There is a question that every CAT aspirant asks at some point: should I read the passage first or the questions first? The answer is read the passage first, always. But the more important question is what you should be doing while you read.
Should you read the passage first or the questions first?
Reading questions first sounds efficient. In practice it creates a fragmented reading experience where you are scanning for information rather than understanding an argument. CAT RC passages are not information dumps. They are structured arguments. If you go looking for specific facts before understanding the structure, you will misread every inference and tone question that follows.
Read the passage once, completely, with the goal of understanding the author's central claim and the structure of the argument. This takes three to four minutes for a typical CAT passage. Every minute spent reading carefully here saves two minutes of re-reading later.
What active reading actually means in RC
Active reading means tracking three things simultaneously as you move through a passage: what the author claims, what evidence or reasoning supports that claim, and where the argument shifts direction. Shift words — however, although, yet, but, despite — are the most important words in any RC passage. They mark the turns in the argument that questions are almost always built around.
After finishing the passage, before looking at any question, mentally state one sentence: the author argues that blank. If you can complete that sentence clearly, you have understood the passage at the level CAT requires. If you cannot, skim the first and last paragraphs again before proceeding.
The five CAT RC question types and how to approach each
Primary purpose questions ask what the passage as a whole is trying to do. The answer must cover the entire passage, not just one section. Eliminate answers that are too narrow or too broad.
Inference questions ask what can be concluded from specific information in the passage. The correct answer must be logically entailed by what is stated, not merely consistent with it. When two options both seem reasonable, the correct one is the one that must be true, not the one that might be true.
Tone questions ask about the author's attitude toward the subject. Look for evaluative language — words like surprisingly, unfortunately, rightly, merely, only — which reveal attitude.
Vocabulary in context questions ask what a word means as used in the passage. Always go back to the sentence and substitute each option. The correct answer preserves the exact meaning of the original sentence.
Logical structure questions ask why the author includes a particular detail, example or paragraph. The answer is always about function in the argument, not about content.
Option elimination: the skill that separates 90th from 99th percentile
In CAT RC, three of the four options for every question are wrong in specific, identifiable ways. The most common wrong option types: too extreme (uses words like always, never, all, only when the passage is more qualified); outside the passage (introduces information not in the passage); opposite (states the reverse of what the passage says); too narrow (true about one paragraph but not the whole passage); distortion (partially accurate but twists the meaning in one critical word).
When you are stuck between two options, identify which category of wrong the inferior option falls into. This makes elimination systematic rather than intuitive.
Time management across four passages
The CAT VARC section has 24 questions in 40 minutes. Four RC passages account for 16 questions. That leaves roughly 10 minutes per passage including reading time. The reading itself should take 3 to 4 minutes, leaving 6 to 7 minutes for four questions.
If you are running over time on a passage, skip the question you are least sure about rather than rushing through all four. A skipped question costs one mark. A rushed wrong answer costs 1.33 marks with negative marking.
The most common RC mistakes and how to stop making them
Re-reading the passage for every question. Fix: understand the passage holistically in your first read. You should only go back to verify specific lines, not re-read entire sections.
Answering from common sense rather than the passage. Fix: every answer must be traceable to a specific line or inference from the passage. If you cannot point to where it comes from, it is probably wrong.
Confusing the author's view with views the author describes. Many CAT passages discuss multiple perspectives. The author's own position is usually stated in the opening or closing paragraphs or marked by evaluative language.