Verbal Ability Strategy Guide

Verbal ability section in the CAT exam is usually seen as the section which either
make the scores or break the scores of the candidates. So this section is very
critical and needs to be given utmost importance. Now talking about exam pattern
we can say that since in the last three years the exam has been very consistent, as
of now, so we can expect a similar exam pattern as that of last year. This means
you can expect 24 RC questions, 3 paragraph summary questions, 3 misfit sentence
questions, and 4 subjective jumbled paragraph questions. Now we will discuss
about each in detail.

Reading Comprehensions:
Considering, that you will have 24 questions for CAT Reading Comprehensions, it
means that this is one area of the preparation that cannot be left out. Make sure you
solve at least 2-3 reading comprehensions a day. These RCs should be from
different areas and subjects and should be solved every day without fail. Make sure
you read a decent number of articles from areas such as philosophy, sociology,
psychology, science and technology, economics, business, history, art, culture, &
literature.

Coupled with this, read at least 5 quality articles per day. The sources for these
articles can be:
1. Aldaily (http://www.aldaily.com)
2. Aeon (https://aeon.co/)
3. Project Syndicate (https://www.project-syndicate.org/)
4. The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com)
5. The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/)
If you want to get quality Reading Comprehensions and articles you can also refer
to blogs and articles written on MBAP Education website, one of the top CAT
classes in Mumbai.

Paragraph Summary:
This is the second expected topic for CAT as this has been repeated many times in
the past papers. For this area, you do not need to sweat a lot as Paragraph summary
is akin to RC main idea questions and all you need to do is to identify the central
thought idea for this topic. Go through the concepts for the topics in the
comprehensions. For practice, focus mainly on reading. The more you read the
more fluent you will be in analyzing and making summary.

Para-jumbles:
 This is the tough one. CAT-2015 changed this question type into a subjective one
i.e. TITA questions and with that, the accuracy for these questions took a great hit.
In reality, you should solve these questions at the end of the exam and do not count
these while calculating actual attempt. It is a hit or miss scenario with TITA
questions and rationally speaking, it is very difficult to solve para-jumble questions
without options. Every order will make some sense at least and in a way and thus is
a flawed question type. The only recommendation here is that you keep the basic
approach in mind for this question type. These types of questions needs to be
solved by identifying pairs, opening sentences, and closing sentences. These are
the prime movers for these type of questions and the same remains the case here.

Misfit Sentences:
Despite these questions featuring as TITA questions, these are effectively MCQ
questions as you need to pick one misfit sentence from the given options and hence
there is not much difference in displaying the options or you write them. In
general, CAT has featured some of the easiest questions in Verbal Ability (VA)
section for this topic. In short, you identify the sentence that does not fit the central
theme and ethos of the paragraph. You need to make sure you read carefully and
identify the subject and the main point of every sentences. Stick to the basics and
you will do well. Remember, this is another topic driven by reading skills which
will not be developed in a day or so but will develop eventually by reading daily.

Other Verbal Ability Topics:

Except from the topics discussed above there are some more topics which needs to
be done for other Verbal Ability strategy. These topics are:
1. Para-Completion
2. Critical Reasoning
3. FIJs (for some reason, this is everyone’s favorite, but this topic has not appeared in
CAT since 2006).
4. Grammar
5. Vocabulary
As far as para completion and critical reasoning are concerned, you should go
through the concepts for these topics and take up basic practice. This will not only
make sure you are ready for any pattern change but also help you prepare for other
non-CAT entrance exams. If you are searching for preparation material you can
refer to MBAP Education, top CAT coaching, mocks, guides and other material
which will provide an overall guide for verbal ability strategy.
The probability of Facts, Inference and Judgment questions making an appearance
in next CAT is negligible though you should practice them as well.
 Grammar topic is tricky as this topic requires significant amount of time
investment and the returns might not be there if you are primarily focusing on the
CAT exam. The topics which are covered under this section includes:
 Pronoun errors
 Subject Verb Agreement
 Verb Tense error
 Parallelism and modifiers
 Basic punctuation rules
 Parts of the speech and related errors

As far as vocabulary is concerned, there is an app named as VOLT which will help
you in developing vocabulary as it helps in learning the vocabulary by using gifs
and pictures. Focus on building your reading skills (though vocabulary plays a role
here). At this stage, it is difficult to turn the tide with respect to learning words and
your focus should be on comprehension and reasoning related skills.
I think I have covered most of the topics which may come in the CAT exam related
to the verbal ability section but make sure that you cover all the basics first and
then move on to complex questions.

Happy Reading folks….