CAT 2020 VARC Analysis: Slot 2 Breakdown and Strategy

📋 Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Overall Structure of CAT 2020 VARC Slot 2
• Reading Comprehension Insights
• Verbal Ability Overview
• Time Strategy and Ideal Attempts
• How to Tackle Close Options
• FAQs
• Conclusion

🔍 Introduction

The CAT 2020 VARC Slot 2 paper continued the trend set by Slot 1—moderate difficulty, trickily phrased options, and a heavy dose of logical reading. The shortened duration (40 minutes for 26 questions) made time management critical. This analysis covers the question pattern, ideal approach, and how to convert reading comprehension and TITA questions into percentile gains.

📊 Overall Structure of CAT 2020 VARC Slot 2

• TITA (non-MCQ) questions made up all of Verbal Ability
• RCs were readable but options required critical thinking
• Summary questions tested precision and comprehension of tone

📘 Reading Comprehension Insights

Structure

• 4 RC passages:
  • 2 passages with 5 questions
  • 2 passages with 4 questions
• Each passage was around 450–500 words

Highlights

• No passage was overly abstract, but answer options were closely worded
• 3 out of 4 passages were manageable—attempting all four was a time risk
• RCs leaned heavily on inference and logical interpretation rather than direct fact recall

Approach Recommendation

• Scan all four RCs and prioritize 3 with clear structure or familiar context
• Allocate 9–10 minutes per passage, and flag 1–2 risky questions to return later

🧠 Verbal Ability Overview

Para-jumbles (3 TITA Questions)

• Moderate to difficult
• Required identifying opening and closing sentences, logical pair formation
• No negative marking → attempt all
• Use clue connectors like "However," "Thus," "Moreover" to arrange flow

Summary Questions (3 TITA Questions)

• Concise passages (~60–70 words)
• Options not provided—required typing brief answers
• Tip: Aim for 1–2 sentence summaries capturing core intent without examples or side points

Odd Sentence Out (2 TITA Questions)

• Moderate; sentences appeared coherent but one broke thematic flow
• Eliminate sentences that either generalize or shift the core idea
• One easy, one moderate in this slot

⏱️ Time Strategy and Ideal Attempts

Recommended Time Split

• RCs: 26–28 minutes
• Verbal (TITA): 12–14 minutes
• Always attempt all TITA questions (no negative marking = high value)

🧩 How to Tackle Close Options

Even with readable RCs, the options were the real hurdle. Here’s how to break them down:

1. Identify scope – Eliminate options that are too narrow or too broad
2. Match tone – Remove any option that doesn’t match the tone (positive, neutral, skeptical)
3. Avoid new ideas – Options introducing unrelated information must go
4. Stick to central idea – Summary and inference questions must capture the core—not details

❓ FAQs

1. Was Slot 2 VARC harder than Slot 1? No, it was very similar in structure and tone. The RC options were comparably tricky, but overall difficulty was balanced.
2. Were all verbal questions in TITA format? Yes. All 8 Verbal Ability questions (para-jumbles, summary, odd sentence) were TITA.
3. Should I attempt all RCs? Attempting 3 RCs smartly is safer. Attempting all 4 increases risk unless you’re very fast and accurate.

✅ Conclusion

The CAT 2020 VARC Slot 2 section was a test of critical reading, judgment, and logical elimination. With all Verbal Ability questions in TITA format and RCs packed with nuanced choices, success depended on calm execution and question selection. Aspirants targeting top percentiles needed to focus on strategy over sheer volume.