CAT VARC PYQs for CAT 2026 Preparation: Solve Parajumbles, Odd Sentence Out & Para Completion

Getting the right answer in CAT VARC is not just about having a strong vocabulary. Questions such as Para Completion, Paragraph Odd Sentence Out, and Parajumbles assess your ability to understand ideas, identify logical connections, and eliminate incorrect options. Without the right approach, even familiar topics can become challenging.

Selected CAT VARC Previous Year Questions with detailed answers and explanations are provided here to help you understand the reasoning behind each question type. You will also learn the strategies used to solve Para Completion, Paragraph Odd Sentence Out, and Parajumbles, making your CAT 2026 preparation more effective.

What Is VARC in CAT?

VARC stands for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension. The Verbal Ability part of the CAT paper includes four important question types: Parajumbles, Paragraph Odd Sentence Out, Best Summary of the Paragraph, and Para Completion.

The Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension test a candidate's ability to understand passages, identify central ideas, recognise logical connections, and interpret subtle changes in meaning. The questions can range from easy to challenging, making question selection an important part of CAT preparation.

Your VARC score plays an important role in your overall CAT percentile. Knowing the score required for a 99+ percentile and understanding percentile-versus-score mapping can help you estimate the score needed to achieve your desired percentile.

Why CAT VARC Questions Aren't as Scary as You Think

CAT VARC questions are not difficult all the time. They can vary from easy to challenging. Therefore, identifying the right questions and solving them accurately is important. Practising CAT Previous Year Questions (PYQs) is described as the “gold standard” because it provides insights into question patterns and difficulty levels.

The 4 VARC Question Types You Must Master

The four major Verbal Ability question types covered are:

1. Parajumbles

2. Paragraph Odd Sentence Out

3. Best Summary of the Paragraph

4. Para Completion

Verbal Ability CAT PYQS for CAT 2026 Preparation

Before solving the question, it is important to understand what Para Completion tests. These questions require you to identify the sentence that best fits the flow and meaning of a paragraph by using contextual and logical clues.

Question 1: Sentence Placement

Sentence: While taste is related to judgment, with thinkers at the time often writing, for example, about "judgments of taste" or using the two terms interchangeably, taste retains a vital link to pleasure, embodiment, and personal specificity that is too often elided in post-Kantian ideas about judgment—a link that Arendt herself was working to restore.

Paragraph: .....(1)..... Denneny focused on taste rather than judgment in order to highlight what he believed was a crucial but neglected historical change. 

.....(2)..... Over the course of the seventeenth century and early eighteenth century, across Western Europe, the word taste took on a new extension of meaning, no longer referring specifically to gustatory sensation and the delights of the palate but becoming, for a time, one of the central categories for aesthetic—and ethical—thinking. 

.....(3)..... Tracing the history of taste in Spanish, French, and British aesthetic theory, as Denneny did, also provides a means to recover the compelling and relevant writing of a set of thinkers who have been largely neglected by professional philosophy. 

Answer

Correct Placement: (1)

Explanation & Solution

• Mention of Arendt: The sentence ends with "...a link that Arendt herself was working to restore." This introduces the overarching thematic distinction between taste and judgment.

• Core Theme: The sentence explicitly contrasts "taste" and "judgment", explaining why taste retains a distinct, vital link to pleasure and embodiment despite thinkers using the terms interchangeably.

Analyzing Position (1):

• Placed at (1), the sentence serves as an ideal introduction. It sets up the conceptual contrast between taste and judgment.

• This creates a seamless transition directly into the next sentence: "Denneny focused on taste rather than judgment in order to highlight..." The sentence at (1) explains the distinction between the two terms, providing immediate rationale for why Denneny chose to focus on taste rather than judgment.

Evaluating Other Positions:

• Position (2): Placed here, it interrupts the logical progression between Denneny's focus on historical change and the description of that actual historical change (the evolution of "taste" in the 17th/18th century).

• Position (3): Placed here, it breaks the flow between describing the shift in meaning of the word "taste" and tracing that specific history across Spanish, French, and British aesthetic theory.

• Position (4): Placed at the end, it creates an abrupt shift. Position (4) naturally concludes with Denneny’s work recovering neglected thinkers, whereas the target sentence functions best as an introductory setup for the taste-versus-judgment dichotomy.

Question 2: Odd One Out (Para OSO)

Statements:

1. A particularly interesting example of inference occurs in many single panel comics.

2. It's the creator's participation and imagination that makes the single-panel comic so engaging and so rewarding.

3. Often, the humor requires you to imagine what happened in the instant immediately before or immediately after the panel you're being shown.

4. To get the joke, you actually have to figure out what some of these missing panels must be.

5. It is as though the cartoonist devised a series of panels to tell the story and has chosen to show you only one – and typically not even the funniest.

Answer: Odd One Out Statement: 2

Correct Paragraph Sequence (1 - 5 - 3 - 4): 1 → 5 → 3 → 4

Explanation & Solution

Identifying the Common Theme (The Reader's Role):

Statements 1, 5, 3, and 4 form a coherent unit explaining how a reader/viewer uses inference and imagination to understand single-panel comics:

• 1 introduces the topic: inference in single-panel comics.

• 5 explains the cartoonist's setup (showing only one panel of a larger story).

• 3 explains how the reader must imagine what happens right before or after that panel.

• 4 elaborates on statement 3: figuring out those "missing panels" to get the joke.

Why Statement 2 is the Odd One Out:

• Statement 2 attributes the engagement and reward to the "creator's participation and imagination".

• However, the entire premise of the paragraph focuses on the reader/viewer's participation, inference, and active imagination to complete the joke. Statement 2 directly contradicts this focus by shifting the credit back to the creator, making it logically out of place.

Question 3: Odd One Out (Para OSO)

Statements:

1. Having an appreciation for the workings of another person's mind is considered a prerequisite for natural language acquisition, strategic social interaction, reflexive thought, and moral judgment.

2. It is a 'theory of mind' though some scholars prefer to call it 'mentalizing' or 'mindreading', which is important for the development of one's cognitive abilities.

3. Though we must speculate about its evolutionary origin, we do have indications that the capacity evolved sometime in the last few million years.

4. This capacity develops from early beginnings in the first year of life to the adult's fast and often effortless understanding of others' thoughts, feelings, and intentions.

5. One of the most fascinating human capacities is the ability to perceive and interpret other people's behaviour in terms of their mental states.

Answer

Odd One Out Statement: 2

Correct Paragraph Sequence: 5 - 1 - 4 - 3

Detailed Explanation & Solution

Building the Main Sequence (5 → 1 → 4 → 3):

• 5 introduces the core concept: "One of the most fascinating human capacities is the ability to perceive and interpret other people's behaviour in terms of their mental states." (This sets up "the capacity").

• 1 expands on why this capacity is important, listing what it enables (language acquisition, social interaction, moral judgment, etc.).

• 4 uses the demonstrative pronoun "This capacity" to explain how it develops individually in humans ("from early beginnings in the first year of life to the adult's fast... understanding").

• 3 shifts to the species level, discussing the evolutionary timeline of "the capacity" over millions of years.

Why Statement 2 is the Odd One Out:

• Statement 2 introduces technical terminology ('theory of mind', 'mentalizing', 'mindreading') and brings up cognitive abilities, which deviates from the structural flow of the rest of the text.

• Statements 5, 1, 4, and 3 refer directly back to "the capacity" (or "this capacity") in a smooth, continuous narrative about human development and evolution, whereas statement 2 disrupts this direct chain of reference.

What to Know Before Solving Parajumbles 

Before moving to advanced Verbal Ability question types such as Parajumbles, two foundational skills should be in place:

1. Reading Comprehension: Accuracy in comprehension-based questions should be strong first.

2. Critical Reasoning: Candidates should develop accuracy in identifying assumptions and inferences.

Only after these prerequisites are developed should candidates move towards advanced question types such as Parajumbles.