CAT and MBA Entrance Preparation Module 2 – Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC)
Reading unfamiliar texts, poems and cartoons
Read a passage on an unfamiliar subject by its argument, a short poem by its speaker, turn and tone, and a described cartoon by its target and its claim.
What you will learn
- Read a passage on an unfamiliar subject by its argument rather than its vocabulary
- Answer questions on a short poem by its speaker, situation, turn and tone
- Read a described cartoon for its target, its exaggeration and its claim
Before you start
What you’ll learn · Before you start
What you will learn
- Read a passage on an unfamiliar subject by its argument rather than its vocabulary
- Answer questions on a short poem by its speaker, situation, turn and tone
- Read a described cartoon for its target, its exaggeration and its claim
Before you start
On this page
XAT’s overview says its reading comprehension includes poems, cartoons and passages, and none of them arrives with a glossary. A passage on how dictionaries are made can hold three words you have never met and still be answered in full, because its questions ask about the argument, which is built of words you know.
Reading unfamiliar texts is one method for all three kinds: find the moves, not the meanings. Below, it is worked on an original passage, an original eight-line poem and a cartoon described in words, as a screen reader would read it, with a program that finds where each text turns.
Technical words are labels; the argument carries the answer
Reading unfamiliar texts starts with one decision: treat each technical word as a label, a letter that stands for something you need not understand, and read the moves around it. Here is a passage with three such words:
U1. A new word reaches a dictionary not when someone invents it but when its attestations pile up: printed or recorded uses, dated and sourced, that a lexicographer can cite. A headword with three attestations from one writer is a curiosity; one with three hundred from as many writers is part of the language.
U2. Critics call this surrender, as if a dictionary that recorded a careless use were endorsing it. But a dictionary that refused such uses would not stop anyone using them; it would only stop describing how people speak. The lexicographer’s job is to report usage, and reporting is not approval.
The program swaps each technical word for a label and checks how much the answer needs them:
"""The dictionary passage with its technical words replaced by labels, to show that the argument survives.
Press Edit, add a word to TERMS (or paste another passage into PASSAGE), and run it again.
"""
import re
import textwrap
PASSAGE = (
"A new word reaches a dictionary not when someone invents it but when its attestations pile up: printed or "
"recorded uses, dated and sourced, that a lexicographer can cite. A headword with three attestations from one "
"writer is a curiosity; one with three hundred from as many writers is part of the language. Critics call this "
"surrender, as if a dictionary that recorded a careless use were endorsing it. But a dictionary that refused "
"such uses would not stop anyone using them; it would only stop describing how people speak. The "
"lexicographer's job is to report usage, and reporting is not approval."
)
TERMS = {"attestations": "[X]", "lexicographer": "[Y]", "headword": "[Z]"}
ANSWER = "a dictionary records how words are used, and recording is not approving"
words = re.findall(r"[A-Za-z]+(?:'[a-z]+)?", PASSAGE)
labelled = PASSAGE
counts = {}
for term, label in TERMS.items():
labelled, counts[term] = re.subn(rf"\b{term}\b", label, labelled, flags=re.IGNORECASE)
print(textwrap.fill(labelled, width=72))
print()
used = sum(counts.values())
print(f"{used} technical words in {len(words)}: " + ", ".join(f"{t} {TERMS[t]} {n}" for t, n in counts.items()))
in_answer = sum(1 for t in TERMS if re.search(rf"\b{t}\b", ANSWER))
print(f"The main-idea answer uses {in_answer} of them: {ANSWER}")Output
A new word reaches a dictionary not when someone invents it but when its [X] pile up: printed or recorded uses, dated and sourced, that a [Y] can cite. A [Z] with three [X] from one writer is a curiosity; one with three hundred from as many writers is part of the language. Critics call this surrender, as if a dictionary that recorded a careless use were endorsing it. But a dictionary that refused such uses would not stop anyone using them; it would only stop describing how people speak. The [Y]'s job is to report usage, and reporting is not approval. 5 technical words in 102: attestations [X] 2, lexicographer [Y] 2, headword [Z] 1 The main-idea answer uses 0 of them: a dictionary records how words are used, and recording is not approving
Recorded with Python 3.14.8 on macOS 26 arm64. To run it yourself: mise exec python@3.14.8 -- python3 labels.py
Runs on this device, in your browser. The first run downloads Python (about 13.5 MB), which is kept for the next runs.
Your run, in this browser
With the labels in, the argument still reads: a claim (words enter by recorded use), an objection (critics call it surrender) and a reply at “But” (refusing a use would not stop it). The main-idea answer needs none of the three technical terms, and “attestations” is explained by the passage itself, after its colon.
Checkpoint
Check: Technical words as labels
A poem: speaker, situation, turn and tone
Questions on poems ask four things, and none of them is about rhyme: who speaks, in what situation, where the poem turns and what tone its words set. Read the poem once:
- Every night for thirty years I waved
- the last train out with this same lamp,
- and every night the dark came down behind it
- like a shutter on a shop that would reopen.
- Tonight the timetable is blank, the rails
- are sold for scrap, the lamp is mine to keep.
- Yet still at ten my hand goes to the lamp,
- as if the dark were something I could close.
Now step through it, line by line:
The drawing shows the whole scene; its 7 steps are listed below.
Every step as text
- Lines 1 and 2. 'I waved the last train out with this same lamp', every night for thirty years. The speaker is the person who saw the night's last train off, a station worker, not the poet.
- Lines 3 and 4. Each night the dark came down 'like a shutter on a shop that would reopen'. The simile matters: every night ended in the sure knowledge of another day.
- Lines 5 and 6. The timetable is blank, the rails are sold for scrap and the lamp is the speaker's to keep. This is the first night after the line has closed.
- Line 7: Yet still. 'Yet still' turns the poem. After the facts of the closing, the habit goes on: at ten, the hour of the last train, the hand reaches for the lamp.
- Line 8 answers line 4. 'As if the dark were something I could close' turns the shutter of line 4 around. The shutter always reopened; this dark will not, and the gesture now closes nothing.
- The tone. Nobody is blamed and nothing is protested. The loss is told through a habit that outlives its reason, so the tone is wistful, a quiet regret, not anger.
- Four answers, each from lines. The speaker from lines 1 and 2, the situation from 5 and 6, the turn at 7 and the tone from all eight. Questions on a poem ask about these, not about its rhyme.
The speaker (of a poem): The voice that says a poem, which need not be the poet. Questions about attitude and tone are questions about the speaker. is a station worker, the situation the first night after the line has closed, and the turn (in a poem): The point where a poem changes direction, often marked by but, yet or still: the speaker's attitude, subject or time shifts there. comes at line 7. The program finds the same turn by its contrast words, and shows that the passage’s two “but”s are not alike: the first corrects a phrase inside a sentence, while the second opens the reply.
"""Where the lesson's poem and passage turn: every contrast word, and the line or sentence it falls in.
Press Edit, paste another poem into POEM (one line per string), and run it again.
"""
import re
POEM = [
"Every night for thirty years I waved",
"the last train out with this same lamp,",
"and every night the dark came down behind it",
"like a shutter on a shop that would reopen.",
"Tonight the timetable is blank, the rails",
"are sold for scrap, the lamp is mine to keep.",
"Yet still at ten my hand goes to the lamp,",
"as if the dark were something I could close.",
]
PASSAGE = (
"A new word reaches a dictionary not when someone invents it but when its attestations pile up: printed or "
"recorded uses, dated and sourced, that a lexicographer can cite. A headword with three attestations from one "
"writer is a curiosity; one with three hundred from as many writers is part of the language. Critics call this "
"surrender, as if a dictionary that recorded a careless use were endorsing it. But a dictionary that refused "
"such uses would not stop anyone using them; it would only stop describing how people speak. The "
"lexicographer's job is to report usage, and reporting is not approval."
)
CONTRAST = {"but", "yet", "still", "though", "however", "although"}
def contrasts(text):
return [w for w in re.findall(r"[a-z]+", text.lower()) if w in CONTRAST]
print("The poem")
for number, line in enumerate(POEM, start=1):
found = contrasts(line)
print(f"{number:>2} {line:<46}{' <- ' + ', '.join(found) if found else ''}".rstrip())
turns = [n for n, line in enumerate(POEM, start=1) if contrasts(line)]
print(f"Turn at line {turns[0]} of {len(POEM)}" if turns else "No contrast word: look for a change of time or tone")
print()
print("The passage, sentence by sentence")
for number, sentence in enumerate(re.split(r"(?<=\.)\s+", PASSAGE), start=1):
found = contrasts(sentence)
print(f"{number} {', '.join(found) if found else '-':<6}{sentence[:58]}{'...' if len(sentence) > 58 else ''}")Output
The poem 1 Every night for thirty years I waved 2 the last train out with this same lamp, 3 and every night the dark came down behind it 4 like a shutter on a shop that would reopen. 5 Tonight the timetable is blank, the rails 6 are sold for scrap, the lamp is mine to keep. 7 Yet still at ten my hand goes to the lamp, <- yet, still 8 as if the dark were something I could close. Turn at line 7 of 8 The passage, sentence by sentence 1 but A new word reaches a dictionary not when someone invents i... 2 - A headword with three attestations from one writer is a cu... 3 - Critics call this surrender, as if a dictionary that recor... 4 but But a dictionary that refused such uses would not stop any... 5 - The lexicographer's job is to report usage, and reporting ...
Recorded with Python 3.14.8 on macOS 26 arm64. To run it yourself: mise exec python@3.14.8 -- python3 turns.py
Runs on this device, in your browser. The first run downloads Python (about 13.5 MB), which is kept for the next runs.
Your run, in this browser
Short poems in the public domain on Project Gutenberg make good practice: take any one and answer the four questions before you read anything about it.
Reading the poet into the poem
“The poet is nostalgic for trains” answers a question no test asks. The speaker is the station worker, and the tone, wistful rather than bitter, belongs to that voice in that situation.
Checkpoint
Check: A poem's speaker, situation, turn and tone
A cartoon: its target, its exaggeration and its claim
Questions on cartoons ask what the drawing aims at, what it exaggerates and what the exaggeration claims. Here is a cartoon in words, the kind of text alternative WCAG 2.2 asks every image on a page to have:
The cartoon. A family sits at a dinner table, and every one of them, the dog included, is looking at a phone. On the wall above them hangs a framed sign: “Family time: no screens at the table.” The phones give the only light in the room.
| Ask | In this cartoon |
|---|---|
| What does it target? | a household’s rules about screens, and the people who make them |
| What does it exaggerate? | everyone on a phone, the dog too, and the phones the only light |
| What does it claim? | a rule on the wall changes nothing that habits decide |
| What is its tone? | gentle mockery, not anger |
The claim usually lives in the gap between the words in the drawing, here the sign, and what the drawing shows.
Not affiliated
MySmartCoPilot is not affiliated with XLRI. XAT is described only from its own published overview, and every passage, poem and cartoon in this lesson is original.
Checkpoint
Check: A cartoon's target, exaggeration and claim
Practise: passages, poems and cartoons
The ten questions below cover labels, poems and cartoons, and start with the one you know least.
Practice that adapts to you
Practise this lesson
10 questions about 5 ideas of this lesson. Each answer is explained at once, and what you get right is kept in this browser.
Two poems and two cartoons, fully worked Pro: opens with a Pro, Premium or Ultimate pass
Two original poems and two cartoons described in words, each with three questions on the method’s own steps. Every option is judged, so a wrong choice points to the step it skipped.
In this part:
- Poem 2: the invigilator
- Poem 3: the flyover
- Cartoon 2: the plastic plant
- Cartoon 3: the banner
- What the four texts have in common
about 6 minutes
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Unfamiliar passages from three fields, mapped Pro: opens with a Pro, Premium or Ultimate pass
Three short passages from fields most candidates have not studied, ecology, philosophy and economics, each mapped with its technical words treated as labels and one question answered. The program shows how little of each answer depends on the technical words.
In this part:
- Ecology: forests that need fire
- Philosophy: the ship that was rebuilt
- Economics: when saving more saves less
- Three passages, one method, counted
1 runnable example (Python) · about 5 minutes
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This part opens with any MySmartCoPilot pass.
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One payment; a pass never renews. The price shown is the total you pay: no fees or charges are added at checkout.
Passes can’t be bought right now, so this part can’t be opened at the moment. The free part above stands on its own. If you have a pass, enter your licence key.
It also opens every other in-depth part in Learn and every Pro tool. Sales are final, except where the law gives you a right to withdraw, for example in the EU and the UK (refund policy).
Interview questions
-
Fresher to mid
Midway through a reading section you open a passage whose first paragraph holds four technical terms you have never seen. Do you take it or leave it, and if you take it, how do you read it so the unknown words cost you as little time as possible?
-
Fresher to mid
A short poem describes a happy routine for six lines, then, after a "but", its last two lines tell of loss. The tone options are cheerful, bitter, wistful and indifferent. Which do you choose, and what part does the turn play?
-
Fresher to mid
A described cartoon shows officials cutting a ribbon to open a cycle lane that parked cars already fill. The options: the ceremony cost too much; opening a lane is not keeping it for cycles; drivers are selfish; cycle lanes are a mistake. Which is the cartoon's claim, and how do you rule out the rest?
Flashcards · 7 cards
Recall it, then check
Say the answer to yourself before you look: recalling it is what makes it stick.
-
How do you read a passage full of technical words you have never met?
Hold each one as a label, a letter that stands for something, and read the moves around it: claim, objection, reply. In the dictionary passage 5 of the 102 words are technical, and the main-idea answer needs none.
-
Where does an unfamiliar passage often explain its hardest word?
In the passage itself: the dictionary passage explains "attestations" right after its colon, as printed or recorded uses, dated and sourced.
-
Which four things do questions on a poem ask about?
Who speaks, in what situation, where the poem turns and what tone its words set; never its rhyme. The speaker is the voice in the poem, which need not be the poet.
-
What is the turn of a poem, and how do you find it?
The line where the poem changes direction, often at "yet", "still" or "but". In the lesson's eight-line poem it is line 7, "Yet still", where a habit outlives the closed railway line.
-
Why is "the poet is nostalgic for trains" a weak reading of the lesson's poem?
It answers a question no test asks. The speaker is the station worker, and the tone, wistful rather than bitter, belongs to that voice in that situation.
-
What do questions on a cartoon ask about?
What it targets, what it exaggerates and what the exaggeration claims. The claim usually lives in the gap between the words in the drawing, such as a sign, and what the drawing shows.
-
What does the lesson's dinner-table cartoon claim, and in what tone?
That a rule on the wall changes nothing that habits decide: under a "no screens at the table" sign the whole family, dog included, looks at phones. The tone is gentle mockery, not anger.
Key takeaways
- Reading unfamiliar texts means treating technical words as labels and reading the moves around them.
- A poem is read for its speaker, its situation, its turn and its tone, and the speaker is not the poet.
- A cartoon is read for its target, its exaggeration and the claim the exaggeration makes, often in the gap between its words and its picture.
- In all three, the right answer names something you can point to: a sentence, a line or a detail of the drawing.
Terms in this lesson
- speaker (of a poem)
- The voice that says a poem, which need not be the poet. Questions about attitude and tone are questions about the speaker.
- turn (in a poem)
- The point where a poem changes direction, often marked by but, yet or still: the speaker's attitude, subject or time shifts there.
References
- XAT 2026: a quick overview (XLRI – Xavier School of Management)
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2: non-text content (W3C)
- Project Gutenberg (Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation)
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