The completely changed Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) section in CAT 2015 is going to greet you with 70% share of questions based on RC passages only. Out of 34 questions 24 in the VARC section would cover Reading Comprehension passages and rest 10 questions would be based on Para summary, Para jumbles, out of context sentence in jumbled paragraph in CAT 2015.
No-Non-MCQs based on RC
Another significant change for which you have to be prepared for CAT 2015 is that there would be only MCQs following RC passages and no-non MCQs would be placed on RC Passages. It implies that negative marking will exist for all the questions based on RC passages as only MCQs will be carrying one third negative marking while there will not be any negative marking for Non-MCQs.
More & different type of RC Passages
In a clear deviation from earlier number of 4 passages followed by 16 questions, CAT 2015 proposes 5 RC passages followed by 24 questions. Out of the 5 RC passages in CAT 2015, 3 passages would be followed by 6 questions each while 2 passages by 3 questions each.
Shorter RC passages with more questions
The RC passages are not proposed to be very long in CAT 2015. The 2 RC passages followed by 3 questions are proposed to be of 400 to 500 words and the 3 RC passages followed by 6 questions each are proposed to be of about 900 words.
No Tricky language proposed in RC
The language of the RC passages is also not proposed to be very difficult. In view of Prof S K Agarwal, expert on Verbal Ability and mentor on CAT 2015 preparation, if you are preparing well and have been devoting time to improve your reading speed along with improving vocabulary, you would be able to crack the questions well in time and with accuracy.
Since Reading comprehension is going to form the major part of VARC section, its increased share from 45% to 70% in this section has the key to success to score high in CAT 2015. But remember all the questions on RC will carry penalty of negative marking. The more accurate you are, the more you can score in this section.
Proposed common type of questions on RC
Not only the type, pattern and size of RC passages have been changed in CAT 2015, the customary type of questions based on RC has also been changed. You may expect following type of questions based on RC passages
-- Expect 5 questions of statement type, one following each RC passage. The questions could be based on whether the particular statement or assumption is true or false.
-- Expect 3 to 4 questions based on inference drawn from a particular sentence in the passage.
-- Expect 2 to 3 questions on the message conveyed by the author through a particular sentence or the entire RC passage. In fact this is indirectly asking the purpose of writing the passage. You will be missing questions like ‘Tone of the passage’ or ‘purpose of the passage’ but the questions of different types would also be indirectly getting to the same theme to explore your answer. So there is no need to worry.
-- 2 to 3 questions you may find on explaining the phrases as used in the passages. Make sure that you have read the paragraph well before choosing your answer as it is not the raw meaning of the phrase but explaining the phrase as used in the sentence and therefore there may be difference between the two.
-- Please note RC passages may not be followed by Non-MCQs, hence there is no reprieve from penalty of negative marking on the questions based on RC passages.
Choose carefully; avoid confusion
According to Prof S K Agarwal, expert on Verbal Ability and mentor on CAT 2015 preparation, there is no need to get tempted to answer all the questions based on RC passages. On the contrary, you should go for 2 readings of RC passages. The first reading should be faster and the second a bit slow and in between explore the most appropriate answer choices to the selected questions. If you find a question a bit tricky, leave it and move ahead. This will save your time and will keep you fresh. You can always come back to the remaining questions during the sectional time limit.
Please also remember that it is the confusion that creates panic. So avoid it and attempt the questions that you find are the best suitable to you. More candidates get a lower percentile by attempting more questions and getting penalized with negative marking than those who attempt fewer questions but with accuracy.
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