HoW to attempt or aproach RC/VA to get 30+

[navneeth_keys]

hi mast_zhakaas
you can definitely afford to allot more time for RC. Give VA/RC section 50 minutes. Start with easy VA questions like matching usage with meaning, fill in the blanks etc.
Do as much as you can in 15-20 minutes. Then move to RC.
If you consider RC as your main weakness, then don't mind giving it a couple of minutes to check out all the passages. Note down the passages that have direct questions first. Label them 1. Then note down the passages that have well organized paragraphs - something like separate paragraphs talking about separate relations with the main topic. Label them as 2. On the whole u will have atleast 4 passages of the above 2 types.
Assuming u have done VA for 20 minutes you still have 30 minutes for RC. Attempt type1 passages for 12 minutes(assuming 2 passages). They won't take more time than this because you don't need to read the passges fully. And u can answer 12 questions in 12 mintues with (10-2) - not bad.
The move to type 2 passages. Give them 9 minutes each. Assuming your reading speed is low at around 250 wpm, you can read the passage in 4.5 mins. You have 4.5 mins to answer 5 questions. Thus u can do 10 questions in 18 mins with accuracy (8-2) - no probs.
Assuming u have done 20 VA with 17-3, 20 RC with 16-4in 50 mins. U have done 40 attempts in 50 minutes which fetches you 40,33,7,30.67. This is definitely 30+.
Since u say u can get 25 and 20 in other 2 sections, ur net score in 2 hours will be around 75. This should get you into IIM quite comfortably.
Try this out the next time you write.
Regards
Navneeth

[cattie]

hey newguy,
don't u think it might take us a few precious mins to settle with QA once we shift frm RC. and the more often we do it the more we happen to lose on some invaluable time.
But again there is the ques of getting rusty by the time one completes 2 RCs.

So alternatively why not switch between 2 diff sub-secs rather than going for a diff sec altogether. Just rush on with the a couple of RCs, switch over to EU for abt 15mins and then once again continue with the leftovers in RC. This way we wouldn't have to cope ourselves with a sudden change in sec and would neither get strained reading those long stressful paras for a continous half hr.

wht d'ya say?

[abhmat]

Hi all ,
thanks for your response ......... :P :P

I follow a mix of strategy depending on paper .for easy i go rc first than va otherwise i follow opposite .

What is have found i am concluded by reading above all .............
1 most prefer VA first than RC
2 most prefer to start with RC/VA section
3 All say scoring high in This helps to boost score .

My say never attempt passage from passage 1. give 1min to choose passage and u can help urself out with good score and IIM seat (DUM DUM ) :P

regards
abhimat

[newguy]

Originally Posted by cattie @ Tue Oct 05, 2004 6:53 pm

hey newguy,
don't u think it might take us a few precious mins to settle with QA once we shift frm RC. and the more often we do it the more we happen to lose on some invaluable time.
But again there is the ques of getting rusty by the time one completes 2 RCs.

So alternatively why not switch between 2 diff sub-secs rather than going for a diff sec altogether. Just rush on with the a couple of RCs, switch over to EU for abt 15mins and then once again continue with the leftovers in RC. This way we wouldn't have to cope ourselves with a sudden change in sec and would neither get strained reading those long stressful paras for a continous half hr.

wht d'ya say?

I agree !

But again, my strategies is for 2 kind of people...one who are inherently slow in VA/RC and second, who think they are good in maths but are not getting good scores there....I have observed that splitting maths in 2 halves has done wonders for me as it doesn't give me overdose of maths...At the same time, RC is always fun if you have time...This way , you have 30 mins for it...take your own time, enjoy the passage and crack it...

But, seriously, let me reiterate that the thing which has worked for me may not work for others....but give it a try in some mock at home and see how it affects your performance...

looking forward to your score

take care

[abhimax]

Originally Posted by mast_zhakaas @ 5/10/2004

Hi guyz...

Thankx for ur suggestions for people like me who may miss IIM seat just bcoz of 1 silly section of RC. I consider myself as good in Q (score of around 20 in 30 mins) and Di(around 25 in 40 mins) so can afford giving more time to VA section.

I do Va in last and keep 50 misn for english section. i try to do finish VA fst in 20 mins and then RC. Despite of giving 30 mins to RC, i score meagre 10 marks out of average attempts of 15-18. I am trying my best to do better. I normally read whole passage...took arnd 2.5-3 mins and another3-4 mins for 5-8 question passage with accuracy of 40-80%.

I have tried cursory reading but it dint help me. I will try it again. My problem is i loose concentration and and got confused in options. and since i hv already spent so much of time on tht Rc, i generally mark questions in wch i hv very less confidence. I wonder how u guys get such good accuracy with cursory glance. I should try it again. I know, there is scope of improvement. I need to try again. Any suggestions?

this is same problem i face , i loose my concentration while reading passege and bcoz i give so much time in rc i attempt those question in which i m not confident ending up in wrong anwser


wht to do with rc i dont know


abhi

[mast_zhakaas]

Hi Guyz...

Thanx for ur suggestions, yesterday i practiced only Rc for more than an hour, I gave Rcs one by one, monitoring time for each activity, like how much time for reading and how much for solving questions. I started with bad accuracy and took relatively large time but i did arnd 10 RCs and by the end, i start getting pretty good accuracy and average time becomes 6-7 mins wch is quite good for ppl like me. These passages were relatively evry easy, mostly factual passages(I did ZEN VA booklet(Profession Tutorial Material), those who do PT, know tht PTs RCs r always very easy. Today I did some passages of IMS wch r definately not easy(atleast i found them tough) but i got similar accuracy and similar time management in these passages also. So Guyz, Try Brute force method, make cracking RCs as ur ultimate goal coz cracking cat will always be doubtful unless u do well in VA. One cannot be sure Q and DI as its evry probable tht these sections come very tricky and since ppl like me who reply on speed may not do well. So try to stregthen VA section, Q and Di can give good base to our scores but its VA wch can life our scores.

[Coolprincess]

hii
really nice tips out here on the rc/va section. first of all while tackling the qa section if you are not comfortable with it, dont start with it because it will affect your peformance later. another statergy i follow for rc is read all the questions first and if possible skim through the options. one gets an idea of the passage. in every rc there are at least two questions which are direct. so if u read the questions first and then read the passage u save time. and last DONT PANIC even if things are going wrong.

[abhmat]

Hi all ,

what i feels that if u keep urself good at all major headlines and are good at history and geography then u can get 2-3 passages . which u can read in 2 min and answer ques in 3 min . and with good acuraccy .

it happened to me . there was a passage on volience in society and gandhi ji . i read first two para slowly then 1-2 sentence here there and then last para and answered questions and ended up 4 out 5 . that prety good .

[cattie]

ya thats right being conversant with the topics does help but trying to ans the ques by just having a feel of the passage may go hay wire at times, no matter how in-touch we are with the topic.(unless it is a science realted topic though)

The thoughts of the author never seem to match ours and we end up loosing marks only becoz we knew the topic before hand. OK it might not happen always but stating only becoz that's wht happened to me once

[jai_bond007]

genrally it has bcm trend since couple of years in
cat that
avg quant scr is not rising
abov 10
and also
score of of 18 in VA/rc
has bcom well n good
and also RC wz a key in this cat
although people mt have found subject of rc to b quite
less interpretive
but still there were key words
related to question asked
when those words spotted answer wz well in hand
so no matter whethe u able ot undrstand the stuff properly or not
just look 4 those keywords related to the question
u will master
but spotting htose key words is matter of hard practice

Originally Posted by ash_2476

I would suggest don't go with a target score when u appear for CAT
last year VA+RC was easy so 30 was very much on but that might not be the case this year
just try to maximise ur score in each section by gauging the difficulty level of the paper i would suggest following

di tough-18-19 moderate 22-23 easy 25-27
EU/RC tough 22-24 moderate 25-28 easy 29-31
QA tough 14-16 moderate 18-20 easy - this wouldn't happen

I came to this conclusion after analysing past year CAT papers