Preparing for the Common Admission Test (CAT) is definitely challenging but also a rewarding journey for almost all the aspiring MBA students in India. Among its three sections—Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Quantitative Ability (QA), the VARC section can be particularly problematic for students who lack habit of reading. Be it the portion of the reading comprehension or verbal ability, reading skills is the underlying skill which you need to be good at. However, not all of us are much habituated to reading from our childhood which may hinder our scores in VARC. This article will tackle that issue by help you strategize your VARC preparation for CAT 2025. In this article, we will explore practical and effective Tips to Improve Reading Skills for CAT 2025 VARC Section. From building reading habits to mastering comprehension techniques, you will find everything you need to approach this section with confidence.
1. Start with a Reading Routine for CAT VARC Section
Building a strong reading habit is the first step that you should take for improving your reading skills. Try to keep at least 30 to 45 minutes daily to read diverse content from various sources such as newspapers, magazines, books and online articles. Try to focus on reputed sources like The Hindu, The Economic Times, The Guardian and Harvard Business Review. These are amazing sources and provide quality content to be fluent with.
Why is this important?
CAT exam does not just test your ability to read simple content but also it includes passages from varied domains such as philosophy, literature, science and business. Making yourself exposed to different types of reading material will help you get more comfortable with various complex and unfamiliar topics.
Pro Tip: try to create a reading schedule and track your progress over time. You can also maintain a record to summarize key points from what you have read. This will ensure that not only you understand passages or articles but also retain them well.
2. Improve Your Vocabulary Gradually
Though CAT does not ask vocab directly, but a strong vocabulary is essential for understanding reading passages quickly and very accurately. However, do not stress yourself by trying to memorize endless list of words. Instead, take a slow yet contextual approach.
CAT VARC Preparation – How to build vocabulary naturally:
- Read regularly: Reading will itself ensure that you encounter newer words everyday, improving your vocabulary.
- Maintain a vocabulary record: Write down new words, their meanings and example in certain sentences.
- Use flashcards: Tools like Anki or physical flashcards are great for quick revisions. This you can do as a break from regular work or preparation.
- Contextual learning: Focus on understanding words within the context of any passage rather than just memorizing definitions as meanings change a lot.
3. Practice Skimming and Scanning Techniques
Efficient reading during the CAT exam requires you learn and master the art of skimming and scanning. Let us now try to understand what does these mean?
Skimming: Quickly glance through a passage to understand the main idea without reading every word.
Scanning: Look for specific keywords or information in the passage to answer certain questions. Often passages are overload of information and not all information is relevant.
How to practice:
- When reading an article or passage, you can approach paragraph by paragraph, understanding the theme and transition.
- Practice reading faster without compromising on understanding.
- Reading and attempting questions under timed scenarios. Practise topic or sectional mocks to test yourself.
4. Work on Active Reading Strategies for CAT VARC 2025
Reading passively will not help you to retain information or answer questions quickly and correctly. Therefore, engage actively with the text by doing the following things:
- Recollecting what sentences where in which part of the passages is important as CAT is a computer-based test and not a pen-paper.
- Ask yourself questions while reading as to what does this mean. This will help you understand the context even better.
- Making summaries in your mind at the end of each paragraph will help you connect with the next paragraph.
Hence, be focussed and avoid any form of distraction to retain most of the things.
5. Analyze and Understand Question Types
One of the tips to Improve Reading Skills for CAT 2025 VARC Section is to analyze CAT VARC questions come in various format. They include but are not limited to inference-based, main idea, tone, and factual questions. Familiarizing yourself with all of these types will help you know what to look for while reading the passages.
How to approach different question types:
- Inference-based questions in CAT VARC Section: Focus on implied meanings and read between the lines. This might sound very vague but you need to know the underlying message.
- Main idea questions: Identify the primary purpose of the passage. The central theme plays a major role here.
- Tone questions: Pay attention to the writer’s attitude and language. It could be joyful, cynical, melancholic, etc.
- Factual questions: Locate and verify specific information in the passage. These are usually the easiest as almost everything is on the surface and you do not need anything extra to find or interpret.
Practicing with previous years’ CAT papers and analyzing the question patterns will give you more valuable insights.
6. Strengthen Grammar and Sentence Structure Understanding
While VARC primarily tests comprehension, a good hold of grammar and sentence structure can enhance your understanding and help you in the verbal ability part of the section.
- For questions like odd one out, understand the basic grammar rules, identify the starting point of a coherent paragraph, etc.
- Practise more of basic grammar so that you are able to make a coherent paragraph in questions like para jumbles.
7. Join Reading and Discussion Groups
Learning becomes even more engaging and insightful when done in a group setting. Join different reading groups or forums where participants who read and discuss articles, books, and current events. Engaging in such discussions will expose you to diverse and varied perspectives which will help you improve your analytical skills. Social media platforms like Quora, Reddit, or even WhatsApp study groups can be valuable for exchanging ideas about reading recommendations and other insights. You can also have a look at iQuanta’s facebook group which is the largest online community for MBA aspirants where every minute, students share their doubts and insights and also get inputs from mentors.
8. Take CAT Mock Tests and Analyze Performance
One of the tips to Improve Reading Skills for CAT 2025 VARC Section is to attempt mock tests. Regular practice through mock tests is very crucial for acing the CAT VARC section. Allocate specific days as you prepare and move closer to CAT to take full-length mock tests and analyze your performance thoroughly. You can also appear for sectional mock tests to understand your performance only in VARC.
How to analyze effectively:
- Review incorrect answers to understand your mistakes. Try to resolve them again.
- Identify patterns in errors, such as difficulties with specific question types and figure out a strategy to improve on those.
- Track your reading speed and comprehension accuracy over time. Check if you are rushing or spending extra time on certain areas.
Mock tests help you build the exact exam temperament and improve time management, focusing on speed and accuracy.
9. Focus on Reading for Inference, Not Just Information
One of the critical aspects of the CAT VARC section is the ability to infer meanings rather than just extract factual information. This is the exact reason why many of us actually struggle to reach to the right answer. Practice reading articles where the author’s opinions or perspectives are subtly conveyed and you need to deduce the meaning further.
Examples:
- Editorials from newspapers like The Hindu or The New York Times.
- Opinion pieces on various websites.
Analyzing the underlying messages and forming your own interpretations will enhance your inference skills which would be needed in the actual CAT exam.
10. Keep a Balanced Reading Mix
While it is essential to read academic and other challenging content, do not forget to indulge in some leisure, light genre reading occasionally. Fiction books, biographies and even light-hearted blogs can refresh your mind and make reading enjoyable. This is in-turn increase your focus over time.
Recommended Reads:
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (fiction)
- Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari (non-fiction)
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (psychology)
How iQuanta can help you prepare even better?
iQuanta has recently launched a specially curated VARC module for people who are extremely weak in VARC section. This module will help you build the base slowly and move on to more complex questions over time.
- It has a total of 40 videos on RC, 12 CAT VA videos with 10 VA questions, 7 strategy-based videos to attempt tricky questions just like the CAT level.
- Apart from these features mentioned above, you also get access to 60+ videos with 30 hours of VARC niche content, curated only for CAT.
- Additionally, the best part is that you get 7 strategy videos including reading strategy, option elimination, para jumble solving strategy, etc.
- One of the salient features of joining the iQuanta community is that your doubts get cleared within 15 minutes and it is available 24*7.
If you are targeting a 99+%ile in CAT 2025, iQuanta has got you covered. Get highly relevant content along and prepare right from the very basics with iQuanta’s CAT Course. iQuanta has made a record with 500+ 99 percentilers in CAT 2024.
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