How to Solve Paragraph Summary Questions | Verbal Ability (VA) & Reading Comprehension (RC) - CAT PDF Download

What are Paragraph Summary Questions?

The Verbal Ability Section of the CAT exam consists of the Reading Comprehension and other verbal ability topics. One of those topics is Para Summary Questions for CAT. As the name suggests, it involves identifying the summary of a given paragraph.

• Ability Required: Para Summary Questions for CAT Exam require an ability to understand the text well properly and have good reasoning skills. 
• Sum up concisely: Whatever the type of text is given, we have to sum it up in a concise manner. All you need to do is understand the paragraph and then, figure out the main idea of it. You need to develop some skills to gain hold of summary questions.

How to Approach CAT Paragraph Summary Questions?

The paragraph summary question asks you to choose an option that succinctly captures the essence of a paragraph, which is usually about 100 to 150 words. Four options follow the paragraph.

Here is the stepwise approach to solving Para Summary questions for CAT:

1. Identify the Main Subject: 

• Read the paragraph carefully and try to identify the main subject; you must try to understand the paragraph. 
• The given paragraph could belong to any category of the subject – philosophy, political science, history, etc. and you could not be familiar with each subject.
• Note down the key points or ideas of the paragraph. If you have not understood the paragraph, the chances are that you would not be able to pick the right summary. 

2. Linking the Key Ideas: 

• Get a mental picture of all the ideas presented in the paragraph and then try to link them to each other. 

• Try to find out what the author is conveying through the paragraph by thinking from his point of view. 

3. Write the Summary: 

• You have already noted down the main ideas discussed in the paragraph. Now is the time to summarize all those points. But remember to include only the relevant points. 

• The paragraph also includes some unimportant points which have to be ignored while summarizing the paragraph. 

• The summary should be concise, short, and accurate. Ensure that your summary presents the central idea correctly.
  
  

4. Compare the options: 

• Option comparison is a very important step. The right option must not have anything apart from what is given in the passage; the right option must not distort information, and lastly, the right option must not leave out any critical information. 
• Usually, the options distort information or add something that is not given in the paragraph.

5. Start with the elimination process: 

• You must look for the differences between the options. The point of difference should be evaluated.
• You should see if the passage has any hint that helps you understand which option is better and which is not. 
• Start with the elimination process, checking out those options that you feel have flaws in them.

6. Select the Relevant Answer Option:

•  You already have your own written summary so you just need to match it with the given answer options. 
• Find out which of the options resembles your written answer. If two options are very close, you should mark the one that maintains the focus. 
• The essence is more important than the less valuable information. Two options might be equally true but one will talk about the essence, while the other will focus on the insignificant details. 
• Once you are convinced, you can choose the right answer.

Skills Needed for Solving Para Summary Questions for CAT?

Let’s explore the skills needed to ace these questions:

1. Ability to Summarise Well

• A paragraph may contain more than one message. 
• Your purpose should be to identify the main idea or the central theme around which the paragraph revolves. 
• Do not get distracted by the irrelevant points or facts stated in the paragraph. 
• Before summarizing, ensure that you have understood the paragraph well. 
• The chronology of the summary should be as per the given passage.
• The summary needs to be precise, broad in scope and short. 

Develop the skill: An effective way to develop this skill is to read a newspaper / magazine article daily and try to identify the crux of it.

2. Pre-thinking

• If the paragraph/s expresses multiple ideas, try to combine them into one main point.
• A good idea would be to summarise the paragraph in your own words before looking at the options. 
• It’s like analyzing and then, summarising an article that you read in a magazine. This will just simplify your task of identifying the correct option.
• Once you summarise it in your words, all you need to find out is which option conveys the same.

Develop the skill: The best way to develop this skill is to practice summary questions from previous year papers and mock tests.

3. Vocabulary

• For obvious reasons, vocabulary is the common string among all parts of CAT Verbal Ability. It would be great if you broaden your vocabulary base. This will help you in reaching the correct answer accurately in less time. 
• Another interesting way is to pick up your favourite topics and invest time in quality reading. It will enhance your comprehension skills as well as expand your vocabulary base.

Improve Vocabulary: The best way to improve your vocabulary base is to practice a habit of reading on a daily basis. 

4. Evaluation Skills

• This is one of the most important skills. Answer options can often be misleading. Here, your ability to spot the right option is of prime importance. You need to search for the option that imitates the one you wrote in your own words.
• In another case, you may not have come up with the main point. In such a case of if the options seem too complex, you can make use of the ‘elimination strategy’. It is a good idea to re-read the paragraph if you need more clarity of the main idea.

Develop the skill: The best way to develop this skill is to practice summary questions from previous year papers and mock tests.

Careful: You may assume that the summary lies in the last lines of the paragraph. However, this is not the case. The selected answer option should reflect the beginning, middle and ending of the paragraph in a succinct manner. The answer should be concise and grammatically correct. Make sure that your answer is ‘to the point’ and not beating around the bush.

How to Eliminate Options from Para Summary Questions for CAT?

Finally, let’s see the best possible ways to identify and eliminate the incorrect options hat are given in the Para Summary Questions:

1. Out-of-Scope Answer Options

So, you must be thinking that such options will be rejected outright. But, most of the time, these answer choices relate to the same subject being talked about in the paragraph/s. That’s how they complicate matters! Keep in mind ‘what is discussed in the passage’ and not just ‘about what’.
If you have understood and analyzed the passage well, you will be able to eliminate them easily. Example: If a passage talks about the social consequences and losses suffered in the world wars, you cannot choose an answer option that states the political consequences of the world wars.

2. Narrow/Partial Scope Answer Options

As the name says itself, such choices reflect a few ideas of the given paragraph/s and neglect the remaining important points. Sometimes, such choices state the facts accurately as per the passage but do not encompass the entire passage. In other words, such answer options are only partially true in terms of the given passage. Generally, it is preferred to select an answer option that is wide in scope.

Example: If a passage describes the political and economic conditions of British India, the answer option cannot indicate the political aspect only.

3. Extreme Answer Options

Well, what do you think an extreme option can be? Perhaps, when you overestimate or underestimate something or someone. Similarly, such options overstate or understate the facts given in the paragraph/s. In some cases, these answer options state the opposite of the ideas given in the passage. So, be very careful of such answer choices.
If the author is using a critical tone while discussing a subject, you may be tempted to select an extreme answer that goes beyond the scope of the paragraph. So, try to limit the summary to the author’s viewpoint only.

4. New Idea/Inconsistent Answer options

What if a movie deviates from its central theme and takes an unrelated new turn? Well, that’s when you can’t recall what it was all about. On similar lines, such answer choices convey the main idea but also give additional information. This new information may not be related to the given passage at all. In other ways, the answer option seems to pick up an incomplete idea stated in the paragraph/s and complete it with a new point.

So, it’s absolutely necessary to read the full statement before choosing it. Also, do not let your personal opinion come in the way of choosing the answer option. 

By now, you are well-aware of the strategy to tackle paragraph summary questions. The next step should be to execute it in an efficient way. Well, it all boils down to two things- reading and practising. The more you read, the better will be your speed and reading skills. An active reader can grasp the underlying message of the paragraph in a more accurate and timely manner. Further, practising such questions on daily basis will acquaint you with the kind of questions you need to solve in CAT.

Solved Examples on How to Write Summary of a Paragraph

As discussed above, ability to summarise the paragraph well is needed to solve these questions of CAT.

 Let's see a couple of solved examples of How to Write a Summary: 

Example 1
“The Northern Lights” There are times when the night sky glows with bands of colour. The bands may begin as cloud shapes and then spread into a great arc across the entire sky. They may fall in folds like a curtain drawn across the heavens. The lights usually grow brighter, then suddenly dim. During this time the sky glows with pale yellow, pink, green, violet, blue, and red. These lights are called the Aurora Borealis. Some people call them the Northern Lights. Scientists have been watching them for hundreds of years. They are not quite sure what causes them. In ancient times people were afraid of the Lights. They imagined that they saw fiery dragons in the sky. Some even concluded that the heavens were on fire. 

Summary: The Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, are bands of color in the night sky. Ancient people thought that these lights were dragon on fire, and even modern scientists are not sure what they are.

Example 2
“For nearly 1,400 years Islam, though diverse in sectarian practice and ethnic tradition, has provided a unifying faith for peoples stretching from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean and beyond. Starting in the 1500s, Western ascendancy, which culminated in colonization, eroded once glorious Muslim empires and reduced the influence of Islam. After the breakup of the Ottoman Empire following World War I and the decline of European colonial empires following World War II, Muslim nations adopted Western ideologies–communism, socialism, secular nationalism, and capitalism. Yet most Muslims remained poor and powerless. Their governments, secular regimes often backed by the West, were corrupt and repressive” (Belt 78). 

Summary: For almost 1,500 years, Islam has united people globally. Western interference, through colonization and political ideologies, has not improved Muslims’ lives (Belt 78).

In the above examples, the summary is very well written as: 

• It is not distracted by the irrelevant points or facts stated in the paragraph. 
• It is precise, broad in scope and short. 
• The chronology of the summary is as per the given passage. 
• The vocabulary used is simple and accurate

Para Summary Questions  for CAT

Four alternate summaries are given below each text. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the text.

Q1: Totalitarianism is not always operated by diktat. It can be insinuated by suggestion and replication. Dissent does not have to be banned if it is countered by orchestrated mass promo rallies and hypnotizing oratory. Despotic establishments do not need to turn Hitlerian; all they need to do is to let the Reich chemistry work. Self-regulation and self-censorship will click in. Then any dissident who wants to retain his intellectual liberty will find himself thwarted by the general drift of society rather than by active persecution. 

(a) Totalitarianism is generally operated by undermining freedom of expression through active persecution and censorship.
(b) Hypnotizing oratory and promo rallies can effectively counter dissent and lead to persecution of the masses.
(c) Self-regulation and self-censorship in societies stifle freedom of expression.
(d) Intellectual liberty does not have to be repressed by the authority if there are self-appointed vigilantes to bully it into silence.
Ans: Option (d) 
Explanation: The paragraph begins by stating that totalitarianism need not always be operated by issuing diktats or decrees and banning dissent; it can be brought in force just the same by “suggestion and replication?. How? By setting up mass promo rallies and captivating the audience with the power of their speech, despots can create the “Reich chemistry? without actually engaging in active persecution. The brainwashed society starts to self-censor and self-regulate itself, in line with the ideas implanted in the minds of the people. Dissenters, the paragraph argues, will find it hard to hold on to their intellectual liberty, as the “general drift of the society? will be against them.

Now let us look at the options and see which one sums up the paragraph best.
Option A: Totalitarianism is generally operated by undermining freedom of expression through active persecution and censorship.
The paragraph we have talks of how totalitarianism is insinuated by suggestion and replication to clamp down on dissent, whereas this option talks of a completely different idea. So we rule this option out.
Option B: Hypnotizing oratory and promo rallies can effectively counter dissent and lead to persecution of the masses.
The paragraph we have talks of promo rallies and hypnotizing oratory being used by totalitarian regimes to counter dissent. Option B talks of hypnotizing oratory and promo rallies leading to “persecution of the masses?. Clearly, this is not the idea conveyed in the paragraph and definitely does not summarize it.
Option C: Self-regulation and self-censorship in societies stifle freedom of expression.
Option C conveys one of the main ideas of the paragraph-stifling of intellectual liberty- but does not touch upon the other- how despotic establishments cynically exploit this. So it is good to check if there is a better option to summarize the paragraph.
Option D: Intellectual liberty does not have to be repressed by authority if there are self-appointed vigilantes to bully it into silence.
Clearly, this option summarizes the paragraph best. Dissent does not need to be put down by authority. By clever insinuation, despotic establishments can steer the society towards self-regulation and self-censorship. Any opposing ideas are bullied into silence by these self-appointed vigilantes. 

Remember, Brevity is the key to summarising a paragraph.

Q2: The human mind is wired to see patterns. Not only does the brain process information as it comes in, it also stores insights from all our past experiences. Every interaction, happy or sad, is catalogued in our memory. Intuition draws from that deep memory well to inform our decisions going forward. In other words, intuitive decisions are based on data, and not contrary to data as many would like to assume. When we subconsciously spot patterns, the body starts firing neurochemicals in both the brain and gut. These “somatic markers” are what give us that instant sense that something is right … or that it’s off. Not only are these automatic processes faster than rational thought, but our intuition draws from decades of diverse qualitative experience (sights, sounds, interactions, etc.) – a wholly human feature that big data alone could never accomplish. 

(a) Intuition is infinitely richer than big data which is based on rational thought and accomplishes more than what big data can.
(b) Intuitions are automatic processes and are therefore faster than rational thought, and so decisions based on them are better.
(c) Intuition draws from deep memory, and may not be related to data, but to decades of diverse qualitative experience.
(d) Intuitions are neuro-chemical firings based on pattern recognition and draw upon a rich and vast database of experiences.
Ans: Option (d)
Explanation: The main points of the paragraph are as follows:
1. Intuition draws from a vast array of memories that our brain keeps in store.
2. When our brain recognises a pattern from past memories, neuron firing starts, which gives us the gut feeling of intuition.
A: Distortion: The passage does not give any detail about big data being based on rational thought.
B: Out of scope. The paragraph does not allude to whether the decisions based on intuition are better or worse.
C: Incorrect: The passage says that intuitive decisions are based on data.
D: Correctly covers the mentioned points and hence, is the answer.

Q3: People view idleness as a sin and industriousness as a virtue, and in the process have developed an unsatisfactory relationship with their jobs. Work has become a way for them to keep busy, even though many find their work meaningless. In their need for activity people undertake what was once considered work (fishing, gardening) as hobbies. The opposing view is that hard work has made us prosperous and improved our levels of health and education. It has also brought innovation and labour and time-saving devices, which have lessened life’s drudgery. 
(a) Despite some detractors, hard work is essential in today’s world to enable economic progress, for education and health and to propel innovations that make life easier.
(b) Hard work has overtaken all aspects of our lives and has enabled economic prosperity, but it is important that people reserve their leisure time for some idleness.
(c) Some believe that hard work has been glorified to the extent that it has become meaningless, and led to greater idleness, but it has also had enormous positive impacts on everyday life.
(d) While the idealisation of hard work has propelled people into meaningless jobs and endless activity, it has also led to tremendous social benefits from prosperity and innovation.
Ans: Option (d)
Explanation:
The main points of the passage are:
1. People increasingly view idleness as sin and industriousness as a virtue, pushing them into meaningless jobs.
2. On the other hand, this has also saved us from many of life’s drudgeries.
A: Misses out on point 1.
B: A distortion. The author does not advocate idleness. Also, 1 is not covered properly.
C: Incorrect. ‘led to greater idleness’ is not implied anywhere in the passage.
D: Covers both the points aptly and is the answer.