Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) section in CAT 2015 has been overhauled by the CAT convening IIM Ahmedabad. According to Prof S K Agarwal expert on Verbal Ability and mentor on CAT 2015 preparation VARC will be the first section with 34 questions including 10 non-MCQs in CAT 2015 exam.
Going by the trend reflected in CAT 2015 sample test, it can be predicted that CAT 2015 test takers would miss 6 questions on error corrections in sentences and paragraphs, 3 questions on FIJ, 5 questions on direct or contextual use of vocabulary words, questions on locating the last sentence to complete the paragraph among other types of questions in Verbal Ability section.
TCS the testing agency for CAT 2015 was also there for CAT 2014 and what it enabled in its practice test for CAT 2014 made appearance in the exam apart from the fact that the content that was not published in the CAT 2014 practice test remained absent in the Verbal Ability section of the exam. This fact cannot be denied and is expected to hold true for CAT 2015 also.
VARC to skip questions on many topics
The Verbal Ability section in fact has been totally transformed and has lost the earlier basic structure that was available till CAT 2014, says Prof S K Agarwal, expert on Verbal Ability. Despite all the claims that the published one is only the mock test to understand the format of CAT 2015, those who appeared in CAT 2014 might recall that the actual exam was not much different from the sample test published by the CAT Centre.
Although it is not necessary that questions with similar content may be found in the actual examination but you cannot rule out to find the questions of similar type in the actual CAT 2015.
According to Prof S K Agarwal, Verbal Ability expert, questions on ‘Completion of paragraph’; ‘Last sentence of paragraph’ may not appear in CAT 2015 since they have also not marked their presence in CAT 2015 practice test in the 34 selected questions in VARC section. These types of questions did not appear in CAT 2014 also, confirms Prof Agarwal.
No questions on Error correction
Number of questions on correction of Grammatical Errors in sentences and paragraphs were increased from 2 to 6 in CAT 2014. Now in CAT 2015 these types of questions are not expected to appear. Those who are weak in usage of English fundamentals may take a sigh of relief as the fear of losing marks due to wrong answers to the questions on error corrections no longer exists.
No Questions on Vocabulary usage
Vocabulary based questions wouldn’t find place in CAT 2015 for the second consecutive year. There were no questions on vocabulary usage in CAT 2014 also. The sample test also does not share any question on contextual use of rich vocabulary. Earlier CAT exams used to have 4-5 questions on vocabulary usage, for example 1-2 questions were there on similar sounding/ confused words; 2 questions appeared to pick out the incorrect use of common words/phrasal verb; 1-2 questions were asked to fill in the blanks with most appropriate pair of words.
The practice test for CAT 2015 has not shared even a single question on vocabulary usage and it appears that questions on Vocabulary may not be present, although CAT is famous for throwing surprise element in actual test.
FIJ questions also missing
The new type of statement based question which was introduced in Verbal Ability section in CAT 2014 exam to identify whether the statement amounts to Fact, Inference or Judgement is also not expected to mark its presence in CAT 2015.
Question was based on 4 sequentially ordered statements. Each statement could be classified as Fact, Inference or Judgment. The question was followed by 4 options and the most appropriate option that describes the sequence of these statements had to be picked out. Such questions were not being asked in CAT exams before CAT 2014 and now they have again been withdrawn. These questions are more related to Critical reasoning. Now CAT 2015 aspirants may not expect such questions in CAT 2015.
VARC bears the brunt of changes
The exam pattern as revealed in the practice test made available on CAT 2015 website on October 29, 2015 reflects the Verbal Ability part to get a total face change with number and type of questions. According to Prof S K Agarwal, Mentor and expert on Verbal Ability for CAT preparation it is the Verbal Ability that bears most the brunt of changes in CAT as there is not much scope for CAT paper setters to bring too many changes in Quant and DI section. The scope of changes in source topics, question pattern, type and formation of questions is always more in Verbal Ability section.
The practice test for CAT 2015, in view of Prof S K Agarwal Verbal Ability expert is a well composed one. The best part of the test is that it is a full length test with 100 questions with full time limit of 180 minutes. CAT 2015 sample test leaves no room to think that the type of questions in VARC whether MCQs or Non-MCQs will differ much.
CAT: History of surprises
Prof S K Agarwal also shares that changes and surprises in questions on Verbal Ability are not new for CAT exam. In CAT 2006 Verbal Ability had a new type of question ‘completion of paragraph’. The question asked the candidates to pick out the most appropriate answer option that could be the last sentence to complete the incomplete paragraph. In CAT 2012 another surprise was thrown in the form of new question type in Verbal Ability section and that was to pick out the ‘out of context sentence’ in a jumbled paragraph. CAT aspirants were already having a tough time in placing the jumbled sentences to form a coherent paragraph, this new type gave them a tough ride.
CAT 2014 totally revamped the test paper and instead of 30 questions aspirants had to face 50 questions in Verbal Ability section on a reduced time allotted per question. Now CAT 2015 with 3 sections instead of 2, is going to place 34 questions in Verbal Ability section with not so anticipated changes.
Change prep strategy
CAT 2015 aspirants as suggested by Prof S K Agarwal should change their preparation strategy and should not concentrate much on preparing grammar and vocabulary part to ace the Verbal Ability section. Instead focus more on questions based on RC passages, improve your reading speed. You can groom your grammar and vocabulary later after the CAT 2015 exam is over on November 29, 2015.
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