How to Build Vocabulary for CAT 2025 VARC: Proven Strategies & Tips

How Vocabulary Helps in CAT VARC?

CAT aspirants with low language skills often face a lot of challenges under the CAT VARC section. This adversely affects their CAT scores. It is important to identify the significant role played by vocabulary in determining the CAT success of the candidates. A few of the reasons why the candidates should prioritise their CAT vocabulary preparation are listed below.

Improving Reading Comprehension Speed and Accuracy

When it comes to the CAT reading comprehension section, the candidates can expect passages from various types, such as dense academic passages, abstract passages and so on. Each passage will be 400-600 words in length. Going through the passages might be time-consuming, but what makes it more challenging is the presence of confusing words. Hence, it is important that the candidate has a compelling vocabulary so that they can understand the various concepts discussed in the passage. This will help the candidates in a quicker grasp of tone, inference, and the author’s intent.

Enhancing Sentence Structure Interpretation

To solve the CAT para jumble questions and para competition questions, the candidates should have a solid understanding of the sentence structure concepts. This helps the candidates to establish a connection between the statements, which is crucial for solving such questions. Having access to a sound vocabulary, coupled with efficient grammar knowledge, will help the candidates immensely in answering the CAT verbal ability questions. The candidates can expect around 8 questions from these topics.

Increasing Retention While Reading

Going through the CAT Reading Comprehension passages can be confusing at times due to the length of the passages. This may sometimes make it difficult for the candidates to remember the key ideas of the passage, eventually leading them to forget a lot of the information necessary for answering the questions. Good vocabulary eliminates the possibility of getting confused and helps the candidates to maintain the flow while attempting the CAT RC section.

Strategies to Build Vocabulary for CAT 2025

How to improve vocabulary for CAT 2025? This is a very common question asked by candidates during their CAT preparation. The very first step towards enhancing one’s CAT vocabulary is to attend an online assessment to check the existing vocabulary knowledge of the candidate. This will help the candidates to understand the areas where they need to improve and devise a proper CAT timetable for themselves. A few of the best CAT preparation strategies for improving the CAT vocabulary are listed below.

Read Regularly and Widely

Reading is the best and most effective way to improve one’s vocabulary. There are several sources from which the candidates can learn new words and use them effectively in their CAT preparation. The candidates are strongly recommended to go through the editorials of newspapers such as The Hindu, Indian Express, Mint, etc. This will help them to gather a lot of new words to enhance their CAT vocabulary, and also will be particularly useful during the CAT GDPI sections to answer the general awareness questions. Apart from the newspapers, the candidates are also encouraged to go through various important magazines such as The Economist, TIME, and Harvard Business Review. The candidates can also go through various books belonging to categories such as non-fiction, philosophy, economics, and literature, which can not only improve their vocabulary but also enhance their imagination.

Maintain a Vocabulary Notebook or App-Based Tracker

Consistency is the key while preparing for the vocabulary area of the CAT examination. The candidates should always note their progress while preparing for the CAT vocabulary section. They are encouraged to always keep track of their progress. The candidate should note down the new words that they come across while reading. They should note down the word, its meaning, followed by an example sentence in which the word is used. Every week, the candidate should go through the notebook and revise the newly learnt words. If necessary, the candidates can also use applications such as Anki, Quizlet, or WordUp for spaced repetition.

Learn Words in Context, Not Isolation

One of the common CAT preparation mistakes made by candidates while preparing for the vocabulary section of the CAT examination is that they tend to learn the large definitions associated with the word. While this can be helpful, there is a chance that the candidate might forget or get confused in the long term. Hence, it is advised that the candidate should learn the words by putting them in a sentence and remember instead of memorising the definitions. The candidates are advised to read full sentences and passages to understand the application, which will help them to remember the words without getting confused.

Use Mnemonics and Word Roots

One of the most effective ways to learn and memorise new words is by using mnemonics and word roots. For this, the candidates should split the words into prefixes and suffixes, such as bene = good → benefit, benevolent. This will help the candidate relate the meaning of a word even if they are not familiar with it. Creating mental associations for tricky words will be very helpful for the candidates when it comes to remembering complex words. Given below are a few mnemonics and word roots for the reference of the candidates.

Practice with Flashcards and Word Lists

When it comes to the CAT preparation, one of the most common strategies devised by the CAT toppers is to use the vocabulary flashcards. This will help the candidates to practice the most common words. The candidates are strongly recommended to use the subject-specific words and curate them according to their requirements. The candidates are strongly recommended to practice 10–20 words daily, revise weekly.

CAT Vocabulary Preparation in 1 Month

With the CAT exam set to be conducted in November 2025, it is essential for the candidates to start their CAT vocabulary practice as soon as they can. To help the candidates stay motivated throughout their CAT vocabulary practice journey, Careers360 has designed a CAT preparation timetable for a month for the effective preparation of the candidates.

CAT-Specific Vocabulary Resources

A few of the best CAT preparation books to enrich the candidate’s vocabulary section are provided below for the reference of the candidates. Along with it, a set of applications that the candidates can refer to is also included. The candidates are advised to go through them and improve their CAT vocabulary preparation.

Common Mistakes in CAT Vocabulary Preparation

A few of the most repeated CAT mistakes while preparing for the CAT vocabulary section are listed below for the reference of the candidates. Candidates are advised to go through the mistakes and ensure that they do not repeat the same on the CAT exam day to ensure that they secure a good CAT percentile under the CAT VARC section.

• Candidates always seem to memorise the definitions of new words instead of using them in a sentence to remember them. This will make them forget the words in the long run when they learn other new words. Hence, the candidates should always use them in a sentence to not forget them when required.

• A lot of students also do not revise the new words learnt and instead continue to other CAT topics of quantitative aptitude and Data Interpretation, and Logical Reasoning. This is a very common mistake and can lead to the candidates forgetting a lot of key words that they had learnt. Hence, a consistent weekly revision is necessary.

• Skipping unfamiliar words while reading. While preparing for the CAT VARC section by going through journals for new words, the candidates are often seen to avoid new complex words instead of learning their meaning and memorising them. This should not be encouraged, and the candidates should always understand and note down the meaning of the words.

• Not practising vocabulary in writing or speaking. Merely understanding the meaning of a word is not enough; the candidate must also put in effort into understanding and using the new words learnt in day-to-day life, such as while writing an article or speaking with others.

CAT 2025 Vocabulary Preparation Resources by Careers360

The CAT aspirants can download the various CAT resources exclusively for the CAT vocabulary preparation designed by subject experts of Careers360 using the links given in the table below.