Take a free CAT mock Reading Comprehension test to help you practise for CAT and other MBA entrance exams like XAT, IIFT, SNAP and NMAT.
48 of CAT's 72 VARC marks come from Reading Comprehension, the section's 72 marks cover all 24 VARC questions, but only 16 of those are RC; the rest is Verbal Ability (para-jumbles, para-summary, odd-one-out). CAT's RC pattern has stayed fairly consistent: a roughly even mix of direct and inferential questions, easy to moderate in difficulty.
Elsewhere, the pattern differs: IIFT's RC has grown more inferential and tougher in recent years; XAT's RC leans heavily inferential with moderate-to-difficult passages despite being shorter than CAT's; and SNAP hasn't featured RC passages at all in its last few editions, with General English now built around grammar, vocabulary, and verbal reasoning instead.
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Take Free Mock Test TodayOf the 6 RC passages in CAT 2016, most passages had questions which were direct and easy to understand. IIFT has 4 passages and all are mostly, of the basic level and easy to read and solve. Of the 11 RC questions in SNAP 4-5 are of the basic level while, XAT has 6-7 basic level questions. As RC requires no prior knowledge, therefore, the only way to mastering the RCs is through practice tests and careful analysis of the tests
Take Test 1 Take Test 2 Take Test 3First pick the passage you think you are comfortable with and then move onto the other passages in the test. The advanced level practice tests will help you to score more in CAT as 10-12 questions out of the 24 RC questions were from the expert level. XAT and NMAT have 4-5 questions from advanced level of RCs, while SNAP and IIFT, each has 2-3 questions of the advanced level. The key to scoring well in RCs lies in picking out the right passages and lots of practice as the questions are logic based.
Take Test 1 Take Test 23-4 questions in NMAT are of the expert difficulty level, while CAT and XAT have 2-3 such questions. A good score in RCs depends on taking as many practice tests as possible.
Take Test 1
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CAT VARC |
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67% Weightage of RC and 33% Weightage of VA |
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Reading Comprehension |
Para-completion |
Para jumbles |
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Para Summary |
Odd one out |
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The raw score required in VARC for a 99 percentile in CAT 2024 & 2025 is shown below.
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VARC Score |
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CAT 2025 |
42 |
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CAT 2024 |
45 |
Reading Comprehension is the mainstay of the VRC section of CAT. It is probably the only thing you should focus on in VARC for CAT to score a 99%ile. The same applies to IIFT, where RCs help boost scores. In SNAP and NMAT, RCs are not extremely dominant but still contribute significantly.
Note: The above data has been compiled from CAT 2024 and 2025. The number of questions and sectional difficulty levels may vary in upcoming years.
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