Tip 1: Spine before options
After one forward read, write one sentence: What is the author arguing, and what are they unwilling to claim? If you cannot write it, you are not ready for options—no matter how familiar the topic sounds.
Tip 2: Predict, then match
Read the question stem. Close your eyes for three seconds. Answer in plain language. Only then scan options for a paraphrase of your sentence—not the prettiest wording.
Tip 3: Tag traps by name
Keep a tiny legend in your notebook:
- S — shifted scope (true locally, false globally)
- R — reversed causality
- H — half-right (clause 1 exact, clause 2 false)
- P — plausible outsider knowledge
When you miss a question, log one letter. Patterns appear faster than “I was careless.”
Tip 4: Paragraph roles, not rainbow highlights
Assign each paragraph one tag: Claim, Pivot, Evidence, Upshot. Highlighting without roles produces colour soup under VARC time.
Tip 5: Untimed accuracy is a lie
An RC accuracy that only appears without the clock will not travel to CAT. Alternate timed and untimed blocks, but weight timed performance when you prioritise.
Tip 6: Review eye movement, not only answers
On review, mark every regression. Ask whether it was diagnostic (named referent/negation) or fear. Fear regressions get a drill the next day—same passage type, forced-forward rule.
Tip 7: Topic familiarity is a trap
Familiar topics increase confidence and regression. Deliberately practise boring policy and abstract ethics passages—the genres CAT uses to separate 95 from 99.
What to ignore
- Word lists without sentences
- “Read newspapers” without timed checks
- Speed claims without comprehension scores
Practice stack
Ten minutes daily on dense prose + one spine + two self-authored questions beats two hours of passive scrolling through RC PDFs you never interrogate.
CAT reading comprehension tips that work are boring on purpose. Boring builds percentiles.