VARC

XAT VARC is moderately tough and requires adequate practice. This section has about 27 questions and some are based on RC passages including a poem. To be able to understand and attempt RC questions, good control on English comprehension is required. Verbal Ability, Grammar and Vocabulary questions can be handled by gaining conceptual clarity and solving sample questions.

The difficulty level of Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension section of IIFT exam varies every year. Although, one can say that this section of IIFT is usually tougher than other MBA entrance exams, it is not really that tough as the Reading Comprehension passages are short and fact based. The questions are also simple and can be solved by noting important points of the passages. The readability is often good and candidates do not feel shortage of time in reading and solving IIFT reading comprehension passages. The Verbal Ability questions of IIFT are easy and pertain to mostly grammar and vocabulary.

The CAT VARC section is dominated by RC questions. Out of 24 questions about 14-16 are based on Reading Comprehension passages and the rest of them are based on parajumbles, para completion, etc.

CAT has about 12-16 RC question. Since, it is not mandatory to solve all the questions, candidates can maximize their scores by leaving out the questions related to the passage they find the toughest. There is negative marking in CAT so candidates must ensure that they mark only the correct options or do not mark any option at all.

In XAT, Reading Comprehension passages are usually taken from Philosophy, Psychology, History, Art, research articles. Sometime, the XAT RC section also has poems. These areas are chosen to test the candidates, who are largely Science, Commerce and Engineering graduates, on their ability to come out of their comfort zone and adapt to unfamiliar situations. Out of 26 questions, about 14-16 questions are based on RC passages or a poem. Candidates must target solving about 10 questions accurately to score well. XAT has negative marking so do not mark an option as your answer if you are not 100 percent sure of it.

No, it is not true that someone who is weak in English can’t score well in Verbal Ability. If one works hard and prepares well for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension, they can score well in the section. One only needs to have the drive and discipline. They will require to start preparation for this subject earlier than those who have a good command over the language. Start reading books and novels. Keep a dictionary and mark the difficult words. Make notes of common idioms and phrases. Revise word meaning and concepts of Grammar every alternate day. Practice questions and mock tests.

Best books for VARC preparation are Word Power Made Easy by Normal Lewis and High School English Grammar by Wren & Martin. Apart from these two books, students must refer to practice books such as,  How To Prepare For Verbal Ability And Reading Comprehension For CAT by Arun Sharma and Meenakshi Upadhyay,  The Pearson Guide to Verbal Ability for the CAT and Other MBA Entrance Examinations by Sujit Kumar and The Pearson Guide to Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning for the CAT by Nishit K Sinha.

These books are recommended for all the MBA entrance exams as well as other competitive exams.