Preparing for the VARC (Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension) section of the CAT (Common Admission Test) is not just about having a good command of the English language. It requires a strategic approach, consistent practice, and an intellectual bent of mind. Here’s how you can achieve that elusive 99 percentile in the VARC section.
1. CAT Reading Comprehension Requires an Intellectual Bent of Mind
While proficiency in English is essential, it’s not enough to ace the Reading Comprehension (RC) section of the CAT. The RC passages cover a wide array of topics, requiring you to be well-read and comfortable with diverse subjects. Here’s a snapshot of the topics commonly seen in CAT RC passages:
| Topic | Examples |
|---|---|
| Humanities and Social Sciences | Sociology, Philosophy, Psychology |
| Business and Economics | Market Trends, Economic Policies, Business Strategies |
| Natural Sciences | Biology, Physics, Environmental Studies |
| Literature and Arts | Literary Criticism, Art History, Music Theory |
| Current Affairs | Contemporary Issues, Technological Advancements |
To excel in RC, immerse yourself in varied reading materials such as academic journals, editorials, and literature. This will not only broaden your knowledge base but also enhance your ability to comprehend and analyze complex texts.
To illustrate this point, I’ve compiled a list of RC passages from various entrance exams, showcasing the breadth of topics covered. This list not only serves as a guide for prospective test-takers but also highlights the intellectual engagement required to excel in these exam.
| Category | Exam | Year | Topic |
| Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Psychology & Psychoanalysis | CAT | 2002 | The Nature and Role of Philosophy |
| CAT | 2006 | Distinction and Interaction Between a Dogmatic and a Critical Attitude | |
| CAT | 2006 | A Conception of Justice | |
| CAT | 2007 | Understanding the Scientific Tradition of a Community | |
| XAT | 2008 | The Principle of “Karma” is at the Centre of Hindu Thought | |
| XAT | 2008 | A View on Experimentalism—Deborah Mayo, a Philosopher of Science | |
| XAT | 2008 | The Transcendent Function of Jungian Psychoanalysis | |
| XAT | 2009 | Hatha Yoga Deals Principally with The Physiological Part of Man | |
| XAT | 2010 | Is Expenditure in Research of Particle Physics a Waste? | |
| XAT | 2010 | “Probability of Death” When Referring to a Single Person is Meaningless | |
| XAT | 2011 | Our Preoccupation with Consumerism and Virtual-Reality Narcissism is Threatening our Survival as a Species | |
| XAT | 2011 | Our Innate Desire for Order Compels Us to Seek Order | |
| XAT | 2013 | Verification and Falsification of Scientific Beliefs | |
| XAT | 2013 | The Value of Quick Estimates—Enrico Fermi | |
| XAT | 2014 | Lack of a Consistent Definition of Probability | |
| XAT | 2015 | The Genetic Vulnerability Model of Human Behaviour | |
| XAT | 2016 | The Axioms of Objectivism (as propounded by Ayn Rand) | |
| XAT | 2016 | The Laws of Nature as We Know Them—Mere Approximations to the Complete Truth | |
| XAT | 2017 | Is There Something Called “Human Nature”? | |
| XAT | 2017 | The Core Deficit of Psychopaths—A Lack of Compassion | |
| XAT | 2018 | Philosophical Investigation—The Fixation of Belief | |
| XAT | 2018 | The Mystery of Consciousness is not “What It Is” but “Why It Is” | |
| Political Science, Economy, History & War | CAT | 1999 | The Art of War: Eastern and Western |
| CAT | 1999 | The Concept of the Nation-State | |
| CAT | 2001 | Democracy Rests on a Tension Between the Equality and the Leadership Principle | |
| CAT | 2002 | Histories of India: Different Approaches | |
| CAT | 2003 | Why did Britain in 1947 Give Up India? | |
| CAT | 2004 | Evolution and Current State of Indian Federalism | |
| CAT | 2004 | The Viability of the Multinational Corporate System (International Capitalist System) | |
| CAT | 2005 | The Second Age of Globalization: All-round Prosperity Masking Strains in the Global Economy | |
| CAT | 2006 | Condemning the Crimes of Communism When Communism Has Been Long Dead in Europe—A Paradox | |
| CAT | 2007 | Difficulty in Evaluating Causative Factors in History | |
| CAT | 2008 | Collapse of the Maya Civilisation: Main Causes | |
| CAT | 2017 | The Vikings may have been traders before they were plunderers. | |
| CAT | 2017 | Different Orientations of Early Maps in the Long History of Human Map-Making | |
| CAT | 2018 | India’s Contribution to the Second World War Should be duly Recognized and Brought into the Ambit of the New National War Memorial | |
| XAT | 2009 | The Challenges Faced by “Green Parties” in Advancing their “Green Agenda” | |
| XAT | 2012 | SEZs/EPZs Policy—India Failed While China Succeeded | |
| XAT | 2012 | Understanding Human Motivation: Interaction Between ‘Agency’ and ‘Well-Being” Aspects | |
| XAT | 2013 | Neo-Classical Economics, Free-Market Capitalism and Open Society | |
| XAT | 2014 | Men are Bigger Than Governments | |
| XAT | 2015 | Competitive Markets are Efficient for Private Goods But Not for Public Goods | |
| XAT | 2016 | Limits of Markets and Government Intervention | |
| XAT | 2018 | History is not an immutable reality but an accidental chain of events | |
| XAT | 2018 | Labour and Capital—Identical or with Separate Identities | |
| IIFT | 2013 | Removing misgivings that capitalism promotes immorality | |
| IIFT | 2014 | General Garibaldi—The Battle for Rome | |
| Evolution, Genetics, Nature, Climate Change & Environment | CAT | 2004 | The Maneless Tsavo Lions—A Reputation for Ferocity |
| CAT | 2017 | Natural selection is more important than physical isolation and gene flow to speciation (evolutionary divergence) | |
| CAT | 2017 | Effect of climate change on the subnivium – the ecosystem between the snowpack and the ground in the frigid season | |
| CAT | 2018 | The Recently Observed Aggressive Behaviour of Elephants towards Humans is the Result of a Species-Wide Trauma Suffered by Elephants | |
| CAT | 2018 | Blame for Plastic Pollution Should Go Not to Wasteful Consumers But to the Producers of Plastic | |
| CAT | 2018 | Evolution is a Complex Process Involving Genetic, Epigenetic, Developmental and Ecological Factors | |
| CAT | 2018 | How are the White-lipped Variety of Grove Snails Endemic to two Very Specific and Distant Places? | |
| IIFT | 2009 | ‘Enhanced greenhouse effect’ due to the human factor | |
| Science, Technology & Society | CAT | 2000 | New Developments in Computer Hardware |
| CAT | 2001 | Quasars Throw Light on Cosmic Dark Age | |
| CAT | 2002 | Human Cells: A Marvel of Nature’s Design | |
| CAT | 2003 | The Controversy over Genetically-Modified Foods | |
| CAT | 2003 | Modern Science: Galileo and Newton | |
| CAT | 2004 | The History of Aviation Technology | |
| CAT | 2004 | Malnutrition: Major Cause of Degenerative Diseases | |
| CAT | 2018 | Saturn’s Rings and Moons are Young—Between 200m and 70m Years Old | |
| XAT | 2012 | Is the Process of Evolution Applicable to Technology? | |
| XAT | 2017 | Technological Life—A Series of Endless Upgrades | |
| IIFT | 2010 | Kodak lost out because it did little to ready itself for the onslaught of digital technology | |
| IIFT | 2015 | Otlet was a visionary who anticipated the Internet | |
| IIFT | 2016 | A digital camera—A new eye for self-directing robots | |
| Society, Culture, Morality & Human Behaviour | CAT | 2000 | Innovative Technology Have Negative Outcomes on Existing Societies and Cultures |
| CAT | 2001 | Racial and Caste-based Discrimination | |
| CAT | 2002 | The Practice of Abortion | |
| CAT | 2003 | A Conception of Social Life and Sociability | |
| CAT | 2004 | Straddlers, with one foot in the working-class and the other in the middle-class, are at home in neither world | |
| CAT | 2004 | Lack of Real Change | |
| CAT | 2007 | Social Life: Reciprocal Roles Determine Social Behaviour NOT Biological Factors | |
| CAT | 2008 | The Undesirable Aspects/Consequences of the Morality of a Consumerist Society | |
| CAT | 2017 | Creativity is a social process and cities are the true fonts of creativity | |
| CAT | 2018 | There is a Disturbing Trend towards Quantification and Monitoring of Happiness for Ulterior Motives | |
| XAT | 2009 | People Around the World Would Think Better of America if Its Leaders Consistently Behaved Better | |
| XAT | 2011 | The Disadvantages of Conforming to The Norms of “Normal” Life | |
| XAT | 2011 | Immigration Promotes the Development of Both Host and Home Nations | |
| XAT | 2011 | The Reason for Favouring the Diffusionist View over the Evolutionary One of the Development of Human Civilisation | |
| XAT | 2013 | Competing Fundamental Rights | |
| XAT | 2014 | Laws Cannot Change Social Norms | |
| XAT | 2014 | Ethical Understanding of How to Live with Others | |
| XAT | 2014 | Religion is a Source of Conflict Not Peace | |
| XAT | 2015 | Is the Problem in The Modern World Not That We Have Too Much Morality But That We Have Too Little? | |
| XAT | 2015 | The Paradoxical Nature of Empathy | |
| XAT | 2017 | Resurgence of Strongmen | |
| XAT | 2017 | Humans are Hard-Wired to Be Lazy | |
| XAT | 2018 | There is No Single Way of Living a Life That Can Be Held Up as an Ideal | |
| XAT | 2018 | Shifting Standards of Beauty | |
| IIFT | 2011 | How Cloning Can Affect Humanity? | |
| IIFT | 2011 | A Very Sophisticated Ethical Decision: Differentiating between Ethical and Moral Problems | |
| IIFT | 2014 | Western Capitalism as a dynamic system—Capable of Reform | |
| IIFT | 2018 | Factors that Shape and Change Culture and Society over Time | |
| The Arts, Literature & Its Theory/Concepts | CAT | 1999 | Abstract versus Representational Art |
| CAT | 2000 | Literature’s Mirror to Society | |
| CAT | 2001 | James Joyce’s “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” | |
| CAT | 2002 | The Quest for Identity in Colonial Literature | |
| CAT | 2003 | Jazz Music as a Revolutionary Art Form | |
| CAT | 2004 | The Influence of Classical Mythology on Renaissance Art | |
| CAT | 2005 | Derrida’s Deconstruction Approach | |
| CAT | 2006 | The Symbolism in W.B. Yeats’ Poetry | |
| CAT | 2007 | The Concept of ‘Theatre of the Absurd’ | |
| CAT | 2008 | Shakespeare’s Influence on Modern Literature | |
| CAT | 2018 | How Literary Criticism Shapes Our Understanding of Texts? | |
| XAT | 2015 | Literature as a Reflection of Social Change | |
| XAT | 2016 | Artistic Expressions in Postmodern Society | |
| IIFT | 2008 | An excerpt from the science fiction classic, ‘Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea’ | |
| Education, Learning, Language & Communication | CAT | 2001 | Role of Phonological Skills in Young Children’s Reading Development |
| CAT | 2004 | Cognitive Development in Early Childhood | |
| CAT | 2005 | How Language Shapes Our Worldview | |
| CAT | 2007 | The Importance of Multilingual Education | |
| CAT | 2017 | The Debate on Bilingual Education in America | |
| XAT | 2014 | Effectiveness of Different Learning Strategies | |
| XAT | 2015 | What Happens in The Human Brain While Learning | |
| XAT | 2018 | The Role of Critical Thinking in Education | |
| IIFT | 2012 | Does reading fiction help in improving empathy? | |
| IIFT | 2017 | Close reading for deeper comprehension | |
| Industry, Business & Management Theory/Concepts | CAT | 2005 | The Game of Strategy: It is not about Luck but about Skill and Intelligence |
| CAT | 2006 | The Role of Corporate Governance in Modern Business | |
| CAT | 2007 | Leadership Styles and Their Impact on Organizational Performance | |
| CAT | 2017 | Start-ups and Their Role in Economic Growth | |
| CAT | 2018 | Challenges in Managing a Global Workforce | |
| XAT | 2014 | It is Demeaning to Work for Money | |
| XAT | 2015 | The Importance of Ethical Leadership in Business | |
| XAT | 2016 | The Role of Innovation in Business Success | |
| XAT | 2017 | The Impact of Digital Transformation on Traditional Business Models | |
| XAT | 2018 | Balancing Profitability and Social Responsibility in Business | |
| IIFT | 2016 | Problems of the Glocalisation Approach | |
| Foreign Trade, Specific Industry Trends & Case Studies | CAT | 1999 | The Creation of WTO |
| CAT | 2002 | The Role of Foreign Direct Investment in Economic Development | |
| CAT | 2004 | International Trade Policies and Their Impact on Emerging Economies | |
| CAT | 2005 | The Dynamics of Global Supply Chains | |
| CAT | 2007 | The Influence of Trade Agreements on Global Commerce | |
| CAT | 2018 | The Role of Innovation in Driving Economic Growth in Developing Countries | |
| XAT | 2010 | Analysis of the Global Financial Crisis and Its Aftermath | |
| XAT | 2013 | The Rise of E-commerce and Its Impact on Retail Industry | |
| XAT | 2016 | The Challenges of Managing a Global Brand | |
| XAT | 2018 | The Future of Work in a Globalized Economy | |
| IIFT | 2009 | Switching to the Direct Selling Model by DELL | |
| IIFT | 2012 | The Impact of Globalization on Local Economies | |
| IIFT | 2013 | The Role of Technology in Transforming the Banking Sector | |
| IIFT | 2014 | Understanding the Growth of Emerging Markets | |
| General Topics | CAT | 2000 | The Social Implications of Scientific Research |
| CAT | 2001 | The Role of Media in Shaping Public Opinion | |
| CAT | 2002 | The Importance of Cultural Heritage in Modern Society | |
| CAT | 2003 | The Ethical Dilemmas in Medical Advancements | |
| CAT | 2004 | The Impact of Sports on Social Cohesion | |
| CAT | 2005 | The Role of Art in Human Development | |
| CAT | 2017 | The Economic Benefits of Sports Mega Events | |
| CAT | 2018 | The Role of Social Media in Modern Communication | |
| XAT | 2011 | The Challenges of Urbanization in Developing Countries | |
| XAT | 2012 | The Importance of Sustainable Development in Urban Planning | |
| XAT | 2013 | The Role of Technology in Modern Education | |
| XAT | 2014 | The Future of Renewable Energy | |
| XAT | 2016 | The Impact of Climate Change on Global Agriculture | |
| XAT | 2017 | The Importance of Biodiversity Conservation | |
| XAT | 2018 | The Role of Innovation in Addressing Global Health Challenges | |
| IIFT | 2010 | The Impact of Globalization on Cultural Identity | |
| IIFT | 2011 | The Role of International Organizations in Global Governance | |
| IIFT | 2012 | The Challenges of Implementing Global Environmental Policies | |
| IIFT | 2013 | The Role of Women in Economic Development | |
| IIFT | 2014 | The Importance of Human Rights in International Relations | |
| IIFT | 2015 | The Role of Education in Promoting Social Equity | |
| IIFT | 2016 | The Challenges of Addressing Global Poverty | |
| IIFT | 2017 | The Role of Technology in Transforming Healthcare | |
| IIFT | 2018 | The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Employment | |
| IIFT | 2018 | Factors that Shape and Change Culture and Society Over Time |
2. 100% CAT VARC Questions Are Based on Reading. So Read. Read and Read.
The entire VARC section hinges on your reading ability. Apart from Reading Comprehension, you’ll encounter questions on:
- Summary Based Questions
- Parajumbles
- Paracompletion
- Odd One Out
- Critical Reasoning
A lack of robust reading habits can be disastrous. Regular reading helps improve your speed and accuracy, essential for navigating through dense and tricky passages and questions.
3. Solve Critical Reasoning Questions
Although Critical Reasoning questions aren’t the mainstay of the CAT VARC section, practicing them can significantly enhance your linguistic and logical reasoning skills. Critical Reasoning involves evaluating arguments, identifying assumptions, and drawing inferences—all of which are crucial for acing RC passages. Regular practice in this area will sharpen your analytical thinking, aiding overall performance.
4. Solve at Least 4 RC Passages Every Day for 6 Months
There are no shortcuts when it comes to preparing for the CAT VARC section. Consistent practice is key. Commit to solving at least four RC passages every day for six months leading up to the exam. This rigorous practice will help you:
- Improve comprehension skills
- Develop the ability to quickly identify key ideas and arguments
- Enhance your accuracy in answering questions
In addition to RC passages, engage in eclectic reading. Explore a variety of genres and topics to keep your mind agile and prepared for the unpredictable nature of the CAT exam.
By following these strategies—broadening your reading horizons, honing your critical reasoning skills, and committing to daily practice—you can significantly improve your chances of scoring a 99 percentile in the VARC section of the CAT. Remember, the journey to mastering VARC is one of persistence, practice, and intellectual curiosity.
