RC Digest for CAT 2008

vyomb · 07:03 PM

New Year...new Resolutions...Yet another CAT...This time the tag is different..
This thread is solely dedicated to Reading Comprehension passages ....discussion..solving and practice and more practice...
a similar thread was started last year by tanveer bhai....

Pls do refer here before continue posting on this thread... RC Digest for CAT 2007
as it has been well said by our own tanveer bhai...that..
"One of the Keys to CAT 200X will be the ability to read fast and absorb faster!!!"

so puys ...start posting and absorbing...

All the best for CAT 08

Carpe Diem

vyomb · **Rcp-1 -** 06-02-2008, 04:02 PM

...in continuation to my previous post here comes the first RC..

Extended debate concerning the exact point of origin of individual folktales told by Afro-American slaves has unfortunately taken precedence over analysis of the tales’ meaning and function. Cultural continuities with Africa were not dependent on importation and perpetuation of specific folktales in their pristine form. It is in the place that tales occupied in the lives of the slaves and in the meaning slaves derived from them that the clearest resemblances to African tradition can be found. Afro-American slaves did not borrow tales indiscriminately from the Whites among whom they lived. Black people were most influenced by those Euro-American tales whose functional meaning and aesthetic appeal had the greatest similarity to the tales with deep roots in their ancestral homeland. Regardless of where slave tales came from, the essential point is that, with respect to language, delivery, details of characterization, and plot, slaves quickly made them their own.
1. The author claims that most studies of folktales told by Afro-American slaves are inadequate because the studies
(A) fail to recognize any possible Euro-American influence on the folktales
(B) do not pay enough attention to the features of a folktale that best reveal an African influence
(C) overestimate the number of folktales brought from Africa by the slaves
(D) do not consider the fact that a folktale can be changed as it is retold many times
(E) oversimplify the diverse and complex traditions of the slaves ancestral homeland
2. The author’s main purpose is to
(A) create a new field of study
(B) discredit an existing field of study
(C) change the focus of a field of study
(D) transplant scholarly techniques from one field of study to another
(E) restrict the scope of a burgeoning new field of study
3. The passage suggests that the author would regard which of the following areas of inquiry as most likely to reveal the slaves’ cultural continuities with Africa?
(A) The means by which Blacks disseminated their folktales in nineteenth-century America
(B) Specific regional differences in the styles of delivery used by the slaves in telling folktales
(C) The functional meaning of Black folktales in the lives of White children raised by slave
(D) The specific way the slaves used folktales to impart moral teaching to their children
(E) The complexities of plot that appear most frequently in the slaves’ tales
4. Which of the following techniques is used by the author in developing the argument in the passage?
(A) Giving a cliché a new meaning
(B) Pointedly refusing to define key terms
(C) Alternately presenting generalities and concrete details
(D) Concluding the passage with a restatement of the first point made in the passage
(E) Juxtaposing statements of what is not the case and statements of what is the case

marisha_singh · **Re: RC Digest for CAT 2008 -** 06-02-2008, 04:52 PM

It is a good initiative .... as Reading Comprehesion is here to stay ... we must be well versed in it ... But this effort is going to succeed only if we are active on this thread....So pagalguys get going ....

krsh.vik · **Re: RC Digest for CAT 2008 -** 06-02-2008, 06:24 PM

My experiences

I feel nostalgic

guys while tackling with RCs please keep the following points in mind ...

Step 1) Try to get an estimate of your reading speed and comfort level with various topics given in CAT first (You can try your hand @ How to read faster & better by Norman Lewis)

Step 2) Read on diverse topics regularly. Summarize whatever you have read and note down the important points. (would be helpful for GD)

Step 3) Practice a lot from the previous years mock papers

I am attaching some material which might be helpful

You can refer to the following links as well