Crack Vocab & Sentence Correction in 50 days

With about 60 days to go for CAT, most CAT aspirants hit the panic button. Actually, this is the time to keep a calm head and make the best of these remaining days! In this post let us look at the two question types that give a head ache to most of the students – vocabulary and sentence correction.

In this new pattern of CAT there is uncertainty about how many vocabulary and sentence correction questions will be there but a estimated guess would be that around 6-7 questions of vocabulary and sentence correction are expected to come in CAT 2015 (i.e. 20% of the VRC paper). Also, these questions are the least time consuming ones out of all the VRC questions. However for a majority of CAT aspirants the time spent in these questions would result in 2-3 correct and 4-5 incorrect answers or the 12-13 minutes in these question types will result in not more than 4-5 marks in about 12-13 minutes!

Why does this happen? The reasons are known to all of us:

  1. We did not pay attention to Grammar in school because we felt speaking English confidently was more important than speaking Correct English. What we often tend to overlook is that many people around us speak incorrect English confidently.
  2. We did not develop a reading habit which would have ensured at least a contextual vocabulary if not the exact meaning of the word.
  3. Vocabulary was never tested in school and college exams hence we never bothered about it.

With 50 days for CAT, how do we ensure 5-6 correct answers out of the 6-7 these questions of vocabulary and sentence correction?

To ensure maximum utilization of the available time, let me start with what you should not do.

  1. Do not pick up Wren and Martin or any other grammar book.  The right time to go through this book was when you were in school. You cannot cover up for this dereliction of work in school in the next 50 days without adversely impacting your preparation of other areas.
  2. Do not worry about mugging up the word list from the vocabulary builder. You should have started using the vocabulary builder at least 6 months ago, if you have not done it till now, you are unlikely to do it in the next 2 months. In fact you would not lose much if you throw it away.

How then should you prepare for Vocab and Grammar?

With only about 2 months available, we need to be selective and intensive and focus on those words and grammar statements that have a greater probability of appearing in CAT. Where will you find these high probability words and statements?

These are available in past CAT, XAT, IIFT & FMS papers, Mock CATs and FLTs.  So no prizes for guessing what I expect you to do. You need to mug up word and grammar statements from these papers.

From the past papers of CAT (1991 – 2008), XAT, Mock CATs and FLTs focus on the following type of questions:

  1. Synonyms & Antonyms: It is not sufficient to know the meaning of the word in the question only, you should know the meaning of all the words in the choices also.
  2. Fill in the blanks: These are important for both Sentence Correction and Vocabulary. A question with two blanks has 8 words in the choices make sure you know the meaning of all of them.
  3. Sentence Correction questions in which a part of the statement is incorrect, identify and try to remember the error.
  4. Sentence Correction questions with 4-5 statements in which we need to identify the grammatically incorrect statement(s), try to remember the reason why each statement is correct or incorrect.

You need to mug up all the words and the sentence correction questions from these papers. In each paper identify the words and the sentence correction statements that you have a problem remembering, mark these words and statements and revise them every week, this will ensure that you will be able to answer correctly at least 5 out of 7 vocabulary and sentence correction questions.

Start with past papers of CAT & XAT and the current Mock CATs. After finishing these papers you can consider moving on to IIFT and FMS papers.

CL’s mSIS app has a new Vocab Builder feature that can help you with a lot of difficult yet common words. The words, meanings of which are known to you already, can be marked as mastered while the remaining words remain unmastered. The mastered words will not appear again in the random list unless you specifically choose to revise them.

Students who have enrolled with CL for Test Gym (or any program that includes Test Gym) have an added advantage, Vocabulary section with over a hundred tests has been included in Test Gym and more tests are being added every day. My suggestion is to attempt four tests daily, book mark the important (or difficult) works and revise them regularly. Remember it take two to three rounds of revision to ensure that you do not forget the word.

All the best.

 

110 Comments

  3. Sir,
    I cannot decide which questions to leave in VRC because while solving the questions I believe that I can solve them. Hence, I end answering almost all the questions. This strategy works for me sometimes as I have score 99+ percentile in VRC in some of the mocks while the rest of the times the strategy backfires. Please help me out.

    • Siddhant, if you cannot decide then you do not have an option of leaving and should look at improving your accuracy. Suggest that you pick up your last 4-5 Mock CATs, go through the questions that you answered incorrectly, find out the reason for the error and also the logic behind the correct and incorrect answer choices. This will hopefully pull up your accuracy and hence the score in the subsequent Mocks.

  4. Hello Sir!
    This is Vinay currently working in Wipro Technologies Pune. I am a 2014 batch Engineering student. I have a keen interest in MBA (HR, Finance, Marketing) and I have started preparation for MBA 2016 as well. After working for almoat 10 hrs in office, I merely get 2-3 hrs on weekdays to study and on weekends I get enough time to study apart from coaching classes (T.I.M.E.). My academics is also not very effective:
    10th- 68%
    12th-74.3%
    B.E.- 7.72 (CGPA).
    I belong to the General Category.
    So could you please let me know, what exact strategy should I follow b/c I have top IIMs, NMIMS and FMS in my mind to get. Plus please let me know, whether my academics is ok to get calls from above mentioned colleges.

    Regards,

    Vinay Agrawal

    • Vinay, you may miss out on some of the IIMs due to your marks in X standard but most of the non IIMs would be possible. Please log on to IIM Profilizer for the list of IIMs from where you can get a call based on your profile and category.
      Regarding your preparation if you can spend about 2-3 hours on weekdays and about 6-8 hours on holidays then you should not have a problem. Just ensure that you do not lag behind your class.
      The process to be adopted is: Study the topic before the class, get your doubts cleared in the class and after the class go through what was covered in the class and start solving questions.

      • Hello Sir,
        Thank you so much for the response.

        I want to know about GMAT & GRE.
        What is the level of exam of these two?
        Actually I am thinking to go for them as well if not CAT. And I am not much aware about theae. Could you please help me here as well?
        Will it be worth to go for any of these exams if I don’t go for CAT?

        THANK YOU!!

        • Vinay, GMAT and GRE have a 70% overlap with CAT and and can be considered more difficult in terms of English but easier in terms of QA. Please drop me a mail at gp@careerlauncher.com along with your contact details and I’ll connect you to someone who can guide you on these two exams.
          It will be worthwhile to go for GMAT along with CAT since it will open up the options of ISB Hyderabad and top MBA institutes outside India.

  5. sir,

    I am taking NMAT on the 3rd of november. Please suggest a plan that I should stick to in the remaining days. Also, looking at the level of difficulty of the paper, please suggest which level of test gym I should practise on.

  7. GP Sir,

    Could you please write an article on identifying the tone of passage. In mocks the reason given is not systematic. Hence please write an article or redirect me to somewhere where I can learn it.

  8. Hello CL Team, Thank you for your wonderful post. I have three queries.
    1. Is the Test Gym advanced level/expert level at par with CAT?
    2. Will doing the questions in Test Gym for Grammar be sufficient for CAT 2015? I plan to do all the questions thoroughly.
    3. When will the post for LR-DI come up?

    • Karan,
      1. For CAT’15 you scan consider leaving the Expert level problems.
      2. Although, there might not be many Grammar questions in CAT’15, grammar questions of any exam can be tackled by practicing on the Test Gym.
      3. The LRDI post will be coming out very soon.

  10. hello Sir,
    i got a percentile of 88.4 in cmat sept-2014 with a score of 179.sir, please tell me whether i could apply to XISS HR with this percentile???

  11. Hello GP sir,

    I am working with panasonic from last 26 months.i am 25 years of age.I want to appear in CAT 2015.I want to quit the job n then prepare.wlll my work experience coumt during selection & so this gap of 1 year will do harm to me??

    should i continue with the job or leave it??
    my % is as:
    xth – 70%
    x11th – 54%
    b.tech – 58%

    is this percentage good enough for IIMs…???

    • Nitin, if possible prepare along with your job as MBA preparation is not a full time occupation. CAT’15 is over a year away and if you start now you should comfortably be able to prepare. Suggest you contact your closest CL center and check out the available CAT’15 batches for preparation.
      As a general category candidate, with your marks in school & college, IIM A and C will are unlikely unless you get almost a 100%ile in CAT. In IIB your work experience could help you compensate for the poor marks in XII and graduation. Other IIMs are possible but you will need over 99%ile in CAT.

  12. Hi GP sir,
    I am not able to get questions in vocab, it says test completed.
    ” I was relying on test Gym only for vocab”
    Please update on this? Shall I practice from some where else?

  13. hi sir,
    need your guidance for formulating a strategy to tackle rc section.can’t remembr da details of the passage after reading it hence face difficulties in answering the question.even if i review da question first itz hard to retain da other questions hence leads to tym waste.what strategy should b adopted…

    • krishi, you will need to either focus more while reading or look at attempting only factual questions. A technique that works for some people is of selecting passages based on the kind of questions that have been asked in the passage.

  14. Greetings GP

    An elegant strategy to prepare, however articulated in a contrite tone. The last sentence is a little blurry on conveying its notion.
    Anyways cheers for the post

  15. Sir,
    I have completed beginner & intermediate level of vocab section of test gym, but the advanced & expert level questions are showing as “no more questions”, by which I am unable to proceed further in this section. Sir, Please provide the questions of these level also

    Regards..

  16. Dear GP Sir!!

    Can you please throw some light on TISS? I mean about the test details, test window and about the reputation of TISS and which is most sought after course in it as I am confused whether to take it or not. Kindly guide..

    Thanks
    Suhas

  17. Sir,
    I am about to join TCS and had a query pertaining to that.
    Is work-ex considered in a situation where one doesn’t get a project and sits on the bench? or is it necessary to get a project for being considered as a candidate with work ex?

    P.S. I am aiming at CAT’15, although will give CAT 14 to get a feel of the new pattern. I had appeared for CAT’13 and converted calls of IMI Delhi and IMT Ghaziabad

    • Also, is one able to study for 3 hours daily especially on weekdays and full-time coaching on weekends considering I will be working in an organization like TCS. I hope I can find this answer from you sir. Nobody is able to guide me on this. 🙂
      P.S I am planning to join CL at Chennai from December. Please suggest me which is the best branch in terms of the faculty. :))

      • Rippon, the amount of time that you will get to prepare is a function of the project that you are assigned to and its deadline hence no one will be able to give you a definite answer to your question. However since you will be joining TCS straight out of college the first few months will be training which will require you to do some work after office hours and hence it will be prudent to assume that more than a couple of hours will be possible on weekdays for the first two months, after which it should not be a problem. The weekends will in any case be available to you fully and since CAT’15 will be in November next year you will have sufficient time to prepare. Your target should be to do well in CAT’14 so that CAT’15 preparation and become redundant and you have around 50 days to ensure that CL Chennai is not required.
        Faculty in Chennai moves across centres and hence you should join the centre that is most convenient in terms of distance.

    • Rippon, yes it will also be considered work experience and you will get marks for the same. However in the interview you will have to explain how you used the bench-time.

  18. Hello sir.
    I used to perform really well in the last Cat format but My performance has been very dismal since the pattern has changed. Quant used to be my strong area but now I m helpless even if I try I cannot attempt more than 15 questions. I am not able to figure out where do I lack in my preparation. Please guide me.

  19. Sir,
    I will be appearing for CAT 15. Should I use RD sharma to focus on the basics of Geometry and then progress to CAT level questions? Will that be ghelpful

  20. Hello GP Sir,
    Could you please tell me whether Age is a factor for post MBA placement? Actually I’m 27+ and planning for 2 years MBA in the next session.
    I have worked for 41 months in IT sector, then left my job in May, 2013 and started preparing for Bank/SSC CGL. Recently cleared SBI PO written exam and other bank exams along with CGL-14 are on my plate. I have kept MBA (interested in HR and Rural Management) as a backup option. Considering my age and career break of almost 2 years, would you please suggest me whether I should go for MBA or not? Kindly guide me sir.
    Thanks in advance.
    Sohan

    • Dear Sohan,

      In general, age is not a factor in placements. However, during your interviews for selection to b-schools, you may be asked about your gap years. If you can justify these, then there should not be any problem. So yes, you can definitely opt for an MBA.

  21. Dear Sir,
    Which among the following books is best for Static GK for MBA especially SNAP

    1. Manorama 2014
    2. Pratiyogita Darpan
    3. Competition Success Year Book
    4. Lucent’s GK
    5. Mathrubhumi year book

  22. GP Sir, here is a little off-the-topic query, but I needed to ask as I am experiencing a huge pressure. Sir, everything with my profile is third class, X-76.5, XII-69.4 -YEAR GAP- B.Tech-61 (to top it off, having another year-lag now because of 8th sem result), Hitting mostly 70-80 now on mocks (Not a CL student though, couldn’t afford that, sorry), SC Category, Sir will I be able to convert NIBM/ BIM/ IIFM/ Ifmr if I get my hands on the 85 pctnl range?? And please suggest me some colleges where placement is sure, as I will have to top the next college’s loan over my B.tech loan,just a job as I don’t have the luxury to demand fat packages or anything like that.
    Thank you sir

    • Abir, the 4 year gap will be an issue but it can be explained and a good CAT score will be required to ensure admission to a good MBA institute.
      Given your category a score of 85%ile will get you a call from most of the top IIMs and other top b schools that have reservations. You should not be considering NIBMs of the world but apply only to those institutes that have reservations for SC candidates. Focus on your preparation and ensure a 85%ile plus and you will find yourself in a IIM or IIT or FMS or one of the top Symbiosis (SIBM Pune or SCMHRD) institutes. Also IITs and FMS (DU) have a very low fee so you will not be burdened financially.
      You should take CAT, IIFT and SNAP. Institutes affiliated to NMAT and XAT do not have reservation so ignore them. Hope you have enrolled for the Test Series, we came out with a Rs 499/- offer of 10 Mock CATs, if not then let me know and as a special case will have it made available to you.

  23. Hi sir,

    Do we have an e-Sqc session this year as well?
    I recently joined CL chandigarh and have missed the SQC session.
    but my friends have told me last year two online sessions were conducted.
    I m requesting u to have them this year as well sir.
    Thanks

  24. Hi Sir, I hope you are doing well.

    Please guide me on techniques/strategies to improve my score in Section 1.

    My scores in QA/DI usually are in the 75-90%ile range while Setion 2 scores are pretty decent.

    The problem seems to be in my question selection. I am able to solve many questions while reviewing the paper, but unfortunately I miss out on the same during the test. My speed in quants is not great either, but question selection still remains the major issue.

    I am through with most concepts in quants(Its my second attempt). How do I improve my test taking ability?

    Also, how do we learn to focus/concentrate better for 3 hours? How do I improve in these two key areas?

    Thank you for your time.

  25. Sir,
    Actually from 1 month, I have started my vocabulary from flash cards & I have completed around 200+ words with also keeping a track of vocabs of prock & unprocks only. Is I am good going? I am targetting this month to complete with around 350+ words.
    One more question that I want to ask, Sir that, till what values one should remember square roots & cube roots? Is it above 15?

    Regards.

  26. Sir,
    I have been reading articles/editorials from the following sources. Could you please tell me whether they are sufficient in order to cover vast variety of topics pertaining to RCs in CAT
    1. TOI
    2.THE HINDU(especially the editorial)
    3.GUARDIAN(Only the editorial)
    4.aldaily.com(sometimes)
    Right now my reading speed is 175190 on an average. If an article is of my comfort level, then I am able to read at a speed of 200 wpm.

  27. GP sir,

    in the video analysis of strategies for cat`14 by gejo sir,
    gejo sir mentioned that in qa/di section out of 35ques(30-qa,5-ds)
    10ques will be from level1,10ques from level2 and 10ques from level3.sir how would you compare these level1/2/3 ques with the level of questions from test gym adaptive(beginner/intermediate/advanced/expert)
    also guide the same for va,lr,di so as to practice that level throughly.
    please reply sir need your help,i have mailed as well as posted this question in your other posts as well but no reply so far.
    please reply

    • Hi Yuvi,

      Level 1 – Beginner/Intermediate
      Level 2- Intermediate/Advanced
      Level 3- Advanced/Expert.

      This is a rough guideline. Most of the time, high difficulty level questions can be converted into Level 1 by using SQC techniques. The key is to try and ensure that you able to attempt at least around 35% – 40% of the questions in Quant.

      With regards to LR/DI and RC – use test gym and past CAT paper questions.

      Suggest that you give a time limit of 35 minutes and see how many you are able to knock off. It should be close to about 10. If that happens, then in the CAT in 1hr 40 min you will solve 30 questions.

      Regards

  28. Sir How to solve Questions of following Type::

    In Questions given below, the word in capitals is used in four different ways, Choose the option in which the usage is INCORRECT’

    Then a general word(4-5) alphabets which we often use in routine life……

    please please help me on this…

    • Vinit, this can be solved only if you have an excellent command over the language else ignore this question type in the paper.

  30. Thank you sir for this article. Could you please tell some of the good sources for reading, i mean newspapers, magazines, etc. Please do not tell me The Hindu, I find its editorials and articles very biased towards left wing groups so I dislike it. Generally I read NYT, Guardian, etc. but I don’t know whether they are good for CAT. For GMAT people advise to read them, but I would request you to please tell some good sources for daily reading

    • Satyam, My recommendation is to read the Indian Express daily. Additionally the Sunday Times and Hindustan Times on Sunday provide good reading material for CAT.

  31. sir,
    i need ur guidance on DI section. i mean how to solve them as they don’t have any specific method or pattern..

    • Shilpa, DI and LR can be improved by practice and exposure to different kinds of data sets. Please attempt all the data sets in mocks at least twice and do the same for DI sets of CAT 1991-99

  32. Thankyou sir for the suggestions. these are really helpful

    I have just started my preparation two weeks ago and my test date is 6th nov. Can you pleaasee pleaasee suggest as to how to go about my preparation. There is soo much to do and so less time. i am absolutely clueless where and how to start.

    I have joined the CL crash course and have been studying the topic concepts and giving topic based tests for the past two weeks.
    i gave one proctored mock test and my score was just 21. it was very demotivating. i have been a topper throughout school and college and i know i can do it but i am not able to find the right approach as to the preparation as there is little time left. i am ready to put my 100percent effort.
    pleeaaseeeee pllleeeaassseeeee help me. plleeeasseee

    Thankyou
    Ambica

    • Ambica, yours is a late start for CAT’13 so you need to put in extra effort and should be willing to live with low proc scores initially.
      Your preparation should focus on the MCQs in the fundabooks and the Mocks – Proc + Unproc. Analyse every paper as suggested in my blog Things you must-do after every mock you take and revise regularly. Additionally do attempt al the past CAT papers.

  33. Sir,

    Please do a session on Algebra and Geometry. These cover a great percentage of questions in CAT. It would be great if the fundabooks are discussed ahead of all other topics.

    Regards,
    Saurav

  36. Sir,
    I have placed the order for the book you suggested me. Could you please tell me how to use this book efficiently keeping in mind the number of days left for CAT? Should I start with 1990 papers or do you recommend working backwards from 2008 papers?
    One last thing which I would like to know is about the validity of this strategy in Quants section. From your experience, what do you think is the probability of a repeat question in Section-1?(Just to know how much to focus on each section of this book given that the number of pages of this book is around 750)

    • Sanjay, while I have seen questions from the past papers being repeated do not bank on it happening but it will still give you excellent practice and exposure.
      From these papers, focus on:
      1. DI of the 1990s.
      2. Parajumbles, Para completion, critical reasoning & summary type of questions from 1997 onwards
      3. RC from 1997 onwards
      4. QA and LR of all the papers.

  37. Sir, i did all the CL quant books sincerely now i’m very much struggling with quant in mocks…even i scored -ve in the last unproc mock(8)…..well i have started doing chapter wise quant cat previous years questions(1991-2010)…please advise me on this particular area….even what i have analysed is…in the mocks…i wasn’t able to recall easy question’s formula….which were direct hit…

    • Akshay, not able to recall easy questions (or formulae) clearly indicates lack of revision. Revision is essential for increasing speed and hence attempts in the paper.

      In the next 2 weeks shift your focus from practice to revision. Please attempt the QADI questions from all the Mock CATs (Proc & Unproc) that you have taken so far. Do this twice, identify the important questions and revise them every week till you almost remember the questions. Continue with this for all Mocks and MCQs that you take. This will ensure increase in speed. Hope you have done all the exercises in the DI fundabook.

      • Sir, i can assure u i have finished with Fundabooks of DI(except those take-off test)…..bt nt able to perform at mocks…..n please guide me how to revise….i mean revise all the concepts or should i approach concepts question wise through mocks…

        • Akshay, revise the important questions from – Fundabook MCQs, Section tests, Mock CATs and Test Gym. Do not worry about the concepts, they will be taken care of via these questions.

  38. Sir,facing a lot of problem in RC’s,really need some guidance to do atleast 6 correct out of 9 questions in the exam.

    • Shaivang, hope you have gone through the bogposts by Gejo, he will be posting more articles on RC. Keep in touch. Also focus on Para Completion, it will be helpful in RC and critical reasoning.

  39. Sir where can I find the past papers of CAT (1991 – 2008)?? Could
    you please suggest me a website for the same?

  41. Smart tricks sir. I’ll get to work today only.And sir can u please suggest any good book or two to read in the voids within the next 2 months.

  43. Hi sir,

    Thanks for the tip. I have a problem in questions involving paragraph jumble. Even , if , it seems that I have totally understood the problem and arranged the problem in a proper order. Still, on an average , I fail 5 out of 10 times in reaching to the main answer. Any tip for this ? I wish to at least avoid those futile attempts where I end up with getting a -1

    Thanks !

  44. Thank you sir for your valuable guidelines
    I was looking for this very thing.
    Got stuck up in my job and was not able to focus on cat as much as it needed my attention.

  48. your guidance r very useful what i am very dual student my English is very poor so what matter i have in cress my english level……….

  50. A helpful article, indeed! Could you please provide us something on the most important topics in Grammar? For e.g. Modifiers, Parallelism etc which can be helpful in solving Comprehension and other related questions. It helps! Thank you! 🙂

    • Vaishali, I do not know grammar hence most of the terms used by you are unknown to me. I have been helped by my reading habits and focus on revision.

  54. Thank you sir. I will start doing it from now. and sir please suggest some tips on how to solve RC questions

  57. Good tips! I really hope to bump into you one day — I’ll have a lot to talk to you about. And a lot of questions, of course. 🙂
    A question, though: what does ‘GP’ expand to in its full-form?

    Cheers!
    Nikhil
    CL, Satya Niketan

  59. Extremely helpful , I think a kind of speed preparation
    Will start this today and shall follow up with you in case I face any issues or for further suggestions with this approach.

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