves around the questions based on RC passages recording 50% weightage with 16 questions.
Expect 4 passages with 16 questions
According to Prof. S K Agarwal, Verbal Ability expert and mentor on CAT 2015 preparation you could expect 4 RC passages in VRC section followed by 4 questions each. Out of 34 questions, 16 questions only on RC passages, if attempted well can take you through this section with high percentile.
High importance to RC in CAT 2015
The scoring pattern revealed by the CAT centre 2015 shares that each correct answer will carry 3 credits and each wrong answer will carry a penalty of one-third marks deducted from the awarded credits. If you can mark all the 16 correct, a score of 48 marks and after score normalization a percentile as high as 95+ awaits you.
RC to have Non-MCQs as well
Each of the 3 sections in CAT 2015 will have Non-MCQ type questions also. There will not be any answer option for these non-MCQs and the test taker will have to type the answer of such question on the computer screen.
Since questions on Reading Comprehension passages will have a lion’s share in VRC section, there could be a good number of Non-MCQs based on RC passages. To solve the questions, you will have to go for thorough reading of RC passage so that the answer to Non-MCQ could be typed accurately and briefly on the computer screen as in the shared example.
Attempt with accuracy
Please remember, Reading comprehension exercise is a passage upon which questions are set to test the student’s ability to understand the content of the given text and to infer information and meanings from it.
Example- RC Passage followed by MCQ & Non-MCQs
Directions for questions 1 to 5- Read the short passage below and answer the questions that follow
Language is not a cultural artifact that we learn the way we learn to tell time or how the federal government works. Instead, it is a distinct piece of the biological makeup of our brains. Language is a complex, specialized skill, which develops in the child spontaneously, without conscious effort or formal instruction, is deployed without awareness of its underlying logic, is qualitatively the same in every individual, and is distinct from more general abilities to process information or behave intelligently. For these reasons some cognitive scientists have described language as a psychological faculty, a mental organ, a neural system, and a computational module. But I prefer the admittedly quaint term ‘instinct’. It conveys the idea that people know how to talk in more or less the sense that spiders know how to spin webs. Web-spinning was not invented by some unsung spider genius and does not depend on having had the right education or on having an aptitude for architecture or the construction trades. Rather, spiders spin spider webs because they have spider brains, which give them the urge to spin and the competence to succeed. Although there are differences between webs and words, I will encourage you to see language in this way; for it helps to make sense of the phenomena we will explore Thinking of language as an instinct inverts the popular wisdom, especially as it has been passed down in the canon of the humanities and social sciences. Language is no more a cultural invention than is upright posture. It is not a manifestation of a general capacity to use symbols: a three year old, we shall see, is a grammatical genius, but is quite incompetent at the visual arts, religious iconography, traffic signs, and the other staples of the semiotics curriculum. Though language is a magnificent ability unique to Homo sapiens among living species, it does not call for sequestering the study of humans from the domain of biology, for a magnificent ability unique to a particular living species is far from unique in the animal kingdom. Some kinds of bats home in on flying insects using Doppler sonar. Some kinds of migratory birds navigate thousands of miles by calibrating the positions of the constellations against the time of day and year. In nature’s talent show, we are simply a species of primate with our own act, a knack for communicating information about who did what to whom by modulating the sounds we make when we exhale.
Once you begin to look at language not as the ineffable essence of human uniqueness but as a biological adaption to communicate information, it is no longer as tempting to see language as an insidious shaper of thought, and, we shall see, it is not. Moreover, seeing language as one of nature’s engineering marvels-“an organ with ‘that perfection of structure and co-adaption which justly excites our admiration’, in Darwin’s words- gives us a new respect for your ordinary Joe and the much-maligned English language (or any language). ˜The complexity of language, from the scientist’s point of view, is part of our biological birth right; it is not something that parents teach their children or something that must be elaborated in school “ as Oscar Wilde said,”Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.˜ A pre schooler’s tacit knowledge of grammar is more sophisticated than the thickest style manual or the most state-of-the-art computer language system, and the same applies to all healthy human beings, even the notorious syntax-fracturing professional athlete and the, you know, like, inarticulate teenage skateboarder. Finally, since language is the product of a well-engineered biological instinct, we shall see that it is not nutty barrel of monkeys that entertainer-columnists make it out to be
MCQ
Q.1 According to the passage, which of the following does not stem from popular wisdom on language?
1. Language is a cultural artifact.
2. Language is learnt as we grow.
3. Language is a psychological faculty
4. Language is unique to Homo sapiens
5. Language is a cultural invention
1.A 2. B 3. C 4.D 5. E
Non-MCQ
Q.2-Replace the analogy “spiders know how to spin webs” as used by the author with different part of sentence? Please write the answer in the given space on computer screen.
Non-MCQ
Q.3.- According to the passage, which of the following is unique to human beings? Please write the answer in the given space on computer screen.
MCQ
Q.4 - According to the passage, complexity of language cannot be taught by parents or at school to children because
A. children learn the language on their own.
B. children are born with the knowledge of semiotics.
C. children instinctively know language.
D. Children know language better than their teachers or parents
E. Language is not amenable to teaching
1. A 2.B 3. C 4.D 5.E
Non-MCQ
Q.5 Write the summary of the passage in a single line in the given space for answer on computer screen.
Answers with Explanation tips
Q.1- Ans- 3.C- In the very first para author describes that Language is a psychological faculty.
Q.2- Ans- ‘Bees collecting nectar’. You could also write other answer based on natural instinct. The logic behind is- as Spiders have the natural instinct to spin webs or common black bird build a cup nest or bees collect nectar.
Q.3 – Ans. ‘Ability to communicate with each other through voice modulation’. If you go through the last 3 lines of second paragraph ‘who did what to whom by modulating the sounds we make when we exhale’, the justification to answer is clear.
Q.4-Ans.-3.C – Second sentence of the first paragraph clarifies ‘….which develops in the child spontaneously...
Q.5-Ans.- ‘Language is instinctive ability of human beings’. Author emphasizes that human beings have the instinct to develop the language, hence it their instinctive ability.
How to improve skills in RC
1. Make it the regular practice to read the editorials, articles in the news paper.
2. Underline the difficult words-search out their meanings and put them to use in writing, in conversation etc. Tests have shown that the number of unfamiliar words in a passage, if exceeds about one in twenty, the reader will lose track. If the proportion is lower, the reader may skip over the unfamiliar words and grasp, at least the general meaning.
3. When you write, try to frame good sentences using the new words. This will give you ample opportunity to rectify the errors in sentences, improving the vocabulary, improving the speed and accuracy of reading and the skill to pick out the wrong sentences as well as how to complete the sentence or paragraph
4. Read the passage/article fairly quickly to get the general idea. Read again, if possible, a little slowly so as to understand the details.
5. Go for versatile reading on different topics since you may or may not get the passages of your interest in the examination.
Tips to solve MCQs & Non-MCQs
1. Concentrate on main/important words in the sentence and while you go on reading try to link their reference to other parts.
2. Central Idea of the passage, inferring the various types of information, purpose in the passage– go on to cover all of them while you are reading the passage. This will help you to promptly answer the questions accurately.
3. Read the passage and then proceed to questions. Jumping to questions before thoroughly reading the paragraph might affect adversely.
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