Newspapers prepare you for CAT

As a CAT aspirant there is one advice that you consistently hear from all and sundry; and that is about reading newspapers regularly. Whether anyone has any idea about CAT or not, s/he knows that reading a newspaper is very important for clearing any competitive exam.

The basic idea behind this advice is that you need to stay abreast with the happenings in local, regional, national and international arenas. But besides all this, what makes reading the newspaper absolutely essential is ------ the default benefit of developing our Reading Comprehension and Reasoning Ability skills.

Francis Bacon once wrote, ‘Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.’ A good newspaper does all these. It plays wonders as far as promotion of reading skills is concerned. The poorest reader can find ideas from pictures, captions and advertisements that add to his knowledge of the world and make it possible to bring his reading experience into play. Superior readers find an unlimited ceiling in the newspaper; columnists and editorials offer ideas that are provocative and challenging. In developing mature readers the newspaper has great potential.

Let’s examine how you can use the humble newspaper to your advantage.

Use the newspaper for increasing the Word Power

By the very nature of its language, the newspaper displays a vocabulary, which is simple, vital and yet commonplace; but you also come across a number of new and unfamiliar words. Circle these words. (On different days, you can choose a different page of the newspaper to do this exercise.) Consult a dictionary and note down the meanings of these circled words. You can initiate some interesting activities with these words ---

- Prepare vocabulary booklets. Arrange the words in alphabetic order; learn them and use them in conversation and writing wherever appropriate.
- Prepare vocabulary cards with the word on one side; and the dictionary meaning along with the newspaper sentence using the word, on the other side.
- Prepare word games by writing all the words that rhyme with a chosen word. To increase the fun you can use only those rhyming words that you can find in the newspaper. (I can hear some of you whining, ‘wish we had that much time to spare!’)
- Prepare word games using the synonyms and / or antonyms for a chosen word.
- Find one root word from your vocabulary booklet and make two more words, one using a prefix and the other using a suffix.

Use the newspaper for improving Eye-Span

A wider eye span helps in efficient reading. If you feed your eyes piecemeal, they in turn feed your mind piecemeal, and the result is a fragmentary thought pattern which is difficult to synthesize into an integrated whole.

Newspaper columns are so narrow that you can begin with reading each line with no more than two fixations. Gradually with little practice you will be able to read a newspaper line in just one fixation.

See the middle word of each line of the print, down the column. Train your eyes to activate your peripheral vision by seeing the words on either side, through the corners of your eyes. This may not be an easy exercise in the beginning but just 15 days of practice, for 10 minutes a day, will increase your eye span.

Use the newspaper for increasing your reading speed

Make use of simple articles and interesting news items for increasing reading speed. Time your reading of a passage, and try to read the same passage in lesser time, next time.

Keep a check on lip movement and sub-vocalization. These habits hamper your reading speed.

Use the newspaper for learning Skimming and Scanning skills

Skimming is used for getting the bird’s eye view of the printed matter. You can get a comprehensive idea of a regular newspaper’s content in just 3 minutes. (This will be good news to all the souls short on time!) This can be done by skimming the front-page headlines, the main headings on the rest of the pages and a few relevant details in the body.

Scanning is done to locate some material quickly. You should use ‘the inverted-Pyramid approach’ for this. In a newspaper the heading follows a full sentence regarding the incident and then the details about it.

Use the newspaper to learn flexibility in reading

Flexibility in reading can be achieved by shifting gears constantly. You should vary your reading speed according to the purpose at hand.

- ‘Skimming’ is the fastest rate of reading. It includes reading selectively for specific purposes such as finding a reference, locating material or reviewing material already read. While skimming, it may be desirous at times to skip material or slow down to other rates.
- ‘Rapid reading’ is the rate at which material is read for pleasure or relaxation. Familiar material is reviewed and information is obtained for temporary use.
- A ‘normal rate’ is used to find answers to specific questions, to solve a problem, or to read material of average difficulty.
- To master the main idea and pertinent details a ‘careful rate’ of reading is used. At this slow rate material can be evaluated; details in sequence can be noted, outlined and summarised. Material with unusual vocabulary or style needs to be read carefully

Use the newspaper for Critical Reading

Cartoons make good material for critical reading. You can initiate an interesting debate in determining why a cartoonist expressed himself in the way he did.

An editorial page is an excellent place to try to discern the motive behind the writing. The editorial writer’s aim may be to convince, to interpret, to inform, or to amuse. At times he may just comment on the weather or a holiday. Most of the well-written editorials always present a rational argument. Their arguments begin with certain premises, consider the relevant facts and draw the conclusions that seem logically to follow.

However, there are pros and cons for most topics and room for different opinions. You should be able to distinguish facts from opinions; classify ideas; compare and contrast views; see cause and effect relationships; draw conclusions and weigh validity of facts & generalizations.

Comprehension skills are improved when you read regularly and extensively.

So what are you waiting for? Use the news, go grab a newspaper!

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How average guys can crack CAT?

Are you an average guy? Do you dream of cracking CAT and zoom on the highway to success? Do you think you can do it? Well, let me show you how you can do it. CAT is after all an exam that turns all the tigers into pussycats!!

The biggest fear about taking CAT is just that …. A fear of the unknown! If you can tackle this fear half your battle is won. What are you so fearful about? It is just another exam? Or is it? It has been over-hyped just because a whole lot of people seem to be out there competing with you for those paltry seats. If you remove this fear of competing against the very best, and concentrate on bringing out the very best in you, you are almost there. Yes, almost but not quite.

To really get there you need to do an honest check of your strengths and your weaknesses. I am not speaking of your physical strength here. I am more concerned about your strengths in verbal and quantitative skills, and if you are serious about cracking CAT, you should pay serious attention to them.

There are no set formulas for cracking CAT. You speak to fifty successful candidates and each one will tell you a different story. What does this mean to you? It means that you should follow your own path to success. Listen to everyone. Learn from all, but make your own strategies and follow them to a T.

Students often ask me when is the right time to start preparing for CAT. My answer invariably is: the right time is right now. If you have decided to take CAT, what stops you from preparing for it? There is no right time like the present time. The verbal ability section demands a good grasp of grammar, vocabulary, and comprehension. The Quant section wants you to understand numbers, their play and its application. The GD looks for your interpersonal, communication, and team skills. The PI is concerned about your knowledge of your self. It is as simple as that. Put in this manner it does not seem like the Herculean task it is made out to be. It actually isn’t.

So, if you have been diligent about your grammar exercises, have been reading books, understanding the basic math formulae, discussing your point of view with your friends and family, taking interest in the national and international affairs, and knowing exactly what you want from life….. Nothing can stop you from cracking the CAT.

The problem is that you have not been doing these things. Perhaps you have not been doing most of these things or all of these things. In that case, you need to start right now. There is not a moment to lose. You can not put your dreams on hold, just because you did not wake up in time. Now is as good a time as ever.

First of all start reading. You may ask, ‘reading what?’ My answer is, reading anything that interests you. When we are interested in something, we do it to the best of our capability, and that is always a good point to start from. Later as you become comfortable with the idea of reading, you should start reading newspapers (The Hindu is the best paper in India today. No other paper can match the quality of its language. Even their news perspective is very unbiased.), magazines (The Economist is the best magazine to read. You can read most of its articles online as well.), and books (by Richard Bach, Ayn Rand, Paulo Coelho, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Emile Zola, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, George Orwell Hermann Hesse, Salman Rushdie, Daphne Du Maurier, Nietzsche, J. Krishnamurthy etc). Taking a membership of a library really helps. E- Version of many books can be downloaded from the internet as well. I am told that many such books are exchanged on the Orkut communities.

All this reading will help you in improving your vocabulary, and comprehending implied meanings. For grammar, there is no book that can beat good old Wren and Martin. If you go through this book a couple of times, the grammar section of CAT will not haunt you anymore.

Start re-visiting your school math books. NCERT books for class VIII, IX, and X are invaluable in understanding Geometry. It is a fact that the CAT questions in Geometry are at NCERT level. A wonderful book for Algebra is Hall and Knight Higher Algebra. Quantitative Aptitude for CAT by Pradeep Pandey is also a very good book for quant preparation. Once you are comfortable with the basics, start practicing CAT questions. Take help of Vedic Math. It may seem daunting at first but it is a fun way of learning math. Give it a try. Many successful people swear by its efficacy.

If you are still a student, start improving your academic performance. It is becoming increasingly important to be able to boast of a consistent performance. As you know every bit eventually counts on the D-day. Remember, it is never too late to start performing well.

The other question that is invariably asked is how much time to devote for preparation of each section. Again there is no one answer to this question because a lot depends upon your comfort level with each section. Generally, if you study for four hours everyday, devote two hours to quant, one hour to verbal, and one hour to DI. Your general reading and discussion time is not included in these four hours. It is best to study all three sections everyday so that your preparation is more balanced. In any case your real study time is only till August. After that SIMCATS would start and your preparation planning would change as per your performance analysis.

And finally, have confidence in your dreams. If you are given these dreams, you are also given the where withal to achieve them. So carry on……….Expect SUCCESS.

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