7 Rules to excel in CAT VARC section

After having talked about the 7 Rules to Excel in CAT QA section in our previous article, we get down to discussing similar tips to tackle CAT VARC section.

Understanding of a Paper (or a section) along with the understanding of own strengths and weakness are the two essential blocks of deciding the strategy for attempting it. The CAT 2019 paper structure is that of three back to back sectional tests and hence having a separate approach to tackle each of the three sections is required. The 2018 CAT VARC section had 34 questions to be attempted in 60 minutes, now the question arises, how many questions to attempt? If we look at the raw scores for 99%ile of last three years we see a drop. In 2015, a score of 78 in VARC was required for a 99%ile, in 2016 a score of 75, in 2017 the score required was 73 to get in the 99%iler category while 2018 saw a drop in level of difficulty as compared to CAT 2017 as the raw score required for a 99%ile was 75 marks. You must not panic if the level of difficulty rises in CAT 2019 as, that would mean, lesser questions to attempt in more time! Thus, an aspirant need not attempt all questions, rather very smartly pick 24-25 questions to be attempted with 100% accuracy or pick 28-29 questions if your accuracy is about 85%. Now, once we know the marks that we have to pocket in VARC, let’s see “how” to get them.

In this post, we will discuss the strategy to successfully tackle the Verbal and Reading Comprehension section. To understand the section, let us look at the question types that are likely to appear in the VARC section for CAT 2019, look at the skills required to answer them and also simultaneously look at my comfort level with each of these question types.

Reading Comprehension:

Reading Comprehension passages or what were called “unseen passages” in school are the nemesis of a large number of students because of poor (or lack of) reading habit. The passages can be from different areas and the questions can be factual or inferential. The good thing is that length of passage in Computer Based CAT VARC section has decreased as compared to its paper & pencil version. It is advisable to attempt those passages first that are from a subject you are comfortable with. If you are not good in Critical Reasoning, then it is okay to leave the inferential questions as it will help you cut down on the negative score.

My Comfort Level: Throughout my school & college years and even today, I read a lot because of which I am by and large comfortable with most kinds of RC passages. However, I do not find inferential, philosophical, literary, medical or biological passages enjoyable and hence avoid them in the paper. The RC passage topics that I prefer attempting in the paper are business, economics, current affairs, politics, history, and mythology.

 Verbal Ability:

Vocabulary questions in CAT VARC section like synonyms, antonyms & analogies, are knowledge-based questions and can be answered correctly only if you know the meaning of the word and/or the choices. Hence a good vocabulary is essential to do well in these types of questions. The good thing about these questions is that they consume very little time – a single reading of the question and the choices is enough to determine if you can/cannot answer the question. Reading the question or the choices, again and again, will not give you the answer. It is advisable to leave these questions if we do not get the answer in a single reading. One should never hesitate in leaving out the difficult questions as the 1 hour per section has to be utilized judiciously to maximize attempts.

My Comfort Level: I am fairly okay with vocabulary and even with an approximate idea of the word; I am able to get the correct answer by an elimination of choices. However, if I do not know the meaning of the word, I’ll leave the question.

Sentence Correction, like vocabulary, is knowledge based. If you do not know the rule of grammar to be applied, you are unlikely to get it correct and hence the question should be left un-attempted. However, if you have a good reading habit, you should be able to get a 3 out of 5 questions correct by instinct/gut feel.

Sentence Correction and Vocabulary typically contribute to most to the negative score of the students because of our propensity to mark an answer without being sure of the answer. Guesswork should be avoided in all knowledge based questions. Suggest that you read the question once; if you know the answer marks it else move on to the next question.

My Comfort Level: This is my weak area. I do not know grammar, however, because of my reading habit many times I am able to identify which part of the statement is incorrect. So, simple questions of sentence correction will be attempted but if the complexity of the question is high, I will leave the question.

Sentence completion (fill in the blanks)  questions in CAT VARC section are based on knowledge of vocabulary as well as grammar but can be worked out based on the context and elimination of choices especially if the question has more than one blank. It is worthwhile reading the question statement 2 – 3 times as guesswork based combination of knowledge and elimination of choices usually works in these questions.

My Comfort Level: Because of my reading habit, the contextual meaning of a word comes very easily to me and this helps me in sentence completion fill in the blanks. I usually attempt all sentence completion questions.

Para-jumbles and Deductive logic are logic based questions in CAT VARC section and no prior knowledge of any area is required. Hence you can you can work your way through in these questions even if the logic is not completely clear. Also, the choices are of great help in these questions. It is advisable to move back and forth between the question and the choices to get to the correct answer. For example, in Para-jumbles, identify the opening or closing or a logical pair and eliminate the choice that does not adhere to it. Successively eliminate the incorrect choices to get the correct answer.

My Comfort Level: These are my areas of strength; I’ll usually not make a mistake in these questions. I work on Elimination of choices by identifying logical pairs and successively eliminate the incorrect choices.

Critical Reasoning and Para completion questions in CAT VARC section can be attempted only if you understand the logic, elimination of choices is can help you reach the answer faster but the logic is essential.

My Comfort Level: I am comfortable with these questions. I’ll typically read the passage and get the answer by the elimination of choices. If I do not understand the passage, I will usually not attempt the question.

Unlike QA or DI, where most of the time it is visible that the question can or cannot be solved, in VRC all questions look solvable so we end up attempting all questions and end up with a high number of incorrect answers. Hence in this section it is advisable not to go in for guesswork, and follow the rule “When in doubt, leave”

Now on to my rules for attempting the CAT VARC section:

  1. A paper is not a place for R&D, hence a new type of question will be looked at only if I can peg it to an existing question type.
  2. I read the choices along with the question as it helps in elimination of choices.
  3. In my weak areas, when in doubt I leave the question without marking the answer.

If you are in the 60-85%ile category, then you need not focus on the Round 1-3 strategy mentioned below, just focus on RCs and odd-sentences parajumbles. And if time permits then only venture into other question types. In RCs stick to factual questions over inferential questions as the later come mostly with confusing options.

For those who score >85%ile in VARC, I would recommend the below mentioned step by step strategy I follow for a 99+%ile in CAT VARC section:

  1. In Round 1 (R1) I sequentially attempt the following question types:
    a. Vocabulary and sentence completion,
    b. Grammar,
    c. Deductive Logic,
    d. Para jumbles,
    e. Critical Reasoning
    f. Para-completion,
    g. Summary questions
  2. In Round 1 (R1), I will also glance through the RC passages to understand the length, subject and the question type of the passage to identify the 2-3 passages that I would want to attempt and the one passage that I would want to leave.
  3. In Round 2 (R2), I will attempt the 2-3 RC passages that I have identified as easy.
  4. In Round 3 (R3), I will check the un-attempted RC passage(s), go through the questions and attempt the factual questions. Time permitting I will also check the un-attempted verbal questions but will mark an answer only if I am sure of the answer.

Work out a similar set of rules for yourself for CAT VARC section and see if you can attempt a Mock CAT using them. In the video analysis of Mock CATs, you would have seen me applying these rules. You must refer to the article “Have you been choosing the right questions in your mock CAT” to come up with a strategy to tackle with the section.

All the best

GP

Liked this post? Also, read ‘ 7 Rules to Excel in QA’. Follow this space for the next post.

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189 Comments

  3. HELLO SIR, I GAVE CAT LAST YEAR BUT SCORED 62 PERCENTILE ,BUT THIS TIME I’LL HAVE TO SECURE 99 PERCENTILE, BUT MY ACCURACY IN VA RC IS NOT GOOD.MOST OF THE TIME I AM GETTING 50% QUESTIONS RIGHT AND 50% WRONG IN ANY MOCK.HOW TO IMPROVE MY ACCURACY.PLEASE HELP ME.

    • Mohammad, Focus on RC passages as they constitute majority of VARC section. Keep writing mocks and follow it up with a detailed analysis and reattempt. Start from basic level tests and slowly move from advance to expert level tests in Test Gym.

  6. Dear Sir,
    i am doing reasonably good in DI-LR and Quant section , but my VARC is quite unpredictable, sometimes i score a decent score , but most of the times i fail to manage even sectional cutoff. Kindly guide me with few tips sir, before i end up repeating in cat 2016.

    • Rachna, DILR is all about choosing the right set of data. In the first 7-10 minutes go through all the 8 data sets and identify the 3 that you are easy for your and the 2-3 that are difficult, the remaining 2-3 are medium sets. Start by attempting the 3 easy sets and then move on to the Medium ones, you do not have to worry about the difficult ones.

  8. sir
    my profile is
    10th -88
    12th-87
    btech -87% (2012-2016)
    cat-obc nc
    currntly working in mech core cmpny
    how much %ile is needed for nitie & top b schools

  9. Sir,
    I got 64%tile in CMAT , I have completed my graduation with 72% . please tell me which college is considerable among – Doon business school, JIMS, MSM meerut, GL bajaj Noida ,…. Please provide me information about good colleges in NCR with above percentile….

    • Ziya, there’s no decent college at your score. You should aim for better B-schools. Hence, it is suggested to retake the exams.

  10. Hello Sir,

    I find RC, essence of para and arguments/judgement as my strong part. I perform very bad in para jumble. I want to start my verbal with RC. Is it advisable.
    What should be my strategy to attempt and how to improve para jumble.

    • Rakesh, you must take Test Gym tests of different levels to get acquainted with the type of questions. You should try different strategies in sectional tests so that you can settle for the one final strategy.

  11. Sir, I am not able to score in VA section. .I attempt 18-20 qstn but my accuracy is around 50% only. I want to improve in this area . Please suggest me how to improve the score in VARC section

  12. Hello CL Team,

    Can you please tell me if Smart Quant/VA Cracker workshop will happen again in Delhi or NCR?
    Is there any way I can view the video online or something?

  13. Hello CL Team,
    Sir I have been giving mocks and I am able to score around 99% in quants and around 95% DILR but in Verbal I am not able to cross 80% mark with around 60% of accuracy in verbal.What should be the break up of scores for me for the three sections in mocks so as to get a 99% in CAT 2015 keeping in mind that my verbal and it’s accuracy is not that good? What should be the minimum attempts and accuracy in verbal for achieving the desired score?
    Any help would be appreciated.
    Thanks.

    • Adnan, the only solution for dealing with this is to give more an more VRC sectional tests with proper analysis. Assuming the same level of difficulty as CAT 2014, the estimate for the score required for a 99%ile in CAT 2015 is:

      QA – net score of 70-75
      DILR – net score of 65-70
      VRC – net score of 55-60
      Overall – net score of around 175

    • HELLO SIR,
      Sir i am not getting good scores in cl mocks and is not able to reach the scores of above 80 percentile even when i practice all topics regularly and when i give sectional tests my score in them is good but in mocks i fail to score a good score what should i do ,I am extremely worried about my performance in CAT
      please help

  14. Hello Sir,

    My scores are varying randomly. One test i am doing very well getting around 140 one test i am getting only 75. Also i am struggling to get more than even 30 in verbal.
    I dont understand what is happening, i seem to make silly mistakes on easy questions at times.
    Either my accuracy in RC is 90% or it is 50%. There is no balance that i am attaining. Its either too bad or good.
    Also i dont know at this point how many hours i need to dedicate for preperation.
    Can you please help me out sir?

    Thanks

  15. sir,
    i have not yet done d geometry part as i find it to be difficult.Would u suggest me to do d rest of d part throughly or der is still time to do d geometry part from the start??

    • Shreya, the important topics of Geometry can be learnt by analysing the previous mocks and having a good look at thier solutions. After the analysis of 2-3 mocks you’ll certainly feel slightly confident.
      Aprt from this, you can always take a day to revise the basics of Geometry.

  16. HellO team,
    60 ,odd days for the day of tension reliever. I take cl mocks. I was around 100 with out negatives including those 75 is my marks . Can I get a 95+ percentile if yes just lemme know the amount quality of work I should be n specific strategy.I almost have full day for studying. Suggest me done unique methods for English because I get more negative in that with my intuition going bad, very bad. Hope i find answer from your side .
    Thanks cl

    • Jay, you should get down to solving some sectional tests of verbal. This way you’ll be dealing with your area of difficulty more closely. Try different strategies in each of the sectional tests. Analysis of each of these tests is very important.

      While doing RCs, identify the questions that you can do with reading the complete passages. This will increase the number of correct attempts.

  17. Sir I am not getting a good score in Quant even after learning all the basic concepts. Now with just a month left what should I do to get a respectable score in CAT and the mocks too… PLEASE HELP SIR !!!

    • Apurv, you must immediately begin with taking QA Sectional Tests. Analyze all the mocks that you have appeared for. Notice the type of questions that are consistently getting wrong. Go back to the basics in each of these topics and practice the Test Gym questions. This will help you solve a certain number of questions in a given time limit.
      Mark all the questions that you find difficult and revise them at least once a week. Try to apply the SQC techniques wherever possible. This will considerably increase your QA score.

  18. Sir, I am not getting a good score in Quant even after going through all the basic concepts. Now at this point what should I do in order to get a good score in cat and the mocks too. PLEASE HELP SIR !!!

    • Apurv, please revise the mocks. Please be punctual and meticulous with the analysis of the mocks. It becomes important to take many sectional tests as with the help of that you’ll be dealing with your section of difficulty more closely. Please get back if the problem still persists.

  19. Hello Sir,

    I am not able to perform well in VA-RC. This is my second attempt at CAT, and although I had attained 97%ile in last year’s section 2, I am afraid it was mostly because of LR and my problems VA-RC didn’t come forth. I attempt paper sequentially as you have suggested. Although I feel confident while giving the paper , the marks I get are a disappointment. I get 15-17 right out of 26-28 attempts (a lot of negatives!) . If I practice from test gym, I find the questions easy but it is not the same in mocks.
    Please suggest something.

    Thank you!

    • Gunjan, the only way to go about it is by taking more number of mocks and re-attempting them. This is something which always works.

  20. Hi,

    I am appearing in cat 2015. I am a working professional. Please suggest me how to study for the rest 2 months, basically how to revise for cat even after working 9 hours a day.
    One more question, I m strong in QA and Dilr but verryyy weak in Vrc. What if I only attend Rc pasage in cat ?

    Br
    Aneesha

    • Aneesha, attempting only the RCs might not give you the kind of percentile that you may be looking for. You need to take more number of sectional tests to improve on your VRC section.

      Generally as well, the preparation is about taking sectional tests and mocks and analyzing them in detail. All the difficult questions should be revised every week.

  21. Hello Sir,
    Looks like IIFT prep has taken a backseat amidst all the hoopla of CAT. Please write about your takeaways from IIFT last year and what should we do to ace it this time.
    Looking forward for your debrief on IIFT..

    • Shreyas, stay rest assured, will be doing a blogpost on IIFT soon. Apart from that, the general blogposts on QA, VRC and DILR will not only help you in CAT but the other exams as well.

  22. Sir, I would like you to compare Test gym with real CAT papers.

    I mean the level of difficulty. Is questions from beginner is equivalent to easy, Intermediate to moderate and Expert to difficult questions ?

    Is it worth doing Expert level in Test Gym?

    • Balaji, for CAT 2015, doing the Expert Level will certainly be worthwhile but even if you aren’t able to solve most of its questions, it will not have any bearing on your CAT performance as the questions in CAT will be easier than the Expert level.

  23. hello
    i was using test gym and in Logical reasoning ,i have given 12-13 tests and now it is no showing any more tests at intermediate level.
    Is there any limit.?

  24. Sir
    In VAR I am scoring very low around 22-25 with an accuracy of 50 percent over 5-6 mocks.
    What should I do to increase my score.

    • Anirudh, you should start taking more number of sectional tests. Revise the mocks and the tests to find out your area of concern. Practice the tough questions every week. Analysis is the key. Make sure that you do in-depth analysis for each of the mocks that you take.

  25. Hello Sir

    With IIM-A setting up the paper, what level of RCs can be expected? Also, has there been any particular trend with the RCs when IIM-A sets up the paper?

    Regards,

    Rohit

  26. Hello sir ,

    Kindly suggest as I used to stuck between the two options while eliminating the Choices for Para jumbles as well as RC’s. Also please suggest how to make daily habit for reading as i usually get bored after a very short duration.

    • Puneet, there is no short cut to reading. You have to read the newspaper daily as it would help you in more than one way. For parajumbles, you could work through the options by matching the sequence given in the option.

  27. Hi GP sir,
    First of all, thanks a ton for the SQC workshop. It was really helpful.

    But sir, i am facing a serious issue in VRC part.
    When i am taking any mock, generally i attempt 25 to 26 ( 3 rc + 14 odd VA) but 9 /10 are incorrect most of the time. I thought i must revise and did so.
    But when i am analysing the mock, without looking at the solution/my previous attempt, i am getting 90% of those same questions as correct. That also within the time limit for each question. And this is happening again and again.
    I am confused what to do and where exactly am i missing. Please help. Thanks

    • Suvadeep, missed your message, apologies for the same.
      If there are any pending issues pertaining to your preparation, please call me any day in the evening at 9811155160.

  28. SIr,

    I am weak in LR and DI. Please let me know how should I tackle them. when you mention ‘ go through the concepts ‘ what concepts you are talking about. How should I prepare myself in the next 30 days on these two topics.

  29. GP Sir, Please tell me whether the preparation strategy I am following is correct or not to get 99.5+% in CAT 2015:

    1. Attending classes regularly and understanding and doing different questions in the class.
    2. Solving all the previous year papers. (1990-2008).
    3. Taking Mock tests and analyzing them properly.

    Sir, Please also tell me that what additional can I do from now in order to secure a 100%. I know this question is stupid but I am really desperate to get this percentile. Please guide me sir. I shall be grateful to you.

    • Akshita, please make sure that since you are analyzing your mocks well, you’re percentile in the mocks should be on a rise. One thing which should be added is taking the Sectional Tests. CAT 2015 is more like a string of 3 sections put together. Good luck.

  30. sir
    i am a cl student, what should be the target percentiles in required exams to get into 1 amongst the top mba cllgs of mum :spjimr,jbims,nitie,nmims,sjm,tiss. ???? and what should be the apt mock scores??
    10 – 94
    12- 91
    engg-8.74

    please help me sir..desperate

    shekhar

  31. Sir, I have started scoring 12/15 with 100% accuracy in RC sectionals tests. What else needs to be done? Also I am encountering a lot of problem with para jumbles.Please suggest some tips and tricks.

    • Sheenam, for parajumbles, if you are stuck between two options you should always go work your way through the options. Whichever option seems correct should be the answer.

  32. Dear Sir,
    After analysing my mocks in VA, I came to where I am making mistakes ( as described below).

    1) PJs : I could able to identify mandatory pairs but making mistakes in which sentence/pair leads because of which my accuracy is between 40 to 50% in these type of question. Please help me how to overcome this problem.
    2) Critical reasoning : I can able to do summary and inference questions but making mistakes in para completion.
    3) RCs : First of all, my greatest difficulty in this is unable to identify which one is the toughest or easiest one. Sometimes passage will be easy but questions are tough and sometimes passage will be tough but questions are easy. Please advise me.

    • Manjunath, missed your message, apologies for the same.
      If there are any pending issues pertaining to your preparation, please call me any day in the evening at 9811155160.

  33. Sir, i have a good reading speed, but sometimes my accuracy comes down too much especially in RC passages. please help me to increase my score.

    • Smriti, this is a common problem among almost all the aspirant. The key is to spot the questions which can be answered directly by scanning the passage. Just spot those questions, scan the paragraph and mark the answer. This way you’ll avoid many negative marks.

  34. Sir, please provide some more video of Gejo. The video – how gejo attemted mock cat 10 was really wonderful. Going onward please provide more attempts by Gejo for Mock cat..

  35. Hello Sir,

    I am a CL student.I am getting very low score in the VRC section in the mocks.I am not able to crack RC’s and critical reasoning question.Could you please guide me from where should i practice these questions ?

    • Palash, the mocks itself are a good source to practice any kind of questions. Apart from that, practice regularly on the test gym.

  36. i was quite amazed by seeing a video on youtube which consisted of ur attempt in cat paper in which u got 55 percentile even without answering a single question. is it really so sir. if i attempt only a few questions for which i m sure about answer then how would it affect my percentile score.
    i belong to general category and want to prepare for cat and m in final year of my graduation. please sir any advice about how to take a start and how to boost myself.

    • Abhishek, for a general category student, doing ‘just a few questions’ won’t give you the IIM Percentile.
      For knowing more about the preparation tactics, please read our article on 90 Days to CAT

    • Abhishek, you must apply to XLRI (for which you do not need to fill a separate form this year), SP Jain, XIMB and IMT Ghaziabad.

    • Swapnil, it’s more about knowing about your strengths and weaknesses. If you consider grammar to be strength, which means you know all the rules and solve most of the Test Gym questions correctly, then you can spend a few minutes in the exam trying to crack the grammar questions. If you’re not confident, it’s better to leave the question.

  39. which college is better imt dubai dcp program or kj somiya (rm) or drop of 1 year have a workex and than come up with a better colleges like iift (missed by 3 marks this time).

    • Bhavay, you were just 3 marks short of the IIFT cutoff, it shows that your concepts and their implementation is by and large in place. You should practice more and go for a retake this year.

  40. Sir I belong to the category of dependent of ex servicemen and have come to know about SIMS under Symbiosis University.Is it a good college??And do you have any idea of the required percentile in SNAP to fetch a call from this college??Please reply.

  41. Sir,

    I gave last year CAT 2013 and score 95 percentile in QA section but a mere 62 percentile in VA section. Now, this year also in mocks, I am able to score good in Section 1 with 22-24 attempts and 18-20 correct. Its VA and LR section which worries me most and is not able to score consistently in this section. What should be my strategy for preparation in VA and LR to improve and get good score this year. (I am a non CL student Sir and preparing myself)

    • Dear Dhruv,

      Analyse your mocks thoroughly and identify those areas of VA-LR where you are repeatedly making mistakes. Revise the basic concepts of those areas/topics and practise as many problems from those areas as possible. These steps will help you improve in VA-LR.

      • Respected Sir

        I am very weak in QA section but i am confident in attempting DI,LR and VA questions..So please tell me which strategy should i opt like either just work on my strength or spend less time on them? Also how many correct questions in VA LRR section are needed to get more than 90 percentile/

        • Ankit, I am sure with QA also there will be some topics or question types that you are comfortable with, suggest that along with DI, LR and VA questions you focus on these QA question types also. The focus of the next 45 days should be to improve your attempts and accuracy of your strong areas. My estimate is that 60 is a safe score for 90%ile in a section.

          • DEAR GP SIR,
            SIR I HAVE FINISHED WITH ALL OF MY CL QUANT FUNDABOOKS WHAT SHOULD BE THE STRATEGY FOR NOW
            AND WHAT SHOULD BE THE APPROACH FOR THE REVISION OF THESE FUNDABOOKS ?

          • Ankish, please take at least 2 mocks per week. Analyse the mocks in great detail. Mark the difficult questions and revise the regularly. Try to find shorter ways of solving each question.

  42. hello sir
    when i take mock test in QA have 17-20 correct out of 20-24 is that enough or i improve in this section but sir in VA section correct 8-9 out of 10-11 que. but in paraj….,paracom….. and RC almost que. is incorrect so give me right suggestion to improve my accuracy and also tell me how many que. attempt in each section to get above 90% in cat 2014.
    thank u sir

    • Dear Hemant,

      Your performance in Section I is decent. In Section II, you need to put in more effort. Revise the basic concepts and practise as many problems as you can. Use Test Gym Adaptive thoroughly. This will help you build up your speed as well as accuracy. Ideally, by the end of September, you should consistently be attempting 50 questions in your Mocks (25 per section, with at least 80% accuracy).

  43. Hi Sir,
    i have finished most of the topics in QA..(from CL and Arun Sharma) however i am not able to solve them in the exam(mocks)..and each question takes a lot of time..how to overcome this??. when i solve RCs from books i get most of the question correct but somehow in Mocks the performance in RCs is miserable?? Are the mocks way tougher than the practice materials (Including CL’s)?? Please help..!!

    • Hitesh, hope you have identified important questions (MCQs) from all the papers and books and are revising them regularly. This will help you increase your speed and accuracy. Mocks are usually tougher than what you have in funda books but in Test Gym you have questions of all levels of difficulty.

  44. SIR,

    10TH -72%
    12TH-89%
    BTECH-80%

    if a score 99%ile in cat is there still any chance that i will not get admitted in new iims and mdi gurgaon or in top 20 bschools if i perform not so good in gd and pi.
    please reply sir.

      • Dear Rahul,

        CAT was a computer based test during these years (as it is this year as well). No CAT paper was released during these years. For this reason, it is extremely unlikely that any website will carry such papers.

    • Dear Rahul,

      Most top b-schools have a cutoff for performance in GD and PI as well. Hence, it is quite possible that even a candidate with very high marks in the written portion and with very good academic profile may not get selected finally due to poor performance in GD/PI.

    • Naksrocks, while I am not a great fan of Arun Sharma but between these two possibly Arun Sharma should be prefered.

      • Thanks a lot Sir.Any idea how the new edition of Arun sharma which was launched recently is? Or any specific book you would recommend for LR? I am looking for a book that has lots of questions to practice ( mainly to minimize the time in LR during actual cat ) and which will help in building the approach to solve LR questions.

  46. Sir,

    I would like to know…min how many questions…with around 90% accuracy is required to be attempted…in each section, to score at least 95 %..I know its a question without any certain answers..But according to ur experience I think you will be able to give us an idea..I am sure its a common question…for all.

    • sorry to be redundant !!! I got my answer in ur blog -The single-most unpardonable, gravest sin you can commit in CAT..

      Thanks

  47. Sir,
    i m student of cl cp centre(test series),in mocks i have been solving quant with relative ease and my %ile has been above 90% in most of the mocks in qa sec but the problem starts with the va section.i just dont know how to go forward with va/rc ques.please guide need your help desperatly

    • Sahil, start the VALR section with the question types that you are most comfortable with. If you are not confident of VA questions then attempt 1-2 sets of LR before you move to EU/RC. Among the EU question types focus on Para Jumbles and Para Completion questions which usually contribute about 6 questions and are logical in nature. The grammar and the word-usage questions should be avoided since most of us are poor in this area. Scan the RC passages, identify the one whose topic you are most comfortable with and attempt it after reading the passage at your speed.

  48. Dear Sir, thanks for all these wonderful posts. 🙂
    I am better in VA than QA. When I am attempting VA, I am comfortable almost equally in all the sub-categories of questions that you mentioned (Except vocabulary questions). So, I would prefer attempting RC too in the first or second round itself, because although it is time consuming, I feel I’ll be able to mark a few answers based on that. My question is whether you think it would be the right approach (Considering I am almost equally comfortable with grammar, parajumbles, rc etc)?
    Basically, I am trying to figure if its ok to attempt everything that you feel comfortable in in the first go, time consuming or not, and leave only stuff that you are uncomfortable in for next rounds.

    • Srishty, each one of us has to work out a way of attempting the paper that maximises ones score. Go ahead and attempt RC in R1 itself if you are comfortable with all areas of VA. Try out out different approaches in the next 3-4 papers and finalise the one that gives you the best results.

  49. Sir kindly help in the reading comprehension section. While preparing it is said, there should be lot of reading, but my question is what are the things to be kept in mind while reading a particular article from the CAT point of view, what are the parameters that I should focus while I am reading. How can I ensure a particular article has helped me for CAT exam. How can I make sure I am going the right way. How I can assess myself after I have completed reading an article, how far i have understood, or how far if the same article comes in the CAT exam I will be able to answer any question asked from it.
    Thanks you sir.

      • Thank you sir, kindly provide a detailed explanation sir, because i am facing lot of difficulty in preparing for RC as I am not having clarity on preparation sir. As I said earlier what to look in a passage, my RC preparation strategy etc.

  50. Sir,Please upload notes/tips how to counter RCs/CRs/SCs involving philosophical topics like : Postmodernism,Neoclassism,etc…. Something to develop basic understanding of them. Usually, when I read paras/articles involving Philosophy/Art my mind just shuts down.

    • Aman, there were some technical issues that delayed the release of the video. Will be up today. Apologise for the delay.

  52. Thank you GP sir for this illuminating article.

    I am facing a strange problem. Some history of mine.

    I have appeared for CAT’13 but ended up with a astonishing VA score. I was awarded a mere 35%ile in CAT’13 where as I even got more than 90%ile in some of the Proc mock CATs back then. I was devastated with this result but soon I took courage an enlisted myself in CL’s correspondence program.

    Since then I tried to work hard and tried to improve. I am giving TGA seriously and currently holding advanced in all of the QA topics. Also I am categorized as expert in some of the arithmatic topics too. With this confidence by my side whenever
    I have given any Procs this year I have not seen any such kind of improvement in my performance. Sir could you please direct me to the right path on how can I improve my QA and VA scores. I am currently 50% accurate in any procs or AIMCATS. I want to improve myself in all these matters.

    Also I found your division between 3 rounds very useful. Sir can you please tell me what should be the time distribution between these rounds viz. what should be the ideal time for R1/2/3.

    PLease help me.

    • Indranil, apologise for the delay in responding to your query.
      CAT’13 scores in general and VALR scores in particular have been surprising for may students and unfortunately the IIMs did not share any data to clear the confusion so my suggestion is to forget CAT’13 and focus on the future.
      This is the first post on the issue of test taking and I will be uploading more articles on this issue. Question selection is an important part of test taking and it can significantly impact your performance. Hope you have gone through the post The single-most unpardonable, gravest sin you can commit in CAT. Will also be uploading a paper to help you understand the process of test taking.
      In QADI R1 would take around 30-35 minutes, R2 around 20-25 minutes and R3 the remaining 15-20 minutes. It is okay if R3 does not happen.

    • Ayush, I am not aware of any good book for VA in the market. Suggest that you enroll for a CET correspondence program or get last year’s CET material from a friend.

  54. sir
    than how much should i attempt in QA&DI becoz i attempt around 14-15 in mocks and expectiing to clear QA&DI cut off of IIM A,B,C,L,I,K AND FMS??

  55. Sir
    Sectionals cut off are also higher as same as actual cut off or they are same as declared in selection criteria? ??

      • i am weak in quant and and always tried around 14 to 15 questions in mocks to get around 90% accuracy.BUT in cat 2014 how much i should attempt to clear cut off of iima,b,c,i,l,k and fms QA&DI cut off

        • Samir, 14-15 attempts in QADI with 1-2 errors is very good at this stage. Suggest that you slowly try increasing your attempts while maintaining your accuracy. If you can reach around 20 attempts it would be more than sufficient.
          Your target in CAT should be over 95%ile in each section and an aggregate of at least 99%ile.

      • sir
        than how much should i attempt in QA&DI becoz i attempt around 14-15 in mocks and expectiing to clear QA&DI cut off of IIM A,B,C,L,I,K AND FMS??

        • sir my strength is DI and i always get 7 or 8 correct but bad in QA if practicing well in number system,geometry and modern maths is sufficient to achieve around 18 to 20 correct??

          • Samir, will be coming out for the number of attempts guideline shortly, till then focus on pushing your attempts up by 1-2 questions in every mock.

          • i was reading your article(The single-most unpardonable, gravest sin you can commit in CAT)

            you recommended to attempt around 15 with 100% accuracy and 20 with 4-5 incorrect it confuses me as i was planning to attempt around 15-17 with 100% accuracy..

            please suggest what to do ???

          • Samir, I have not recommended any of these. I have just said that till CAT’12, 15 net correct answers could get you a score of 95%ile in a section. An attempt of 17 with 100% accuracy will possibly give you a score of 97.5%ile. You should go for the plan that gives you a higher net correct attempt.

          • Samir, with 7-8 correct in DI you need to target another 12 out of 21 questions in QA. Number Systems and Geometry are fine but Modern Maths normally gives only 1-2 questions so it will be prudent to replace it with Algebra.

          • attempt around 17-18 is sufficient sir.because algebra i hate it and never understood anything related to it.Algebra consist of 6-9 so i i leave it .IT doesnt create any issue.

          • Samir, 17-18 with 1-2 errors is acceptable but am not comfortable with leaving the entire algebra since parts of it are very easy and it contributes to about 6-7 out of 21 questions in QA. You hae about 4 months to improve in this area.

      • sir i am good in va&lr and always attempt around 25 to 27 with 85% accuracy .Is that sufficent if i ll attempt around 25-27 in VA&LR and 15-17 in QA&DI in cat 2014 is that sufficent or i should work hard for other topics???

        • Samir, 25-27 in VALR is more than enough, since you are good in this section focus on improving your accuracy.

          • thanks once again sir for your advice now i am planing to attempt max.20 in QA&DI with min 18 (90% accuracy).

  56. Hello Sir,
    I am third year right now , I want to start preparation for CAT-15
    which online course should i join to achive good score, also I came under DA category so please suggest me about the same to get admission in top IIM

  57. Sir, I am a Career Launcher student, ! Can you Suggest me How can i improve vocabulary in Short time ?

  58. dear sir,

    Could u pls tell about jims rohini and jims kalkaji which one better and which stream IB or general

    • Naresh, JIMS Rohini is considered better than Kalkaji and it is preferable to go for General MBA over IB.

  59. Sir

    Where to get the proctored mock 05 analysis by you??and what about the other 4?? where can i get them?? Pls tell…

    • Suhas, Proc Mock 5 analysis by Gejo (CL Mumbai, IIM C alumni) would have been uploaded in your SIS. The analysis of the earlier Moocks are also available in the SIS.

  60. Hello Sir
    Since last year I am facing a diff type of problem . I am able to solve almost all the questions in quants during self analysis but during exam conditions my mind stops working because of which my percentile never crosses 85. All the mistakes that I commit are very silly often in division and multiplication. Because of which my mind is preoccupied and spend lots of time in simple questions during exam hours. Another problem that I face is although I know my strength and weakness but I am not able to implement it in exam conditions and tend to carry away with questions which looks simple and are simple(specially one liners with generalized options) try using SQC techniques and end up committing silly mistake.
    Could you please suggest some idea by which I can improve my accuracy.

    • Saurabh, while revision will be helpful to some extent but this will require a deeper analysis, suggest that you sit down with a faculty who understands your strengths/weaknesses to work out a way to rectify the problems.

  62. hello sir
    I am Shivam Singhal , B.Tech final year student searching for a good Job.
    Recently i have appeared in Elitmus test for job in software company but my verbal percentile is 25.27 , how it improve my verbal please reply. .

    • Shivam, I have not followed the eLitmus test so it will not be possible for me to guide. However if it is similar to the VA section of MBA entrances then the rules given in this post and the other posts on VA should help you improve you score.

  63. Sir,
    where will i get Topic-wise cat questions to practice? both QADI & VALR with ans & sir any chance of getting them reapeated in cat? plz reply sir

  64. Sir please write on DI, as most of us are not able to perform well in that section.
    or if possible cud we have a webinar exclusively on DI?

    thanks

  65. Sir I am An Ipm IIM Indore aspirant. Tell me how to prepare for it and what study material I should prefer. What all I need to do to crack. Plz reply sir

    • Dear Lakshay,
      The IPM course of IIM Indore selects candidates through an aptitude test, apart from other academic considerations. The syllabus for the test includes both quantitative and verbal ability. The syllabus is primarily of class 10 level. Thus, it will be helpful to study the BBA material provided by Career Launcher. Also, start reading newspaper editorials for a better grasp on English.

  66. A very captivating article by you sir !!
    In the last years CAT’12 :
    1) What was the appx score of a 95 percentile in VA/LR for an avg slot (as i heard 25th oct and 31st oct where tough slots)
    2) Appx how much raw score on 90 does one need to guarantee 95+ percentile (on a medium day slot)
    3) Similarly for a tough slot what should be the appx raw score ?
    Please do reply.

  68. sir can you please also tell how much time to spend on each type of question……I tried the above mentioned procedure and it helped but there is only one problem that I am left with only 15-17 mins at the end for 3 RCs if I do RCs at the last, because of which I don’t get them right

    • Satyam, It is okay to leave a RC passage if you are running short of time. To attempt all three RC passages you would need 25-30 minutes, similarly the 3 LR sets will require around 25 minutes and the 11 VA questions will take 15-20 minutes.

  69. Very Knowledgeable and enlightening post. Thanks a lot sir. After having attended so many of your webinars, while reading, your voice reverberates along with the text.Thanks a ton for all the motivational posts. 🙂

  70. Sir,
    Please suggest some ways to tackle Phrasal Verbs questions.
    As these questions can get very tricky (in order to attempt or not).
    How to improve on it?

    • Rupesh, this is the most difficult part of CAT and cannot really be prepared for because the number of the words and their usages that are possible is huge. Read the statement once and if you are confident of the answer mark it else leave it and move on to the next question.

  71. Sir, can you please tell how long one should spend time on the above mentioned rounds R1, R2 and R3?

    • Jayasimha, this is individual specific based on the kind of questions that you attempt in each round. For example if you attempt RC in R1 then it will take more time as compared to attempting VA in RI.

  72. Dear Sir,

    Please help me on how to go about the VA/LR section..accuracy in this section has fallen down to 50%. I tend to attempt too many questions in this section to compensate for the attempts in QA (18-21).

    • Mansi, the solution to your problem is in the question itself. You should not try to compensate for QA by attempting more questions in VALR as it is reducing your score. Also 18-21 is a very good attempt for QA there there is no need to compensate for anything.

  73. Sir,

    Still a minimum number of attempts you would advise? As you pointed out, even I mark a lot and end up getting negatives.

    • Shruti, Considering the CAT12 papers that have been conducted so far, it appears that an attempt of 20-22 in VALR is a very good attempt. 3 LR sets (9 Qs), 2 RCs (6-7 Qs), 2-3 Parajumbles, 2-3 Para completion and 1 Fill in the blank add up to a total of 20-22 questions. Any attempts from Grammar (2 Qs) and Phrasl Verb is a bonus.

  74. Sir,

    Still a minimum number of attempts you would advise? Like you pointed out,even I end up marking many (24-25) and getting negative points.

  75. Sir,I am good at logical reasoning ,rc(not philosophy),para completion ,avg at parajumbles,go by intuition in vocab,grammar..plz tell me strategy

  77. hello sir!!!!
    waiting for ur post “HOW I ATTEMPTED PROC MOCK 8”.
    it really helps me a lot while analysing my mocks….

    • Hi Chandra,

      If I go by last year’s CMAT, the quant section is easy scoring. Which means, you must get almost all of the 25 questions correct. LR is also not that challenging – has a mix of questions, should get at least 20-22 correct. You could find VA a bit challenging. There are no lengthy RC passages, but it has CR type questions. Practice GMAT type CR questions. The game changer is going to be GK/GA session. However, if you have ensured very high scores in the other 3 sections, and manage about 40-50% of the GA/GK questions, you are on your way to get a very high percentile.

      Regards
      Gejo

  79. Sir,
    thank you for this great insight into the CAT cracking code… but CAT is more of a thinking based exam rather than speed.. (owing to the recent trend of the exam).. hence how should one get going when it comes to intense speed tests like the NMAT, SNAP etc… what are the basic underlying techniques that are crucial to these speed tests, which are different than those used to bell the CAT….
    kindly help..

  80. thanks sir! it was indeed a valuable suggestion but i found it little worthy 4 me…when i went 4 d same strategy, i found myself leaving lots of questions unattempted…so..would you please suggest strategy for increasing attempts with accuracy…i am really bothered about it!

        • Sandeep, the chances of FIJ appearing in CAT are very low and hence leaving it should not be an issue.
          You can get a list of phrasal verbs on the web but it is very big and you may not be able to cover all.

  84. Thanx sir, its being very helpful for me spl in VA section…..If u have any other thoughts related to CAT exam so share it …..

  85. Thanks sir for your advice. It helps us a lot. I will definately try to apply them in the next procterd or unproctered mock. Please keep us updating with your immense knowledge.

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