How to Prepare for CAT VARC

What CAT VARC tests

Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) is the first of CAT's three sections. You get 40 minutes for it, you cannot move to DILR early, and you cannot come back to it later. Since 2022 the section has had 24 questions in every slot (26 in 2020, when the paper was longer), which makes it the largest single section by question count.

VARC does not test how many rare words you know or whether you can recite grammar rules. It tests whether you can read dense, unfamiliar prose quickly, follow an argument, separate what the author says from what you assume, and pick the one option that the text actually supports. That is why people who read widely tend to do well here and people who memorise word lists often do not.

The section has two parts.

Reading Comprehension (about two-thirds of the section)

In recent papers, roughly 16 of the 24 questions come from four Reading Comprehension passages, usually with four questions each. Passages run to several hundred words and come from academic and serious non-fiction writing: philosophy, history, economics, sociology, science, art and literature criticism, technology and society. Questions ask for the main idea, the author's tone or position, what can be inferred, what would strengthen or weaken a claim, what a phrase means in context, or which statement the author would agree with.

Verbal Ability (about one-third)

The remaining questions, typically around eight, are paragraph-level reasoning tasks rather than grammar drills:

• Para Jumbles: four or five sentences to arrange into a coherent paragraph, usually typed in as a sequence (TITA, so no negative marking).
• Para Summary: choose the option that best captures the essence of a short paragraph.
• Odd One Out: five sentences, four of which form a paragraph; type in the number of the one that does not fit (also TITA).
• Missing Sentence (sentence placement): decide where a given sentence fits in a paragraph with marked gaps.

Older CAT papers, and other exams such as XAT, SNAP and CMAT, also include Vocabulary, Grammar, Usage & Correction, Fill in the blanks, Para Completion, Fact, Inference & Judgement and critical-reasoning Arguments. These have not been a regular part of recent CAT papers, so treat them as secondary for CAT, but worth covering if you are also writing those exams. The CAT syllabus guide lists everything across sections.

How the section looks today

The broad shape has been stable since 2021. Here is what to expect, based on the papers in our archive:

Exact counts vary by year and slot, so open one or two recent papers (for example CAT 2025 VARC Slot 1) and see the mix for yourself. Every correct answer is worth +3, a wrong MCQ costs −1, and a wrong TITA costs nothing. See the CAT exam pattern guide for the full marking scheme.

Two features matter for strategy. First, RC carries most of the marks, so your VARC score is mostly your RC accuracy. Second, the TITA verbal questions are free attempts in the sense that a wrong answer does not cost you, but they are also hard to get right by guessing: a five-sentence jumble has 120 possible orders.

A preparation plan

VARC improves slowly and then all at once. Reading speed and comprehension build over months, not weeks, so start early even if you plan to spend most of your hours on Quant and DILR. The plan below assumes about six months; compress the phases if you have less time, but do not skip the reading habit.

Phase 1 (months 1–2): build the reading base

• Read 45–60 minutes every day, outside of practice questions. Choose long-form essays and opinion writing on ideas, not news reports. Long reads in quality magazines, essays on philosophy, economics, science and culture, and book reviews are closest to CAT passages. Read some things you find boring; CAT will give you passages you do not care about.
• Summarise what you read. After each article, write two or three lines: what is the author's main claim, what is the evidence, and what is the tone? This is exactly the skill RC questions test.
• Do two RC passages a day from the Reading Comprehension practice page, untimed at first. For every option, write down why it is right or wrong, citing the line in the passage.
• Start Para Summary and Para Jumbles at a few questions a day so the formats become familiar.

Phase 2 (months 3–4): accuracy under time

• Move to timed RC: aim for roughly 7–8 minutes per four-question passage including reading. Track accuracy separately by question type (main idea, inference, tone, specific detail, strengthen/weaken).
• Work through CAT past-paper RCs topic-wise. Older CAT passages (2017 onwards are closest in style) are excellent practice material and have full solutions on the site.
• Do 8–10 verbal ability questions a day, mixing jumbles, summaries, odd one out and missing sentence.
• Start one VARC sectional test a week. Use the test builder to make a 24-question, 40-minute VARC set if you want a custom mix.

Phase 3 (months 5–6): papers, mocks and analysis

• Take full CAT VARC papers from the CAT previous-year papers page as timed sectionals, two or three a week, alongside full-length mocks.
• Spend at least as long analysing each test as you spent taking it (see below).
• Keep reading daily, even in the last month. Stopping your reading habit two months before the exam is a common way to lose speed.

A sample week in Phase 2

How to read a CAT passage

There is no trick that replaces comprehension, but a consistent method helps.

1. Read the passage first, actively. Glancing at the questions first can help some readers, but most people find it splits their attention. Try both in practice and pick one.
2. Track the structure, not the details. After each paragraph, ask: what is this paragraph doing? Introducing a view, objecting to it, giving an example, conceding a point? You can always go back for details; you cannot go back for the thread of the argument without rereading.
3. Notice signal words. "However", "yet", "it does not follow", "admittedly", "on the contrary" usually mark the author's real position.
4. Separate the author's view from views the author reports. Many passages describe a position only to criticise it. A large share of wrong answers are statements the passage mentions but the author does not hold.

Eliminating options

CAT RC options are designed so that two can be removed quickly and the last two are close. Common traps:

• Too extreme: "always", "only", "entirely" when the passage hedges.
• True but irrelevant: accurate to the passage but does not answer the question asked.
• Outside knowledge: true in the real world, not supported by the text.
• Half right: the first half matches, the second half distorts.

A mini-example: if a passage argues that "social media has changed how political movements organise, though not necessarily whether they succeed", then "social media has made political movements more successful" is the distortion and "the author doubts that new tools alone determine outcomes" is the supported inference.

Verbal ability methods

• Para Jumbles: find the opening sentence (it introduces a subject without pronouns or connectors that point backwards), then look for pairs that must go together: a pronoun and its noun, an example and its claim, "this" and what it refers to. Build two or three fixed pairs and the order usually falls out.
• Odd One Out: the odd sentence is often on the same topic but makes a different point, or shifts the scope. Find the paragraph the other four form, then check the leftover.
• Para Summary: the right option keeps the main point and its key qualification, and adds nothing. Reject options that summarise one example or that are broader than the paragraph.
• Missing Sentence: read the sentence for what it needs before it (a referent) and what it sets up after it. Test each gap against both ends.

Practising with past papers and topic pages

Real CAT questions are the best material you will find because they are written and checked to the exam's standard. Use them in two ways.

Topic-wise, during learning. Each chapter page in topic-wise preparation collects past CAT questions of one type with step-by-step solutions. Work through, for example, all past para summary questions in a few sittings and you will see how consistent the question style is.

As full papers, nearer the exam. Keep the most recent papers aside and take them as timed 40-minute sectionals in the last two or three months: CAT 2024 VARC Slot 1, the three 2025 slots, and so on. Use the 2017–2022 papers freely for topic practice before that.

How to analyse a VARC test

1. For every wrong answer, identify the trap you fell for (extreme, irrelevant, outside knowledge, misread question) and write it down.
2. For every correct answer you guessed or took over two minutes on, treat it as wrong and review it too.
3. Note which passages you chose to skip and whether skipping was right. Over time you will learn which passage types cost you.
4. Save hard questions to your mistake notebook (you need to sign in) and redo them a week later without looking at the solution.

A daily RC or verbal question from the question of the day is a good way to keep the habit going on days you cannot do a full session.

Test-day strategy for the 40 minutes

With four passages and around eight verbal questions in 40 minutes, a workable budget is about 28 minutes for RC (seven per passage) and about 12 for verbal ability. Adjust to your own strengths; the point is to have a plan before the timer starts.

• Choose your order. Many test-takers start with RC while fresh, then do VA; others clear the quicker VA questions first to bank marks. Decide which works for you in mocks and stick to it on the day.
• Skim each passage's first lines before committing. If a passage is very abstract and you have three others left, it can be sensible to do it last. But do not skip whole passages lightly: each is roughly a sixth of the section.
• Do not get stuck on one question. If two options remain after a minute and a half, pick the better one or mark it for review and move on.
• Attempt the TITA verbal questions. A wrong TITA costs nothing, so always enter an answer, even a partially reasoned one, if you have time. For jumbles, getting the fixed pairs right often gets you to the full sequence.
• Be selective with MCQs you are guessing on. If you have eliminated two options, a guess between the remaining two has positive expected value (+3 vs −1 at even odds). A blind guess among four does not help.
• Watch the clock at 20 and 35 minutes. At 20 you should be about halfway; at 35, use the remaining time on TITA questions you have not answered.

Remember that VARC is first in the paper. A rough section affects your mood going into DILR. Practise moving on mentally as well as on the screen. The CAT DILR preparation guide covers the next section.

Common mistakes

• Relying on vocabulary lists. Direct vocabulary questions are rare in CAT now. Learn words from your reading in context; do not spend hours on lists.
• Practising only easy RC sources. Simple newspaper passages give false confidence. Practise with CAT-level passages on unfamiliar subjects.
• Reviewing only wrong answers. Lucky guesses hide gaps. Review anything you were unsure of.
• Answering from your own opinion. The answer is what the passage supports, not what you believe is true.
• Starting VARC preparation late. Quant can be crammed more than reading can. Two months of reading will not do what six months will.
• Ignoring accuracy. In VARC, 16 attempts at 85% accuracy beat 22 attempts at 60%. Count your negative marks after every test.

For how VARC fits into your overall timetable with the other two sections, read the CAT preparation strategy guide.