Reading Comprehension is one of the most important sections in almost all the competitive exams and the same holds true for CAT as well. The RC section requires one to analyze and evaluate passages from various topics say Economics, Literature, Philosophy, Science, History, Politics etc. One who is planning to write CAT should start early by extensive reading of such texts. (You can consider various sources: The Hindu, Open page etc.). MBAGuru students have an upper edge as they have access to thousands of such articles selected by Wharton, Chicago, IIMs and ISB.
Please remember while reading that: "Reading is not about words." Instead, it is about creating a mental framework that helps you process words and ideas. Reading should be followed by RC tests of good quality. However, only taking tests is analogous to "looking at oneself in the mirror, spotting the dirt and complaining again and again - my face is dirty, my face is dirty." As washing the face is important, similarly analyzing the RC and evaluating the answers is very important!
To attack an RC -
Firstly, while reading, keep some basic questions in mind: What is the objective of the speaker? What is the purpose of using example? Is there a cause-effect relationship? etc. Also, focus on the topic, scope, purpose, main idea and paragraph structure. Pretend that you have a partner or your job is to explain him or yourself what the passage is about in 10 seconds. Whisper it to yourself! This would help you paraphrase because anything that shifts your thoughts from concrete data to abstract notions, such as the main idea or the purpose, will help you.
Secondly, watch out for words that signal author’s opinion, feelings, tones and that trigger cause effect relationship. If the author notes any challenges/doubts about a particular hypothesis or argument, make a mental note.
Thirdly, don’t memorize, don’t get bogged down by details. Note the location of the details.
In case of abstract RCs, don’t worry if all details are not immediately comprehensible because in such a case, what is important is the key idea!
Fourthly, while answering the questions, one can very briefly scan each paper as fast as possible and mentally make bullet points of the main purpose of each paragraph. For example, if there are three paragraphs, there should be three points. Then, questions yourself what is the author trying to do here? Why has he/she presented the information in this order? What is his/her intent?
The idea is to reverse engineer the end point and go back to the moment when the author was just beginning to lay out his ideas on paper. These thoughts will help you think from the author’s perspective and the point of removing your eye from the RC passage is to remove any chance that you would let what is in front of your eye influence your thinking subconsciously.
Finally, elimination of options is very important. For example, you can eliminate options on the following basis: out of scope, incorrect data, redundant information, extreme words etc.
Ashish is one of the youngest and most passionate CAT trainers at MBAGuru, India’s fastest growing CAT Coaching Institute! And it is these qualities that make him a favorite among MBAGuru students across Delhi centres. Extremely approachable and ever-so-polite, his demeanor proves extremely effective when it comes to helping MBAGuru students learn the nuances of English and communication.
The entire faculty team, who helped me, were extremely inspirational and encouraging. It wouldn’t be far-fetched to say that MBAGuru had a major role in shaping me as what I was at the time of the interviews. The experience has been very enlightening. The enthusiasm and optimism was contagious.
