Economics passages appear in every CAT paper and The Economist is the most frequent source. Building a reading list specifically for this genre is one of the highest-return investments you can make in your CAT VARC preparation.
The Economist is non-negotiable. It is the single most recurrent source of CAT RC passages in the last four years. Focus on the Finance and Economics section and the Business section. The Leaders section, which publishes short opinion pieces of around 500 words, is excellent for building initial comfort with the style. Once Leaders feel manageable, move to Briefings, which are longer and more complex.
Read one to two Economist articles per week. Summarise the argument after each article in two sentences. This builds both comprehension and the ability to identify main ideas quickly.
Harvard Business Review publishes essays on business strategy, organisational behaviour and management that appear occasionally in CAT RC. The writing is slightly more accessible than The Economist but the ideas are equally dense. Read one HBR article per week.
Quartz covers economics and business in a style that is more conversational than The Economist but still analytically rigorous. It is useful for topics that The Economist covers less frequently, such as technology economics and emerging market dynamics.
GRADFLIX publishes essays on economics and society written in the style of The Economist. They are 600 to 900 words, which matches the length of CAT RC passages, and they come with RC questions. Reading GRADFLIX economics essays gives you daily practice at the right difficulty without spending 30 minutes on a full Economist article every day.
Monday to Friday, read one GRADFLIX economics essay and answer the questions. Tuesday and Thursday, substitute with a full Economist article from the Finance or Business section. Saturday, read one HBR essay. That covers the full range of economics writing styles that appear in CAT RC.
GRADFLIX economics essays are written in The Economist style at CAT RC length, with questions. Free to start.
Read Economics EssaysThe Economist is the primary source. Supplement with Harvard Business Review and Quartz. GRADFLIX provides CAT-style economics essays with RC questions for daily practice.
Yes, particularly for business and management passages. HBR writing is analytically rigorous and matches the style of CAT economics and business RC passages.
No. All answers come from the passage. Familiarity with the writing style speeds up comprehension but prior economics knowledge is not required.
One to two articles per week is the right frequency. Choose articles from the Finance, Economics or Business sections.