CAT 2026 VARC Strategy Builder – Complete Roadmap for 99+%ile

Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension is the first section aligned during CAT exam and considered as one of the important sections to target CAT 2026 because it overall covers 36% of the entire CAT exam paper and highlighting part during the admission process in top IIMs (Indian Institutes of Management). Students have comprehensively 40 minutes for attempting questions in VARC with accuracy. As the name suggests “VARC” means it is further classified as – “Verbal Ability” and “Reading Comprehensions“. The Reading Comprehension part covers 16 questions across various genres including Economics, History, Psychology, Science & Technology, Philosophy, Culture and more whereas Verbal Ability section covers total 8 questions across Para Jumbles, Para Summary, Odd One Out and Sentence Completion.

These are major parts that candidates need to focused while preparing for the VARC section to target CAT 2026 exam. iQuanta have designed an amazing “VARC Strategy Builder” which is covering smart tricks to render RCs over author’s tone, understanding the main idea behind the passage, skimming important questions while solving RCs. These aspects are really helpful for the candidates to streamlined preparation for CAT 2026 VARC. This blog is a comprehensive guide for the students to understand the importance of VARC section in CAT 2026, complete roadmap that help you structuring the CAT preparation, weightage & most important topics asked in VARC also download PDF of “VARC Strategy Builder” for free to cover smart tricks, analyze tone, purpose, attitude & more that directed as a perfect CheatSheet for you !

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Importance of VARC Section in CAT 2026

The Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension is classified as “Verbal Ability” and “Reading comprehension”. The Verbal Ability section possess 12% weightage whereas Reading Comprehension possess 24%. Both carries important weightage to target 99+%ile in CAT 2026 exam. The detailed overview about the same is specified in the table given below. Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension carries more importance during the IIM admission process as it stands out the candidates among competition. The CAT preparation is not justified without VARC because this section brings the communication skills which will be a benefactor for pursuing management programs from top MBA institute.

CAT VARC Syllabus 2026
Category	Topics	Weightage
Verbal Ability	Para jumbles Para Summary Odd Sentence Out Sentence Completion	12%
Reading Comprehension	RC Passages Author’s Tone Critical Reasoning	24%

CAT 2026 VARC Exam Pattern

The expected CAT 2026 VARC exam pattern covers total time duration of 40 minutes where 16 questions asked from the the Reading Comprehension and 8 questions from Verbal Ability. The weightage distribution for the CAT 2026 VARC is specified in the table given below.

VARC Section (s)	Number of Questions Asked	Weightage
Reading Comprehension	16	66.67%
Verbal Ability	8	33.33%
Total Time Duration	40 minutes

CAT 2026 – Complete Roadmap for VARC

This section covers the 12-Month detailed roadmap for Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension.

Month 1	Build reading habit: 30–40 min daily (newspapers). Learn basic grammar, sentence structure. Solve 2 easy RCs/week without timing. Focus only on understanding passages.
Month 2	Increase reading to 45 min/day (editorials + long articles). Start basic Para Jumbles & Sentence Completion. Solve 3 easy RCs/week. Start noting unfamiliar words.
Month 3	Introduce diverse RC topics (philosophy, sociology, science). Begin Para Summary (basic). Solve 4 RCs/week. Start 1 VARC sectional test every 10 days (no pressure).
Month 4	Strengthen VA core: Para Jumbles, Odd Sentence Out. Read Aeon/Guardian regularly. Solve 4–5 RCs/week. Take 1 sectional/week with analysis.
Month 5	Shift to CAT-level RCs. Start timing RCs lightly. Practice advanced Para Summary. Solve 5 RCs/week. Identify strong vs weak RC topics.
Month 6	Accuracy phase: reduce random reading, focus on RC logic. Mixed VA practice daily. Solve 6 RCs/week. Take 1 full mock this month + deep VARC analysis.
Month 7	Speed + selection training. Attempt RCs in sets of 4 under time limits. Mixed VA sets. 2 mocks/month. Build RC attempt strategy (which passages to skip).
Month 8	Advanced VARC: dense RCs only. High-level Para Jumbles & Summaries. 7 RCs/week. 1 mock every 10 days. Focus on reducing silly errors.
Month 9	Exam temperament: daily light reading (30 min). VA under strict timing. 8 RCs/week. 1 full mock every week. Maintain error log.
Month 10	Percentile push: only CAT-level material. Full VARC section practice. 1–2 mocks/week. Focus on consistency (not attempts).
Month 11	Fine-tuning: stop learning new concepts. Play to strengths. RC selection refinement. 2 mocks/week + detailed analysis. Calm mindset.
Month 12	Final month: revise mistakes only. No new RC sources. VARC only through mocks. Peak mocks, light reading, strong confidence.

CAT 2026: Weightage & Most Important Questions Asked in VARC

This section covers the weightage and most important questions asked in VARC section. There are many aspirant who got confused with – “How to start with CAT 2026 VARC section?” and “What is the weightage distribution of topics in VARC?“.

This section is the perfect solution for you where you will be covering the detailed distribution of concepts in VARC topic-wise. The expected weightage distribution for CAT 2026 include Reading Comprehension Passages (55-60%), Critical Reasoning Questions (5-10%), Correct the Sentences (10-15%), Vocabulary (5-10%) and Para Jumbles (15-20%). For the most important questions asked in VARC, refer the table specified below.

IMPORTANT TOPICS For VARC	SLOT 1: Genre	SLOT 2: Genre	SLOT 3: Genre
RC – 1	Idea of Craftmanship	Spices Trade	Chinese Liquor – Moutai
RC – 2	Economics and their interests	Peer Review	Space Contamination
RC – 3	Digital rights of content	Unintended Consequences of Technology	Need to regulate AI
RC – 4	Bandicoots in Australia	Carnivore – Human Conflict	Languages becoming endangered
Para summary – 1	Animals and Intelligence	How states use the DIME mode	Lyric Poetry
Para summary – 2	Cartographers and maps	Concern about the limitations on comedic freedom	Living things and regularization
Para summary – 3	Language and Codes	Interdisciplinary collaboration between physicists and scientists	Tradwife and vintage dress
Fill in the blank – 1	History – Italian Madrigals	Science Research – Staying Up late	Inflation and Work
Fill in the blank – 2	Silk Roads & Developing Countries	First Phase of Globalization	Somalia drought crisis
Fill in the blank – 3	Brain and Evolution	Strange Fact about Hens	Vietnam War
Odd one out 1	Animal Rights	Biological Basis for Gender	Forecasting and opinions
Odd one out 2	Urbanites and Transport	Cultivated Meat	Neuron and Synapses

CAT VARC Topics	Approx Weightage (%)
Reading Comprehension Passages	55-60%
Critical Reasoning Questions	5-10%
Correct the Sentences	10-15%
Vocabulary	5-10%
Para Jumbles	15-20%

CAT VARC Questions Analysis: Previous Year’s 

CAT Year	Number of RC Questions	Total Number of Verbal Ability Questions
CAT 2025	16	24
CAT 2024	16	24
CAT 2023	16	24
CAT 2022	16	24
CAT 2021	16	24
CAT 2020	18	26
CAT 2019	24	34

CAT Reading Comprehension Questions: Past Year’s 

CAT Exam	Reading Comprehension Passages
CAT 2025	4
CAT 2024	4
CAT 2023	4
CAT 2022	4
CAT 2021	4
CAT 2020	4
CAT 2019	5

How VARC Strategy Builder Boosts Your CAT 2026 Preparation?

“VARC Strategy Builder” is an important document that cover smart tricks to tackle Reading Comprehensions in VARC. This CheatSheet covers the types of author professions and their associated content that gives you a quick idea about distinguishing content according to the genres that what all type of content, author covers in their writing. Second, option elimination in Multiple Choice Questions which is also an important part to build speed for attempting questions. Candidates can access the complete PDF by clicking on the button given below. This overall helps you boost your CAT 2026 preparation.

How To Get CAT 2026 VARC Strategy Builder?

Candidates can simply get this amazing PDF “VARC Strategy Builder” by clicking on the button specified below. This covers smart tricks to tackle Reading Comprehensions, identify author’s tone, main idea behind the passage or purpose and the ways to eliminate options while attempting Multiple Choice Questions. This is significantly designed by the expert mentors that directly leads to an overall scores in CAT 2026 exam.

iQuanta’s Specialized Module for CAT 2026 – Engineer’s VARC

Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension section is crucial when it comes for building the CAT 2026 strategy and for the same candidate need to start daily reading of editorials, AEON essays across various genres, articles as well as fiction. Solving RCs of various genres and para jumbles regularly is important. Many candidates who are coming from the engineering background may fear from the VARC section and to tackle the same, iQuanta has built a perfect CAT 2026 strategy for preparing the VARC section with Engineer’s VARC module that help candidate in streamlining their VARC section. This module covers following important features:

Important Features of CAT 2026 Engineer’s VARC

1. 60+ Videos / 30 Hours of CAT Focused VARC Content.
2. 12 VA Videos with 10 Questions Solved Per Video.
3. 7 Strategy Video Covering all Key Topics.
4. 40 in-Depth RC Videos Across All Genres.

iQuanta Launched CAT 2026 Course – What’s Unique Here ?

iQuanta has launched their CAT 2026 full course for the aspirants to cover early preparation. This course defines the extensive features where you will be covering 3 CAT basic modules, 3 CAT advance modules, 250+ live and application classes, 200 topic-wise assignments, free crash course, 35 mocks + 45 sectionals, rigorous practice, 24*7 doubt solving, 6 days a week classes, 5 months syllabus over and covered 3 times till CAT. Now let’s go through expert mentors that will be an amazing bridge towards your CAT 2026 preparation and exam.

CAT 2026 Courses by iQuanta

CAT 2026 Full Course

CAT 2026 Full Course + Books

CAT 2026 Pro Course

CAT 2026 + IIM ABC Batch

Maha MBA 2026 Course

These courses are well designed to cover your early CAT 2026 preparation with expert CAT faculty backed with an amazing achievement of covering 99.9 & 100 percentiles. Getting a structured CAT preparation strategy in your early phase help you to stand out among other competitors to slay with extended resources like solving Previous Year Questions, Mock Test Series, Revision before sitting in CAT 2026 exam.

24*7 Doubt Solving Support

There is a major issue that mostly students faced is – “Solving doubt instantaneously when it occurred“. This is relevantly important because there are lot of concepts applied while attempting a particular questions and this creates a sense of frustration when doubts will not solve at the same time. iQuanta well covers the feature of 24*7 doubt solving support where candidates can easily join CAT preparation community which consists of aspirants who are keen looking to ask doubt and respective individual is available to solve your doubts across every section.
This is really helpful for the candidates when they sit to solve CAT-level questions and stuck somewhere in between during CAT 2026 preparation.

8000+ Quant, VARC & LRDI Practice Questions

iQuanta is very strict towards the problem-solving but that can be possible when candidates are covering varied amount of questions. They offers 8000+ questions across VARC, DILR & QA. These practice questions are of CAT-level which creates the real-exam like conditions before sitting for real exam. More you will practice to target the CAT 2026, more it will be benefitted towards maintaining the balance between speed and accuracy.

Specialized Modules for CAT 2026

iQuanta offers three specialized modules for the aspirants to target CAT 2026. These specialized modules cover VARC, DILR & QA. The very first module is Engineer’s VARC that is designed for the candidates who belongs to the engineering background because there are many candidates who got fear from this section and not able to cover the efficient workflow to target CAT 2026 preparation.

Second module is Non-Engineer’s QA where QA section is completely based on practicing the good amount of questions and especially across high-weightage topic which includes Arithmetic and Algebra which are non-negotiable and later move to other topics. Many students who are especially coming from the non-engineering background may face difficulties in the QA section and for the same iQuanta has designed the Non-Engineer’s QA module which helps them practice concepts and track their progress. The Non-Engineers’ Quant module for CAT 2026 aspirants are covering 70+ videos of basic mathematics to focus on the fundamental skills, 300+ important questions covering the most essential concepts.

Third one is LRDI Essentials – LRDI is one the very important section for CAT 2026 and requires focusing on learning shortcuts and solving more sets of different patterns. To help you with the LRDI section, iQuanta has especially designed an amazing LRDI essential module which helps you build a solid CAT 2026 strategy to cover LRDI section so that you will get maximum percentile across Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation. The LRDI Essentials module covers 35+ Videos, 15 hrs. of LRDI basics along with you will be covering various important concepts, cases & practice sets.

35 Full & 45 Sectional Mocks

Covering both full-length and sectional mock test series across VARC, DILR & QA reflects the overall exam-like conditions before sitting for the actual exam. iQuanta offers the 35 full-length mock test series and 45 sectional test that reflects the candidates’ strengths and weakness which will be covered earlier before appearing for CAT 2026. Covering full-length mock test series is the best way to prepare for any competitive examination. Although, iQuanta’s mock test series are fully AI-driven where you will analyze your errors, and track your goal for predicting B-Schools according to the respective mock scores.

iQuanta’s QA 250 Series by Indra

iQuanta’s QA 250 series by Indra is a very special module for the candidates where you will be guaranteed 5-6 questions reflect in the actual exam. This module is a unique feature to well-prepare here for the CAT 2026 exam.

Cut-Short by Indra for CAT 2026

The Cut-Short module by Indra is the smartest way to prepare for the CAT examination where you will be finding the best possible collection of shortcut methods to attempt questions in a lesser time. The CAT exam provides 40 minutes to complete Quantitative Ability section and getting 13 – 14 questions correctly will be easily helpful for the candidates to score 99%ile. The early CAT preparation is crucial for the candidates to explore other alternative options to complete Quants within a specified time limit that leads to an overall accuracy.

Meet Your Top CAT 2026 Faculty

Expert CAT Faculty	Achievements / Qualifications
Indrajeet Singh	Founder & CEO, Wizard of Quant
Amit Panchmatia	CAT QA 100%iler
Shabana Sahab	CAT VARC 99.56%iler
Raj Kumar Jha	6 Times CAT QA 100%iler
Sajjan Baranwal	CAT 99.8%iler, 11+ Years of Experience
Kamal Lohia	CAT 99.99%iler QA, LRDI Expert

Conclusion – CAT 2026

CAT 2026 is your next milestone to target for entering in the top Indian Institutes of Management and VARC plays a crucial role in getting 99+%ile in a Common Admission Test. The best way to cover this section is by building daily reading habit of editorials, AEON essays, newspapers. This overall defines the perfect strategy to cover Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension aligned in the same order. Although, tackling questions in the smartest way is the best solution to overcome competitive examination with high scores.

FAQs – CAT 2026 Preparation