CAT 2014 with 100 questions divided in 2 sections, is all set to shoot surprises in questions on different topics. CAT 2014 is to be held on November 16 and 22, 2014 in 4 sessions. With the perceptible changes CAT 2014 appears heading for more surprises than any CAT session in past years.
Significant changes are no less surprising
CAT 2014 proposes to move away from the past pattern and the test will be coming to you with many changes in its pattern. The changes are not only in the process of registration, choosing the test centre but also the duration and pattern of test coupled with more overall but less per question time. MBAUniverse.com had already anticipated and shared many changes and surprises in CAT 2014. The most important change in the duration and pattern of CAT 2014 has to be managed judiciously in a well planned manner.
It’s not only one change but a set of changes in CAT 2014. The 20 days CAT is now 2 days CAT. The reason is obvious that no more speculation time is granted to speculate as to what will and will not happen in next many sessions. The major implication and expectation from CAT aspirants is that they should devote themselves more on preparation and focus on the anticipated surprise elements in the test instead of trying to make choices among various dates and sessions.
Be prepared for surprises in Verbal Ability & RC
It is not the level of difficulty but the cause of worry for CAT takers is the unanticipated set of questions in Verbal Ability which appear on their computer screens and take them off guard. Major areas of anticipated surprises in Verbal Ability questions in CAT 2014 are-
Jumbled Paragraphs
Error Correction in sentences and paragraphs
Completion of Last sentence Vs First sentence in a paragraph
Questions based on Reading Comprehension passages
Now let us see what surprises we can expect in each part of Verbal Ability section
Jumbled Paragraph
Questions on Jumbled sentences in CAT have gone for perceptible changes over a period of time and now you may expect more innovative questions than standard ones in CAT 2014.
CAT 2012 created panic among the aspirants with a twisted type of element in Jumbled sentences that asked the aspirants to pick a sentence which was out of context in the Jumbled paragraph.
Prof S K Agarwal, Mentor and Expert on Verbal Ability shares the probable types of surprises in parajumbles in CAT 2014
While the structure and sections will hopefully not surprise the CAT 2014 takers and the basics on which questions are supposed to be formed will also remain the same, the aspirants may definitely expect some surprises in the type of questions asked in the test. In fact, these are different questions on jumbled paragraphs in the section of Verbal Ability that have consistently been causing the aspirants to bear the brunt of surprises.
Repetition of Surprise
CAT 2012 and 2013 had 2 twisted questions in each session on Parajumbles which in all probability are expected to be repeated in CAT 2014. The difficulty level in various types of questions based on jumbled paragraphs in CAT has already been high enough and on the top of it, you have to pick an ‘Out of Context sentence in jumbled paragraphs’.
This new type of parajumble consumes more time and the options are so close that it is difficult to get the same correct in one go. The concept is to form the coherent paragraph and then pick out the ‘out of context sentence’.
Pick out the sentence connecting 2 paragraphs
There could be 2 parts of parajumbles clubbed together and the question could be to find out the sentence that connects or disconnects these 2 jumbled paragraphs. The best method to solve such questions is to recall the rules to pick the odd man out of the four five related words – the same rule applies but with much advanced thought process and understanding to click the right sequence.
1.This type of jumbled paragraph might ask you to find out the linking sentence between two parajumbles. There may be two jumbled paragraphs with different thoughts and you will be required to put them in sequential order as well as find out the sentence that links them.
2. There may be one jumbled paragraph of more than 5-6 sentences, and you may be asked to form coherent paragraph apart from picking out the sentence that de-links the part of paragraph. Hence, the same sentence can link or de-link the two paragraphs depending upon the form of question in the examination.
Pick out the opening and closing sentence with out of context sentence
Aspirants might remember that one of the types in Jumbled paragraphs is where opening and closing sentences are given beforehand. How would you solve it, if you were asked to find the opening and closing sentences along with an out of context sentence while the middle part of Jumbled paragraph is given in form of jumbled sentences which also includes out of context sentence.
How to solve
Following clues will help to solve questions with such surprise elements
-Parajumbles with given opening & closing sentences usually do not begin with reference words also, like, This, that, these, those, thus, etc.
-Mark & strike out the words & sentences that create confusion in your mind
-Think what would be the order, if you wrote the same sentences.
-Now, Find out the linking words e.g. conjunctions, pronouns e.g. He/she/it/who/ this/ these/that/which etc. as they indicate that they must have been used in place of some nouns. These words would help to find the link between the sentences.
-Find out, if there is any historical or chronological event based on time factor so that the same may be connected to opening sentence or may lead to closing sentence
-The use of words like therefore, however, summing up, hence, henceforth, hitherto etc. will either lead you to closing sentence or to next paragraph-meaning change of idea, so watch out for the same.
Error correction in Sentences and paragraphs: Crush the surprise
You may anticipate different type of questions on error corrections in CAT 2014. While one or two question types make their recurring presence in VA other forgotten types can throw surprises by staging a comeback. Remember to prepare well for all of them.
Correction of underlined clauses which may or may not be grammatically incorrect
This question is formed with a long sentence with an underlined part or clause of the question sentence. The question may contain wrong use of words, parts of speech, incorrect subject verb agreement. In fact it is a test of the aspirant whether he/she can effectively use the language with better and good communicative formation of sentences.
Four options would be given to replace the underlined clause. It can be a part of sentence, complete sentence, a phrase, an idiom with incorrect syntax, tense, verb or other grammatical error. One of the options (Mostly option A) is same as in the question-which may or may not be correct. Wrong options will either change the message and context of the sentence or are written in more than required words-changing the necessary structure of the sentence.
How to crack
If you find that the underlined part of the sentence is incorrect in one or other way, You may not waste time on reading the option A, as in most of the cases, it is the same as given in the question. Try to read carefully & concentrate on the shortest, aptly written option having no grammatical error, as this may be the correct choice.
Re-writing the entire sentence
This type of question does not have any underlined part of sentence but the entire sentence may have to re-written. Besides the sentence may contain one error, multiple errors or no error. Four options that follow the question have re-written sentences in different forms and you have to pick the most appropriate option. Option A, as in above repeats the question.
How to approach
If you think that the sentence is not correct-either grammatically or syntax-wise, you may not waste time on reading option A. Close reading of Option A is required in case, you find no error or unable to find any error in the question. Since the question and the option A are same in most of the cases-reading either of the two will suffice. In this case all the options are required to be closely read before marking the correct answer.
Pick out the incorrect sentences
Instead of finding out the correct sentences in the four lined paragraph, you have to pick the incorrect sentences, which may be one or more. Again the strong basics are required to solve this type of questions since they are based on rules of the core grammar, syntax and verbosity.
How to solve
Read the direction carefully. Now check whether you have to pick out the incorrect or correct sentences. Most of the candidates who do not focus on direction sometimes mark wrong options and thus invite avoidable penalty on wrong answers. Please therefore, read the direction carefully before going for an answer option. Good command on fundamentals will help you solve these questions.
Marking the correct sentences in a paragraph
This question type consists of four sentences, out of them one or more sentences may be correct. The options are given accordingly and you are supposed to mark the correct option. The correct sentences can be picked out, if you have clarity of rules of English Grammar, punctuation, spelling and tenses along with the syntax pattern for short and long sentences.
Strong Basics needed to solve
You may have much difficulty in cracking this question if you do not have strong fundamentals. It will be better to revisit the standard 10th grammar and tenses and then move ahead. This type of error creates confusion and a good deal of preparation and practice is required.
Surprise in Offing: Last sentence or First sentence of paragraph
CAT 2014 is expected to serve you with not less than two questions based on completion of a paragraph which would give an edge of six marks and would improve your percentile by 12 to 15. The first time when this type of question appeared in Verbal Ability section in 2006, it created a lot of panic among the CAT takers. Since then 1-3 questions of this type invariably appear in CAT Verbal Ability section every year.
This question asks the test taker to find out the most appropriate sentence option that completes the incomplete paragraph. The question appears with an incomplete paragraph, leaving the last line, which is required to be picked out of the four alternative concluding statements, given as possible answers, to complete the paragraph in the most appropriate way. It is not much difficult to guess the concluding sentence if different options express different directions but in fact options are very close and it becomes difficult to choose the most appropriate one.
It could be to find the First sentence of paragraph
You can very well expect surprises in formation of 2-3 questions on paragraph completion. However, It could be other way round, while the last sentence exists in the paragraph the aspirants may be required to find out the ‘First sentence of paragraph’.
How to solve
The preparation strategy for this surprise element is not much different. This time you will simply move upwards from last line to the first line, ie in the reverse order.
You already have concluding thought that sums up the paragraph, you also have the main idea and tone of the paragraph in the body of the same, now you need the sentence that introduces the paragraph. The first sentence in fact contains what is going to be discussed in the coming paragraph. So any sentence that conveys closing thought or giving contradictory thought may not be the first sentence of paragraph.
Reading comprehension: Anticipated Surprise house of CAT 2014
3 Reading comprehension passages of 800-900 words and 10 questions in all have so far been there in past CAT sessions. With the increased number of questions and substantial ratio of questions based on RC passages, the number is expected to increase to 15 or 16 in CAT 2014. Questions on RC passages have already been difficult enough, asking the purpose, tone, main idea and contextual phrase meaning, now with the anticipated surprise elements a few questions like ‘What did author think when he wrote….’; What is the attitude of the author when he writes…..’; ‘Had you written the line number…, what improvement you could have made’. All this is an add on to the question forms but nothing is there to panic.
Know how to crack
Earlier also you had to be in the shoes of the author to crack questions on RC. Remember all the phrases when formed and used in context may have different message to convey. Read the sentence without the phrase, certain words like vehemently, in a rhetoric, words with exclamation marks convey different tones and attitudes than their literal meaning, so make sure you are able to read between the lines. Read twice to grab and understand the meaning of the passage well and then answer.
Please do not choose the answer option without properly reading the passage. More and more practice will give you an edge over other to win the race.
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