CRACK RC with ECLECTIC READING

The concept of Eclectic Reading:

Eclectic Reading refers to the habit of reading from diverse genres. Such a person has a wide range of
subject knowledge. It doesn't make the person a subject expert on all the genres. One person can have
mastery over limited number of genres. However, a wide range of knowledge base makes one develop
an effective and wholesome personality, the trait every top B-School wants its students to display.

The main genres which have contributed to CAT and NON-CAT reading comprehension passages are:
Business and Economics, Political Theory, Current Affairs, Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology,
Science and Technology, Environmental studies, Cultural Studies, Social Science (History, Geography,
Politics), Arts and Humanities, Current Affairs/Trend, Reviews, Abstract or inter-disciplinary subjects
and so on...

The list is not, by any mean, exhaustive.

However, let's take a look at the CAT 2016 passages. This is a memory based recreation. There were
five passages. The sources of the passage were:
Passage 1 (6 questions) - https://aeon.co/essays (Genre- Anthropology)
Passage 2 (3 questions) - http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate (Genre- Current Trend / Feminism)
Passage 3 (3 questions) - http://theconversation.com (Genre-Environmental Studies)
Passage 4 (6 questions) - http://cobap.org/book-review-rebirth-education (Reviews / Business and
Economics)
Passage 5 (6 questions) - http://www.wsj.com/articles (Genre - Cultural Studies)
One problem with identifying genres is the blurred or overlapping boundaries of the scopes of different
subjects. No subject is an island.
The passage on Environmental studies can also be called a passage on Eco-tourism. A passage on
feminism by default belongs to the arena of Politics. However Cultural Studies and Current Affairs too
can stake a claim. Hence, one must not be rigid about defining the boundaries of any passage.

One has to do just one thing: CULTIVATE A DIVERSE READING HABIT

How to develop an eclectic reading habit:

For the sake of convenience, let's divide the genres into two categories.
1. Academic subjects
2. Non-academic topics
ACADEMIC SUBJECTS:
Genres that belong to this category are:
I. Business and Economics
It's arguably the most important area for an MBA aspirant. You will anyway read it in the B-school.
Why not start now?
The way to tackle this genre is to:

 Learn 50 important terms in Economics. Refer to any glossary of Economic terms found online.
 Understand the basic concepts of Economics i.e. the concepts covered in the intermediate level
 Go through the budget analysis
 Sources to read passages related to Business and Economics:

 Economic and Political Weekly (EPW)

 The Economist
 Articles related to Economics in any of the leading newspapers (The New York Times, The Guardian,
The Hindu, The Atlantic etc.)
 http://www.businessinsider.com/these-are-the-20-economics-papers-that-you-must-read-2012-9?IR=T
(At least read the summary of the papers)
 https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-economics-and-business/ (Read at least 5 articles to get
an idea of the jargons)

2. Political Theory
This is one area that we can't or shouldn't ignore. Our opinions or attitude is shaped by our
understanding of the political theories governing our times.
The way to tackle this genre is to:

 Refer to any glossary found online. Our Eclectic Reading sheet on the topic is also very helpful.
 Every era is defined by a core set of political beliefs. Try to go through the concepts of communism,
humanism, and feminism. These are the theories that dominate our era.
 Go through the different types of governments found in the world. What defines democracy? How does
autocracy work?

Sources to read passages related to Political Theory:

 Economic and Political Weekly (EPW)

 http://journals.sagepub.com/home/ptx (Though one needs to subscribe to this journal, one can simply
google a few free articles. Read at least 5 to 6 articles)
 https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/vocabulary-political-words/
 The Wall Street Journal and its eco-political analysis section
 The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
 https://www.questia.com/library/politics-and-government/political-science/political-theory

3. Philosophy
It is the subject that everyone wants to read but no one ever does. Hence, this proves to be the Waterloo
for every student. Called the Mother of All Sciences, Philosophy can invade the arena of any other
subject. Hence, we can get passages on Political Philosophy, Linguistic Philosophy, and Religious
Philosophy etc. To get an experience of the havoc Philosophy can wreak in CAT, kindly solve the CAT
2006 passages. You will then understand the concept of 'baptism by fire'.
You can never 'tackle' Philosophy. However, you are most welcome to the world of 'thoughts and
reason'. Here are a few tips:

 Read Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder. It covers the names and theories of almost all major
philosophers. If you can't read the complete book, read its summary.
 Go through our Eclectic Reading Sheet on Philosophy
 Identify five schools of thought in Philosophy. Read at least two articles on each school.

Suggested Reading:
 http://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780199812998/studentresources/pdf/perry_glossary.pdf
 Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder / The story of Philosophy by Will Durant
 http://www.philosophy.org/ (Read articles from here)
 https://philosophynow.org/selection (It gives free articles)
 Make sure that you read about THE Friedrich Nietzsche and Jacques Derrida. If you can understand
these two, you will not only crack RC but also get rid of any social life as everyone will maintain a
respectable distance from your overbearing intellect J

Jokes aside, Philosophy is the subject behind the Verbal Logic section.

4. Psychology
It is a subject that most of us can relate to. It helps us understand ourselves by exposing our innermost
beliefs. Passages on Psychology are normally interesting to read.
Ways to get started:

 Read 20 -30 terms of Psychology. Understand the concept of the conscious, the subconscious, and the
unconscious.
 Read Freud. He has shaped the evolution of modern Psychology.
 Read on NLP (Neuro-linguistic programming). Even all those 'self-help' books help too.

Suggested reading:

 http://www.psyarticles.com/
 https://www.nytimes.com/topic/subject/psychology-and-psychologists?mcubz=0
 http://tetw.org/Psychology
 The Road less traveled by M. Scott Peck. Read the chapter on Love.
 http://steveandreas.com/articles.html

5. Sociology
It is an interesting subject. It deals with topics that we all know about. However, Sociology helps us
understand our society better. It also makes us unravel the hidden mechanisms behind the social rules
we all have taken for granted. It is closely associated with Anthropology and Philosophy. It is also THE
subject for understanding marriage and divorce!!!
Ways to develop a basic understanding of Sociology:

 Read at least 20-25 terms of Sociology. Familiarize yourself with at least 15 terms of Anthropology.
 Read on issues related to gender identity, demographic trends, terrorism, and immigration.
 Most human rights issue fall under the purview of this topic. Hence all the current affairs articles refer
to Sociology. Cultural Studies is a subset of this subject.

Suggested Reading:

 https://www.sociologicalscience.com/category/articles/
 http://journals.sagepub.com/home/ics
 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/topic/sociology
 https://www.questia.com/library/sociology-and-anthropology/cultures-and-ethnic-groups/cultural-
studies
 http://www.humanrights.com/what-are-human-rights/universal-declaration-of-human-rights/articles-
01-10.html

6. History and Geography

Luckily, most of us have a basic knowledge of this subject. Hence, passages on these topics don't
appear impossible to solve.
Suggested reading to strengthen our familiarity with Social Sciences:

 https://www.journals.elsevier.com/social-science-research/most-downloaded-articles
 Articles on India's freedom struggle, ancient Indian civilization, and the different kings/dynasties. Try
to read at least 2 articles on each of these topics.
 https://www.theguardian.com/education/socialsciences
 A short history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson. This book is priceless.
 A people's history of the world by Chris Harman. It's another gem.

7. SCIENCE
It should not be a difficult to handle subject. All of us have read Science. We just need to remember the
following:

 Those failed (mercifully) attempts at weird experiments trying to blow ourselves up in the Chemistry
lab
 That Physics class on Light and Velocity that made us wonder if we could actually create "The cloak of
invisibility''
 The class on Newton's laws and Einstein's E=MC^2 which turned us into prospective creators of The
Time Machine
 Those awkward Biology classes which resulted in a lot of giggles and a few detentions
 The class on Astrophysics which led us into "the UFO'' phase

Sources which will help us relive our glorious school days:

 https://www.sciencedaily.com/news/space_time/astrophysics
 http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.list/tagNo/4/tags/cell--amp--molecular-biology
 https://learningenglish.voanews.com/z/954
 The science page of any leading newspaper
 http://tetw.org/Science_and_Technology

NON ACADEMIC TOPICS:

Genres that belong to this category are Current Affairs/Trend, Technology or the latest trends in
technology, Environmental studies, Cultural Studies, Arts and Humanities, Reviews, and Abstract
essays.
If you are familiar with the academic topics, you shouldn't face any problem in these types of
passages.
Suggested Reading list:

 Any magazine like The Frontline, The Week, or The Economist

 Try articles on websites like Nautilus, Aeon.org, and The wall street journal
 Read the free blogs of The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Yorker, The Speaking Tree etc.
 At least two editorials a day. Refer to the above mentioned newspapers
 Blogs of some famous personalities. Bachi Karkaria and Jug Suraiya are two fantastic writers. They
will help you tackle those abstract or funny passages.
 www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/top-10-most-inspirational-bloggers-the-world.html
 TedTalk related articles
 Read articles written by Chimamanda Adichie
 https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2008/mar/09/blogs
 Articles by Flavia Agnes, JK Rowling, or Neil Gaiman

As we enter the "slog overs" of CAT we need to remember a few things:

 This is a lengthy list. However, you are not supposed to read all the blogs or articles. Just try to read 5
random blogs from each site mentioned.
 Don't try to understand everything. That's humanly impossible, unless you are Tyrion Lannister.
 Read at least 5 book reviews and 5 movie reviews. Roger Ebert was an influential movie reviewer. His
website is really helpful. Oprah Winfrey's book club is legendary.
 CAT normally gives passages which are neutral and thought provoking. Hence, understanding the
motive of the author is more important than understanding each and every word. Please refrain from
cramming up facts mentioned in the passage.

All the best for CAT. May the force be with you!
Bharati
Along with Team CL
 PART A – Understanding the Verbal Section

6 Building Blocks of Verbal Section

(First 3 blocks – RC, Parajumbles and Summary/Assumptions/Inference) are particularly important for
CAT. The other 3 can be called ‘add-on modules’ to cater to other exams like NMAT, XAT, IIFT etc)

A Few Basic Ground Rules

1. One needs to be comfortable with all the 6 Building Blocks mentioned above to do well on the
entrance exams. E.g Critical Reasoning is asked in XAT. RC is extremely important across all exams.
SNAP & NMAT tend to focus on Grammar & Vocabulary. While one may have a few ‘strength’ &
‘non-strength’ areas, one should not completely avoid a particular area during the preparation phase.

2. Only Grammar involves studying concepts in great detail. Rest of the topics are based on natural
aptitude and/or practice. If you haven’t done Grammar concepts well, please brush your concepts for
the following topics –

 Subject – Verb Agreement

 Tenses
 Pronouns
 Modifiers
 Parallelism
 Punctuations
 Use of Articles

3. It is important to stay in touch with all the ‘building blocks’ by solving a few questions of each type
at least once a week.

4. While learning Vocabulary is important, it is not the ‘end all’ of Verbal. All exams (except NMAT)
have moved to testing contextual usage of words rather than testing memorized words

5. I am a big advocate of regularly reading editorials & of reading (as a hobby) in general. There is a
strong correlation between reading habits & language skills. However, given that CAT 17 is only 60
days away, I would want you to prioritize question-solving over reading novels i.e (Never say – I did
not solve RCs because I was busy reading the latest best-selling novel). Reading editorials daily as a
practice must continue. Ideally, reading should be considered as a hobby and not to be mixed with

Verbal Preparation at this stage

Understanding CAT 2016 Verbal Section Pattern

In CAT 2016, 34 Verbal Questions were asked. Out of these, 10 questions were non-MCQs. Break up
of the Verbal section was –

Topic Number of Questions Comments

Reading Comprehension 24 (5 passages . 3 Passages with 6 Passages were of easy

questions each. 2 Passages with 3 /medium difficulty.
questions)

Assumptions, Inference, & 3-4 Questions were tricky.

Summary Questions Paragraph swere pretty long
and dense

Parajumbles 6-7 (3 questions (5 sentences each)were Trickiest part of CAT 2016

to be arranged in order and no options Verbal section
were given.
4 more questions were on ‘ Odd Man Out’
type.

Total 34 Good Attempt : 28+

90 %ile score : 54 (scaled
score)

Notable Trends

1. Absolutely no questions on Vocabulary & Grammar.

2. With 5 passages & Summary questions, there was a lot of content to read. Aspirants have to
read around 2500+ words in the Verbal section alone!

Possible Changes to Verbal Section (CAT 2017)

Comeback of 2-3 Vocab Questions & a couple Paracompletion questions at the cost of a few
Parajumble/ Summary Questions.

*Though these changes have a low probability of occurring, it is better to be prepared for the same.

Part B – The Actual Study Plan (6 weeks starting from 15th Sept)

The suggested plan will take 90-120 mins a day (depending on speed & current comfort levels) – This
is the ‘ de facto plan’ I would request you to follow. I would suggest you look at it as 90 mins of
Verbal a day. Along with topic-wise prep, the plan also includes time to be spent on sectional tests and
Full-length Mocks.

Working professionals with very little time on hand can modify the plan to suit their time availability.
Indications for the same have been mentioned as Plan B. It will take 6 hrs a week.

Suggested Methodology:

1.
1. Most people find Verbal Preparation a little vague and have no clue about how to
“exactly” prepare for Verbal. To avoid the confusion, I have suggested a very precise
structure instead of laying a general plan . So, instead of saying Learn words daily, I have
mentioned ‘learn 15 words daily from an app named ‘Quizlet’.
2. I would want you to practice all the ‘6 building blocks’ every week. Doing 25 RCs at a
stretch and then not solving RCs for next 6 weeks is not the best way to prepare. Verbal
is about ‘ staying in touch’ – even the best sportsmen get rusty if they haven’t practised
for a while – we are mere mortals.
3. I would suggest that you do all your practice as timed-tests. The only exception is when
you haven’t practised a particular question type at all. In that case, for the first 2 weeks,
do not time yourself.
4. The exact student pattern: Let’s do this with an example. I have asked you to solve 5 RCs
at a time in 40 mins. So, select 1 set of 5 RCs and solve it as a test for 40 mins. It is
possible you were not able to solve all questions – now give yourself extra time to solve
the remaining questions (say 15 more minutes). Immediately score yourself and check
the explanation. So, ideally, one RC lap (of 5 RCs) will take around 70 mins (solving time
+ extra time + checking answers). Please follow the same approach for all question
types.
5. When you solve questions, please maintain detailed records of the same. Some statistics
you can capture – number of attempts, scores, accuracy %. This will provide quantitative
evidence of progress and will really help you strategize when you start your Mocks.
6. It really pays to have a detailed day-wise schedule – E.g. you must know that if it is a
Monday, you need to have 1 lap of RC + 1 lap of Vocabulary + 10 words. This saves a lot
of time spent agonizing over ‘what to study today’. So, review the study plan and create
a daily plan for yourself.

 Most of the coaching institutes would have started their test series and rightly so. I would say
solving 15-20 Mocks is more than enough. Writing 2 Mocks a week starting 15th Sept is a good
plan.

Suggested Verbal Study Plan

Building Block Plan A Plan B Notes

Reading Comprehension Take 5 RCs in 1 lap. Take 5 RCs in 1 Solve RCs based on history,
Solve as a sectional lap. Solve as a philosophy and Science. Use
test for 40 mins. 2 sectional test for Previous CAT RCs. Typical
Laps a week. 40 mins. 2 Laps a Questions are – primary purpose,
(Each Lap is approx week. & inference of the passage.
75 mins) (Each Lap is
approx 75 mins)

Grammar Each Lap is 15 Can reduce each Once you know basic concepts,
Questions in 15 lap to 10 focus on question solving.
minutes. 2 Laps a questions and 20 Grammar Theory is vast and
week. mins. Stick to 2 studying entire theory is not the
Each lap will be 30 laps a week. best utilization of time. CAT
mins focuses on Usage and not obscure
rules of grammar.

Parajumbles 1 Lap is 10 Questions Stick to 2 Laps a Please practise without options. I

in 20 minutes. Do 2 week. really think you need to master this
Laps a week. and ensure 80-85% accuracy. Make
Each lap will be 30 sure you are solving ‘ Odd Man
mins. Out’ questions too.

Vocab Fill-in-the-Blanks : 15 Each Lap can be Suggested Apps to learn words

questions in 20 mins- reduced to 10 with example sentences –
twice a week. Each questions and 20 Quizlet / Memrise/ GRE Pixnary.
Lap is 30 mins. mins. Continue Level 1 : complete barrons’ list of
Learn 10 words a day with 2 laps a 333 High-Frequency words.
week. Level 2 : Complete Barron’s List of
800 Words.
Assumptions, Summary & 10 questions in 20 Stick to 2 laps a
Inference minutes. Do 2 Laps a week.
(SIA for short) week. Each lap will
be 30 mins.

Critical Reasoning 8 questions in 20 Can be dropped Important for CMAT, XAT. Basic
(Strengthen/Weaken/ minutes. Solve once for now. Please Questions from GMAT will be an
para Completion and a week. Each Lap is add to the list excellent source for the same.
other types) 35 mins. once CAT is done.

Verbal Sectional Tests 1 Sectional tests per Stick to 1 sectional This will help refine your test-
(all topics of Verbal) week. 34 questions in test a week. taking strategy.
60 minutes. Followed
by detailed analysis.
Each lap is 90 mins.

Sample Day-wise Plan to implement above plan Time allocation

Day 1, 4 : Learn words +RC Lap + Vocab lap 100-120 mins a day

Day 2, 5 : Learn words +Parajumbles + SIA + Vocab Lap 90 mins a day

Day 3, 6 : Slots to write Mock + Analysis time 3 hrs to write + 2 hr to analyze

Day 7 : Verbal Sectional test + CR Lap 100-120 mins

Master tips (topic-wise)

Reading Comprehension: It pays to read editorials from reputed sources like Hindu, Huffingpost,
New Yorker, The Sun, The Tribune etc. The passages are often taken from international sources. (here
is an editorial that appeared in CAT 16 as a passage)

It pays to have some background context of some writers/philosophers/topics that appear in CAT quite
frequently. E.g. Theory of social contract, Nietzsche etc.

Parajumbles: While solving odd man out questions, go to the original source of the question and try to
understand in detail the structure of the paragraph – understanding how/why do the other sentence are a
part of the same paragraph – how exactly was the answer not of the same theme as the remaining
sentences.

Vocab: While solving Fill-in –the Blanks questions, please look up the meanings of the all the words
that appear as options. Also, know how to eliminate options basis logic even some words are not
known.

Sectional – test / Mock test strategy

Assuming CAT 17 has the same structure as CAT 16, a good allocation would be 40 mins for RCs and
20 mins for Verbal Ability. If you cannot sustain RCs for 40 mins, try breaking it up into 2 parts of 20
mins each. (20 mins : RC – round 1, 20 mins : Verbal Ability, last 20 mins : RC Round 2). Since verbal
Ability part has no negative marking, you should be attempting all 10 questions in allotted 20 mins.

Verbal Action Guide is an initiative to help CAT aspirants who do not have access to quality mentors

– either due to geographical reasons or due to wrong selection of coaching institutes