CAT 2016: How to crack tricky parajumbles; 4 approaches by Nishit Sinha with quick tips

Parajumbles in CAT 2016 may prove to be one of the tricky areas in Verbal Ability section. However, to help the aspirants out of the dilemma, expert Prof Nishit Sinha who is also an author of various books on CAT preparation with Pearson, shares key tips and tricks to crack the jumbled paragraphs with ease.

According to Nishit, “Para Jumble questions are common test item at all competitive examinations. Objective of asking these questions is to identify an examinee’s reading skills as well as reasoning prowess. In these questions, you are given a paragraph – but the sentences are not in the right order. As a student, you are required to rearrange the sentence so that they form a coherent paragraph.”

Since the agenda in para jumble questions is to restore the original order, it is important to look out for any piece of information that can help you connect the sentences together.  For the 1st time in the history of CAT, Para Jumble questions asked in CAT 2015 did not have options. 

How to Approach Para Jumble Questions
To solve a para jumble question is like connecting the dots – you will have to keep looking for words or indicators that can help us in connecting the sentences. Some approaches are given below to help identify the sequence of sentences. Generally, in a given question, more than one approach will be applicable.

1. Noun-Pronoun relationship approach: In noun/pronoun relationships, we know that the noun will come first and will be referred to later using suitable pronouns.
            Look at the following example:

1.         These enormous “rivers” – quite inconstant, sometimes shifting, often branching and eddying in manners that defy explanation and prediction – occasionally cause disastrous results.

1. One example is El Nino, the periodic catastrophe that plagues the West Coast of America.
2. It is rich in life.
3. This coast is normally caressed by the cold, rich Humboldt Current.
4. Usually the Humboldt hugs the shore and extends 200 to 300 miles out to sea.

6.   It fosters the largest commercial fishery in the world and is the home of one of the mightiest game fish on record, the black marlin.

Solution - Read sentences A and C carefully. Notice the noun/pronoun relationship between the two. Sentence A refers to “the West Coast of America” and Sentence C talks about “this coast”. Which coast? Obviously “the West Coast of America”! Therefore, Sentences A and C are related and Sentence A must come before Sentence C. Now look again. Sentence C talks about “the cold, rich Humboldt Current” and Sentence D refers to “the Humboldt” obviously these two sentences are also related. Which one should come first? Once you have decided, check the answer choices to see if you are correct. (Answer 3 ACDB)
2. Acronym Approach – Full Form Vs Short Form: When we introduce someone or something, we use the complete name or title. When we again refer to the same person later in the paragraph, we use just the surname or the first name if we are on familiar terms with the person being discussed. If we are discussing an object, we remove the modifiers and just use the noun or a pronoun to refer to it.

Look at the following example:

1. If you are used to having your stimulation come in from outside, your mind never develops its own habits of thinking and reflecting
2. Marx thought that religion was the opiate, because it soothed people's pain and suffering and prevented them from rising in rebellion
3. If Karl Marx was alive today, he would say that television is the opiate of the people
4. Television and similar entertainments are even more of an opiate because of their addictive tendencies.
   1) BACD              2) ADBC                    3) BCDA                    4) CBDA

Solution - Sentence B has Marx (short form) and sentence C has Karl Marx (full form). So C will come before B. Now look at the options. In 1, 2 and 3 B is placed before C - hence rejected. Option 4 is the right answer.

3. Time Sequence Approach (TSA) – either dates or time sequence indicating words: In some questions, there may be a time indication given, either by giving years - or by using time indicating words. This provides a way for us to identify the correct sequence of the sentences by arranging the sentences using their proper time sequence. Some key words used to show time sequence are – Before, after, later, when etc.
Look at the following example:

1. 1. Then two astronomers—the German, Johannes Kepler, and the Italian, Galileo Galilei—started publicly to support the Copernican theory, despite the fact that the orbits it predicted did not quite match the ones observed.
   2. His idea was that the sun was stationary at the centre and that the earth and the planets move in circular orbits around the sun.
   3. A simple model was proposed in 1514 by a Polish priest, Nicholas Copernicus.
   4. Nearly a century passed before this idea was taken seriously.

1) CADB                    2) BCAD                    3) CBDA                    4) CDBA

In this example, you may observe a time sequence flowing from the oldest time period to a more contemporary time period. Opening statement would be statement C. Sentence B expands upon the “simple model” proposed. It also has the pronoun ‘his’ used for Copernicus. Hence it will be the sentence following C. The next sentence in order of chronology is C -nearly a century passed, while the last sentence will be A which completes the sequence from older time to contemporary time thus giving us the answer as CBDA.

4. Structure Approach: In order to arrange a group of sentences quickly, it is essential for us to understand how language sticks together to form a cohesive unit. There are some sequencing words – firstly, secondly, then, however, consequently, on the other hand etc. – which are used to join sentences or ideas together and to provide a smooth flow from one idea to the next. It is essential to learn how to spot these words and learn how to use them correctly. 

Cause and Effect Signals: Look for words or phrases explicitly indicating that one thing causes another or logically determines another. Some examples of such words are:

Support Signal Words: Look for the words or phrases supporting a given sentence. Sentences containing these words will generally not be the opening sentence. These sentences will follow immediately the sentence supported. Some examples of such words are:

Contrast Signals: Look for function words or phrases (conjunctions, sentence adverbs, etc.) that indicate a contrast between one idea and another, setting up a reversal of a thought.

Please NOTE that these approaches will work only if you have exposed yourself to reading passages of different genre adequately. It is important to develop the ability to identify the statement that will introduce the paragraph and logical flow of the idea contained in the paragraph.

Let us put into practice what we have discussed so far. Here is a typical example, combining all the points discussed above.

1. When conclusions are carefully excluded, however, and observed facts are given instead, there is never any trouble about the length of the papers.
2. The reason for this is that those early paragraphs contain judgments that there is little left to be said.
3. A judgment (“He is a boy”, “She is an awful bore”) is a conclusion, summing up a large number of previously observed facts.
4. In fact, they tend to become too long, since inexperienced writers, when told to give facts, often give more than are necessary, because they lack discrimination between the important and the trivial.
5. It is a common observation among teachers that students almost always have difficulty in writing themes of the required length because their ideas give out after a paragraph or two.

1) ECDAB                        2) CEBAD                  3) EACBD                  4) EBCAD

Solution - Sentence E states the situation in general and gives us information about why students have problems “in writing themes of the required length”. Sentence B goes on to tell us “the reason for this”, so the two sentences must be related. Similarly, Sentence C is related to Sentence B because both sentences contain the word “judgment”, with Sentence C explaining what the word means. Once a link of this nature is established, go to the answer choices to see if you are on the right track. Option (4) is the answer.

Non Option based question:
A. In addition, my own experiences of the spirit world have come together to make this book.
B. I guess I could say the research had been going on all my life: all the stories my grandmother told me, and all the stories my hunter friends told me when I was older.
C. In later life, I have had some frightening but amazing spirit encounters that have convinced me of the realness of the spirit world.
D. For instance, I had a spirit child playmate when I was about four.
E. He was a little boy who mischievously invited me to play.

Solution: Paragraph follows a chronological sequence. 2nd statement is the introductory general statement that lays the theme of the paragraph. 1st sentence gives the additional source of inspiration; 4th and 5th narrate the author’s experience of the spirit world in his childhood years. Finally 3rd sentence talks about his experience in later life. Hence, badec is the correct answer. 

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