CAT Reading Comprehension: How to Read RC Passages

To answer the question as to how to read a CAT Reading Comprehension passage, we have to have a look at the passages that have been coming in the CAT Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension section for the past few years.

What are the sources of CAT RC Passages?

I have observed that the CAT passages usually fall into three categories: Business and Economics; Environment, Science and Technology; and Social Sciences (Philosophy, Sociology, and Art and Literary Criticisms). Most of the passages are pulled from newspapers, magazines or research journals. Some passages are full of technical jargons; thankfully these days we don’t come across many such passages. On the other hand, some passages are simple and easy to read.

Here are the sources of the four of the five reading comprehension passages that came in the second slot of CAT 17:

• Cities Are the Fonts of Creativity
• Beneath the snowpack lies a secret ecosystem: the subnivium
• The Guardian view on electric cars: they’ll change the world
• Vikings Didn’t Just Raid, They Traded Too

CAT Reading Comprehension Passages are often pulled from ‘The Guardian’, ‘The New York Times’, ‘The Washington Post’ and the like. This has been the trend for the past twenty years. The CAT always pulls passages from such newspapers, journals, and magazines. To become a good reader, we must understand the contemporary writing styles used by writers who write for such magazines and newspapers.

What is a contemporary writing style all about?

To answer this question, we must understand modern writing from the perspective of grammar. Contemporary writing is about three fundamental grammar concepts: subject-verb agreement, modifiers, and parallel construction. You have to understand these three grammar concepts and your reading will improve dramatically. These videos would more than do the job:

How to become a good reader who is capable of reading such articles or passages?

The answer to the question of how to read better is likely to vary from person to person because what works for one may not work for others. You have to try different techniques, and gradually you will develop your own pace and evolve your reading style. The video below should help to some extent in improving your reading style:

The suggestions laid down in the above video is not the be all and end all of how to become a good reader. These are just a few things that you should keep in mind while reading a CAT reading comprehension passage. You must not forget that you would be reading a passage under a severe time constraint, so your reading style and speed should result in maximum efficiency.

Here are some other articles that could be of help in improving your reading comprehension:

List of Articles on CAT Verbal Ability

• How to prepare for CAT Verbal Ability
• How to improve accuracy in Reading Comprehension
• How to Read RC Passages
• Reading Comprehension: Aricle of the Day
• 7 Easy Tips for CAT [RC] Reading Comprehension
• CAT RC : Macro and Micro Approach
• Types of Reading Comprehension Questions
• How to identify Tones of the RC Passages
• How to find main idea or central idea of the RC Passages
• How to solve inference based RC questions
• Types of Reading Comprehension Passages
• 5 most common mistakes made by students in CAT RCs
• How to approach CAT parajumbles
• CAT Para Summary Questions
• How to Solve CAT Odd sentences
• CAT Reading Comprehension: Should we read the questions first?
• If CAT Verbal Section is troubling you, read this

Previous Years CAT RC Passages PDF

CAT Verbal Ability (topic wise) Questions with Solutions