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________________________________________________________________
© Copyright, 2018, Rahul Anand
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Printed in India
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iii
Algorithmic Reading
Comprehension
Rahul Anand,
Kamlesh Chauhan
EDUCREATION PUBLISHING (Since 2011)
www.educreation.in
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v
Rahul Anand
PREFACE
Reading comprehension solving is a skill. It is
different from literature in the sense that it is
independent of interpretation. There is no
subjectivity in RC questions. The art of
solving can be learnt by mastering the topic at
three levels – The ability to read, to eliminate
options and to build mistake patterns so as to
learn from them. These three levels lie at the core of “Algorithmic
Reading Comprehension” – an approach to build expertise in RC
solving. This approach was created by my team and me over the
past 6 years of training thousands of students for the Reading
comprehension section for CAT-GMAT and other aptitude based
entrance examinations.
The book deals with two major aspects of reading, “Central
Idea” and “Contextual Word Learning”. It moves on to discuss the
meaning of different question types asked across exams and also
provides elimination frameworks to tackle tricky options. Finally,
students get many passages arranged in levels and then in a
practice chapter to practice and to learn from.
Welcome to the world of flawless RC learning!
Thanking You
Rahul Anand
Co-author, Algorithmic Reading Comprehension
Co-founder and Director, Bfactory
Alumnus, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
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vi
Kamlesh Chauhan
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The idea behind this book came from the
problem in question solving that most CAT-
GMAT aspirants face. It is a product of 6 years
of training expertise and 3 months of efficient
content creation work done by the entire
Bfactory team
I would specially like to thank Rita Shahdeo
mam (English H.O.D, Bfactory) who worked effortlessly to edit
this book. Would also like to thank Shalini Layak mam who
worked as the Assistant Editor and helped Rita mam create the
wonder that the book has to offer!
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vii
My heartiest gratitude to Ms. Shreya Sharma, Mr. Abhishek Singh,
Mr. Rahul Kumar and Ms. Priyanka Singh (Academic Research
Associates, Bfactory) for their work on paragraph selection and
arrangement. Finally, a big kudos to Rahul Sir who was
instrumental in creating the rich frameworks for solving that the
book has to offer. I wish the book goes a long way in helping you
out in sorting your RC troubles.
Thanking You!
Kamlesh Chauhan
Co-author, Algorithmic Reading Comprehension
Co-founder and Director, Bfactory
Alumnus, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
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viii
Table of Contents
Sr. Chaptes Page
A letter from author ix
How to build reading speed? 1
What is algorithmic reading comprehension all
about?
5
1 Module 1: Learn 6
Chapter 1: Contextual Meaning 7
Chapter 2: Central Idea 29
Chapter 3: Titles 56
Chapter 4: Question Types with solving logic 64
Chapter 5: Reading Comprehension Examples 72
2 Module 2: Build 98
Chapter 6: Reading Comprehension Level 1 99
Chapter 7: Reading Comprehension Level 2 110
Chapter 8: Reading Comprehension Level 3 120
Chapter 9: Reading Comprehension Practice Set 138
3 Module 3: Perform 171
Chapter 10: Reading Comprehension Previous years
CAT papers
172
Chapter 11: CAT GMAT Reading Comprehension
Strategy
195
Solution and answer key 197
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ix
A Letter from Author
How to Build A Good Reading Habit? No matter what exam you are going to take, a good and speedy
reading of comprehension is something that is going to play an
important role in giving you an edge over other candidates. The
bigger question is that how can one’s reading be improved; what
are the areas in which a novice needs to work on?
Many a times we come across people who complain that
despite the comprehension being very easy and knowing all the
answers they could not attempt all the questions. This should make
us realize the significance of speedy reading. No matter how good
one is at understanding the passage and finding out the answers, if
one can’t complete the reading on time the will never be able to
score good in exams. One can improve one’s speed by reading
aloud. You can take a newspaper or any novel of your choice and
read it aloud; by aloud I do not mean that your reading should be
audible to your neighbors. It should be done in a way that you can
be audible to your ears and at the same time be able to have a good
understanding of what you are reading. If your brain is not able to
decode the messages your ears are bringing to it, then it is of no
use, therefore while reading aloud you should also be able to
understand it.
Vocabulary is another important aspect of your reading. If you
do not know the words that has been used in the passage; the
fluency of your reading is sure to get hindered. These slippages are
sure to affect your speed and understanding. First you must try to
improve your vocabulary, and this can only be done if you indulge
into extensive reading. Content of what you are reading is also
important. Anything that is accessible and gives an easy reading
should not be picked. You must first try to find out the various
topics on which the questions are asked. In most of the exams
passages from Philosophy, Psychology, literature, Economics,
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x
History are given. Having a prior knowledge of these topics will
enhance your understanding during the examination and you will
also be able to know various terms which are typical of the
particular subject. You should also track your reading progress.
Not everyone starts at the same level at a point of time. You must
be aware of what your current reading level and appetite is and
then plan your reading trajectory accordingly. For example, if you
are a beginner and your aim is to becoming good with newspaper
reading, you can plan something like this:
Month 1-2: Times of India/ Telegraph news articles
Month 3-4: Times of India/ Telegraph editorial section
Month 5-8: The Hindu editorial section
Month 9-10: The Economic Times editorial section
Month 11-12: The Guardian/ The New York Times editorial
section
This is just a tentative plan. You see, you need to have a plan.
Reading progress can be tracked and if you are reading regularly,
you can sense improvement in your level of reading. It is no rocket
science. But yes, it demands discipline.
No matter how strong one’s vocabulary is, no one can know
all the words that are in our dictionary and there are greater
chances that while reading you come across words that you are
unaware of and due to that the entire paragraph or at least some
parts may become undecipherable. To overcome this problem you
should avoid looking up for the meanings into the dictionary or
your phones while reading the passage, because during the exams
you will not get a dictionary. You should always try to find out the
contextual meaning of the words. However you can look up for the
meanings of the difficult words once you have finished reading
and answering the questions. Also try to know the origin of the
words, and also maintain a copy where you write down all the new
words that you come across. Knowing just the meaning of the
words is not useful; you should also know how to use these words
in a sentence.
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xi
Make sure that you read a lot looking on to a monitor. These
days a lot of exams are taken online and you should develop this
habit, or your eyes may start straining.
You should also have the best conditions for reading; choose a
place that is peaceful and well lit.
Read well. Do well.
Best wishes
Rahul Anand
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Algorithmic Reading Comprehension
1
How to Build Reading Speed?
Hello Readers
I have trained thousands of students for reading comprehension for
MBA entrance examinations. I have seen people double their
reading speed with just a little bit of systematic practice. I don’t
know of any magical ways of doing it, but can tell you how to
approach speed reading from my training experience.
First 2–3 lines of the article: Read a bit slow so that you are
able to grasp the subject about which you are going to read. I call
this, “Building context”. If you do not do this, you might run
through the article blind and get lost in the middle. So, when you
enter the passage, ask yourself one question, “What am I entering
into - What’s the subject?”
Once the subject sinks in - run through the passage. This is
where eye spanning comes into play. You know the context now.
All you need to do is pick phrases (group of 3–5 words) at one shot
and run through the article lines left to right. Take a minute pause
only if the theme changes or takes a new turn. Else keep running.
Let’s understand how this entire exercise works:
Sample article: You read first: Will explain later
Do you often imagine what if I could relive those magical moments
when my team won the world cup or any other hard fought
extremely competitive game of cricket? Well you are not alone;
there are several cricket fans all over the world who echo similar
sentiments about the performance of their team. Reliving on field
golden moments of a cricket match is what all cricket fans love to
relive and cricket podcast is the source for you to enjoy this.
Cricket podcast not only enables you to relive the wonderful
moments of a game played in the past, but also keeps you updated
and informed about a current series that is being played. Podcast
is nothing but simply means publishing audio files in the internet.
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Rahul Anand, Kamlesh Chauhan
2
Online visitors can subscribe to these feeds that will give them
complete information about a particular match or series.
Most of these online cricket sites provide cricket podcast services
to their visitors. Mostly a team of experts discuss a match and give
their opinion through the pre and post match analysis. The online
sites have a huge database of podcast of all the matches that has
been played in the recent past. Not only this, some online sites keep
podcast of some major and exciting cricket matches that have been
played over the years for cricket fans.
Sample article: Speed reading explained:
Started reading para 1 looking for “What is the passage about?”
*****
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Algorithmic Reading Comprehension
3
Para 1:
Do you often imagine what if I could relive those magical moments
when my team won the world cup or any other hard fought
extremely competitive game of cricket? Well you are not alone;
there are several cricket fans all over the world who echo similar
sentiments about the performance of their team. Reliving on field
golden moments of a cricket match is what all cricket fans love to
relive and cricket podcast is the source for you to enjoy this.
Explanation:
[Read with a normal speed till now - Now got the main idea -
passage is about cricket podcast as a source to relive cricket
moments. Now I will run.]
Eye spanning begins now - Let’s pick up phrases from Left to
right and scan through the article.
Cricket podcast not only enables you to relive the wonderful
moments of a game played in the past, but also keeps you updated
and informed about a current series that is being played. Podcast
is nothing but simply means publishing audio files in the
internet. Online visitors can subscribe to these feeds that will give
them complete information about a particular match or series.
Explanation:
[Notice the highlight difference here. These many words I am
reading at one shot. So practically 8 pick-ups and the paragraph
gets over. This improves memory and understanding too as you
remember/catch phrases and not words - leads to better
understanding than normal]
Most of these online cricket sites provide cricket podcast
services to their visitors. Mostly a team of experts discuss a match
and give their opinion through the pre and post match
analysis. The online sites have a huge database of podcast of all
the matches that has been played in the recent past. Not only this,
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