In this GlibTalks blog, we explore the merits of expanding your English Vocabulary using immersive modes of reading English news articles online and streaming videos with English subtitles for getting a great percentile in the Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) section of CAT
A Strong Vocabulary = Better Performance in VARC Section of CAT
Most of the advisory online content you may have come across on this topic - "The importance of English Vocabulary for CAT preparation" will distil down to these three points:
- CAT is less about language proficiency and more about decoding the meanings of words and phrases you come across in context while reading the Reading Comprehension (RC) passages; summarizing paragraphs; and answering Verbal Ability (VA) questions such as Sentence Correction, Odd-Sentence out and Para Jumbles. A strong vocabulary enables you to decipher word connections for greater contextual understanding of the topic so as to accurately answer the questions in this section.
- Your English Vocabulary isn't tested directly in the Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) section of CAT. However, having a strong repository of active vocabulary with knowledge of contextual usage serves as a foundation of confidence for clearing this section. The more familiar you are with words and phrases, lesser the time-induced anxiety, faster the reading, and more precision in answering the questions right.
- The Best Ways to Build Your English Vocabulary for CAT: You are recommended to make reading a daily habit where you learn words in context, and not by rote memorization. Newspaper editorials and non-fiction books which cover diverse range of topics would be ideal reading materials for you to practice reading, gain speed and amass new vocabulary. The logic is to learn words from reading and not from random word lists, which can be recorded into your personal vocabulary bank (a physical notebook or a digital alternative like a Word document/ Google Doc in your computer).
My Personal CAT Prep Story
I took the Common Admission Test (CAT) nearly 2 decades back and I must admit that the preparation process was life altering. Despite being educated in an English medium school in Coimbatore and being rather fluent in the language; having graduated from one of the best commerce colleges from Pune; and getting some work experience under my belt, there was one thing which left me overwhelmed other than getting my mind back to apply itself on Quants.
A Limited Vocabulary, is a limitation to your world!
It was the realization that my active English Vocabulary was shockingly limited, and there was a treasure trove of words and word clusters (idioms, phrasal verbs and collocations) out there that I was yet to be acquainted with which would enable me to comprehend, think and articulate myself better.
The Game Changer: Reading Newspapers to stay abreast of the news and boost word power!
I admit I was never a bibliophile, and reading newspapers and magazines was only on a cursory basis. My deep reading was restricted to books that were part of my curriculum in school and college. That is when I inculcated the discipline of reading the editorials in The Hindu and The Times of India; underlining new words and phrases I came across; opening up and referring a dictionary; and jotting down those words and phrases along with their meanings and usage examples in a note book.
An Unconventional Approach: Television Sit-Coms, Cricket Commentary, Hollywood Movies and Interviews
Back in the day, I'd consider every interview of Rendezvous with Simi Garewal as an English lesson, latching on to every single word that was spoken by the host and her celebrity guests on the show. I'd rent DVDs of F.R.I.E.N.D.S, watch the latest English movies in theatres and listen to the cricket commentary of the likes of Harsha Bhogle and Tony Greg, all with the intent of building my word power.
I'd make a mental note of the new words I'd come across (had a better memory back then!!) and then jot them down into my notebook.
The Tangible Outcomes:
- Answer Reading Comprehension (RC) and Verbal Ability (VA) related questions with greater accuracy (helping me get a 99 percentile score in the VARC Section)
- Ability to express my opinions more creatively, coherently, and cogently making me sound more convincing during Group Discussions and Personal Interviews (GD/PI).
- Got placed in Deloitte from campus post MBA before going on to carve a career in Corporate Communications/ Public Relations crafting and pitching engaging stories and building narratives for corporates and individuals to connect meaningfully to their stakeholders.
Use Glibzter English Vocab Magnet for Immersive English Vocabulary Acquisition
Watch how it works on e-Newspapers and e-Magazine portals (having a Digital View option)
Glibzter English Vocab Magnet works on all Chromium-based browsers, and can curate English words and phrases for you from any online news portal content that is not behind a paywall (requiring you to subscribe to the media house). If you have an active digital subscription of the media house (e.g. The Hindu e-paper + digital; The Indian Express; TOI+; Magzter etc.), it would work on the premium content as well.
Benefits of using Glibzter English Vocab Magnet
- Accelerated English Vocabulary expansion by reading online news articles.
- No hassle of jotting down new words and phrases in a notebook while you read. All your saved vocabulary gets saved in 'My Learning' page and exported into a Google Doc on your Google Drive.
- Create social proof of you using the newly acquired vocabulary by sharing a post using the new word or phrase.
- Take engaging contextual usage assessments in recorded speech, typewritten input, and MCQ format.
- What's more? During your free time, turn your passive video watching into an English Vocabulary expansion exercise by turning on the subtitles/ closed captions (CC) in English. The extension would work on curating words and phrases from the videos you stream.
Article References: Careers360.com | Quantifiers CAT Academy | Byju's | CATKing
Disclaimer: Glibzter English Vocab Magnet is a life-long learning tool you plug-in to your daily digital content consumption to curate English words and phrases, their contextual meaning and how they were used in the source media - be it videos with English subtitles you stream or online English news articles and blogs you read. It complements your CAT preparation purely from an English Vocabulary acquisition and testing your contextual usage knowledge of the vocabulary you've acquired. It DOES NOT replace your study materials nor guarantee a high score.
