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CAT RC Tips: How to Prepare for CAT 2025 Reading Comprehension - Expert Strategies
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CAT Application Date:01 Aug' 25 - 13 Sep' 25
The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are expected to conduct the CAT 2025 exam in November, following the trend of previous years. One of the most important sections in the exam is VARC, where many students find the CAT Reading Comprehension part especially tricky. Although the passages may seem straightforward, solving them quickly and accurately takes both practice and a solid strategy. Preparing well for CAT 2025 means building reading speed, understanding tone, and mastering question types. Scroll down for expert guidance and don’t forget to check the One Year Study Plan for CAT to keep your preparation on track.
LiveCAT 2025 Registration LIVE: IIM Kozhikode to close registration on September 13; IIM admission criteriaSep 11, 2025 | 2:37 PM IST
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The table below shows last year’s IIM and non-IIM general category CAT cut-offs.
College | CAT cut-off 2024 | CAT cut-off 2023 |
IIM Ahmedabad | 99-99.5 | 99-99.5 |
IIM Bangalore | 99 | 99 |
IIM Calcutta | 99 | 99 |
IIM Lucknow | 97-98 | 97-98 |
IIM Indore | 97-98 | 97-98 |
IIM Kozhikode | 97-98 | 97-98 |
IIM Amritsar | 95-96 | 95-96 |
IIM Nagpur | 95-96 | 95-96 |
IIM Sambalpur | 95-96 | 95-96 |
IIM Trichy | 94-95 | 94-95 |
IIM Raipur | 94-95 | 94-95 |
IIM Ranchi | 94-95 | 94-95 |
IIM Vizag | 92-94 | 92-94 |
IIM Udaipur | 92-94 | 92-94 |
This Story also Contains
- CAT RC Tips 2025 for Reading Comprehension Section
- Sources of Reading Comprehension
- CAT RC Preparation Tips
- CAT Reading Comprehension Last Year Questions
- Strategy to Solve Reading Comprehension Questions Quickly
CAT RC Tips 2025 for Reading Comprehension Section
The below section will include tips on how to crack RC in the CAT 2025 exam. Candidates can apply these tips while preparing for their exams.
1. The 3 P’s of Acing CAT Reading Comprehension
While reading the CAT comprehension, remember the 3 P’s that go hand-in-hand: Prepare, Practice and Patience. These are the most important steps for any student to follow while practising RC passages for CAT.
Prepare: Preparing beforehand will immensely help the candidate ace the CAT exam reading comprehension. Solve mock tests, read books, study important material, make and refer to notes and keep only one goal in mind: you have to ace the CAT RC.
Practice: Practising will keep your mind in the flow. The more you practice, the easier the actual CAT reading comprehension will seem to you. CAT RC practice includes reading, writing and problem solving every day; you will be good to go.
Patience: Have patience while you read the CAT comprehension. Reading it in a hurry will actually waste your time instead of saving it because you won’t be able to register anything and will keep coming back to the comprehension to find answers.
Relevant Article- CAT Exam Preparation Tips for beginners
2. Get Into the Habit of Reading
Build a habit of reading everyday. Make sure to include light-reading in your schedule throughout the day, like reading the news or 10 pages of your favourite novel everyday. Try to work on your speed. CAT RC passage can be on a vast variety of topics so make sure not to read only the books of your interest. Go through CAT previous year RC passage as well.
3. Build a Unique Approach
Build your own approach to solving the CAT reading comprehension section. Apply this while solving mock tests of CAT 2025 so that when you finally sit for the CAT entrance exam, you know how to go about it. This has two benefits. Firstly, you will have clarity regarding what to do because your thoughts and approach to solving the CAT MBA exam will be organised. This will lead to the second benefit, which is speed. Knowing what to do will automatically improve your speed.
4. Refer to CAT RC Preparation Books
Make sure to refer to the relevant study material. Go through your CAT notes and refer to CAT comprehension passage preparation books. Some recommended books are:
‘How to Prepare for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension for CAT'- by Arun Sharma & Meenakshi Upadhyay
'Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension for the CAT' - by Nishit K Sinha
5. Go Through the Questions and Find the Keywords First
Before you start reading the CAT comprehension passage, take a moment to glance through the questions first. Look for keywords in each one, this will give you a sense of what’s being asked in the CAT Reading Comprehension section. Make a mental note of these points before you begin reading. This technique often helps you spot answers quickly and saves time. Managing your time well is also key, so do check our guide on How to do Time Management for CAT? With the right balance of speed and accuracy, you’ll also be able to judge how many questions to attempt in CAT to get 99 percentile confidently.
6. Solving CAT Mock Tests
While preparing for CAT 2025, make sure to solve as many mock tests as you can. If you are reading and solving new CAT comprehension passages every day, you will get into the flow of it and solving the actual comprehension of your CAT entrance exam will feel like an everyday habit. You can also go through CAT tricks by 99 percentilers to ace the exam.
7. Time Yourself
While solving mock tests, writing, reading study material, and reading any books or other material make sure to time yourself. Set deadlines at which you should end a particular task. This will help immensely in increasing your speed.
8. Skimming
Before you start reading the CAT comprehension, make sure to skim through the CAT reading passage quickly. Highlight what you think is important. This will make you understand the essence of the passage and when you actually read it, you will get a better understanding of it.
Sources of Reading Comprehension
The list of sources of reading comprehension is as follows:
Newspapers: While reading the newspaper, focus on topics such as Social Science(History, Civics, Geography), Natural Science, Philosophy/Psychology, and Editorials. Read Speaking Tree from The Times of India Newspaper daily. You can read newspapers like The Hindu, The Economic Times, The Economist, etc.
Aeon Essays: It is one of the common sources of Reading Comprehension for CAT.
The Atlantic: It covers areas like politics, sports, news, health, technology, etc.
The New York Times: It is an American Newspaper in New York City. It is one of the expected sources for the Reading Comprehension for CAT. But you have to subscribe to a paid subscription as it is not available for free.
The Guardian: The Guardian is a free blog where you can read articles subject-wise. Focus on topics like social sciences, Technology, and Sports, which are common in CAT. It is one of the important sources of CAT RCs.
CAT 2025: VARC, DILR, and Quant MCQs & Weightages
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Download NowCAT RC Preparation Tips
To ace the CAT RC 2025 section, students are advised to follow the tips to tackle reading comprehension in CAT exam.
Develop a good reading habit.
Work on your vocabulary to improve.
Ask questions about the content you are reading.
Understand question types.
Comprehend the main idea of the passage.
Focus on the Accuracy.
Practice from the right resources.
The right option never comes from the passage use the elimination method to answer accurately.
CAT Reading Comprehension Last Year Questions
The candidates can refer to the reading comprehension questions asked in the CAT previous year examination.
Passage:
The history of many major technological or industrial advances is inexorably shadowed by its less predictable history of unintended consequences and secondary effects, which sometimes entail severe social consequences. Sometimes these consequences are innocuous, even beneficial. Gutenberg invents the printing press, and literacy rates rise, which causes a significant part of the reading public to request books for the first time, which creates a great demand for the microscopic typewriter.
Oftentimes, the secondary effects seem to belong to an entirely different sphere of society. When first industrialised — using coal, oil, or gas for factories that brought untold wealth — they did not foresee how great an ecological price the success of these processes would demand. The notion of environmental control, which began in the United States which came to include metropolitan areas like Phoenix and Las Vegas, was first explored when Carters first started thinking about the issues in the early 1990s.
Sometimes the unintended consequences come about when consumers use an invention in a surprising way. Edison famously thought his photograph, when he invented the phonograph, would help businessmen make records of their speeches. But it was quickly discovered that Edison’s original intention was subverted when he discovered a much larger audience willing to buy for musical recordings made on phonographs. The rest of the world appreciated this quite differently. By 1910, the need for jazz music was so huge that Edison thought phonograph records could revolutionize the entire recording business. Edison even thought he could change the world by transforming his business into a major public asset.
We now turn the cartography of modern history’s most momentous unintended consequences, as it is mainly technological advances. For instance, when automobiles were first being produced during the Industrial Revolution, at the outset of mechanical engineering’s first development, no one had even considered that motor vehicles would change human social behavior or, more likely, make way for great disasters like massive road accidents. Even today, the automobile, despite recent technological progress to reduce carbon footprints, still demands a better future to minimize casualties.
Through the exhaust systems of automobiles, emissions were released into the atmosphere, reducing the risk of global warming.
1. Question: We can assume that the author would support all of the following views EXCEPT:
Options:
The by-products of diesel fuel, within the fuel itself, were responsible for the build-up of atmospheric gases in the atmosphere.
It has become easier for people today to bring out innovations with wide worldwide consequences than it was earlier.
We have technologies in the past that have had innocuous or beneficial outcomes.
The emissions caused by the large-scale use of fossil fuel ought to have been addressed earlier than they were.
2. The author lists all of the following examples as "externalities" of major technical advances EXCEPT:
Options:
A) Extension of the phonograph to large-scale recording of music
B) Build-up of chlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere
C) Application of the Jacquard loom to modern IT programming
D) Cooling and de-humidifying of factories through air-conditioning
3. Carrier, Babbage, and Edison are mentioned in the passage to illustrate the author's point that:
Options:
The secondary effect of past inventions mostly resulted in the creation of new inventions.
Despite the original intention, the unintended consequences of their inventions were largely beneficial.
These inventors could not have visualized the eventual impact of their inventions on society.
Inventions typically end up being used for entirely different purposes than the original intent.
4. Which of the following best conveys the main point of the first paragraph?
Options:
The entire impact of a technological advance should be evaluated by the boost its secondary effects give to generating further technological advances.
The full impact of technological advances cannot be estimated in the short run as the ripple effects often extend far beyond the original intent.
It is important to judge an invention not by its immediate outcomes, but by the holistic impact of its secondary effects.
The secondary effects of most major technological advances in the past, especially if they were unintended, have turned out to be beneficial.
Strategy to Solve Reading Comprehension Questions Quickly
Reading Comprehension questions can fetch you easy marks in CAT 2025 if you adhere to the right strategy. There are several ways in which you can approach a CAT RC questions. Here are some tips that you can adhere to:
Glance through the questions first so you know what to keep an eye out for.
Skim the passage for structure, not every detail. Look for introduction, transitions, and conclusion.
Highlight names, keywords, and shifts in opinion to find answers quickly later.
Stick to what the author says and don’t overinterpret tone or inference questions.
Watch out for extreme options because correct answers are usually balanced and supported by the passage.
Go back to just the right spot instead of rereading the whole thing for one detail.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q: How should I prepare for CAT 2025?
A:
Create a study plan that focuses on your weak areas. Practice mocks regularly and review your mistakes carefully.
Q: How to prepare for RC for CAT?
A:
Read different types of passages every day. Build your vocabulary and practice under timed conditions to improve.
Q: What is the trick to reading comprehension?
A:
The tricks for solving reading comprehension are as follows:
1) You should jot down the important points or underline the points while reading the passage.
2) Identify the central idea of the passage.
3) Use the elimination method to mark the correct answer.
4) You should focus on understanding the passage. Don’t panic by seeing lengthy passages.
Q: How can I improve my reading comprehension fast?
A:
Follow the below points to improve reading comprehension:
1) You should work on your vocabulary.
2) You should look for the main idea of the passage.
3) Write down a summary of what you read.
4) You should break the lengthy passage into smaller sections.
5) Eliminate distractions.
Q: How to get 100 on reading comprehension?
A:
1) Firstly, you should read the passage very carefully.
2) Jot down the important points or underline the keywords.
3) You should understand the central idea and supporting examples of the passage.
4) Read the questions before the passage reading.
5) You should answer the questions after reading the complete passage.
Q: What is the most popular strategy for solving reading comprehension RC?
A:
First, read the questions to know what to look for. Then, skim the passage and check back only when needed.
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Eligibility Criteria:
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Educational Qualification: A bachelor's degree with at least 50% marks (45% for SC/ST/PwD candidates) from a recognized university.
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Entrance Exam: A valid CAT score is required for admission.
Admission Process:
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Application: Register online through the BBAU admission portal.
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Entrance Exam: Appear for the CAT exam and obtain a valid score.
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For more details and to apply, visit the official BBAU MBA admission page
Hello Amgothu
With 305 marks in ICAR PG and being from ST category, your chances of getting an AIEEA (CAT) seat is good, especially in plant sciences and less competitive subjects
Hello
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Just inform the help desk and carry the correct certifications , the state certificate will not disqualify you .
The steps you can follow is -
1. You can check if the correction window is available or not
2. Contact the CAT desk immediately.
Hope this helps
In CAT registration, you cannot create a new user ID with the same mobile number, even if you use a different email ID. Each mobile number and email can be linked to only one account. If you already registered once, the system will not accept a duplicate with that number. To register again, you must use a new mobile number and new email ID. If you lost your old login, you can recover it through the forgot password/user ID option on the CAT portal.
Yes, you can fill the CAT form even if you currently have a backlog. CAT eligibility requires you to be in your final year of graduation or already graduated backlogs don’t stop you from applying.
While filling the form:
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Enter the aggregate percentage/CGPA of marks you have obtained up to the latest semester for which results are declared (in your case till 4th semester).
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There will be an option to mention that you have a backlog.
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If you clear the backlog later, you’ll just need to show the updated marks during admission.
Popular CAT Questions
Directions for question :
M/s Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, one of the top four audit and accounting firms in the world with headquarters at London, UK, and with an operational presence in 153 countries, hires Management Trainees (MT) from all the premier management institutes of India thrice every year, in the months of January, May and September.
Each new group of Management Trainees (MT) have to go through a four month rigorous training schedule, after which they have to pass through a test consisting of a written assessment and a case-analysis. The top hundred ranked Management Trainees (MT) based on the performance in the test are confirmed as Management Executives (ME). The rest are given the opportunity of undergoing the training for four months one more time along with the next batch of Management Trainees (MT) and then passing through the subsequent test consisting of the written assessment and case-analysis. The Management Trainee (MT) who fails to get confirmed as a Management Executive (ME) the second time is fired.
The scatter-graph below depicts the number of Management Trainees (MT) at Deloitte taking the tests from January 2020 till May 2022, and the vis-à-vis hired Management Trainees (MT) at Deloitte who were fired :
It is also known that for the month of September 2019 at Deloitte, 96 hired Management Trainees (MT) failed to be confirmed as a Management Executive (ME) the first time, and that 36 hired Management Trainees (MT) were fired.
Question :
In which test did the minimum number of Management Trainees (MT) get confirmed as a Management Executive (ME) in the second attempt ?
Option: 1
September 2020
Option: 2
May 2021
Option: 3
January 2021
Option: 4
January 2022
Directions for question:
The bar-graph given below shows the foreign exchange reserves of Nepal (in million Rupees) from 2014 to 2021. Answer the following questions based on the graph :
Question:
What was the percentage increase (rounded to the nearest integer, if deemed necessary) in the foreign exchange reserves in 2020 over 2016 ?
Option: 1 None
Option: 2 None
Option: 3 None
Option: 4 None
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