Getting an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) call is the ultimate ‘Holy Grail’ for a CAT aspirant. But the quest itself is an arduous journey. And a good road map helps in making the journey easier. The hallmark of a good road map is to provide markers with the ups and downs of the journey. Keeping this in mind, let’s take a look at the different types questions that you can expect in the VA part of the CAT.
VA is an important part of the whole (CAT Paper) and can be positioned at any part of the exam. In the beginning, in the middle or at the end. The positioning will differ even for students appearing in the same slot. The student can use the review button to toggle across sections and to choose which section he/she wants to attempt first.
The whole history of the CAT exam is such that the content of the paper have been shrouded in darkness except for a brief period of disclosure and light from 2003 – 2008 when aspirants were allowed to take home the CAT paper. Otherwise in the periods before 2003 and after 2008, students had no option but to depend on the coaching institutes to understand the type of questions that could appear in the CAT paper. In fact, in the pre -2003 period, at least students got a glimpse of the previous years’ paper in the current year’s prospectus. But post 2009, there has been no way of getting to know the exact questions that can appear in the CAT paper.
If we analyse the questions between 2003 -2008, we can see the major groups of Questions are under:
1. Parajumbles – – A jumbled set of sentences is given and you have to unjumble them. https://testing.pagalguy.com/discussions/parajumbles-for-cat-2011-25061598
Refer .https://testing.pagalguy.com/2011/06/the-pagalguy-guide-to-para-jumbles/..
2. Fill in the Blanks – A sentence is given from which 1 to 2 words have been removed and from the options given – you have to choose the best fit.
https://testing.pagalguy.com/2011/07/forum/english-resources/63722-fill-in-blanks-cat-2011-a.html
3. Sentence Correction : Sentences with grammatical mistakes are given and you have to identify which of those sentences are grammatically correct/incorrect. https://testing.pagalguy.com/discussions/sentence-correction-for-cat-2011-25061597
4. Para-completion also called Deleted Sentences : A sentence (at the beginning or in the middle or at the end) is deleted from the paragraph. You have to identify which of the answer options is a good fit in the context of the passage. –
“>https://testing.pagalguy.com/forum/english-resources/62055-para-completion-sentence-deletion-cat.html
5. Inference Fact Judgement : You are given sentences and asked to identify whether it is an inference, fact or a judgement.Broadly speaking F is verifiable data ; I is a conclusion based on facts and J is an opinion. For more details refer here. –https://testing.pagalguy.com/discussions/fact-inference-judgement-for-cat-2011-25062056
6. Critical Reasoning : These are question which present a main argument and the aspirant is asked whether the question statements would strengthen/weaken the argument.etc. and other similar types of analytical questions. These questions are especially important because they have been part of other online tests like GMAT etc.
https://testing.pagalguy.com/discussions/critical-reasoning-for-cat-2011-25064412
7. Commonly Confused Words : These are pairs of words and you have to identify which word of the pair is appropriate in the context of the sentence.For example, you may have to choose between elude/delude while trying to fill in the blanks for a sentence. These types of questions have been coming quite frequently in the last four years.
https://testing.pagalguy.com/discussions/commonly-confused-words-25044418
8.Idioms: Idioms are defined by the Free Dictionary as a speech form or an expression of a given language that is peculiar to itself grammatically or cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its elements, as in’ keep tabs on’ means keeping track of somebody’s movement. Idioms can be part of the Verbal Ability test whereby the same word may be used in a number of sentences and the aspirant is asked to identify where it is incorrectly /correctly used.
9. Phrasal Verbs : A phrasal verb is a combination of a verb and a preposition, a verb and an adverb, or a verb with both an adverb and a preposition, any of which are part of the syntax of the sentence, and so are a complete semantic unit. Sentences may contain direct and indirect objects in addition to the phrasal verb. Phrasal verbs are particularly frequent in the English language. A phrasal verb often has a meaning which is different from the original verb.- (Source Wikipedia). Example – He is looking after the kids. here ‘looking after’ means taking care of the kids.
Reference :http://www.phrasalverbdemon.com/
10. Figures of Speech — A figure of speech is the use of a word or words which diverge from the usual meaning. It can also be a special repetition, arrangement or omission of words with literal meaning, or a phrase with a specialised meaning not based on the literal meaning of the words in it. Ref: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_of_speech
Apart from the above, there are 3 more elements that are critical to the VA paper which are also applicable to the other sections as well.
a) Decision Making – You have to be very clear in terms of deciding which questions to do and which questions to leave out. Not all questions are meant to be done ! Some are purposely put there to consume your time!! Sometimes questions may carry unequal weightage (as in 2004, 2005) : then you have to decide whether attempting a 2-marks question is better than attempting a 1-mark one. This is crucial because the paper setters will slip in 2-3 questions in the 2 marks section which are less time consuming than the 1 mark section. Inside the 1 mark section there might be questions which are more time consuming than the 2 marks questions. People will often advise that you attempt everything in the English section. Please don’t do that if you are not comfortable with the last few questions. You will only end up with negative marks!
b) Execution / Time Management : Once you have decided what is to be done — just do it. Allot time to each question based on the amount of marks it carries in proportion to the marks of the full paper. Never exceed this time quota by more than a minute or two. In the years 2006, 2007 and 2008 the CAT paper had printing mistakes. For all you know, you are not able to arrive at an answer because of a printing mistake! (It could very well be lack of conceptual clarity also!)
c) Stress Management: Dont’ Panic!! There are many candidates who can solve the same paper comfortably at home but panic in an exam situation. Just one piece of advice – Treat every mock CAT seriously, as if it were the real CAT paper. And take the real CAT like a mock CAT, with a calm frame of mind!
Tanveer Ahmed is an alumnus of St Xaviers College, Kolkata and currently works with a people search firm as a recruiter. He is a visiting faculty with T.I.M.E. and also coaches and mentors CAT hopefuls online in the intricacies of the English language. (On LinkedIn)
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