Verbal Ability for CAT 2025: Type of Questions, Syllabus, How to Prepare Tips

Verbal Ability (VA) is a key part of the Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) section in the CAT exam. VA tests a candidate’s command over the English language, logical reasoning in language-based questions, and ability to analyze written information. Verbal Ability section includes topics such as Para Jumbles, Para Summary, and Odd One Out, which test a candidate's ability to structure information logically. CAT Verbal Ability section also has non-MCQ or TITA questions – read details below.  CAT Verbal Ability questions constitute about 30-35% share in Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) Section in the CAT exam. 

Non-MCQ (TITA) questions in the CAT exam are ‘Type In The Answer’, popularly called TITA questions, where candidates has to enter the correct answer using the on-screen keyboard, instead of selecting from multiple-choice options. So, TITA questions do not have answer choices, making them more difficult as there is no possibility for option-elimination. There is no negative marking for incorrect answers in TITA questions. 

Examples of TITA Questions in Verbal Ability:
1. Para Jumbles: Candidates must arrange jumbled sentences in the correct order and type the sequence (e.g., 2314).
2. Odd One Out: Identify the sentence that does not fit and type its corresponding number.
3. Sentence Completion or Short Answer: Occasionally, candidates must type the correct word or phrase based on the given sentence.

CAT Verbal Ability Preparation requires time and effort to improve your understating and use of English language. Here are CAT Verbal Ability preparation tips.

1. Improve Reading Skills: Start reading newspapers, editorials, and opinion articles from sources like The Hindu, Indian Express and The Guardian. Focus on different topics, including business, philosophy, psychology, and social sciences.
2. Strengthen Logical Sequencing for Para Jumbles: Identify connecting words like "however," "therefore," and "moreover" to determine sentence order. Find the opening sentence and logical sequence by looking for pronouns or subject continuity.
3. Master Para Summary Questions: Read the given paragraph carefully and identify the central idea before looking at answer choices. Avoid summaries that introduce new information or alter the meaning of the passage.
4. Crack Odd One Out Questions: Identify the common theme in four sentences and find the one that does not fit. Look for logical flow, topic consistency, and transition words to determine the odd sentence. Practice recognizing subtle differences in sentence themes and structures.
5. Build Strong Vocabulary: Learn new words daily using resources like Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis. Understand word roots, prefixes, and suffixes to decode meanings quickly. Maintain a vocabulary journal and revise words frequently.
6. Improve Critical Reasoning Skills: Practice inference-based questions that require identifying assumptions, conclusions, and arguments. Read opinion pieces and argumentative essays to develop reasoning skills. Avoid making extreme assumptions while answering these questions.
7. Develop a Strategy for Non-MCQ (TITA) Questions: Since many Verbal Ability questions are TITA, focus on accuracy rather than guessing. Write down possible answer structures for Para Jumbles and Odd One Out questions to check coherence before finalizing the order.
8. Practice Mock Tests and Previous Year Papers: Solve past CAT papers to understand the pattern and difficulty level of Verbal Ability questions. Take sectional and full-length mock tests to improve time management and accuracy. Analyze mistakes and learn from incorrect answers.
9. Manage Time Effectively: Allocate 25-30 minutes for Verbal Ability within the VARC section. Do not spend too much time on a single question; if stuck, move on and return later if time permits. Prioritize high-accuracy questions like Para Summary and Odd One Out before tackling Para Jumbles.
10. Review and Learn from Mistakes: Maintain an error log to track mistakes and understand recurring patterns. Analyze why a particular answer was incorrect and focus on improving weak areas. Reattempt difficult questions after a few days to reinforce learning.

To prepare, CAT VA section, following CAT Verbal Ability Books are very helpful: 

• How to Prepare for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension for CAT by Arun Sharma and Meenakshi Upadhyay (McGraw Hill)
• Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension for CAT by Nishit Sinha (Pearson) 

CAT Verbal Ability preparation material by TIME, IMS and other coaching institutes is good too. 

Here are some Online Resources for CAT Verbal Ability Preparation. 

1. Official CAT Question Papers: Can be downloaded from the official IIM CAT website iimcat.ac.in to understand past question patterns and difficulty levels.
2. Online Mock Tests and Practice Test: On MBAUniverse.com, IMS, TIME, Cracku have full-length mock tests, sectional tests, and topic-wise Verbal Ability practice.
3. Editorials and Articles for Reading Practice: Reading from sources like The Hindu, The Guardian, The New York Times, Aeon Essays to improve comprehension skills and exposure to diverse topics.
4. YouTube Channels for VARC: Like 2IIM CAT, Rodha, IMS India, and Cracku offer free video lessons, shortcut techniques, and VARC strategies.
5. E-books and PDFs can be found on platforms like Cracku, 2IIM offering structured practice for RC and Verbal Ability topics.
6. Online Vocabulary and Grammar Resources like Vocabulary.com, Word Power Made Easy Online PDFs, Grammarly for grammar checks help in improving verbal skills.

“I started with 10 Books, a mix of fiction and notification books for VARC Preparation and then switched to CR practice over free resources like the GMAT club. Also, I enrolled for GEJO's VARC 1000 that helped me know the techniques or strategies I was missing” Ekansh Gupta, CAT Topper 99.91%; IIM Calcutta MBA 2021-23

“VARC is one section which requires existing acumen and little of current preparation” Nandan Goel, CAT Topper 99.95%, IIM Calcutta MBA 2021-23

“I used to give practice all the three sections consistently. I never skipped a particular section, say VARC, because I had to focus on Quants. Learning to strike a balance between three sections is really necessary.”

Nikita Agarwal, CAT Topper 99.22%; MDI Gurgaon PGDM 2020-22

Reading Comprehension for CAT Tips by Topper Rohan Joshi (99.63 % in CAT) 
In an interview with MBAUniverse.com, CAT Topper Rohan Joshi (99.63 % in CAT 2017) explained how he prepared and cracked VARC section. He said, “VARC was most challenging for me and my motive was to just clear the sectional cut off.” However, Rohan ended up with a sectional CAT score of 96.40 in VARC section. He achieved this high percentile by consistent study and taking all sectionals for Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension 

Reading Comprehension for CAT Tips by Topper Akhil Garg, (99.73% in CAT) 
Sharing with MBAUniverse.com, CAT topper Akhil Garg IIM Ahmedabad student of 2017-19 batch, said “I focused a lot on reading different articles and novels, conversing in English with friends and even watching English TV series and movies. I wrote down whatever new words I encountered after reading at least 5-6 newspaper articles every day.”

Reading Comprehension for CAT Tips by Topper Gyayak Jain, (100% in CAT)
In an interview with MBAUniverse.com, CAT topper with 100 percentile and IIM Ahmedabad student of 2017-19 batch, Gyayak Jain said, “I believe I was weak in VARC and therefore I started by looking into model answers given in the solutions and tried to understand if I associated with the logic given in the solution. If I was satisfied with the logic given in the solution, which was not always true, I tried to look problems from that point of view also in the next mock. When I was not convinced with the solution, I ignored the mistake and went ahead with my intuition/logic in next mocks too. If I find that same mistake is repeating, then I tried to find out situations where my logic will not work. I tried experimenting with various exam attempting strategies and realised I get fatigued if I do same kind of problems together in one go, so I mix-matched various types of questions.”

Reading Comprehension for CAT Tips by Topper Rachit Gupta, (99.83% in CAT)
CAT topper with 99.83 percentile, Rachit Gupta, IIM Lucknow student of 2017-19 batch shared with MBAUniverse.com, “I was very weak at the verbal section. The key reason was the slow reading speed. I took course material from TIME and my strategy was to emphasize more on my weakness which was the Verbal section.”

Reading Comprehension for CAT Tips by Topper Sai Praneeth Reddy (100% in CAT)
Sai Praneeth Reddy felt that he needed hard work in VARC which he did in the last one month to CAT. Mocks helped him to improve a lot in CAT preparation.  His advice on Verbal Ability preparation for CAT is to learn from mistakes and don’t miss AIMCAT. To improve in VARC the best way, is to start reading novels and articles.

Q.1: There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide where (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.
Sentence: The discovery helps to explain archeological similarities between the Paleolithic peoples of China, Japan, and the Americas.

Paragraph: The researchers also uncovered an unexpected genetic link between Native Americans and Japanese people. ___(1)___. During the deglaciation period, another group branched out from northern coastal China and travelled to Japan.___(2)___. "We were surprised to find that this ancestral source also contributed to the Japanese gene pool, especially the indigenous Ainus," says Li. ___(3)___. They shared similarities in how they crafted stemmed projectile points for arrowheads and spears.___(4)___. "This suggests that the Pleistocene connection among the Americas, China, and Japan was not confined to culture but also to genetics," says senior author Qing-Peng Kong, an evolutionary geneticist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Ans Options
1. Option 1
2. Option 3
3. Option 2
4. Option 4

Correct Answer: 3

Q.2: The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) given below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer.

1. What precisely are the “unusual elements” that make a particular case so attractive to a certain kind of audience?
2 . It might be a particularly savage or unfathomable level of depravity, very often it has something to do with the precise amount of mystery involved.
3. Unsolved, and perhaps unsolvable cases offer something that “ordinary” murder doesn’t.
4. Why are some crimes destined for perpetual re-examination and others locked into permanent obscurity?

Case Sensitivity: No
Answer Type: Equal
It is a TITA (Non MCQ Question) Correct Answer is: 4123

Q.3: There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide where (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.
Sentence: This philosophical cut at one’s core beliefs, values, and way of life is difficult enough.

Paragraph: The experience of reading philosophy is often disquieting. When reading philosophy, the values around which one has heretofore organised one’s life may come to look provincial, flatly wrong, or even evil. ___(1)___ . When beliefs previously held as truths are rendered implausible, new beliefs, values, and ways of living may be required. ___(2)___ . What’s worse, philosophers admonish each other to remainunsutured until such time as a defensible new answer is revealed or constructed. Sometimes philosophical writing is even strictly critical in that it does not even attempt to provide an alternative after tearing down a cultural or conceptual citadel. ___(3)___ . The reader of philosophy must be prepared for the possibility of this experience. While reading philosophy can help one clarify one’s values, and evenmake one self-conscious for the first time of the fact that there are good reasons forbelieving what one believes, it can also generate unremediated doubt that is difficult tolive with.
___(4)___.

Ans Options
1. Option 1
2. Option 4
3. Option 3
4. Option 2

Correct Answer: 4

Q 4: Five jumbled up sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5), related to a topic, are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd sentence and key in the number of that sentence as your answer.

1. In English, there is no systematic rule for the naming of numbers; after ten, we have "eleven" and "twelve" and then the teens: "thirteen", "fourteen", "fifteen" and so on.
2. Even more confusingly, some English words invert the numbers they refer to: the word "fourteen" puts the four first, even though it appears last.
3. It can take children a while to learn all these words, and understand that "fourteen" is different from "forty".
4. For multiples of 10, English speakers switch to a different pattern: "twenty ","thirty", "forty" and so on.
5. If you didn't know the word for "eleven", you would be unable to just guess it –you might come up with something like "one-teen".

Case Sensitivity: No
Answer Type: Equal
It is a TITA Question: Correct Possible Answer: 3

Q.5: Five jumbled up sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5), related to a topic, are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd sentence and key in the number of that sentence as your answer.

1. Having an appreciation for the workings of another person’s mind is considered a prerequisite for natural language acquisition, strategic social interaction, reflexive thought, and moral judgment.
2. It is a ‘theory of mind’ though some scholars prefer to call it ‘mentalizing’ or ‘mindreading’, which is important for the development of one's cognitive abilities.
3. Though we must speculate about its evolutionary origin, we do have indications that the capacity evolved sometime in the last few million years.
4. This capacity develops from early beginnings in the first year of life to the adult’s fast and often effortless understanding of others’ thoughts, feelings, and intentions.
5. One of the most fascinating human capacities is the ability to perceive and interpret other people’s behaviour in terms of their mental states.

Case Sensitivity: No
Answer Type: Equal
It is a TITA (Non MCQ) Question: Possible Answer: 2

Q 6: The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) given below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer.

1. Algorithms hosted on the internet are accessed by many, so biases in AI models have resulted in much larger impact, adversely affecting far larger groups of people.
2. Though “algorithmic bias” is the popular term, the foundation of such bias is not in algorithms, but in the data; algorithms are not biased, data is, as algorithmsmerely reflect persistent patterns that are present in the training data.
3. Despite their widespread impact, it is relatively easier to fix AI biases than human-generated biases, as it is simpler to identify the former than to try to make people unlearn behaviors learnt over generations.
4. The impact of biased decisions made by humans is localised and geographically confined, but with the advent of AI, the impact of such decisions is spread over a much wider scale.

Case Sensitivity: No
Answer Type: Equal
It is a TITA (Non MCQ) question, Possible Answer: 4123 

Q.7: The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Manipulating information was a feature of history long before modern journalism established rules of integrity. A record dates back to ancient Rome, when Antony met Cleopatra and his political enemy Octavian launched a smear campaign against him with “short, sharp slogans written upon coins.” The perpetrator became the first Roman Emperor and “fake news had allowed Octavian to hack the republican system once and for all”. But the 21st century has seen the weaponization of information on an unprecedented scale. Powerful new technology makes the fabrication of content simple, and social networks amplify falsehoods peddled by States, populist politicians, and dishonest corporate entities. The platforms have become fertile ground for computational propaganda, ‘trolling’ and ‘troll armies’.

Ans Options
1. People need to become critical of what they read, since historically, weaponization of information has led to corruption.
2. Octavian used fake news to manipulate people and attain power and influence, Justas people do today.
3. Disinformation, which is mediated by technology today, is not new and has existed sinceancient times.
4. Use of misinformation for attaining power, a practice that is as old as the Octavian era, is currently fuelled by technology.

Correct Answer: 4

Q 8: The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Colonialism is not a modern phenomenon. World history is full of examples of one society gradually expanding by incorporating adjacent territory and settling its people on newly conquered territory. In the sixteenth century, colonialism changed decisively because of technological developments in navigation that began to connect more remote parts of the world. The modern European colonial project emerged when it became possible to move large numbers of people across the ocean and to maintain political control in spite of geographical dispersion. The term colonialism is used to describe the process of European settlement, violent dispossession and political domination over the rest of the world, including the Americas, Australia, and parts of Africa and Asia.

Ans Options
1. Technological advancements in navigation in the 16th century, transformed colonialism, enabling Europeans to establish settlements and exert political dominance over distant regions.
2. Colonialism, conceptualized in the 16th century, allowed colonizers to expand their territories, establish settlements, and exercise political power.
3. Colonialism surged in the 16th century due to advancements in navigation, enabling British settlements abroad and global dominance.
4.As a result of developments in navigation technology, European colonialism, led tithe displacement of indigenous populations and global political changes in the 16th century.

Correct Answer: 1

In conclusion, Verbal Ability (VA) is a key part of the Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) section in the CAT exam. Verbal Ability for CAT 2025 section tests a candidate’s command over the English language, logical reasoning in language-based questions, and ability to analyze written information. Verbal ability section question types include Para Jumbles, Para Summary, and Odd One Out. In above article, read CAT Verbal Ability Pattern, Type of Questions, how to prepare for Verbal Ability for CAT 2025 section. CAT Verbal Ability pdf download link is also available below.