The intent and purpose of this article are very simple: to provide you guidelines to handle RC title questions. Remember, in this question type, it is easy to be misled by the alluring options providing to you. You need to maintain your focus and stick to the information provided.
Types of CAT RC Title Questions
The first thing that you need to understand is the types of titles that you can encounter for this question type. Primarily, there are two types:
1.Direct or explicit: these are the titles that are directly based on the information provided in the passage and connect with the central subject of the passage.
2. Indirect or implicit: these are the tricky ones. These make an indirect reference to the passage and can even use language devices such as metaphors, idioms, etc.
Core Concept for handling these questions
The core concept for handling the two types of titles questions remains the same: you need to identify the subject and central idea of the passage and then match it with the answer options. The option closest to the subject and central idea combine is your correct answer. Easier said than done, right? This is where it comes in handy to analyse the nature of titles and see what defines them.
Properties of titles
In general, titles of passages and articles can be said to have the following properties:
1. They, in some way or the other, represent succinct summaries of the issue at hand.
2. Most titles contain a reference to the subject of the passage, and this is your biggest clue to solve these questions.
3. For technical papers and academic journals, titles are more direct in nature. In comparison, general newspaper editorials and opinion articles can adopt any form or structure for their article titles.
Steps to identify the correct answers for RC Title Questions
1. Identify the subject
The first step to identify the correct answer is to identify the subject of the passage. The subject is the key topic around which the passage is built.
2. Don’t focus on the minor details; key ideas drive this question
It is easy to be misled by options that focus on single points or minor details of the passage. These options might be somewhat direct in nature, but the very fact that they do not talk the key idea of the passage helps us rule them out.
3. Identify the central theme of the passage
Make sure you identify the central theme of the passage. The best way to do so is to build a mental map of the passage while reading it. How do you do so? While reading every paragraph of the passage, just ask yourself two things: what are the main subject and main idea of this paragraph? By taking it down to the paragraph level, you effectively build a roadmap for the passage and therefore, have a clear picture in mind by the time you end the passage.
4. Make sure you brush up your knowledge of idioms and metaphors
This is a long-term step that involves focus on building language skills. Remember, the only way to answer questions that feature idioms/metaphors as answer options is to know the meanings of these options. You can only do so by building your knowledge of the language.
5. Be careful of the scope trap
All RC big picture questions (questions based on the overall theme, structure, purpose, tone, attitude, and title) feature a common trap in the answer options: they change the scope of the passage. What do I mean by scope? Scope refers to the general set of ideas the passage refers to. Mostly, passages have a defined scope. For example, a passage might be based on liberalisation of the economy in India. Now if the answer option talks about global liberalisation, this should be a marker for you: the scope of the passage has been changed. So make sure you are super careful about these scope changes and stick to core ideas of the passage.
With this, the set of tips, tricks, and advice for RC articles is complete. Hope you derive value from this article.
