CAT VARC 5-Year Trend Analysis 2021-2025: Topic-Wise Weightage, RC & VA Trends

CAT VARC Pattern: 2021 vs 2025

The CAT VARC section has followed a largely consistent question pattern over the past five years, but the types of questions and the skills required to solve them have seen some variation. From CAT 2021 to CAT 2025, the section carried 24 questions, including 16 Reading Comprehension (RC) and 8 Verbal Ability (VA) questions.

CAT VARC Reading Comprehension Trends

Across CAT 2021–2025, the number of RC questions remained stable, but the difficulty level and passage themes varied considerably. CAT has drawn passages from areas such as philosophy, science, history, economics, literature, technology and society.

The table below captures the broad trend without overloading the reader with passage-level details.

CAT VARC Verbal Ability Trends

Verbal Ability has remained the smaller component of CAT VARC, with 8 questions out of 24 each year from 2021 to 2025. Unlike CAT Reading Comprehension, where the question count and passage structure have stayed fairly consistent, VA has shown more variation in question types. Para Summary has remained a recurring format, while Para Jumbles, Odd Sentence Out and Sentence/Paragraph Completion have appeared in different combinations.

VA Trends Over Five Years

The table below keeps the comparison simple by showing the major VA formats and broad difficulty trend for each year.

CAT VARC Topic-Wise Weightage Trend

The CAT VARC topic-wise weightage has remained fairly stable from 2021 to 2025, with Reading Comprehension consistently making up about two-thirds of the section. Across the five-year period, RC accounted for 16 of 24 questions, while the remaining eight questions came from Verbal Ability formats such as Para Summary, Para Jumbles, Sentence/Paragraph Completion and Odd Sentence Out. However, the VA distribution has changed from year to year, so candidates should prepare all recurring formats rather than depend on a fixed pattern.

Reading Comprehension Weightage

RC has been the most heavily weighted VARC topic throughout the five-year period. Candidates have consistently encountered 16 RC questions, equivalent to about 66.7% of the section. A five-year analysis covering all 15 CAT slots from 2021 to 2025 therefore gives 240 CAT RC questions out of 360 VARC questions.

This makes RC the largest preparation area for CAT 2026. Within RC, inference-based questions have been particularly prominent, followed by questions on the main idea, facts or details, and the author's tone or purpose.

Para Summary Weightage

Para Summary has been one of the most consistent VA formats, generally contributing around three questions per paper, or approximately 12.5% of VARC. A five-year compilation of 360 VARC questions places Para Summary at 38 questions, or about 11% of the overall section across 2021–2025.

These questions test whether candidates can identify the central argument of a paragraph and distinguish it from options that are too broad, too narrow or introduce information not supported by the passage.

Para Jumbles Weightage

Para Jumbles have also been a recurring VA topic, although their presence has not been completely uniform. They contributed around three questions in several years, disappeared from the reported 2024 pattern, and returned in CAT 2025.

A five-year question classification places 38 Para Jumble questions across CAT 2021–2025, making them one of the most frequently tested VA formats after RC.

Odd Sentence Out Weightage

Odd Sentence Out questions have generally carried a smaller share than RC, Para Summary and Para Jumbles. Their frequency has varied across years, and in some papers they have been replaced or accompanied by Paragraph/Sentence Completion or Sentence Insertion questions.

A five-year classification identifies 16 Odd Sentence Out questions across 2021–2025, representing about 4% of all VARC questions in that dataset.

Topic-Wise Changes

The clearest five-year change has occurred within Verbal Ability rather than Reading Comprehension. RC stayed fixed at 16 questions, while the remaining eight VA questions moved between different formats. Para Summary and Para Jumbles remained important, but CAT also tested Sentence Insertion, Paragraph Completion and Odd Sentence Out in different combinations.

What Has Changed and Remained Same in CAT VARC in Five Years?

The overall structure of CAT VARC has remained remarkably stable from 2021 to 2025. Reading Comprehension continued to account for the largest share, with 16 RC questions forming roughly two-thirds of the 24-question section. The major changes have been within Verbal Ability, where the combination of Para Jumbles, Para Summary, Odd Sentence Out and other sentence-based formats has varied across years.

CAT 2026 VARC: What Can Students Expect

The five-year CAT VARC trend gives CAT 2026 aspirants a fairly clear picture of the skills they need to prepare, but not a guaranteed question-by-question pattern. From 2021 to 2025, VARC consistently had 24 questions, with 16 from Reading Comprehension and 8 from Verbal Ability. This stable structure makes RC the most important part of preparation, but the changing VA mix shows why students should avoid preparing for only a few expected question types.

1. RC Is Likely to Remain the Core

Reading Comprehension has consistently contributed 16 questions, or around two-thirds of VARC. Students should therefore expect RC to remain the biggest component of the section. Preparation should focus on reading dense passages efficiently, identifying the author's central argument and distinguishing between what the passage explicitly states and what it implies.

2. Expect Diverse RC Topics

The 2021–2025 papers covered subjects ranging from philosophy, literature and history to science, economics, technology, ecology and culture. Recent papers have also included contemporary areas such as AI and technology. This means students should not prepare by memorising information about particular subjects. Instead, they should become comfortable reading unfamiliar material and extracting its argument.

3. Inference Will Remain Important

A recurring feature of CAT VARC is that the correct answer is not always a sentence copied directly from the passage. Questions can require candidates to infer an idea, identify the author's position, establish the purpose of an argument or determine which conclusion is supported by the passage.

For CAT 2026 preparation, students should therefore ask themselves while reading:

• What is the author's central argument?

• Why has the author mentioned this example?

• What can logically be inferred?

• Which option is supported by the passage as a whole?

• Which option adds information that the passage does not establish?

4. VA May Remain Unpredictable

The biggest variation over the five-year period has been in the eight VA questions. Para Summary has remained a recurring format, but Para Jumbles, Odd Sentence Out and Paragraph/Sentence Completion have appeared in different combinations.

CAT 2024, for example, did not feature CAT Para Jumbles questions in the reported pattern, while the format returned in CAT 2025. This shows why students should not completely drop a VA topic because it was absent in the previous year's paper.

5. Closely Worded Options Will Matter

Knowing the passage is only one part of solving VARC. Candidates also need to compare answer choices carefully. CAT can include options that appear reasonable but are too broad, too narrow, partially correct or unsupported by the passage.

Option elimination should therefore become part of regular practice rather than something students attempt only during mock tests.

CAT VARC Preparation Priorities for 2026

The five-year CAT VARC trend shows that preparation should focus on building consistent reading and reasoning skills rather than predicting the exact question pattern. Reading Comprehension has remained the largest part of the section, while the eight Verbal Ability questions have changed in composition across years.

1. Strengthen Reading Comprehension

RC accounts for 16 of the 24 VARC questions, making it the largest preparation area. Practise passages from different subjects, including philosophy, science, economics, history, literature, technology and social issues. The aim should be to understand unfamiliar ideas quickly rather than rely on prior knowledge of the topic.

2. Focus on Inference and Central Idea

The five-year trend shows the importance of understanding what a passage implies, not just what it explicitly states. While practising RCs, identify the central argument, author's viewpoint, purpose and conclusions that can logically be drawn from the passage.

3. Prepare Every VA Format

The VA combination has changed across the years. Para Summary has remained a recurring format, while Para Jumbles, Odd Sentence Out and Paragraph/Sentence Completion have appeared in different combinations. CAT 2026 preparation should therefore cover all major VA types instead of focusing only on the formats seen most recently.

4. Improve Option Elimination

In difficult RC questions, more than one option may initially appear plausible. Practise identifying options that are too broad, too narrow, partially correct or unsupported by the passage. This can improve accuracy without requiring candidates to reread the entire passage for every question.

5. Use CAT Previous-Year Questions

Previous-year CAT papers are particularly useful because they show how the exam frames RC and VA questions. Practise CAT 2021–2025 questions after learning the concepts, and analyse every incorrect answer to understand whether the mistake came from comprehension, interpretation, calculation of logic, or option selection.

Best Resources to Ace CAT VARC 2026 Section

The candidates can check out the CAT VARC 2026 ebooks download link below: