Shantanu.Gangal, CAT 2008 100-Percentiler
In this article we shall broadly try and understand what purpose the Verbal Section serves and how should we try and score well in it.
Since communication is a very important tool in all spheres of management, this section tests a person’s skill at the English Language. That the CAT paper increased the number of questions in this section, points to the importance that the examiners attach to testing us on Verbal Ability. By this, the schools want to gauge how well a person,
i. Comprehends the given data (passage / sentence) and understands
1. the meaning of each of the words used,
2. the explicit message conveyed,
3. the implicit undertones of the passage or sentence,
4. the correctness of grammar (punctuation, usage etc.) and
5. the direction / conclusion that is being hinted at.
ii. How well he manages to respond to the question posed by applying similar analysis of each of the 4 / 5 options presented, before picking his answer.
Thus in order to do well in this section, we need to demonstrate competence on the above metrics. It is easy to see that each question type asked in the CAT paper is trying to test us on one or more of the above. Since the reading comprehension section of the CAT employs almost all these skills in parallel it poses the most hazard to a student.
It is also known that students who are voracious readers do well in this section. This is now clear since they have honed their above skills for years. Hence, in order to excel in Verbal one should start well in time.
Read a lot:
The most important part of Verbal preparation is the reading up. [In fact, not only does it help in the Verbal section of CAT but also in General Awareness section of other MBA entrances.] This effort can’t be intensive in nature, since we need to assimilate what we read. Thus the reading has to be consistently spread out across a few months or more.
Why to read:
It is much easier to understand any language by knowing the way its words are used, its sentences framed and ideas conveyed than by opening an English guide. Also, noticing how a word is used will cement the correct meaning and usage of the word / phrase than learning it by rote.
The structure of the paper is such that a lot of time is required to read a passage. Irrespective of the style of answering followed (reading before answering or vice versa) the speed at which you read the passage is critical. Someone who can read an average length passage (400 words) in 3 mins. has a definite edge over someone who takes 4 mins. The best way to improve reading speed is by reading articles in progressively lesser time.
What to read:
Since, management schools want us to become good business leaders they dish out stuff that an MBA graduate is most likely to read. However, due to exam constraints the passages in the exam are often excerpts of a bigger and wider article. These articles typically deal with economic, social, political etc. issues and the impact of these issues on the intended reader.
I think however it is much better to start off and read articles longer (abt. 5000 words) than the ones that appear in the exam (abt. 400 words). A complete article has a proper structure unlike those in the exam. However, it is important to figure out how excellent English is written.
Also, while reading in English we should make a conscious effort to start thinking in English as well, since this can be a handicap for many of us who come from vernacular schools.
I personally found that articles in reputed magazines / newspapers like The Economist or the New York Times are written well.
How to read:
Upon reading an article it is important to discuss it with friends who have read it. You should make sure that all the implicit opinions / arguments are talked about and not missed. Often at the face of it the article seems straightforward but we fail to locate the point the author is trying to make. Correctly filtering the facts from the author’s opinions help get an insight into the article.
Similarly, it is important to get a feel as to how arguments are built by good writers and what is an expected line of thought, following a seen passage. This again comes with discussing the passage with friends who have read it.
Learn Vocabulary:
While learning words organically (through essays and articles) is an excellent long term option, with the view of preparing for the CAT exam – it makes sense to parallely learn the less common words. Many students praise the virtues of books like Word power made easy for improving vocabulary. These books help students derive the meaning of a word from its word roots and other techniques. However in case of extreme crunch, its best to pick up a standard word list provided by books that prepare students for GRE, TOEFL etc. and attempt learning them by rote. As the CAT draws closer these lists are a good tool to recall what one has learnt. Whenever a new word is learnt, try using it in a sentence for better retention.
Practice:
The verbal section too calls for a lot of practice, which should be duly done in the last few months. The scores in the Reading Comprehension section get tremendously boosted by practice followed by analysis of the questions attempted incorrectly. The associated explanation to an answer is very important since it shows what the examiner thought was the correct answer, why and how it was different from what we thought. While answering subsequent RCs, we should be mindful not to repeat earlier mistakes.
For questions in the vocabulary section it is important to also know why the incorrect answers were incorrect. In case, the options to a question throws up a new word make it a point to check the word up in a thesaurus.
In summary, scoring in Verbal Section can be elevated by sincere efforts towards improving the language followed by extensive practice. It is very difficult to score well unless a person has good command over English as a language. Similarly, it is very easy to make many mistakes in case a person is over reliant on his English skills without the requisite practice.
Every person should try and modify his approach to suit him best, while remembering the above skills at the back of his mind.
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