How do CAT Winners Improve their Reading skills?

Cat Winners generally have very good Reading Skills. These skills are invaluable not only for the Reading Comprehension section of the CAT, but also other sections like Reasoning and even maths. They use certain reading techniques that greatly increase their comprehension and reduce the time required to learn new subjects. You must remember that quick tips like skimming the passage etc will simply not work unless you are an effective reader. These quick tips have to be used in conjunction with an effective way of reading. One of the most effective way of reading is the SQ3R method: Scan. Question. Read. Review. Recite. Scanning provides a rapid overview. Many well written books follow logical outlines that can orient the reader to the subject matter. The outline might follow this pattern: Title. Table of Contents. Main Introduction and conclusion. Chapter 1. Introduction. Conclusion. Chapter 2. Chapter 3. Conclusion. Definitions. Questioning is a natural, instinctive, second step that most winners follow. In the scanning process, certain questions naturally arise. These should be noted in a short list of questions to be answered through reading. The questioning procedure helps the reader stay focused. Reading occurs very rapidly if a systematic plan is followed: First, determine the main idea from the title, the first paragraph, and the last paragraph. Second, determine if a large subject is divided into smaller subjects with some outlining scheme. Next, follow the title, introduction, body, conclusion rule to find the main idea of each smaller section. Each smaller section can then be scanned for keywords. Keyword recognition signals the reader to pay closer attention for critical definitions and ideas that follow. Finally, review as often as necessary to keep focused. Outlining and note taking often help.

Once you start to become an effective reader, you will find that you are also becoming a faster reader. Together with the SQ3R method, if you use the tactical reading tips below, you will find yourself on the way to becoming Critical Reading Winner!

Winning Tips to increase your reading speed As we read, our eyes move along the line in a series of jerky movements, stopping at each word. Fast readers usually taken in 3-4 words in each movement that their eye makes. The more words you can take in with each movement of the eye, teh faster your reading will be. - Try to avoid focusing on every word, but rather look at groups of 2 to 3 words. e.g. the above sentence could be read as: Try to avoid / focusing on every work/but / rather look at / groups of 2 to 3 words. - If you find yourself moving your lips when reading, force yourself to read faster by following the first point above so that you can no longer move your lips. - Read more! 15 minutes a day of reading an average size novel equals 18 books a year at an average reading speed! - Determine your purpose before reading. If you only need main ideas, then allow yourself to skim the material. Don't feel you must read very word. - Spend a few minutes a day reading at a faster than comfortable rate (about 2 to 3 times faster than your normal speed). Use your hand or an index card to guide your eyes down the page. Then time yourself reading a few pages at your normal speed. You'll find that often your normal reading speed will increase after your skimming practice. - If you have poor concentration when reading, practice reading for only 5 - 10 minutes at a time and gradually increase this time. - There are several books on increasing reading speed available in most bookstores. If you are serious about increasing your rate you may want to work systematically through one of these books. You can also look at the Ultimate Guide to cracking the CAT for more quick tips to improving your Reading Comprehension.
To give you some quick practice on your newly learned reading skills, try the passage below. This is a typical long reading comprehension passage that you might find in the actual CAT.

Read this passage and answer the questions that follow. CAT Winners are able to read the passage and answer the questions in roughly 10 minutes, and get 5 out of 6 question correct.

There are two theories that have often been used to explain ancient and modern tragedy. Neither quite explains the complexity of the tragic process or the tragic hero, but each explains important elements of tragedy, and, because their conclusions are contradictory, they represent extreme views. and of the limitation of human effort. But this theory of tragedy is an oversimplification, primarily because it confuses the tragic condition with the tragic process: the theory does not acknowledge that fate, in a tragedy, normally becomes external to the hero only after the tragic process has as a heroism that creates the splendor and exhilaration that is unique to tragedy. The tragic hero quality of an honest person, but the external antagonist of the criminal. Secondarily, this theory of tragedy does not distinguish tragedy from irony. Irony does not need an exceptional central figure: the original destiny never quite fades out of the tragedy. as a rule, the more ignoble the hero the sharper the irony, when irony alone is the objective. It is heroism that creates the splendor and exhilaration that is unique to tragedy. The tragic hero normally has an extraordinary, often a nearly divine, destiny almost within grasp, and the glory of the original destiny never quite fades out of the tragedy. The second theory of tragedy states that the act that sets the tragic process in motion must be primarily a violation of normal law, whether human or divine; in short, that the tragic hero must have a flaw that has an essential connection with sin. Again it is true that the great majority of tragic heroes do possess hubris, or a proud and passionate mind that seems to make the heros downfall morally explicable. But such hubris is only the precipitating agent of catastrophe, just as in comedy the cause )f the happy ending is usually some act of humility often performed by a noble character who is meanly disguised. This theory of tragedy as morally explicable runs into the question of whether an innocent sufferer in a tragedy, such as Iphigenia, or Socrates in Plato Apology, is a tragic figure. They are, of course, even though it is not very easy to find crucial moral flaws in them. Cordelia shows sincerity and high spirit in refusing to flatter her faber, and Cordelia is 30 hanged. Tragedy, in short, is ambiguous and cannot be reduced to the opposition between human effort. and external fate, just as it cannot be reduced to the opposition between good and evil. 1. A) B) C) D) E) The primary purpose of the passage is. to compare and criticize two theories of tragedy. develop a new theory of tragedy. summarize the thematic content of tragedy. reject one theory of tragedy and offer another theory in its place. distinguish between tragedy and iron

2. The author states that the theories discussed in the passage represent extreme views because their conclusions are (A) unpopular (B) complex (C) paradoxical (D) contradictory. (E) imaginative 3. Which of the following comparisons of the tragic with the ironic hero is best supported by information contained in the passage? A) A tragic heros fate is an external condition, but an ironic heros fate is an internal one. B) A tragic hero must be controlled by fate, but an ironic hero cannot be. C) A tragic heros moral flaw surprises the, audience, but an ironic heros sin does not. D) A tragic hero and an ironic hero cannot both be virtuous figures in the same tragedy. E) A tragic hero is usually extraordinary, but an ironic hero may be cowardly or even villainous. 4. A) B) C) D) E) 5. A) B) C) The author contrasts an honest person and a criminal primarily in order to prove that fate cannot be external to the tragic hero. establish a criterion that allows a distinction to be made between irony and tragedy. develop the distinction between the tragic condition and the tragic process. introduce the concept of sin as the cause of tragic action. argue that the theme of omnipotent external fate is shared by comedy and tragedy. According to the. author, Cordellia is an example of a figure who transcended both the laws of fate and the laws of society. sinned, but whose sin did not set the tragic process in motion. disobeyed a moral law, but was not punished for doing so.

D) E) 6. A) B) C) D) E)

submitted willingly to fate, even though her submission caused her death. did not set the tragic process in motion, but is still a tragic figure. In the authors opinion, an act of humility in comedy is most analogous to a catastrophe in tragedy. an ironic action in tragedy. a tragic heros pride and passion a tragic heros aversion to sin. a tragic heros pursuit of an unusual destiny.

7 CRITICAL READING STRATEGIES

1. Previewing: Learning about a text before really reading it. Previewing enables readers to get a sense of what the text is about and how it is organized before reading it closely. This simple strategy includes seeing what you can learn from the headnotes or other introductory material, skimming to get an overview of the content and organization, and identifying the rhetorical situation. 2. Contextualizing: Placing a text in its historical, biographical, and cultural contexts. When you read a text, you read it through the lens of your own experience. Your understanding of the words on the page and their significance is informed by what you have come to know and value from living in a particular time and place. But the texts you read were all written in the past, sometimes in a radically different time and place. To read critically, you need to contextualize, to recognize the differences between your contemporary values and attitudes and those represented in the text. 3. Questioning to understand and remember: Asking questions about the content. As students, you are accustomed (I hope) to teachers asking you questions about your reading. These questions are designed to help you understand a reading and respond to it more fully, and often this technique works. When you need to understand and use new information though it is most beneficial if you write the questions, as you read the text for the first time. With this strategy, you can write questions any time, but in difficult academic readings, you will understand the material better and remember it longer if you write a question for every paragraph or brief section. Each question should focus on a main idea, not on illustrations or details, and each should be expressed in your own words, not just copied from parts of the paragraph. 4. Reflecting on challenges to your beliefs and values: Examining your personal responses.

The reading that you do for this class might challenge your attitudes, your unconsciously held beliefs, or your positions on current issues. As you read a text for the first time, mark an X in the margin at each point where you feel a personal challenge to your attitudes, beliefs, or status. Make a brief note in the margin about what you feel or about what in the text created the challenge. Now look again at the places you marked in the text where you felt personally challenged. What patterns do you see? 5. Outlining and summarizing: Identifying the main ideas and restating them in your own words. Outlining and summarizing are especially helpful strategies for understanding the content and structure of a reading selection. Whereas outlining reveals the basic structure of the text, summarizing synopsizes a selection's main argument in brief. Outlining may be part of the annotating process, or it may be done separately (as it is in this class). The key to both outlining and summarizing is being able to distinguish between the main ideas and the supporting ideas and examples. The main ideas form the backbone, the strand that holds the various parts and pieces of the text together. Outlining the main ideas helps you to discover this structure. When you make an outline, don't use the text's exact words.
Summarizing begins with outlining, but instead of merely listing the main ideas, a summary recomposes them to form a new text. Whereas outlining depends on a close analysis of each paragraph, summarizing also requires creative synthesis. Putting ideas together again -- in your own words and in a condensed form -- shows how reading critically can lead to deeper understanding of any text.

6. Evaluating an argument: Testing the logic of a text as well as its credibility and emotional impact. All writers make assertions that they want you to accept as true. As a critical reader, you should not accept anything on face value but to recognize every assertion as an argument that must be carefully evaluated. An argument has two essential parts: a claim and support. The claim asserts a conclusion -- an idea, an opinion, a judgment, or a point of view -- that the writer wants you to accept. The support includes reasons (shared beliefs, assumptions, and values) and evidence (facts, examples, statistics, and authorities) that give readers the basis for accepting the conclusion. When you assess an argument, you are concerned with the process of reasoning as well as its truthfulness (these are not the same thing). At the most basic level, in order for an argument to be acceptable, the support must be appropriate to the claim and the statements must be consistent with one another. 7. Comparing and contrasting related readings: Exploring likenesses and differences between texts to understand them better.

Many of the authors we read are concerned with the same issues or questions, but approach how to discuss them in different ways. Fitting a text into an ongoing dialectic helps increase understanding of why an author approached a particular issue or question in the way he or she did.

Reading and research series

Critical reading
Summarize, review and study your reading assignment, whether book, chapter, handout, article, whitepaper, etc.:

Characteristics of Critical Readers

They are honest with themselves They resist manipulation They overcome confusion They ask questions They base judgments on evidence

They look for connections between subjects They are intellectually independent

Ask yourself the following questions as you read:

What is the topic of the book or reading? What issues are addressed? What conclusion does the author reach about the issue(s)? What are the author's reasons for his or her statements or belief? Is the author using facts, theory, or faith?

Facts can be proven Theory is to be proved and should not be confused with fact Opinions may or may not be based on sound reasoning Faith is not subject to proof by its nature

Has the author used neutral words or emotional words? Critical readers look beyond the language to see if the reasons are clear Be aware of why you do, or do not, accept arguments of the author