CAT 2024: How to Get More Marks in VARC? Last Week Tips
Common Admission Test 2025 ( CAT )
Admit Card - 5 Nov '25 - 30 Nov '25
VARC is the first section of CAT exam and needs maximum concentration because of long RC passages and confusing parajumbles. Here are some last week preparation tips to perform well in CAT VARC section 2024.
CAT exam preparation 2024 in last one week before the test day is crucial. Every CAT candidate must learn some section wise key tips and tricks that can work wonders on the CAT exam day. A week before the exam, one needs to sit down and make a chart of what all they have covered in the CAT preparation journey. Ignore what is left, and focus on what you've learnt so far. In this article, we will discuss last week preparation tips for CAT VARC.
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The Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) section holds high importance in the CAT exam, and preparing for the same in the right manner is extremely important. To excel in CAT VARC section, candidates must have good reading and comprehension skills. Their English grammar should also be strong. But having good comprehension skills is not enough, one needs to be able to read fast and solve related parajumbles too. Most of the questions in CAT VARC are RC based parajumbles or odd sentence out. And these questions can be pretty confusing.
In the last few days before the CAT 2024 exam, reading a novel or magazine to improve comprehension skills is of no use. At this time, focusing on verbal ability and grammar will help will be more fruitful.
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CAT Preparation 2024: How to Score Well in VARC?
Focus on keywords
When preparing for the Reading Comprehension (RC) section of CAT exam, many students face one problem - they are unable to decode the Reading Comprehension section easily. The trick here is to not understand each and every word of the comprehension. Surprising, but true. All one needs to do is understand the key theme of the passage. If the passage is fact/data based, note down the important data points on the rough paper that'll be given to you.
The challenge with CAT exam is that there are rarely data based RCs. Most of the times, the Reading Comprehension passages are inference based. Nonetheless, you can still note down important points from the passage. Also, just understanding the summary will not help. When preparing for the RC section of CAT exam, make it a practice to remove unnecessary words, phrases, sentences, and focus only on keywords.
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Time management is important
No matter how well-prepared you are for the CAT exam, if the candidate doesn't manage the time correctly, all the efforts will go waste. The CAT 2024 exam will be of 120 minutes and the VARC questions will have to be solved in 40 minutes only. So it is all the more important to have a sound time-management plan. In the last week of the CAT exam preparation, work on sample parajumbles. You have been practicing CAT mock tests so this shouldn't be a challenge. Once time management is in control, attempting the RC section will be a piece of cake for you. An important aspect of time management is choosing the right set of questions to solve. Once you go through the passage, make a quick analysis of whether you can answer the questions or not. Otherwise, move to the next set.
Improve your reading speed
Good reading speed will help the candidate to finish the CAT exam on or before time. Not many students know that moving lips while reading slows down the speed. Instead, use a pen while going through the passage - this will keep eyes, brain and hand coordinated. Also, skimming & scanning are shortcut techniques for cracking reading comprehension section of CAT exam. Learn them.
Also Read:
- CAT Reading Comprehension preparation tips
- CAT Verbal Ability preparation tips
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Practice reading comprehension online
When in the last week of CAT 2024 preparation, candidates must start practicing reading comprehension passages online. This will get them in the flow and reading passages quickly onscreen and the exam will pass smoothly. Also, do it as per the time of your exam slot. Your mind and eyes have to be completely awake during the exam. If your exam slot timing is the same as your resting time, you will be naturally slow. So, in the last one week, practice RC at the time of your CAT 2024 exam slot.
Practice different types of RC passages and questions
By the time it’s the final week, candidates should have tried a variety of RC passages. In the last week before CAT 2024, candidates must focus on the types of questions asked in RC. If one is able to do the same, they will be able to manage VARC section of any difficulty level.
Also Read: Types of Reading Comprehension questions in CAT
Never skip reading newspaper
Needless to say, candidates must have been reading the newspaper daily. Do not think that it is enough - continue the practice even in the last week of CAT preparation 2024.
Crack cross word puzzles in dedicated time
To gain expertise in solving word meanings, jumbled sentences and jumbled paragraphs, dedicate 15-20 minutes to crossword puzzles - this will be a good practice for the final CAT exam.
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