Cracking Reading Comprehension

For most CAT aspirants, Reading Comprehension is a nightmare. It takes too much time The answer
choices are too close and so on. So how does one attempt and more importantly crack Reading
Comprehension?
Firstly, RC has to be attempted, as it accounts for 16Q, almost a 3rd of Section 2. Since you cant do well
in section 2 without RC, the bottom line is, no RC No Tier 1 Bschool.
Can Reading comprehension be developed? Yes, but it takes time. It is a skill, which develops through
practice. In this article, I will give you a simple plan that will improve your RC skills for CAT.
But first, Lets start with Attempting RC in CAT. CAT 2014 had 4 passages each with 4 Questions. If you
are aiming for a 90+ percentile, you would need to attempt at least 2 Passages within 20-25 min. If you
are (or become) good at RC, you can even attempt 3 passages in 30 min. The time limit is critical as any
overshooting of time can lead to shortage in VA/LA. So we need to attempt an RC (4Qs) in 10-12 min and
get at least 65-70% of the questions right.
The key here is to remember that one needs to study, understand or remember every sentence in the
passage. That is what many students do, reading too slowly, rereading, underlining etc. But not every
sentence is linked to a Question. So we need to speed-read the passage, picking up key ideas, while
spending time on the parts, which are linked to Questions.
Below are two common methods which students can use for RCs. Some students find method 1 suitable
while others find method 2 suitable. So it is up to you to decide which one suits you.
1. a) Passage First: Read the passage first at a normal speed. Don't reread, highlight or even worry
about not retaining all the information. You will only need to get the key ideas an overview. As CAT
passages tend to be 600-700 words long, this should take you about 3 min. Now for each Question, go
back to the passage and find the relevant sentence(s). Read them carefully and answer the questions.
This process should take about 2 min per Q. So a total of 10-12 min for the whole exercise.
2. b) Questions first: Start from the Questions. Read all 4 Qs (not the answer choices) and then
proceed to the passage. Start reading the passage at your normal reading speed. As an when you reach
a part which is linked to a Q, slow down, read carefully and go back and answer that Question. And then
come back to the passage and continue reading.

You must have noticed that both methods are based on the same key idea explained in the preceding
paragraph, spend time only on the parts of the passage linked to a Question.

RC Preparation
Firstly, we have many sources of reading material that we can access. Newspapers, Magazines,
websites, eBooks and so on. When we select reading material, we look at Subject and Language
complexity. As we prepare for RC, we try to cover a wide range of subjects to increase our familiarity
(which also increases speed). At the same time we have to gradually raise the complexity of difficulty level
of the passages that we practice on. If a passage is too easy, then no benefit comes from solving it. For
difficult subjects like Philosophy, Psychology, Art and Architecture, first get a basic idea from sites like
Wikipedia. Understand basic terms and definitions/concepts before you take up passages form one of
these subjects.
Understanding Passage structure: All good passages have a well defined structure. The passage has a
central theme that is explained through a few key ideas. Each unique key idea deals with one aspect of
the central theme and is normally given in a distinct paragraph. Each key idea is then
explained/elaborated through descriptive sentences (additional information) or illustrated through
examples. Similarly, ideas may be compared and contrasted, with the author favoring one over the other
or by building an argument towards a conclusion.
Take any small passage and identify the central theme. Underline all key ideas and see how they are
related to the central theme. And for each key idea, try to understand how the author develops it further.
Take each sentence in a paragraph and try to identify its function, Describe/Illustrate/Contrast etc.
Passage summary. Take a passage from any Source. Read it once at your natural speed, do not re-read
or attempt to memorize anything. Then put it aside and try to write a point wise summary of the passage.
You should only include key ideas. And importantly, you should rephrase the ideas and not repeat the
exact sentences. You should try to get the key ideas in the same sequence/order in which they appear in
the passage. A passage of 600-700 words normally has 4-6 key ideas.
Once you are done, compare the passage and the key ideas. Did you get all the key ideas? Was the
order right? What is the links between each key idea? This will help you in understanding the structure as
well remembering key ideas.
Inference based questions
A lot of RC questions in CAT are not based directly on the facts stated in the passage but require you to
make some inferences. While you do learn through practice, it makes sense for you to go and study
Critical Reasoning basics before attempting inference-based questions. This should help you get a sound
understanding for the nature of arguments: Facts, Assumptions and how Conclusions and Inferences can
be drawn.

Practice and Tests

An Ideal plan would involve working on the basics: Understanding passage structure, summary exercises
and critical reasoning for 4-6 weeks. After that start RC specific tests, followed by Mock Tests.
CAT and XAT papers from earlier years would make excellent practice tests as they contain high quality
RC questions.