How to increase your accuracy on RC – 1

Increase your accuracy on RC: Reading Comprehension (RC) plays a significant role in CAT exams. Many test-takers face difficulties in RC, and I frequently receive queries about it. Therefore, I have decided to dedicate a series of posts to help crack RC questions.

The common question is whether to read the passage first or the questions. Reading the entire passage first is a good strategy for those who are skilled and comfortable with reading lengthy texts. Being skilled and comfortable means:

• Being able to read through the entire passage without losing focus or the main idea
• Being able to answer questions about the primary purpose or central idea without referring back to the passage
• Being able to recall the specific part of the passage to find answers to specific questions

However, for most Indian test-takers, the first ability is often questionable. They may start with good intentions but tend to lose interest or sneak a peek at the questions as they progress through the passage. Therefore, looking at the questions first is not recommended as it turns increase your accuracy on RC into a matching exercise.

Instead, I suggest an approach that addresses the issues with both strategies:

1. Read one paragraph and check if there are any related questions. If there are, solve them immediately. This approach increases accuracy on specific questions since you have just read the relevant part of the passage.
2. If there are no questions related to a paragraph, proceed to the next paragraph and repeat the process.
3. Save all summary questions for the end.

If the paragraphs are short (about 4 lines or fewer), you can read two at a time before answering the questions.

Although I have been advocating for this approach, I still receive queries about it and RC accuracy in general. The best way to address these concerns is to solve RCs from recent CAT exams using the paragraph to questions approach.