Important Verbal Ability Topics for CAT 2026 Exam, Weightage and Preparation Tips

Q: 1. What are the key topics in the Verbal Ability section for the CAT exam?

The key topics include Parajumbles (Sentence Rearrangement), Odd Sentence Out, Paragraph Summary, and Fill in the Missing Sentence (Paragraph Completion). Focusing on these areas can significantly boost your performance in the Verbal Ability section.

Q: How important is Reading Comprehension compared to Verbal Ability in the CAT exam?

Reading Comprehension (RC) holds more weight in the VARC section, comprising around 66.6% of the total questions. However, performing well in both RC and VA is crucial for achieving a high overall score.

Q: Are grammar and vocabulary still relevant for CAT preparation?

While the current CAT syllabus has shifted focus away from grammar and vocabulary, solidifying your foundational knowledge can still aid your overall verbal skills, especially for other management entrance exams that require these topics.

Q: How many questions are typically asked in the Verbal Ability section of the CAT exam?

In the VARC section, there are usually 24 questions in total, with 8 dedicated to Verbal Ability and the remaining 16 focused on Reading Comprehension.

Q: What is the best way to prepare for the Verbal Ability section?

Regular practice with a mix of para jumbles, odd sentence out, paragraph summaries, and sentence placement exercises will help. Additionally, reading diverse materials can enhance comprehension skills and familiarise you with different writing styles.

Author : Lalita Vishwakarma

November 26, 2025

Overview: Boost your CAT Verbal score! Here are the most important Verbal Ability topics for CAT 2026 that you can’t miss to grab a good percentile! Check out now!

When it comes to the CAT exam, the Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) section can feel a bit overwhelming. Many aspirants confuse the two areas, but let’s break it down in simple terms.

CAT Reading Comprehension (RC) is all about your ability to read passages, understand them, and answer critical reasoning questions with accuracy.
On the other hand, CAT Verbal Ability (VA) is a separate unit that focuses on logical arrangement and interpretation of sentences rather than long passages.

So, what exactly are the Important verbal ability topics for CAT that you need to prepare? Let’s explore them one by one.

What are the Important Verbal Ability Topics for CAT 2026?

Over the years, the CAT exam has maintained a fairly consistent CAT exam pattern in the VA section. Here are the most important CAT topics for verbal ability that should be on your preparation list:

Parajumbles (Sentence Rearrangement) – You’ll be given a set of jumbled sentences and need to arrange them to form a coherent paragraph.
Odd Sentence Out – A group of sentences will be provided, and you must identify the one that does not logically fit in with the others.
Paragraph Summary – Here, your task is to choose the option that best represents the central idea of the given paragraph.
Fill in the Missing Sentence (Paragraph Completion) – This is the latest addition to the VA section. It’s very similar to parajumbles and odd sentence out questions, as it tests your ability to understand logical flow and coherence within a paragraph.

Together, these make up the CAT verbal ability important topics that need consistent practice

What Changed Over Time in Verbal Ability Topics for CAT?

If you look at CAT papers after 2015, you’ll notice a stable pattern with the above topics. However, before 2015, the VA portion also included a lot of verbal ability questions on grammar, vocabulary, and error spotting. While these are no longer part of the official CAT exam, they are still highly useful for other management entrance exams like XAT, IIFT, NMAT, and SNAP.

This means that while you don’t need to focus heavily on grammar and vocabulary for CAT, strengthening your basics along with preparing important Verbal Ability Topics for CAT 2026 can still help improve your overall verbal skills.

CAT VARC Syllabus 2026

The CAT VARC syllabus gives the highest weightage to Reading Comprehension (RC), which usually includes four passages in the exam. In total, the VARC section consists of 24 questions, with nearly two-thirds (around 66.6%) of them based on RC and the remaining one-third (about 33.3%) testing Verbal Ability.

For candidates appearing in CAT 2026, understanding the key areas of the VARC syllabus is crucial for targeted preparation. Focusing on the important Verbal Ability Topics for CAT 2026 can help sharpen accuracy and time management. The table below highlights the essential areas of Reading Comprehension that aspirants should prioritise during practice.

Here’s the improved table with a guidance-oriented tone in the description column:

Section	No. of Questions	Topics/Question Types	Description (Guidance-based)
Reading Comprehension (RC)	16	Inference-based Passages	Focus on reading between the lines. Go beyond the surface meaning and practice deriving logical conclusions that are not directly stated.
		Author’s Tone, Central Idea & Attitude	Train yourself to identify the author’s intent, attitude, and the central theme. Pay attention to keywords that signal mood or stance.
		Fact-based & Assumption-driven Questions	Be precise in locating information from the passage. Learn to separate stated facts from hidden assumptions to avoid traps.
		Logical Structure & Application-based Questions	Practice tracing the flow of arguments and ensure you understand how one idea leads to another. This improves accuracy in contextual or application-based questions.
Verbal Ability (VA)	8	Para Jumbles (TITA)	Work on arranging sentences logically. Look for connectors, pronouns, and transitional phrases that guide the correct sequence.
		Paragraph Summaries	Practice condensing long passages into one or two sentences. Keep the essence intact without adding external ideas.
		Odd Sentence Out	Sharpen your ability to spot sentences that break the logical flow. Compare each sentence’s link to the main idea carefully.
		Sentence Placement/Fill in the Blank	Build skills to logically insert missing sentences or fill blanks using context clues. Always check for coherence with the passage.

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CAT 2026 VARC Section Exam Pattern

While looking for the important verbal ability topics for CAT 2026, it is extremely essential to understand the sectional exam pattern. So, to make it easier for you, here is the tabular representation:

Topics	No. of Questions
Reading Comprehension	16
Para Summary	3
Odd One Out Sentence	2
Para Completion/ Para Insertion	3
Total	24

Weightage of VARC Topics for CAT 2026

The VARC section of the CAT exam consists of 24 questions, with 16 from RC (the major chunk) and 8 from Verbal Ability, split between Para Jumbles, Summaries, and Odd Sentence Out.

To make it easier for you, here we have provided the weightage of the Verbal ability topics for CAT 2026 exam:

Topic	Weightage %	Number of Questions
Reading Comprehension (4 passages, 4 Qs each)	66%	16
Para Summary	12%	3
Para Insertion	12%	3
Odd-One-Out / Completion	10%	2

Note: Reading Comprehension holds the maximum weightage in the VARC section. Therefore, it is very important to have a good hold on the RC part to score high in the main exam.

Common Reading Comprehension Topics for CAT 2026 Exam To Practice Now

The CAT important topics for the verbal ability section are asked from different areas like history, philosophy, art & culture, biology, cultural studies and more.

Here is the detailed description for each subcategory of the verbal ability topics for the CAT 2026 exam:

Topic	Description
Society & Social Issues	Covers topics related to social trends, challenges, and impacts on communities. These require awareness of contemporary issues.
History	Passages may discuss Indian or world history. Candidates with a history background may find these comparatively accessible.
Science & Technology	Includes areas like physics, chemistry, space exploration, or technological developments; often requires logical interpretation.
Philosophy	Draws on ideas of thinkers such as Aristotle, Kant, or Aurelius. Such passages are abstract and can be tricky to comprehend.
Arts & Culture	May feature literature, painting, music, or museums. These have often appeared as favourites in CAT RC sets.
Psychology	Articles may explore human behaviour, cognition, or mental frameworks. Manageable if familiar with these topics.
Biology	Typically based on genetics, evolution, or ecology, including ideas like Darwin’s theory or plant/animal studies.
Cultural Studies	Focuses on languages, traditions, and diverse cultural practices across societies.

The Verbal Ability (VA) section of the CAT exam forms a crucial part of the overall VARC syllabus. This segment usually includes 8 questions distributed across three important Verbal Ability Topics for CAT 2026:

Out of Context – 2 questions
Para Summary – 3 questions
Para Insertion – 3 questions

One key advantage of the VA section is that it often requires less time to attempt compared to Reading Comprehension. However, many aspirants underestimate its importance and fail to give it adequate practice. With consistent preparation, this component can become a high‑scoring opportunity for candidates.

Here are the important VARC topics for CAT 2026 from these three sections:

Topic	Description
Para Summary	A short passage is provided, and you must select the option that best captures the essence of the paragraph.
Para Jumbles	Four jumbled sentences are given. The task is to rearrange them into a logically coherent order.
Para Completion (Fill in the Blank)	A sentence is missing from the paragraph. From the given options, choose the sentence that fits best in the correct position.
Odd One Out (Out of Context)	Five sentences are presented, out of which one does not logically connect with the others. You need to identify the unrelated sentence.

Tip for Aspirants: If you’re preparing for CAT, keep in mind that the Verbal Ability section went through a slight change in 2024. Unlike CAT previous years, there were no Para Jumble questions. Instead, the paper included 3 Para Summary questions, 3 Para Completion questions, and 2 Out‑of‑Context questions.

So, while practising, don’t just rely on the older pattern make sure you give extra attention to Para Completion and Para Summary, since they carry more weight in CAT 2024. If the same trend continues, being ready for these types could give you a scoring edge.

How to Prepare for CAT VARC 2026?

It is important to have a good practice of the CAT VARC section, and for that, you need to follow a complete roadmap. Focusing on important Verbal Ability Topics for CAT 2026 along with consistent practice can boost your preparation.

Here are the key tips that you can follow to grab good marks in the VARC section

Strategy	Guidance
Read Daily	Make it a habit to read 2–3 quality articles every day from diverse domains such as economics, philosophy, science, or current affairs. This not only builds comprehension skills but also improves reading speed and comfort with varied topics.
Practice Reading Comprehension (RCs)	RCs form the core of VARC. The more passages you solve, the better your ability to analyse, eliminate wrong options, and answer accurately. Regular practice is the single biggest score‑booster here.
Review Previous Year Papers	Going through past CAT papers helps you identify recurring trends and question types. It also gives clarity on which areas to prioritize during preparation.
Work on Vocabulary & Grammar	While grammar isn’t directly tested, a good hold on sentence structure and vocabulary makes it easier to understand passages and tackle Para Summary/Out‑of‑Context questions with precision.
Take Sectional & Full Mocks	Begin with VARC sectional tests to build accuracy, then move on to timed full‑length mock tests. Mocks train you to manage time, maintain accuracy, and handle exam pressure effectively.

Importance of VARC in CAT 2026

Just like the Quant section, the VARC section plays a big role in your overall CAT score – so you can’t afford to take it lightly.
There are 24 questions in total: 22 Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQs) and 2 Non-MCQs (type-in-the-answer).
Reading Comprehension dominates this section with 4 passages (16 questions). So, if you master RCs, you cover most of VARC.
The remaining 8 questions come from Verbal Ability:
- 3 Para Jumbles
- 3 Para Summaries
- 2 Odd One Out (Out-of-context sentences)
Scoring is straightforward: +3 for every correct answer and 1 for every wrong answer (so smart accuracy matters).
You’ll have 40 minutes to finish VARC, with no option to switch sections – so time management is crucial.
Even though the questions are based on familiar English concepts, the twist lies in the framing. The passages and options are often complex, making practice key to cracking this section.

Conclusion

Well, the verbal ability topics for CAT don’t change much year to year, which means you can plan your study strategy with confidence.

It is extremely important to make a list of the important topics to be covered in the VARC section. Also, mastering the parajumbles, sentence elimination, summaries, and completion questions, and you’ll be in a strong position to score well in VARC.

Remember—consistency matters more than cramming. Practice steadily, evaluate your mistakes, and over time, the CAT verbal ability will become one of your scoring areas.