15 days to CAT 2013: More practice than theory required for Verbal Ability

CAT 2013 is now just 15 days away. How can you best utilize this short period for getting a better score in Verbal Ability section?The answer is one can do a lot, if one follows meticulously a few dos and donts during this period. MBAUniverse.com Verbal expert Prof SK Agarwal, who also coaches thousands of students for CAT test every year, offers you dos and donts, which, if adhered to, will enable the aspirants to systematically prepare and improve their CAT percentile Expert article by Prof SK Agarwal follows.

Also Read previous article on Whats the right strategy for Quantitative Ability http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/7132/

What should be the consistent approach by the CAT aspirant a few Dos The most important thing to be immediately done is to Segmentalise the Verbal Ability section in four parts -Reading Comprehension passages (Most important with 9-10 questions out of 30 questions in VA+LR section); Jumbled paragraphs (App. 4 questions); Contextual usage of Vocabulary (Appx. 4 questions); error corrections in sentences ( 2 questions). This division is as per the current trend of CAT which has been running since 2010. LR has 10 questions in this section; Verbal has 20 questions with 10-11 on core usage and 9-10 on RC passages.

Frame your study schedule Now Your study schedule for next 15 days must cover more practice exercises based on all the above topics and less concept building in these areas. Focus on punctuality and time consumed on various practice questions. You will have to change the mindset likewise and adhere to this schedule.

Further strengthen the strong areas in Error corrections So far you have been building the conceptual understanding on fundamentals-like parts of speech in grammar, time zones, punctuations etc. Following the fundamentals, in fact is a consistent process and is time consuming also. If most of your time is consumed to understand only their usage, it might create confusion instead of giving clarity of concept. Therefore, the next step, is to find out the strong areas in each section and then practice more to strengthen them.you may have some good understanding of, at least some basic concepts -for example what is a parallel structure, usage of a and an, what verb should follow singular or plural. Now, the time is to leave that you have not been able to follow and devote more time to practice exercises of mixed type error corrections in sentences and paragraphs instead of focussing on topic based exercises. It will improve your skills with very little effort.

The Most important is Reading Comprehension Concentrate on Reading Comprehension, practice more with the understanding of tone and purpose of the passage, as it is the most important part. Solve two to three passages a day and if there is no question in the passage like What is the tone/attitude of the author or what is the purpose conveyed in the passage, you may form such questions and try to answer the same. These questions are expected to appear in RC section of CAT.

Practice Vocabulary in Context It is high time that you practicedthe Vocabulary in context. An aspirant may have good stock of vocabulary words and might have mugged up thousands of them with synonyms and antonyms. However, they are of little relevance if correct usage is not known or the confusion still persists where to place the said word. If we can distinguish between Avarice and Miser, Pretty and Handsome, skilled and consummate, and thousands of other such pairs and can put them to correct usage, cracking the questions in vocabulary section will be easier and nothing will leave you flummoxed. The best way to understand correct contextual usage is to practice more questions with two blanks, as you will be required to fill in these blanks with correct pair of words. This will equip you with appropriate contextual understanding in a weeks time and you may utilize another week with yet more difficult practice questions.

Have fun with Jumbled Paragraphs
Maintain your cool while solving the Jumbled paragraphs. The strategy to solve the surprising jumbled paragraphs is to go for more and more practice and mocks especially with out of context sentence in it. The important tip is to find out the connectors to sentences e.g. conjunctions, personal or relative pronouns (He/ she/ it /they /their /who / whose/that/which etc.) as they indicate that they must have been used in place of some nouns. So find the link between the sentences. One is required to link the sentences in accordance with the information provided in the paragraph. It is necessary to ensure that the idea and action expressed in the jumbled paragraph move in the same line, any sentence expressing different idea and differing the coherent formation of the paragraph will be an out of context sentence.Three to four such questions should be solved every day and get them analysed by some expert, whom you trust.

Reading editorial in Newspaper is a must Regular and attentive reading of newspapers especially the editorial part and articles is a must for next 15 days. Try to prepare summary of them, find out important words used in context- grab the opportunity to use them. It will help you in all the four segments of Verbal ability.

Need is the Regular revision Revise whatever you have learnt and follow the tips to solve the questions based on various topics instead of going for something new. The need is to pay attention on the analysis of Sectional and Full length Mocks. Follow the experts tips given in analysis as they are meant to guide you in sorting the problem out.

More important areDonts
Avoid wasting time on concept building now Reading and studying more concepts of grammar may not be as fruitful in such a short period as it will create more confusion and will consume more of your time. There are more important areas with larger share of questions in Verbal Ability section like RC, Jumbled paragraphs which require understanding of coherence, so concentrate on them.

Dont go for parrot fashion learning of vocabulary words Words learnt in this way in night will be forgotten next morning. Important is the contextual usage, practice such usage. If you are watching TV news and discussions, watch them attentively and try to understand the contextual usage of words. Avoid more and more stock building of words now.

No confusion in Mocks Dont waste your precious time in attempting such questions in Mocks, that may flummox you or the concept of which evades you. Dont become panicky, if you find you do not know a particular question based on something not known to you. You know other things, concentrate on them and leave the rest. Out of 60 questions, if you can solve 40-45 with 90-95 accuracy, you are expected to get a good percentile say around 95.

So further strengthen your strong areas.
Go for Versatile Reading Dont concentrate only on such topics that are of interest to you, go for versatile type of reading. Your Reading Comprehension passage, Parajumble, Vocabulary questions could be on any topic under the Sun.

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