CAT 2006 was a watershed in the history of the exam's Verbal Section. As everyone knows, to get through to an Indian Institute of Management, you have to clear cutoffs for each of the exam's individual sections, as well as clear the overall cutoff marks for the paper (which is more than the sum of the cutoffs for the sections).
The Verbal Section has always been the saviour of many students to get this overall cutoff. Many students falter when it comes to the Quant Section cutoff, but score heavily in the Verbal Section. But not this time! For the first time in the history of CAT, the cutoff for the Verbal Section is lower than that of the other two sections. Barring the cutoffs of IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Calcutta, the cutoff for the verbal section was as low as 16 marks (out of 100!).
A serious need to work on this section, therefore, is beyond doubt.
The Verbal Section in the CAT paper comprises both Reading Comprehension as well as Verbal Ability. As can be seen in the changes of the paper, the strategy to attempt CAT has been undergoing a huge change over the last few years. There was a time when there were 100 questions, 50 each of VA and RC. The emphasis was on speed, as within an hour or less a student had to attempt these 100 questions. Since the year 1999, the number of questions in these two areas has considerably come down. CAT 2005 and CAT 2006 had just 30 questions and 25 questions for VA respectively. Out of which there were only 12 and 15 questions of RC respectively.
The above changes in the paper, therefore, force a rethink on the strategy of attempting the paper, as well as how to prepare for both VA and RC.
Reading Comprehension
There are about 25 weeks left for D Day (November 18 is the CAT date for this year). There are two parameters in which a student has to develop skills to ensure a good score in RC. As the word suggests, it is 'reading' and 'comprehension'. To be good in this area, you have to have a good reading speed, as well as the ability to comprehend all types of topics such as Economics, Philosophy, Psychology, Medicine, Arts, Anthropology, Genetics, Politics etc.
How important is your reading speed?
There are a number of theories floating around in this regard. Various experts say that you need to have a minimum reading speed of around 350 words per minute (wpm) to be able to make some headway in the CAT exam.
Is such speed really required and necessary to do well?
As for the requirement part, the faster reading speed the better. However, what is not understood here is that the reading speed need not be a constant. It keeps changing with the topics. If you are an Economics graduate, your speed in Medicine could be pretty low, as compared to your speed in reading Economics articles.
In CAT 2006, there were just 15 questions in three passages with a total of around 2500 words to read. You would have approximately around 28 to 30 minutes for this area in the exam (depending on how you allocated time to the Verbal Section). This clearly shows that a reading speed of even 250 wpm would be more than sufficient, provided you understand and comprehend what you are reading.
Is it possible to read so fast?
Let's say your reading speed is 150 wpm. If you read for about half an hour today implementing all or some of the reading techniques, then can you make it 155 wpm in a week? The answer seems an obvious 'yes'. If you continue doing the same every week, then can you improve per week by 5 wpm? Again, the answer is yes. We have close to 25 weeks. If one diligently puts in the effort to read at least for half an hour every day from various sources, improving the reading speed by a cool 125 wpm in the remaining time is very easily achievable. That means if you are even at 100 wpm, you can reach close to 225 or 250 wpm in the next six months. This should be very much possible with consistent effort.
What is 'comprehension'?
As we have discussed, increasing reading speeds is easy, provided you read everyday for half an hour. But, what about improving your comprehension?
Comprehension is that part of reading which will ensure that you get the gist of the topic or passage without a second reading. To improve this quality, there is no other substitute but to read as large a variety of topics as is possible, and keep increasing your knowledge.
However, there is a standard method that can be suggested for all students preparing for CAT and such other entrance exams. It is a four step process, by which it is expected that in a few weeks your ability to grasp the gist of any article or passage will grow manifold.
Step 1: Read the editorial of any newspaper once (preferably a well-known English paper such as 'The Hindu', 'The Times of India', or 'Hindustan Times').
Step 2: Write down a two to three line summary on what you have understood from that one reading of the article.
Step 3: Re-read the editorial again. Here you need to check the key points that you may have missed, and make a note of them.
Step 4: Check all words in the article/ editorial that are not familiar, and jot down the meanings of these words with the help of a dictionary.
The above four step method looks easy to implement, but it requires a continuous effort for about two to three months before there is a clear improvement in your comprehension. The key step in the above process is Step 2 -- writing down the summary. A mental note of what you have understood will not help.
If you look at the trend of the CAT paper over the past few years, the number of questions as well as the number of passages is reducing -- hence, the number of words to read is also reducing. However, the weightage of the section still remains the same. Even in CAT 2006, out of 100 marks, 60 marks were for RC. The strategy, as we said in the beginning, has to change in accordance with this changing circumstance.
Reading fast is an asset, but without complete comprehension of what you are reading, it can actually become a liability. For all practical purposes, the trend that has started in CAT exams will continue, and hence it is imperative that all appearing students develop this skill.
IIM-Calcutta alumnus ARKS Srinivas is the director of T.I.M.E, an organisation that prepares candidates for courses like the MBA and the MCA and competitive examinations like CAT, the GRE and GMAT.