VARC Mastery: Daily Reading Plan Using Free Online Articles and Newspapers
A structured daily reading habit is the most powerful way to improve VARC for CAT and other MBA exams, and it can be built using only free online articles and newspapers. A good plan balances diverse sources, controlled time, active note‑making, and regular RC practice so that your reading speed, comprehension, and accuracy keep rising together.
Why Daily Reading Matters for VARC
- CAT VARC is dominated by Reading Comprehension; recent papers typically have 16 RC and 8 VA questions.
- Passages come from philosophy, economics, psychology, history, science, and culture, often taken from serious magazines and newspapers.
- Regular exposure to such writing builds familiarity with tone, argument structure, and complex ideas, which later makes RC sets feel “natural”, not alien.
So the goal is not just “reading something”, but reading material similar in style and difficulty to CAT RCs.
Ideal Daily Reading Time and Structure
For most aspirants, 45–60 minutes of focused reading daily is enough to transform VARC performance if done consistently for 6–9 months.
A simple structure:
- 30–40 minutes: Serious articles from newspapers/magazines.
- 10–15 minutes: Quick RC practice (1–2 passages) from online sources or previous papers.
- 5–10 minutes: Revision of vocabulary/notes from the day.
Working professionals can split this into two slots (morning 25–30 minutes + night 25–30 minutes) to reduce fatigue.
What to Read: High‑Quality Free Sources
Mix Indian newspapers with international long‑form content.
Newspapers (Daily)
- The Hindu – Editorial & Opinion: Dense, formal style very close to CAT passages, especially for politics, law, and social issues.
- The Indian Express – Explained & Opinion: Clear explanations of economy, policy, and international relations; helpful for both RC and general awareness.
Read 1–2 editorials or long pieces per day, not the entire paper.
Long‑form Websites (3–4 days a week)
- Aeon, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Project Syndicate, Business Standard columns are frequently recommended by coaching institutes for CAT‑level reading.
- They cover philosophy, psychology, culture, economics, environment, and technology—the same themes that dominate RC sets.
Aim for 3–4 long articles per week from these sites in addition to newspapers.
Curated Free Lists
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Platforms like Cracku and 2IIM publish daily or curated article lists specifically for CAT aspirants, saving you search time and ensuring RC‑friendly content.
Use them when you are short on time or confused about which article to pick.
7‑Day Sample Reading Plan
This is a repeatable weekly template for BestCoachingClass readers.
- Day 1–2
- 1 editorial from The Hindu + 1 long article (e.g., Aeon/Project Syndicate).
- 1 RC passage (philosophy or psychology) from free practice sites.
- Day 3–4
- 1 Indian Express Explained article (economy/policy) + 1 opinion piece.
- 1 RC passage (economics/business).
- Day 5
- 1 science/tech article (NYT/Scientific American/Guardian science section).
- 1 RC passage (science/technology).
- Day 6
- 1 culture/history article (Aeon/Long Reads) + light magazine piece to avoid burnout.
- 1 VA exercise: para‑jumbles or summary questions.
- Day 7
- Revision day: reread marked tough paragraphs, update vocabulary notes, and solve 2–3 RCs from mixed topics.
How to Read Actively (Not Passively)
Simply scrolling through articles will not raise your percentile. Use an “active reading” checklist:
- Preview: Read the title and first paragraph; predict the theme and stance of the author.
- Chunking: Break the passage into small sections and quickly note the main idea of each in your head.
- Author’s intent: Ask “Why is the author writing this?”—to critique, compare, argue, or explain? This directly helps with main‑idea and tone questions.
- Pause after dense paragraphs: Summarise in one line before moving ahead; this trains main‑idea retention.
Over time, this habit makes long CAT passages manageable even under time pressure.
Adding RC Practice to the Plan
Daily reading should be paired with timed RC practice.
- Use free RC sets from sites like BodheePrep or other VARC practice portals that provide philosophy, business, and art passages with explanations.
- Solve at least 1–2 passages a day, strictly timed (8–10 minutes per passage in the beginning, moving towards 6–7 minutes).
- Analyse every set:
- Check where you misread or over‑interpreted.
- Identify question types you get wrong often (inference, title, tone, specific detail).
Link this analysis back to your daily reading: if inferences are weak, focus on opinion‑heavy editorials; if tone is confusing, pay attention to adjectives and adverbs in articles.
Vocabulary and Note‑Making Without Rote Memorisation
You do not need wordlists of 5,000+ items for CAT, but you must understand commonly used academic vocabulary.
- Maintain a vocab diary: note unknown words with sentence context from your articles, then add a brief meaning and one self‑made sentence.
- Limit yourself to 5–10 new words per day to keep revision manageable.
- Once a week, revisit the diary and quickly test yourself by covering meanings and recalling them.
This context‑based method is more effective than random dictionary reading and directly helps in RC and para‑summary questions.
Adapting the Plan for Different Levels
If You’re a Beginner in English
- Start with simpler explainers and “basic” opinion pieces; increase difficulty gradually.
- Use Indian Express and simpler online magazines before jumping to dense Aeon‑type philosophy.
- Accept slower speed initially; focus on understanding 100% of what you read rather than rushing.
If You’re Already Comfortable
- Push yourself with long, concept‑heavy pieces from economics, sociology, and philosophy.
- Increase daily reading time to 60–75 minutes with 2 RC sets on alternate days to target 99+ percentile.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Reading random social media content or short news snippets and calling it “VARC prep”.
- Sticking to only one genre (e.g., only politics or only technology), which later makes unfamiliar CAT topics feel scary.
- Reading without time limits; in the exam you get about 40 minutes for 24 questions, so habitually slow reading hurts.
- Skipping analysis of RC mistakes; improvement comes from understanding why each wrong option was wrong.
How Coaching Like The Prayas India Can Complement This Plan
While this BestCoachingClass.com plan lets you build reading skills using free resources, structured coaching can speed up your learning curve.
Institutes such as The Prayas India typically support VARC preparation by:
- Providing curated reading lists and RC sets closely matching CAT level, so you don’t waste time hunting for articles.
- Conducting sectional tests and full mocks that measure how your daily reading translates into marks and help fine‑tune speed and accuracy.
- Offering doubt‑solving and strategy sessions on question selection, elimination techniques, and time allocation within the 40‑minute VARC section.
Combining this kind of guided practice with a disciplined daily reading habit built from free online articles and newspapers is one of the most reliable ways to move from struggling with VARC to consistently scoring in the top percentiles.
FAQs on VARC Mastery
Q1. How much should I read daily to improve VARC for CAT?
Most CAT experts suggest 45–60 minutes of focused reading every day, combining serious newspaper editorials with long‑form online articles plus 1–2 timed RC passages for best results.
Q2. Which newspapers are best for CAT VARC preparation?
Editorials and opinion pages from The Hindu and The Indian Express are considered ideal because they regularly feature complex arguments, diverse topics and dense language similar to actual CAT RC passages.
Q3. What free online sources can I use to practice CAT‑level RCs?
You can use curated daily article lists and free RC sets from popular prep platforms that share philosophy, economics, science and culture passages, often with explanations tailored to CAT difficulty.
Q4. How do I balance reading practice with RC questions?
A practical approach is to spend 30–40 minutes on articles and 10–20 minutes on 1–2 timed RC sets each day, then analyse mistakes to understand where comprehension or inference went wrong.
Q5. Will daily reading alone be enough to score well in VARC?
Daily reading builds vocabulary, comprehension and comfort with complex texts, but high VARC scores also need regular RC practice, familiarity with question types, and exam‑style strategies such as passage selection and time management.