We hope you’ve been reading regularly and revising for CAT 2020 for we’ve unequivocally entered the last leg of CAT Prep! In this concise article, I will dive into the Last Mile Strategy for VARC for CAT 2020 and answer 2 vital questions. Read on!
1. How to answer all questions in VARC?
I’m going to be blunt with my answer to this question: you don’t.
I scored 99.2% in CAT 2019’s VARC Section after answering about 24-25 questions. I may have gotten 2-3 of them wrong I think. A slight caveat here, 24-25 questions may have been applicable only for CAT 2019, given the difficulty of the VARC Section last year. So, don’t benchmark that number as a measure for success in your VARC Section.
By saying, “you don’t answer all the questions in VARC”, I am not saying you shouldn’t look to get 99.9% in VARC. My point is that you don’t have to attempt all the questions to get where you need to go. Sometimes, I even go to the extent of unmarking certain questions that I find unnerving. Any question where I feel uncertain about, and where I know my percentile will take a hit, I skip or unmark that question.
While attempting your mocks, try and utilize this last mile strategy for VARC.
It is not a crime to skip questions. 🙂
We’ve speculated that the CAT 2020 Pattern will witness a proportional decrease in questions within sections as well. So be prepared for anything, stay calm and await the official notification from IIMCAT. 🙂
Then again, what about when you’ve done your VARC Preparation right, you’ve eliminated all but 2 options and are unable to decide between 2 final options. How does one overcome this? Should you skip it or try your best to eliminate one last option?
2. How to overcome the struggle of choosing between the last 2 options in RC?
To put it simply, there is some subtle (with time, it won’t feel so subtle; it will be jumping out at you) difference between these last 2 options. The people who set the paper contrive this dilemma by throwing in an appealing incorrect option.
Sometimes, both options are correct. This happens as well. What do you do then? Think about this, even between these two options, there is one that is the best option within the context of that particular question. This is why it is vital to go back to the question and fully assimilate it.
If all else fails, and you are still stuck, unmark the question and move on to the next one. Just because you have spent 13 minutes reading the RC Passage, spent 3-4 minutes answering the first 3 questions, it doesn’t mean you have to answer the 4th question mandatorily.
If you are sharp enough, you will skip that question. The CAT indubitably tests your time management, but more importantly, it tests your ability to think and apply yourself.
Last Mile Strategy for VARC
Keep reading. Keep on reading. Reading is everything. Read for the joy of reading. Check out Bharath’s Curated Reading List for your daily reading needs, apart from whatever piques your reading interest. The ideas and concepts within every article will help hone your reading abilities and broaden your knowledge base as well.
We have explored tons of sectional strategies for the VARC section in our blog. Here are the links to the most useful of them, within this short time-frame we find ourselves in.
1) 3 Key Ideas to Nail the VARC Section of CAT.
2) How to Read for Reading Comprehension for CAT.
3) CAT Verbal Ability Preparation.
Margin of error in choosing RC passages:
The margin of error has to become lower and lower, especially with a 40 minute limit for each section. Having said that…it is not that you cannot read a passage and understand it.
Take CAT 2019 Slot 2, for example. Almost all the RC’s were tough and tricky, with jumpy questions. It was nothing short of a nightmare BUT if an aspirant had put their head down, they could have answered at least 3 passages. An aspirant who read regularly and meticulously, would have answered 4 passages accurately.
Point is, do not worry about skipping passages when needed. It is alright to do so. I skipped 1 passage in CAT 2019 because I did not have time to even read it, and ended up scoring 99.21% in the VARC Section.
Another key point to remember is that just because you have invested time reading one passage, it does not mean you have to answer all the questions within that RC Passage. Aim for accuracy and when unsure, skip it. It takes great temperament and a lot of guts to unmark an answer or skip it, but it pays off in terms of accuracy and reducing your margin of error.
If a passage is unusually tough, you can bet that other aspirants will find it difficult as well. No matter what passage you choose, put your head down, take your time and answer as accurately as you can.
Understand the passage and assimilate its ideas.
This is the key sectional strategy when it comes to VARC.
This concludes the Last Mile Strategy for VARC for CAT 2020!
Stay Safe, Best Wishes for CAT 2020!
Bharathwaj works with 2IIM, building the business & teaching. Will work for Coffee.
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