Section-1: CAT Syllabus for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC)
Section Highlights: Common Admission Test (CAT) exam Syllabus for VARC section in CAT 2020 is divided into 2 parts. The 1st part of CAT 2020 syllabus covers topics on Reading Comprehension passages and the 2nd part of CAT 2020 exam syllabus on VARC covers topics on Verbal Ability.
Part-1: CAT Syllabus for Reading Comprehension (RC)
- Current affairs making impact on Social Life, International Affairs, Govt policies and Schemes for example Triple Talaq, Clean India Mission, Migration of people from one country to other, Growing intolerance across the Globe,
- Business & Economic RC Passages for example Global economic changes, economic development at the cost of environment, Impact of Demonetization in India, Wasteful expenditure by Governments
- RC passages from various English Literature books, from articles authored by great philosophers, thinkers, from various speeches of great personalities like passages from Charles Dickens, Aristotle, Martin Luther King, Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi, Churchill among others
- Passages on Science & Culture including the journey to Modern world; Fading culture with the advancement of technology
- Abstract topics and fiction are also included in the Reading Comprehension Syllabus for CAT. These
Passages make the candidates think much leading to put themselves in the author’s shoes before answering the questions following these passages since they are opinion based.
- RC Passages on Historical events leading to social changes for example French Revolution, War of Roses, Social changes in Indian History and thoughts shared by various activists which are very much relevant even today
Key Facts on RC Syllabus in CAT & Type of questions
RC passage on any topic under the Sun can be placed in CAT exam.
- Number of Questions: 24
- Sectional Weightage in CAT Syllabus: 34%
- Type of passages in CAT Exam Syllabus on RC: 3 Long and 2 shorter
- Division of questions: 6 questions based on each long passage and 3 questions based on each shorter passage. Sometimes uniform number of 5 questions follow 4 RC passages and 1 RC Passage is followed by 4 questions.
- Type of Questions: All of MCQ type with penalty of 1/3rd negative marking
- Format of questions: Questions based on information in RC passage; explanation of the words & phrases as used in the passage; In context of the passage –True/false statements; Author’s view on various issues raised in the RC passage; Inference from the passage; main idea of RC passage; Purpose of the RC passage
- Length of RC passages in CAT Syllabus: Longer RC passages are of around 900 words; shorter passages are of around 600 words in CAT exam syllabus as reflected in last 3 years.
- Past trends of topics in RC Syllabus for CAT: Genetics, Second World War; Plastic Pollution; Elephant society; Consumer Behaviour; Status of Languages in 2115; Education System; Sustainable Economic Development; Anthropology /Excruciating Rituals & Reasons; Govt. Definition of Poverty and treatment of Household work
Part-2: CAT Syllabus for Verbal Ability
- Essence of short paragraph/Para summary – (3-4 questions);
- Jumbled Paragraphs (3-4 questions)
- Out of Context Sentence in Jumbled paragraphs (2-3 questions)
- Error Correction of Verb, Noun, Pronoun, Adjective, Adverb and other parts of speech in the Sentences.
- Correcting the sequence of sentences in the paragraph for example correct use of conditional sentence, time clauses, reported speech, passive writing
- Vocabulary usage – picking the correct pair of words
- Vocabulary usage in RC passages – finding out the correct synonyms and antonyms
- Fill in the blanks with correct vocabulary words
- Completion of last sentence of Paragraphs
- Analogies
- Critical Reasoning
- Sentence Completion
- Facts, Inference and Judgement
- Irrelevant Statements
- Phrasal Verbs Usage
Key Facts on Verbal Ability Syllabus in CAT & Type of questions
- Number of Questions: 10
- Sectional Weightage in CAT Syllabus: 10%
- Type of Questions: All of Non-MCQ type with No penalty for wrong answer
- Format of questions: Essence of paragraph questions are based on around 5-6 sentences; questions on Jumbled paragraphs and out of context jumbled paragraphs have 4 -5 jumbled sentences which are to be placed in a coherent manner. The out of context sentence has to be picked out.