The dates for the first CUET examinations for admission to various undergraduate programs
have been released and the next 3-4 weeks will be very crucial for your academic career.
Students have not got much time to prepare for this examination and here, in this article,
necessary strategies will be discussed for students to score high in their examinations.
The Language Section is compulsory for all and it is further divided into two sub-sections 1A
and 1B. A student is allowed to attempt a maximum of three tests from section 1. Section 1A
consists of 13 languages and section 1B consists of 20 languages. One of the languages can be
chosen as the domain-specific subject.
Students will be asked to attempt 40 questions out of the given 50 in each subject in 45 minutes
in sections 1A and 1B for each language and in each subject, questions would be based on
Reading Comprehension, Antonyms and Synonyms, Vocabulary, Choosing the correct word,
rearranging the parts and verbal ability.
Most questions on the reading comprehension would be based on narrative, literary and factual
passages and students should possess excellent reading and understanding skills to ace this
section. The maximum marks given to this section is 200 and one mark will be deducted for an
incorrect answer.
Thus, candidates are required to revise basic concepts of grammar to understand the questions
more clearly and answer better. The clarity in the concepts of grammar helps improve
comprehension. Candidates must practice writing skills and comprehension under a strict timer
to test their speed and accuracy.
Candidates are advised not to overlook the importance of Language over other subjects as it can
easily boost the overall percentage. A lot of fact-based questions may be expected from the given
information as the passages are expected to be narrative, literary and factual and 6-8 reading
comprehension of around 400 words can be expected.
VERBAL ABILITY – A NECESSARY COMPONENT
Verbal ability is the basic ability of the student to express their thoughts and ideas clearly with
the help of well-constructed sentences and appropriate words that enables others to understand.
To master this part, excellent sentence-forming skills and vocabulary are important. The vital
part is the reading ability of passages, sentences, instructions, etc., and thus, reading skills are
necessary.
Students must read novels and magazines for at least 30 minutes each day and note down the
complicated words and their meanings. For a good hold in verbal ability, it is necessary to
develop comprehension skills, appropriate vocabulary, and correct grammatical expression.
UNDERSTANDING AND INTERPRETATION SKILLS
Understanding and interpretation skills are the foundations to score marks in the reading
comprehension section and this skill can be attained by reading the editorial parts in newspapers
and several novels.
What is read and the connections drawn from the passage depends upon the way of reading
and the comprehension in a short time. A critical eye is necessary to determine the logic that
must be used to answer the questions that follow. Most importantly, it is necessary to examine
how the author has built the passage logically by using reasoning, hypothesis, model
construction, etc.
In order to understand the given section effectively, it is necessary to first understand the
paragraph construction. The introductory paragraph throws light on the main idea of the passage
and sets the tone of the passage. The answer to Inferential questions must be in line with the
main idea of the passage.
The body of the passage will contain the details that justify the author’s main point and elaborate
on the scope which brings out the pros and cons. Answers to most of the fact-based questions
will be found here. The conclusion draws the summary of the whole thing and if there is less
time, the first and last paragraphs must be read and elimination techniques can be used based on
the understanding of the two.
It is necessary to identify the keywords while reading the questions and locate them quickly in
the passage. For this purpose, the mind mapping technique can be used. Predictions must be
made about the next ideas of the author. If the predictions turn out to be right, it will help in
answering implicit questions easily. If it turns out to be wrong, it can be promptly corrected.
VOCABULARY BUILDING
An aptitude test aims to evaluate the candidate rigorously under areas such as skills of analysis
and comprehension, deduction and capacity to arrive at a correct decision under time constraints
and powers of logic. A harmonious blend of speed, accuracy and precision is necessary to meet
this challenge along with a good vocabulary.
The knowledge of separate words without looking at their connotation is tested through
synonyms, antonyms, analogies, one-word substitutions, etc. Vocabulary questions in an
Aptitude Test focus primarily on aptitude and comprehension and it is necessary to choose the
correct one from the two closed options.
In order to close in on the correct option, the synonym or an antonym of a word must be in the
same part of the speech in the option choices as the ones given in the question. It is also
necessary to learn off words, spellings, homophones, homonyms, etc., along with sentence
completion, contextual vocabulary, punctuation, etc.
Moreover, working on idioms and phrasal verbs will be an add-on point to understanding the
usage of a word, it is necessary to first comprehend its context as its genesis.
CORRECT USAGE OF GRAMMATICAL EXPRESSIONS
The primary condition of sentence construction is choosing a subject and its verb and their
agreement. The punctuation mark is extremely intricate and it is necessary to pay attention to a
few thumb rules. Relative pronouns introduce relative clauses and it is essential to learn when to
use commas while using relative pronouns. The commas help us understand whether the relative
pronoun introduces a defining or a non-defining clause.
A semicolon is equally important to a comma as it separates two independent clauses within a
complex sentence. An appositive is a noun or pronoun set beside another noun or pronoun to
identify it and it is separated from the noun or pronoun by a comma to add extra information.
Pronouns must be used carefully with the consideration of their cases and agreement of a
pronoun with its antecedent. Also, the usage of articles must be learned and understood depending
upon the sentence. Modifiers are words that modify the way other words are perceived or
understood by adding more information thus, they must clearly point to one or more words as
their subject and be free from errors.
Tense consistency is necessary and this must proceed throughout the paragraph. A parallel
structure must be constructed by comparing an idea in a sentence by following the same
grammatical pattern. Sentences must also contain idiomatic phrases and words depending upon
the nature of the pattern.
These are a few steps that will help the candidates ace their scores in the upcoming CUET
examination. As pointed out earlier, Section 1 can serve as the biggest boon to the students as
this would help in boosting the score of the candidate with very little preparation. Candidates
must never do the mistake of omitting this area as this may result in the downfall of their grades.
To know about CUET and more Information like this make sure to register yourself at Collzy now !