Verbal Aptitude questions in CET used to be easy. The emphasis was on speed. There used to be about 50 questions based on grammar, vocabulary, reading
comprehension, and reasoning (see table) – until 2011. Prior to 2011 students were generally carried away by the sometimes ridiculously low level of
difficulty of these questions and forgot that what mattered was not merely getting the answers right but getting them right in the shortest time possible.

However, 2011 proved to be the watershed year for Verbal in the history of CET (see table at the end). The section assumed a new form altogether. Familiar
question types went missing. Short questions were few and far between. Time consuming questions were far too many. There were 31 questions on Reading
Comprehension, including 15 questions that can be termed as critical Reading as the passage consisted of a View followed by a Counterview on a topic.
Critical Reasoning questions, though familiar to most students taking the CET, presented a challenge. The format was of the familiar structured Critical
Reasoning questions (of the GMAT type) ; the student was required distinguish between the five options as, Effect, Reason, Apprehension, Cause, Course of
Action etc. apart from the familiar ‘assumption, ‘inference’ ‘weaken’ and ‘strengthen’ questions. There were 13 questions of this type based on just 5 or 6
passages. This unexpected form that Verbal Ability questions took in 2011 CET largely contributed to the popular perception that it was a “very tough”
question paper. It was, in a way, favoured students with stronger Verbal Ability.

As compared to that, in 2012, Verbal in CET had lesser questions in Verbal – 63 in all. Out of these, only 12 were Reading Comprehension questions and 5
questions were on Critical Reasoning.

Besides this, some new types of questions were introduced – Insert Missing Sentence which was there in 2011 as well, was modified to accommodate 2 missing
sentences.

Verbal Aptitude questions in CET can be roughly divided into four categories:

1. Grammar

2. Vocabulary

3. Reading Comprehension

Typical questions in the CET

1.
Error Spotting

In each of the following sentences, the error, if there is one, will be in the part given in bold and numbered. The number of the part which contains the
error is the answer. If there is no error, the answer is (E). The error, if any, will be of grammar or/and usage. (Ignore errors of punctuation, if any ).

A.
Schools, hospitals and most other essential services in rural India are mostly government-run/

B.
and, with the introducing of/

C.
the MGREG Scheme five years ago, the government has become/

D.
the employer of the first resort/

E.
No error

2.
Missing Sentence:

In each of the following questions – three or four sentences 1, 2, 3, 4, as the case may be; form a meaningful paragraph/flow of thought. One of the
sentences is missing and it is shown as __. You have to find out from (A), (B), (C), (D) or (E) as to which sentence would best fit the missing part:

1. The myth that money in the hands of tribal goes on drink and destroys families is belied by the fact that almost all children in the area are in
schools.

2. The girl students I met had certainly begun looking beyond the lives of their parents.

3. ————-

4. I couldn’t help wondering what a trial they would blaze if they had access to , the kind of education that most of us in the cities take for
granted.

Which of the following would best fit (3)?

A. They literally aimed for the stars under that indigo sky,

B. The corporate have value added to the local schools.

C. Education is the offshoot of income generation from agriculture.:

D. There is an opportunity cost to poor families and they don’t send their children to school.

E. The city education is not as good as the one offered here with the help of progressive NGOs.

3.
Odd Word out

Four of the following five are alike in a certain way, hence form a group. Which of the following does not belong to that group?

A. Triangle B. Cylinder C. Sphere D. Cube E. Cone

4. Cloze

These questions consist of a passage, with several words missing. Each of these missing words is replaced by numbered blanks. You need to figure out from
the answer options, which of the given words can fill up the blank appropriately.

A lacklustre market & stock prices that are ­­(1) in the dumps have (2) a consolidation drive by multinational
& Indian promoters alike. A spate of open offers, all looking to (3) promoted stakes, has hit the market recently. It seems a
series of hostile takeover bids the credit of which must go to a fair and (4) takeover code put in place by SEBI, has rattled Indian
promoters. On the other hand, MNC’s see low prices as an (5), gain full control of their subsidiaries and subsequently delist them
from the exchanges, as a liberalized environment now allows them to own even a hundred percent stake in their subsidiaries.

Q. 1.
(1) increasing (2) escalating (3) meagre (4) soaring (5) down

Q. 2.
(1) fuelled (2) retarded (3) dampened (4) ignored (5) stalled

Q. 3.
(1) worsen (2) minimize (3) emphasize (4) increase (5) ruin

Q. 4.
(1) hostile (2) marvellous (3) transparent (4) immobile (5) shrouded

Q. 5.
(1) intuition (2) opportunity (3) exception (4) extremity (5) angularity

Breakup of Verbal Questions in CET paper over the years