VERBAL 4 — PASSAGE RECALL AND EMAIL

The remaining ~5 marks · and the one task you can prepare in advance

Passage recall: 4–5 tasks. Read a paragraph for ~30 seconds, it disappears, you rewrite it in ~90 seconds. Scored on accuracy of content, not word-for-word memorisation.

Email: 1 task, 9 minutes, minimum 100 words. You can see the word count and the timer.

These two are graded on your written English — which is why V1 feeds directly into them.

PART 1 — PASSAGE RECALL

What it actually is

From the trainer slide sourced to a TCS exam document:

"Read a paragraph for 30 seconds — it disappears! Then reconstruct it in your own words within 90 seconds. Scored on accuracy of content, not word-for-word memorisation."

Candidates who sat it:

"There were 5 passages. Each shown for 25 seconds, then it disappeared. We had to write it within 1 minute." · "3 to 4 lines — you have to read very fast."

Counts reported: 3, 4 and 5 across different slots. Lengths: 3–4 lines.

The most important sentence here

"Accuracy of content, not word-for-word." You are not being tested on memory of phrasing. You are being tested on whether you captured what the passage said and can write it in correct English. That is a far easier task than it first appears — and it means a clean, simple, factually complete answer beats a half-remembered elegant one.

⭐ The 30-second reading protocol

You cannot memorise a paragraph in 30 seconds. You can capture its skeleton.

1. FIRST SENTENCE — read properly.        It nearly always carries the topic.
2. GRAB THE WH-FACTS.                     who · what · where · when · how many
3. NUMBERS AND NAMES ARE GOLD.            they prove to the marker that you read it
4. LAST SENTENCE — glance.                usually the consequence or conclusion
5. DO NOT try to remember phrasing.       remember FACTS

Say the skeleton to yourself as a sentence before the passage vanishes. "Solar in India, 2.6 to 70 gigawatts, 2014 to 2023, cheap panels plus government, but storage lagging." That single mental sentence is what you will write from.

⭐ The 90-second writing protocol

1. OPEN WITH THE TOPIC     "The passage discusses…" / "The passage explains that…"
2. STATE YOUR 3–4 FACTS    in the order they appeared
3. SHORT SIMPLE SENTENCES  you are marked on correctness, not elegance
4. KEEP TENSE CONSISTENT   simple present for what a passage says
5. CLOSE WITH THE POINT    "However…" / "As a result…"

Simple sentences you control beat complex sentences you fumble. Every clause you add is another chance for a subject–verb or tense error. Four clean sentences is a full-marks answer.