With no changes announced in the structure of CAT 2016, it is expected that aspirants will again see the 5 Reading Comprehension passages followed by 24 questions in CAT 2016. The press release shared by CAT 2016 exam convening IIM Bangalore has kept the exam structure on the same pattern as it was last year.
What happened last year…
There were 3 sections in last year CAT exam and out of them the 1st section was on Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) comprising 34 questions including 10 Non-MCQs. There was no question in Non-MCQ format on Reading comprehension passages.
What is expected in CAT 2016…
What did not appear in last year CAT may appear in CAT 2016, please note this fact. According to Prof S K Agarwal, expert on Verbal Ability and mentor on CAT 2016 preparation, the CAT 2016 notification has not anywhere shared about the sectional composition of MCQs & Non-MCQs and it is very much possible that RC passages are followed by Non-MCQs also. Hence keeping the structure of CAT 2016 on the same pattern does not imply that RC passages will not be followed by Non-MCQs.
The CAT 2016 aspirants are therefore advised to prepare and practice both – MCQs and Non-MCQs (Multiple Choice and Non-Multiple choice questions answers of which are to be typed in the given space on computer screen). It is very much possible that you may confront all Non-MCQs based on RC passages and more MCQs on other Verbal Ability topics. One thing however, is certain that Reading Comprehension part in VARC section of CAT 2016 will have more than 60% weightage.
Type of passage and questions on RC
Need of various reports, articles, essays, research, presentation papers in IIMs may further increase the weightage on RC based questions in CAT 2016. The type of questions based on RC passages could be of following type-
Sample 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?
-- Language is a cultural artifact.
-- Language is learnt as we grow.
-- Language is a psychological faculty
-- Language is unique to Homo sapiens
-- 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.
Tips to solve MCQs & Non-MCQs
-- Concentrate on main/important words in the sentence and while you go on reading try to link their reference to other parts.
-- 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.
-- Read the passage and then proceed to questions. Jumping to questions before thoroughly reading the paragraph might affect adversely.
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