Reading Comprehension Mastery Plan

It is essential for you to have a basic understanding of the areas that CAT generally tests you on.
This is not so that you have deep knowledge of these areas, but so that you understand the
terminology and mode of thinking in each of these subjects. You have surely heard the adage
‘When in Rome, Do as the Romans do’, hence, it is imperative for you to read articles online so
that you get comfortable with taking the test online. Do not think of cracking R.C. as a mystical
art. It, in fact, is nothing, but a measured science.

To cover the major areas of knowledge comfortably, I have divided them into fourteen
categories. You should read an article on each of these areas once a week, at an average of two
articles a day :

Psychology
Philosophy & religion
History
Economics
Sociology & Anthropology
Political theory
Physical sciences & technology
Bio-medical sciences & research
Art, culture & music
Environment
Management theory
Theory of Language
Feminism & Subaltern studies.
Indian and World Politics

Or, if you would like to read by authors, rather than subjects, some authors on these areas,
currently being discussed, followed, critiqued or re-evaluated, include :

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3

Theodor Adorno Louis Althusser Roland Barthes
Mikhail Bakhtin Jean Baudrillard Walter Benjamin
Maurice Blanchot Kenneth Burke Albert Borgmann
Jacques Derrida Gilles Deleuze Terry Eagleton
Stanley Fish Michel Foucault Hans-George Gadamer
Anthony Giddens Antonio Gramsci Felix Guattari
Jurgen Habermas Donna Haraway Martin Heidegger
Agnes Heller Max Horkheimer Edmund Husserl
Ivan Illich Fredric Jameson Julia Kristeva
Jacques Lacan Bruno Latour Jean Francois Lyotard
Georg Lukács Paul de Man Herbert Marcuse
Karl Marx Maurice Merleau-Ponty Richard Rorty
Jean-Paul Sartre Edward Said Charles Taylor
Claude Levi-Strauss Ludwig Wittgenstein Hegel

This should last you 3 weeks at 14 articles a week.

If you were actually to spend 15 minutes a day reading two / three articles, you could read an
essay on each of these authors and / or each of these subjects within a month! That would be
astonishing literacy.
It may be useful to read survey articles or books such as The Story of Philosophy, in addition to
articles on the most discussed authors and themes. (I say articles on and not by these authors,
because they might scare you away. It would be better to try reading something from Wikipedia
for basic acquaintance, and perhaps a review article by a University scholar for the terminology
and mode of thought.)

The purpose here is not to understand all these philosophical schools and trends and become a
philosopher oneself. It is to be able to read an RC passage on these topics or by similar authors
or on similar areas, without being shocked or confused. The following links might help in
finding suitable articles.

GENERAL

www.aldaily.com

www.resetdoc.org

http://www.scoretop.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4670&PN=1

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

http://www.firstscience.com/site/archive.asp

http://www.sciencedaily.com/

http://www.sciam.com/

www.discovermagzine.com

www.scientificamerican.com

www.newscientist.com

RELIGION

http://www.buzzle.com/chapters/archives-238.asp

http://www.religion-online.org/

www.christianitytoday.com

www.hinduismtoday.com

PHILOSOPHY

http://www.essortment.com/in/Philosophy.General/index.htm

http://www.prs.heacademy.ac.uk/archive/oldsite//philosophy/articles/index.html

www.philosophynow.org

PSYCHOLOGY

http://www.uncommon-knowledge.co.uk/psychology.html

http://www.articlesfactory.com/articles/psychology.html

www.psychologytoday.com (Magazine section)

SOCIOLOGY

http://soc.sagepub.com/reports/mfr1.dtl

http://www.aboutsociology.com/sociology/List_of_sociology_topics

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk

LITERATURE

www.essortment.com/in/Literature.General/index.htm

http://www.buzzle.com/chapters/archives-251.asp

HISTORY

http://www.historynet.com/

http://www.essortment.com/in/History.Events/index.htm

POLITICS

http://www.magportal.com/c/soc/intl/

http://www.buzzle.com/chapters/archives-234.asp

www.foreignaffairs.org

GEOGRAPHY

http://geography.about.com/cs/a.htm

http://www.ezgeography.com/

ECONOMICS

http://economics.about.com/cs/a.htm

http://www.europe-economics.com/pubs/articles.htm

www.economist.com

www.epw.org.in

MANAGEMENT

http://www.magportal.com/c/bus/strat/

http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/Management/

ARGUMENTS

www.dissentmagazine.org

ARCHITECTURE

www.archaeology.org (Magazine section)

CULTURE

http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk

EDUCATION

www.chronicle.com

HISTORY

www.history-magazine.com

EDUCATION

www.chronicle.com

In addition to the aforementioned links, it would be of great help to you if you read a well
written newspaper like The Indian Express. And do make it a point to read the editorials of The
Hindu which can be found at www.hindu.com . If possible, try and peruse as much of the online
edition of The Hindu as possible. Read both the editorials compulsorily each day till the D-Day.

Also, do not forget to read Frontline, Tehelka and any financial magazine regularly.

If you have any further queries or doubts or apprehensions or misgivings about CAT, please get
in touch with me.

All the very best of luck to you !!!

Warm Regards,
Satyaprakash Chhetry.