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CAT 2017 Slot 1 — VARC questions with answers

All 34 questions of the Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension section (27 MCQs, 7 TITA, 5 passages). Try each one, then open its answer and solution.

CAT 2017 Slot 1, timed like the real exam (180 minutes, 60 a section) and scored the CAT way: +3 right, −1 for a wrong MCQ, 0 for a wrong TITA, with the full post-mock analysis. Older official papers are in CATin Pro, with 80+ mocks and the full planner. The last three years of papers are free.

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Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension

CAT 2017 Slot 1 · 60 minutes · +3 for a right answer, −1 for a wrong MCQ, 0 for a wrong TITA

Reading passage

Passage for questions 1–6

**The passage below is accompanied by a set of six questions. Choose the best answer to each question.** Understanding where you are in the world is a basic survival skill, which is why we, like most species come hard-wired with specialised brain areas to create cognitive maps of our surroundings. Where humans are unique, though, with the possible exception of honeybees, is that we try to communicate this understanding of the world with others. We have a long history of doing this by drawing maps — the earliest versions yet discovered were scrawled on cave walls 14,000 years ago. Human cultures have been drawing them on stone tablets, papyrus, paper and now computer screens ever since. Given such a long history of human map-making, it is perhaps surprising that it is only within the last few hundred years that north has been consistently considered to be at the top. In fact, for much of human history, north almost never appeared at the top, according to Jerry Brotton, a map historian... "North was rarely put at the top for the simple fact that north is where darkness comes from," he says. "West is also very unlikely to be put at the top because west is where the sun disappears." Confusingly, early Chinese maps seem to buck this trend. But, Brotton, says, even though they did have compasses at the time, that isn't the reason that they placed north at the top. Early Chinese compasses were actually oriented to point south, which was considered to be more desirable than deepest darkest north. But in Chinese maps, the Emperor, who lived in the north of the country was always put at the top of the map, with everyone else, his loyal subjects, looking up towards him. "In Chinese culture the Emperor looks south because it's where the winds come from, it's a good direction. North is not very good but you are in a position of subjection to the emperor, so you look up to him," says Brotton. Given that each culture has a very different idea of who, or what, they should look up to it's perhaps not surprising that there is very little consistency in which way early maps pointed. In ancient Egyptian times the top of the world was east, the position of sunrise. Early Islamic maps favoured south at the top because most of the early Muslim cultures were north of Mecca, so they imagined looking up (south) towards it. Christian maps from the same era (called Mappa Mundi) put east at the top, towards the Garden of Eden and with Jerusalem in the centre. So when did everyone get together and decide that north was the top? It's tempting to put it down to European explorers like Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Megellan, who were navigating by the North Star. But Brotton argues that these early explorers didn't think of the world like that at all. "When Columbus describes the world it is in accordance with east being at the top, he says. "Columbus says he is going towards paradise, so his mentality is from a medieval mappa mundi." We've got to remember, adds Brotton, that at the time, "no one knows what they are doing and where they are going."

Q1MCQReading Comprehension

Which one of the following best describes what the passage is trying to do?

  1. It questions an explanation about how maps are designed.
  2. It corrects the misconception about the way maps are designed.
  3. It critiques a methodology used to create maps.
  4. It explores some myths about maps.
Answer and solution

Answer: (B) It corrects the misconception about the way maps are designed.

The passage's central point is that 'it is only within the last few hundred years that north has been consistently considered to be at the top.' Most readers assume north has always been 'up', and the author shows otherwise. Egyptian maps put east at the top, early Islamic maps put south, and Christian maps (Mappa Mundi) put east. Even the north-up Chinese maps placed north at the top to honour the Emperor, not because of the compass, and Columbus, who navigated by the North Star, still pictured east at the top. The passage therefore corrects a common but mistaken belief about how maps are oriented. Option A is the closest trap. The passage does question particular explanations (the compass, the North Star), but only as part of this larger correction. Option C fails because no map-making method is critiqued, and option D because the passage presents documented history, not myths. Hence, option B (It corrects the misconception about the way maps are designed).

Q2MCQReading Comprehension

Early maps did NOT put north at the top for all the following reasons EXCEPT

  1. North was the source of darkness.
  2. South was favoured by some emperors.
  3. East and south were more important for religious reasons for some civilisations.
  4. East was considered by some civilisations to be a more positive direction.
Answer and solution

Answer: (B) South was favoured by some emperors.

The question asks for the one option that is NOT a reason why early maps kept north off the top. Option A is such a reason. Brotton says north was rarely at the top because 'north is where darkness comes from'. Option C is also a reason. Early Islamic maps put south at the top, towards Mecca, and the Christian mappa mundi put east at the top, towards the Garden of Eden. Option D is a reason too. Ancient Egyptian maps put east at the top because it was the position of sunrise. Option B is different. The only emperor in the passage is the Chinese Emperor, who looked south because the good winds came from there. That preference did not keep north off the top. Chinese maps put north at the top, because the Emperor lived in the north and his subjects looked up to him. So B is true of the passage, but it does not explain why north was left off the top. Hence, option B (South was favoured by some emperors).

Q3MCQReading Comprehension

According to the passage, early Chinese maps placed north at the top because

  1. the Chinese invented the compass and were aware of magnetic north.
  2. they wanted to show respect to the emperor.
  3. the Chinese emperor appreciated the winds from the south.
  4. north was considered the most desirable direction.
Answer and solution

Answer: (B) they wanted to show respect to the emperor.

We can straightaway eliminate options A and D. The passage states that the Chinese compasses pointed to magnetic south and that south was considered a more desirable direction. While option C is true, that is not the reason why North was placed at the top.

The passage states that the emperor lived in the north and hence maps depicted him as above his subjects. Thus, north was placed at the top of the map to show respect for the emperor. Thus, option B is correct.

Q4MCQReading Comprehension

It can be inferred from the passage that European explorers like Columbus and Megellan

  1. set the precedent for north-up maps
  2. navigated by the compass
  3. used an eastward orientation for religious reasons
  4. navigated with the help of early maps
Answer and solution

Answer: (C) used an eastward orientation for religious reasons

Brotton says that 'when Columbus describes the world it is in accordance with east being at the top'. Columbus believed he was going 'towards paradise', so his mentality was that of 'a medieval mappa mundi'. Earlier, the passage explains that the mappa mundi were Christian maps that put east at the top, towards the Garden of Eden. So these explorers pictured the world with east at the top, and they did so for religious reasons. This is option C. Option A is the strongest trap. It is tempting to credit these explorers with north-up maps, but Brotton argues that they 'didn't think of the world like that at all'. Options B and D fail because the passage says only that they navigated by the North Star. It never mentions them using a compass or early maps, and Brotton adds that at the time 'no one knows what they are doing and where they are going'. Hence, option C (used an eastward orientation for religious reasons).

Q5MCQReading Comprehension

Which one of the following about the northern orientation of modern maps is asserted in the passage?

  1. The biggest contributory factor was the understanding of magnetic north.
  2. The biggest contributory factor was the role of European explorers.
  3. The biggest contributory factor was the influence of Christian maps.
  4. The biggest contributory factor is not stated in the passage.
Answer and solution

Answer: (D) The biggest contributory factor is not stated in the passage.

The passage ends by asking when everyone decided that north was the top, but it never answers that question. It only rejects the most tempting explanation. Option B fails because Brotton rejects the idea that European explorers such as Columbus set the north-up convention. Columbus still pictured east at the top. Option C fails because Christian maps (mappa mundi) put east, not north, at the top, so they cannot explain north-up maps. Option A is the closest trap, since compasses are mentioned. But they come up only for early Chinese maps, and Brotton says even there the compass was not the reason. Nothing links magnetic north to modern north-up maps. So the passage names no biggest contributory factor for the northern orientation of modern maps. Hence, option D (The biggest contributory factor is not stated in the passage).

Q6MCQReading Comprehension

The role of natural phenomena in influencing map-making conventions is seen most clearly in

  1. early Egyptian maps
  2. early Islamic maps
  3. early Chinese maps
  4. early Christian maps
Answer and solution

Answer: (A) early Egyptian maps

According to the passage, early Egyptian maps placed the East at the top because that was the position of sunrise. Hence, we can say that natural phenomena dictated the map-making convention in this case. Thus, option A is correct.

Options B and D are incorrect as the conventions were decided by religious factors and not natural phenomena. Option C also can be eliminated as the orientation was a result of their desire to honour their emperor. Hence, the answer is option A.

Reading passage

Passage for questions 7–12

**The passage below is accompanied by a set of six questions. Choose the best answer to each question.** I used a smartphone GPS to find my way through the cobblestoned maze of Geneva's Old Town, in search of a handmade machine that changed the world more than any other invention. Near a 13th-century cathedral in this Swiss city on the shores of a lovely lake, I found what I was looking for: a Gutenberg printing press. "This was the Internet of its day — at least as influential as the iPhone," said Gabriel de Montmollin, the director of the Museum of the Reformation, toying with the replica of Johann Gutenberg's great invention. Before the invention of the printing press, it used to take four monks up to a year to produce a single book. With the advance in movable type in 15th-century Europe, one press could crank out 3,000 pages a day. Before long, average people could travel to places that used to be unknown to them — with maps! Medical information passed more freely and quickly, diminishing the sway of quacks. The printing press offered the prospect that tyrants would never be able to kill a book or suppress an idea. Gutenberg's brainchild broke the monopoly that clerics had on scripture. And later, stirred by pamphlets from a version of that same press, the American colonies rose up against a king and gave birth to a nation. So, a question in the summer of this 10th anniversary of the iPhone: has the device that is perhaps the most revolutionary of all time given us a single magnificent idea? Nearly every advancement of the written word through new technology has also advanced humankind. Sure, you can say the iPhone changed everything. By putting the world's recorded knowledge in the palm of a hand, it revolutionized work, dining, travel and socializing. It made us more narcissistic — here's more of me doing cool stuff! — and it unleashed an army of awful trolls. We no longer have the patience to sit through a baseball game without that reach to the pocket. And one more casualty of Apple selling more than a billion phones in a decade's time: daydreaming has become a lost art. For all of that, I'm still waiting to see if the iPhone can do what the printing press did for religion and democracy...the Geneva museum makes a strong case that the printing press opened more minds than anything else...it's hard to imagine the French or American revolutions without those enlightened voices in print... Not long after Steve Jobs introduced his iPhone, he said the bound book was probably headed for history's attic. Not so fast. After a period of rapid growth in e-books, something closer to the medium for Chaucer's volumes has made a great comeback The hope of the iPhone, and the Internet in general, was that it would free people in closed societies. But the failure of the Arab Spring, and the continued suppression of ideas in North Korea, China and Iran, has not borne that out. The iPhone is still young. It has certainly been "one of the most important, world-changing and successful products in. history," as Apple C.E.O. Tim Cook said. But I'm not sure if the world changed for the better with the iPhone — as it did with the printing press — or merely changed.

Q7MCQReading Comprehension

The printing press has been likened to the Internet for which one of the following reasons?

  1. It enabled rapid access to new information and the sharing of new ideas.
  2. It represented new and revolutionary technology compared to the past.
  3. It encouraged reading among people by giving them access to thousands of books.
  4. It gave people access to pamphlets and literature in several languages.
Answer and solution

Answer: (A) It enabled rapid access to new information and the sharing of new ideas.

De Montmollin calls the printing press 'the Internet of its day'. The passage then lists what the press made possible. One press could produce 3,000 pages a day, maps let ordinary people travel to unknown places, medical information 'passed more freely and quickly', and it offered the prospect that tyrants could never suppress an idea. The common thread is fast, wide access to information and the sharing of ideas, which is also what the Internet offers. This is option A. Option B is the strongest trap. The press was certainly new and revolutionary, but that is true of many inventions and is not what the comparison with the Internet highlights. Option C goes beyond the passage, which never says the press encouraged reading or gave people thousands of books. Option D is not supported either: pamphlets are mentioned, but not literature in several languages. Hence, option A (It enabled rapid access to new information and the sharing of new ideas).

Q8MCQReading Comprehension

According to the passage, the invention of the printing press did all of the following EXCEPT

  1. promoted the spread of enlightened political views across countries.
  2. gave people direct access to authentic medical information and religious texts.
  3. shortened the time taken to produce books and pamphlets.
  4. enabled people to perform various tasks simultaneously.
Answer and solution

Answer: (D) enabled people to perform various tasks simultaneously.

This is an EXCEPT question, so we need the one effect the passage does not credit to the printing press. Option A is supported. Pamphlets from the press stirred the American colonies to revolt, and the author says it is 'hard to imagine the French or American revolutions without those enlightened voices in print'. Option B is supported. 'Medical information passed more freely and quickly, diminishing the sway of quacks', and the press 'broke the monopoly that clerics had on scripture'. Option C is supported. Four monks once needed up to a year for one book, while one press could produce 3,000 pages a day. Option D is neither stated nor implied. Nothing in the passage links the press to doing several tasks at once. Hence, option D (enabled people to perform various tasks simultaneously).

Q9MCQReading Comprehension

Steve Jobs predicted which one of the following with the introduction of the iPhone?

  1. People would switch from reading on the Internet to reading on their iPhones.
  2. People would lose interest in historical and traditional classics.
  3. Reading printed books would become a thing of the past.
  4. The production of e-books would eventually fall.
Answer and solution

Answer: (C) Reading printed books would become a thing of the past.

The passage says: 'Not long after Steve Jobs introduced his iPhone, he said the bound book was probably headed for history's attic.' A bound book is a printed book, and 'history's attic' is where things from the past are stored. So Jobs predicted that reading printed books would become a thing of the past. This is option C. Option D is the most tempting trap because the passage mentions e-books. But the rise of e-books and the comeback of printed books are the author's own observations about what happened later. They are not part of Jobs's prediction, and Jobs never predicts a fall in e-books. Options A and B are not mentioned at all. The passage says nothing about switching from the Internet to the iPhone, or about losing interest in classics. Hence, option C (Reading printed books would become a thing of the past).

Q10MCQReading Comprehension

"I'm still waiting to see if the iPhone can do what the printing press did for religion and democracy." The author uses which one of the following to indicate

his uncertainty?

  1. The rise of religious groups in many parts of the world.
  2. The expansion in trolling and narcissism among users of the Internet.
  3. The continued suppression of free speech in closed societies.
  4. The decline in reading habits among those who use the device.
Answer and solution

Answer: (C) The continued suppression of free speech in closed societies.

The author is 'still waiting to see if the iPhone can do what the printing press did for religion and democracy'. His doubt rests on one piece of evidence: 'The hope of the iPhone, and the Internet in general, was that it would free people in closed societies. But the failure of the Arab Spring, and the continued suppression of ideas in North Korea, China and Iran, has not borne that out.' So the continued suppression of free speech in closed societies is what makes him unsure. This is option C. Option B is the strongest trap, because the passage does say the iPhone made us more narcissistic and 'unleashed an army of awful trolls'. But those are listed as everyday side effects of the device, not as evidence about religion and democracy. Option A is never mentioned. Option D is not in the passage either: the author says daydreaming has become a lost art, not that people read less. Hence, option C (The continued suppression of free speech in closed societies).

Q11MCQReading Comprehension

The author attributes the French and American revolutions to the invention of the printing press because

  1. maps enabled large numbers of Europeans to travel and settle in the American continent.
  2. the rapid spread of information exposed people to new ideas on freedom and democracy.
  3. it encouraged religious freedom among the people by destroying the monopoly of religious leaders on the scriptures.
  4. it made available revolutionary strategies and opinions to the people.
Answer and solution

Answer: (B) the rapid spread of information exposed people to new ideas on freedom and democracy.

Refer to the line "it's hard to imagine the French or American revolutions without those enlightened voices in print". Hence, from this we can straightaway eliminate options A and C. Between options B and D, B correctly captures the point made by the author. The printing press allowed the spread of enlightened voices and as a result people were exposed to new ideas on freedom and democracy.

Option D slightly distorts what is given in the passage. The passage does not mention any revolutionary "strategies". Hence, we can eliminate this option.

Thus, the answer is option B.

Q12MCQReading Comprehension

The main conclusion of the passage is that the new technology has

  1. some advantages, but these are outweighed by its disadvantages.
  2. so far not proved as successful as the printing press in opening people's minds.
  3. been disappointing because it has changed society too rapidly.
  4. been more wasteful than the printing press because people spend more time daydreaming or surfing.
Answer and solution

Answer: (B) so far not proved as successful as the printing press in opening people's minds.

The author compares the iPhone with the printing press, which 'opened more minds than anything else' and helped bring about religious and democratic change. He grants that the iPhone 'changed everything' in daily life, but he is 'still waiting to see' if it can do what the press did. He adds that it has not freed people in closed societies, and he closes by doubting whether the world 'changed for the better with the iPhone — as it did with the printing press — or merely changed'. So his conclusion is that, so far, the new technology has not matched the press in opening minds. This is option B. Option A is the strongest trap. The author does list drawbacks, such as narcissism, trolls and the loss of daydreaming, but he never concludes that they outweigh the benefits. His point is the comparison with the press. Option C is wrong because he nowhere blames the speed of change. Option D turns one detail upside down: the author says daydreaming has become a lost art, not that people daydream more. Hence, option B (so far not proved as successful as the printing press in opening people's minds).

Reading passage

Passage for questions 13–18

**The passage below is accompanied by a set of six questions. Choose the best answer to each question.** This year alone, more than 8,600 stores could close, according to industry estimates, many of them the brand-name anchor outlets that real estate developers once stumbled over themselves to court. Already there have been 5,300 retail closings this year... Sears Holdings — which owns Kmart — said in March that there's "substantial doubt" it can stay in business altogether, and will close 300 stores this year. So far this year, nine national retail chains have filed for bankruptcy. Local jobs are a major casualty of what analysts are calling, with only a hint of hyperbole, the retail apocalypse. Since 2002, department stores have lost 448,000 jobs, a 25% decline, while the number of store closures this year is on pace to surpass the worst depths of the Great Recession. The growth of online retailers, meanwhile, has failed to offset those losses, with the e-commerce sector adding just 178,000 jobs over the past 15 years. Some of those jobs can be found in the massive distribution centers Amazon has opened across the country, often not too far from malls the company helped shutter. But those are workplaces, not gathering places. The mall is both. And in the 61 years since the first enclosed one opened in suburban Minneapolis, the shopping mall has been where a huge swath of middle-class America went for far more than shopping. It was the home of first jobs and blind dates, the place for family photos and ear piercings, where goths and grandmothers could somehow walk through the same doors and find something they all liked. Sure, the food was lousy for you and the oceans of parking lots encouraged car-heavy development, something now scorned by contemporary planners. But for better or worse, the mall has been America's public square for the last 60 years. So what happens when it disappears? Think of your mall. Or think of the one you went to as a kid. Think of the perfume clouds in the department stores. The fountains splashing below the skylights. The cinnamon wafting from the food court. As far back as ancient Greece, societies have congregated around a central marketplace. In medieval Europe, they were outside cathedrals. For half of the 20th century and almost 20 years into the new one, much of America has found their agora on the terrazzo between Orange Julius and Sbarro, Waldenbooks and the Gap, Sunglass Hut and Hot Topic. That mall was an ecosystem unto itself, a combination. of community and commercialism peddling everything you needed and everything you didn' t: Magic Eye posters, wind catchers, Air Jordans.... A growing number of Americans, however, don't see the need to go to any Macy's at all. Our digital lives are frictionless and ruthlessly efficient, with retail and romance available at a click. Malls were designed for leisure, abundance, ambling. You parked and planned to spend some time. Today, much of that time has been given over to busier lives and second jobs and apps that let you swipe right instead of haunt the food court. Malls, says Harvard business professor Leonard Schlesinger, "were built for patterns of social interaction that increasingly don't exist."

Q13MCQReading Comprehension

The central idea of this passage is that:

  1. the closure of malls has affected the economic and social life of middle-class America.
  2. Is the advantages of malls outweigh their disadvantages.
  3. malls used to perform a social function that has been lost.
  4. malls are closing down because people have found alternate ways to shop.
Answer and solution

Answer: (C) malls used to perform a social function that has been lost.

Most of the passage is about what malls meant beyond shopping. The mall was both a workplace and a gathering place, 'America's public square for the last 60 years' and 'the home of first jobs and blind dates'. The author compares it to the central marketplace that societies have gathered around since ancient Greece. He ends with Schlesinger's remark that malls 'were built for patterns of social interaction that increasingly don't exist'. So the central idea is that malls served a social function that is now being lost. This is option C. Option A is the closest trap. The passage does mention lost jobs, but only as an opening detail. Most of it is about the mall as a gathering place, and at the end the closures are presented as the result of changed social habits rather than their cause. Option D is true, but it is the background, not the author's point. Option B fails because the drawbacks (lousy food, car-heavy development) are mentioned only in passing, 'for better or worse', and never weighed against the benefits. Hence, option C (malls used to perform a social function that has been lost).

Q14MCQReading Comprehension

Why does the author say in paragraph 2, 'the massive distribution centers Amazon has opened across the country, often not too far from malls the company

helped shutter'?

  1. To highlight the irony of the situation.
  2. To indicate that malls and distribution centres are located in the same area.
  3. To show that Amazon is helping certain brands go online.
  4. To indicate that the shopping habits of the American middle class have changed.
Answer and solution

Answer: (A) To highlight the irony of the situation.

The sentence notes that Amazon's distribution centres are often 'not too far from malls the company helped shutter'. The same company that helped close the malls now offers some of the new e-commerce jobs, right next to the malls it emptied. Even those jobs are in 'workplaces, not gathering places', unlike the malls. Pointing this out highlights the irony of the situation. This is option A. Option B is the strongest trap, since the centres are indeed near the malls. But the author is not simply reporting where they are. The phrase 'the company helped shutter' is what gives the sentence its point. Option C is never mentioned. Option D is a real theme later in the passage, but this sentence is about Amazon's role in closing malls, not about shopping habits. Hence, option A (To highlight the irony of the situation).

Q15MCQReading Comprehension

In the first paragraph, the phrase "real estate developers once stumbled over themselves to court..." suggests that they

  1. took brand-name anchor outlets to court.
  2. no longer pursue brand-name anchor outlets.
  3. collaborated with one another to get brand-name anchor outlets.
  4. were eager to get brand-name anchor outlets to set up shop in their mall.
Answer and solution

Answer: (B) no longer pursue brand-name anchor outlets.

To 'stumble over themselves to court' something is to be very eager to attract it. The key word is 'once'. The anchor outlets are ones developers once chased, and the sentence is about thousands of these stores now closing. So the phrase suggests that the eagerness belongs to the past and that developers no longer pursue these outlets. This is option B. Option D is the strongest trap because it gives the literal meaning of the phrase: at one time, developers were eager to bring these outlets into their malls. But the question asks what the phrase suggests about the developers. With 'once' and the store closures around it, the phrase points to a change, and D describes only the old situation. Option A misreads 'court' as a law court. Option C adds collaboration between developers, which the phrase does not suggest. Hence, option B (no longer pursue brand-name anchor outlets).

Q16MCQReading Comprehension

The author calls the mall an ecosystem unto itself because

  1. people of all ages and from all walks of life went there.
  2. people could shop as well as eat in one place.
  3. it was a commercial space as well as a gathering place.
  4. it sold things that were needed as well as those that were not.
Answer and solution

Answer: (C) it was a commercial space as well as a gathering place.

The passage says: 'That mall was an ecosystem unto itself, a combination of community and commercialism.' The words right after 'ecosystem' explain it: the mall was a place where people came together and also a place of business. Earlier the author makes the same point: distribution centres are 'workplaces, not gathering places', but 'the mall is both'. So the mall was an ecosystem because it was a commercial space as well as a gathering place. This is option C. Option D is the strongest trap, because the same sentence says the mall was 'peddling everything you needed and everything you didn't'. But that phrase describes only the commercial half of the combination, not the whole ecosystem. Option A picks up the 'goths and grandmothers' detail, and option B picks up the food court. Each gives only one part of what the mall offered. Hence, option C (it was a commercial space as well as a gathering place).

Q17MCQReading Comprehension

Why does the author say that the mall has been America's public square?

  1. Malls did not bar anybody from entering the space.
  2. Malls were a great place to shop for a huge section of the middle class.
  3. Malls were a hangout place where families grew close to each other.
  4. Malls were a great place for everyone to gather and interact.
Answer and solution

Answer: (D) Malls were a great place for everyone to gather and interact.

A public square is a shared space where a whole community meets. The author says the mall was where 'a huge swath of middle-class America went for far more than shopping'. It was 'the home of first jobs and blind dates, the place for family photos and ear piercings, where goths and grandmothers could somehow walk through the same doors'. He then compares it to the central marketplaces that societies have gathered around since ancient Greece. So the mall was America's public square because it was a place for everyone to gather and interact. This is option D. Option B is the strongest trap. The passage does mention the middle class, but it stresses that people went to malls for far more than shopping. Option A reads too much into 'goths and grandmothers': the point is that all kinds of people mixed there, not that no one was barred. Option C narrows the idea to families, while the passage is about the whole community. Hence, option D (Malls were a great place for everyone to gather and interact).

Q18MCQReading Comprehension

The author describes 'Perfume clouds in the department stores' in order to

  1. evoke memories by painting a picture of malls.
  2. describe the smells and sights of malls.
  3. emphasise that all brands were available under one roof.
  4. show that malls smelt good because of the various stores and food court.
Answer and solution

Answer: (A) evoke memories by painting a picture of malls.

In the lines that begin 'Think of your mall', the author tries to invoke a sense of nostalgia by describing the malls. He tries to make the readers feel the ambiance and vibrance of the malls by taking us down the memory lane. Option B adopts an objective tone. The author does not merely describe a mall. He tries to invoke our memories of the malls. Options C and D can be eliminated since the purpose of the author is not to emphasize that all brands were available at one place or to establish the reason for the sweet smell that the malls carried. The author tries to make an emotional appeal and only option A captures this point. Therefore, option A is the right answer.

Reading passage

Passage for questions 19–21

**The passage below is accompanied by a set of three questions. Choose the best answer to each question.** Scientists have long recognised the incredible diversity within a species. But they thought it reflected evolutionary changes that unfolded imperceptibly, over millions of years. That divergence between populations within a species was enforced, according to Ernst Mayr, the great evolutionary biologist of the 1940s, when a population was separated from the rest of the species by a mountain range or a desert, preventing breeding across the divide over geologic scales of time. Without the separation, gene flow was relentless. But as the separation persisted, the isolated population grew apart and speciation occurred. In the mid-1960s, the biologist Paul Ehrlich — author of The Population Bomb (1968) — and his Stanford University colleague Peter Raven challenged Mayr's ideas about speciation. They had studied checkerspot butterflies living in the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve in California, and it soon became clear that they were not examining a single population. Through years of capturing, marking and then recapturing the butterflies, they were able to prove that within the population, spread over just 50 acres of suitable checkerspot habitat, there were three groups that rarely interacted despite their very close proximity. Among other ideas, Ehrlich and Raven argued in a now classic paper from 1969 that gene flow was not as predictable and ubiquitous as Mayr and his cohort maintained, and thus evolutionary divergence between neighbouring groups in a population was probably common. They also asserted that isolation and gene flow were less important to evolutionary divergence than natural selection (when factors such as mate choice, weather, disease or predation cause better-adapted individuals to survive and pass on their successful genetic traits). For example, Ehrlich and Raven suggested that, without the force of natural selection, an isolated population would remain unchanged and that, in other scenarios, natural selection could be strong enough to overpower gene flow...

Q19MCQReading Comprehension

Which of the following best sums up Ehrlich and Raven's argument in their classic 1969 paper?

  1. Ernst Mayr was wrong in identifying physical separation as the cause of species diversity.
  2. Checkerspot butterflies in the 50-acre Jasper Ridge Preserve formed three groups that rarely interacted with each other.
  3. While a factor, isolation was not as important to speciation as natural selection.
  4. Gene flow is less common and more erratic than Mayr and his colleagues claimed.
Answer and solution

Answer: (C) While a factor, isolation was not as important to speciation as natural selection.

The 1969 paper made more than one claim, so the best summary must capture its main thrust. Ehrlich and Raven challenged Mayr's view that divergence needs a population to be physically separated for long periods. They 'asserted that isolation and gene flow were less important to evolutionary divergence than natural selection'. Their example makes the same point: without natural selection an isolated population would stay unchanged, and selection can even overpower gene flow. Isolation still plays a part, but natural selection matters more. This is option C. Option D is the strongest trap because the paper did argue that gene flow was 'not as predictable and ubiquitous' as Mayr claimed. But that is one supporting point, introduced with 'Among other ideas', while C states their central claim. Option A goes too far: they ranked isolation below natural selection but did not dismiss it. Option B is a finding from their butterfly study, not the argument of the paper. Hence, option C (While a factor, isolation was not as important to speciation as natural selection).

Q20MCQReading Comprehension

All of the following statements are true according to the passage EXCEPT

  1. Gene flow contributes to evolutionary divergence.
  2. The Population Bomb questioned dominant ideas about species diversity.
  3. Evolutionary changes unfold imperceptibly over time.
  4. Checkerspot butterflies are known to exhibit speciation while living in close proximity.
Answer and solution

Answer: (B) The Population Bomb questioned dominant ideas about species diversity.

Check each option against the passage. Option A is supported. Ehrlich and Raven held that isolation and gene flow were 'less important to evolutionary divergence than natural selection', which implies that gene flow does play some part. Option C is supported. The passage opens by saying scientists thought diversity 'reflected evolutionary changes that unfolded imperceptibly, over millions of years'. Option D is supported. At Jasper Ridge, within 50 acres, the butterflies formed three groups that rarely interacted despite their close proximity, and Ehrlich and Raven concluded that divergence between neighbouring groups was probably common. Option B is not supported. The Population Bomb (1968) is mentioned only to introduce Paul Ehrlich as its author. The challenge to Mayr's ideas came from Ehrlich and Raven's butterfly research and their 1969 paper, not from that book. Hence, option B (The Population Bomb questioned dominant ideas about species diversity).

Q21MCQReading Comprehension

The author discusses Mayr, Ehrlich and Raven to demonstrate that

  1. evolution is a sensitive and controversial topic.
  2. Ehrlich and Raven's ideas about evolutionary divergence are widely accepted by scientists.
  3. the causes of speciation are debated by scientists.
  4. checkerspot butterflies offer the best example of Ehrlich and Raven's ideas about speciation.
Answer and solution

Answer: (C) the causes of speciation are debated by scientists.

The author provides 'Checkerspot butterflies' as an example to drive home his point. The primary intention of the author is not to discuss checkerspot butterflies. Therefore, we can eliminate option D. Option B can be eliminated as well since the author has not mentioned that the theories are widely accepted.

The author explains the contrasting views of the scientists to show that speciation is a debated topic. Option A states that evolution is a controversial topic. The passage deals with speciation. We cannot generalize speciation to evolution. Also, the intention of the author is to show the differing views among the scientists rather than to establish that the topic is controversial. Therefore, option C is the right answer.

Reading passage

Passage for questions 22–24

**The passage below is accompanied by a set of three questions. Choose the best answer to each question.** Do sports mega events like the summer Olympic Games benefit the host city economically? It depends, but the prospects are less than rosy. The trick is converting...several billion dollars in operating costs during the 17-day fiesta of the Games into a basis for long-term economic returns. These days, the summer Olympic Games themselves generate total revenue of 4billionto4 billion to5 billion, but the lion's share of this goes to the International Olympics Committee, the National Olympics Committees and the International Sports Federations. Any economic benefit would have to flow from the value of the Games as an advertisement for the city, the new transportation and communications infrastructure that was created for the Games, or the ongoing use of the new facilities. Evidence suggests that the advertising effect is far from certain. The infrastructure benefit depends on the initial condition of the city and the effectiveness of the planning. The facilities benefit is dubious at best for buildings such as velodromes or natatoriums and problematic for 100,000-seat Olympic stadiums. The latter require a conversion plan for future use, the former are usually doomed to near vacancy. Hosting the summer Games generally requires 30-plus sports venues and dozens of training centers. Today, the Bird's Nest in Beijing sits virtually empty, while the Olympic Stadium in Sydney costs some $30 million a year to operate. Part of the problem is that Olympics planning takes place in a frenzied and time-pressured atmosphere of intense competition with the other prospective host cities — not optimal conditions for contemplating the future shape of an urban landscape. Another part of the problem is that urban land is generally scarce and growing scarcer. The new facilities often stand for decades or longer. Even if they have future use, are they the best use of precious urban real estate? Further, cities must consider the human cost. Residential areas often are razed and citizens relocated (without adequate preparation or compensation). Life is made more hectic and congested. There are, after all, other productive uses that can be made of vanishing fiscal resources.

Q22MCQReading Comprehension

The central point in the first paragraph is that the economic benefits of the Olympic Games

  1. are shared equally among the three organising committees.
  2. accrue mostly through revenue from advertisements and ticket sales.
  3. accrue to host cities, if at all, only in the long term.
  4. are usually eroded by expenditure incurred by the host city.
Answer and solution

Answer: (C) accrue to host cities, if at all, only in the long term.

The paragraph says the Games themselves earn 4 to 5 billion dollars, but 'the lion's share' goes to the International Olympics Committee, the National Olympics Committees and the International Sports Federations, not to the host city. So a host city can gain only indirectly. 'The trick is converting' billions in operating costs during the 17-day Games 'into a basis for long-term economic returns'. Any benefit 'would have to flow from' the city's advertising value, its new infrastructure or the continued use of the new facilities. All of these pay off only over the years, and the author warns that the prospects are 'less than rosy'. So the benefits reach the host city, if at all, only in the long term. This is option C. Option D is the strongest trap. The paragraph stresses the costs, but it never says benefits are usually eroded by spending; it says the outcome 'depends'. Option A is wrong because the revenue is not said to be shared equally. Option B fails because 'advertisement' here means the Games advertising the city, and ticket sales are never mentioned. Hence, option C (accrue to host cities, if at all, only in the long term).

Q23MCQReading Comprehension

Sports facilities built for the Olympics are not fully utilised after the Games are over because

  1. their scale and the costs of operating them are large.
  2. their location away from the city centre usually limits easy access.
  3. the authorities do not adapt them to local conditions.
  4. they become outdated having being built with little planning and under time pressure.
Answer and solution

Answer: (A) their scale and the costs of operating them are large.

In the second paragraph, the author mentions that the facilities are not fully utilized due to their sheer capacity. 'The facilities benefit is dubious at best for buildings such as velodromes or natatoriums and problematic for 100,000-seat Olympic stadiums. The latter require a conversion plan for future use, the former are usually doomed to near vacancy'. Nowhere has it been mentioned that the facilities become outdated or that they are located far from the city. The author mentions in the second paragraph that the structures are expensive to maintain.

Therefore, option A is the right answer.

Q24MCQReading Comprehension

The author feels that the Games place a burden on the host city for all of the following reasons EXCEPT that

  1. they divert scarce urban land from more productive uses.
  2. they involve the demolition of residential structures to accommodate sports facilities and infrastructure.
  3. the finances used to fund the Games could be better used for other purposes.
  4. the influx of visitors during the Games places a huge strain on the urban infrastructure.
Answer and solution

Answer: (D) the influx of visitors during the Games places a huge strain on the urban infrastructure.

This is an EXCEPT question, so three options must be burdens the author names. Option A: the author asks whether the new facilities are 'the best use of precious urban real estate'. Option B: 'Residential areas often are razed and citizens relocated'. Option C: the passage ends by noting that 'there are, after all, other productive uses that can be made of vanishing fiscal resources'. Option D is not among the author's reasons. The nearest line is 'Life is made more hectic and congested', but the author never mentions an influx of visitors or a strain on urban infrastructure. In fact, he treats new infrastructure as a possible benefit of hosting the Games. So D goes beyond the passage. Hence, option D (the influx of visitors during the Games places a huge strain on the urban infrastructure).

Q25MCQPara Summary

The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author' s position. To me, a "classic" means precisely the opposite of what my predecessors understood: a work is classical by reason of its resistance to contemporaneity and supposed universality, by reason of its capacity to indicate human particularity and difference in that past epoch. The classic is not what tells me about shared humanity — or, more truthfully put, what lets me recognize myself as already present in the past, what nourishes in me the illusion that everything has been like me and has existed only to prepare the way for me. Instead, the classic is what gives access to radically different forms of human consciousness for any given generation of readers, and thereby expands for them the range of possibilities of what it means to be a human being.
  1. A classic is able to focus on the contemporary human condition and a unified experience of human consciousness.
  2. A classical work seeks to resist particularity and temporal difference even as it focuses on a common humanity.
  3. A classic is a work exploring the new, going beyond the universal, the contemporary, and the notion of a unified human consciousness.
  4. A classic is a work that provides access to a universal experience of the human race as opposed to radically different forms of human consciousness.
Answer and solution

Answer: (C) A classic is a work exploring the new, going beyond the universal, the contemporary, and the notion of a unified human consciousness.

The author rejects the older view of a classic as a work that shows a shared, universal humanity, the kind that lets a reader 'recognize myself as already present in the past'. For him, a classic resists 'contemporaneity and supposed universality' and shows 'human particularity and difference'. It gives readers access to 'radically different forms of human consciousness' and so widens their sense of what it means to be human. Option C captures this: a classic goes beyond the universal, the contemporary and a unified human consciousness. Option B is the closest trap because it uses the passage's key terms, but it reverses them. The author says a classic resists universality and shows particularity, while B says it resists particularity and focuses on common humanity. Options A and D fail for the same reason: they praise the contemporary, the unified or the universal, which the author rejects. Hence, option C (A classic is a work exploring the new, going beyond the universal, the contemporary, and the notion of a unified human consciousness).

Q26MCQPara Summary

The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author' s position. A translator of literary works needs a secure hold upon the two languages involved, supported by a good measure of familiarity with the two cultures. For an Indian translating works in an Indian language into English, finding satisfactory equivalents in a generalized western culture of practices and symbols in the original would be less difficult than gaining fluent control of contemporary English. When a westerner works on texts in Indian languages the interpretation of cultural elements will be the major challenge, rather than control over the grammar and essential vocabulary of the language concerned. It is much easier to remedy lapses in language in a text translated into English, than flaws of content. Since it is easier for an Indian to learn the English language than it is for a Briton or American to comprehend Indian culture, translations of Indian texts is better left to Indians.
  1. While translating, the Indian and the westerner face the same challenges but they have different skill profiles and the former has the advantage.
  2. As preserving cultural meanings is the essence of literary translation Indians' knowledge of the local culture outweighs the initial disadvantage of lower fluency in English.
  3. Indian translators should translate Indian texts into English as their work is less likely to pose cultural problems which are harder to address than the quality of language.
  4. Westerners might be good at gaining reasonable fluency in new languages, but as understanding the culture reflected in literature is crucial, Indians remain better placed.
Answer and solution

Answer: (C) Indian translators should translate Indian texts into English as their work is less likely to pose cultural problems which are harder to address than the quality of language.

The author's argument runs as follows. An Indian translating into English finds the language the harder part, while a westerner translating Indian texts finds the culture the harder part. 'It is much easier to remedy lapses in language in a text translated into English, than flaws of content.' So translations of Indian texts are 'better left to Indians'. Option C states both the conclusion and the reason: Indian translators are less likely to create cultural problems, and those are harder to fix than problems of language. Option B is the closest trap. It reaches the same verdict, but for a reason the author never gives: that preserving cultural meaning is 'the essence' of literary translation. The author's reason is that lapses in language are easier to repair. Option A contradicts the passage, since the two face different challenges. Option D, like B, rests on culture being 'crucial' and leaves out the author's actual reason. Hence, option C (Indian translators should translate Indian texts into English as their work is less likely to pose cultural problems which are harder to address than the quality of language).

Q27MCQPara Summary

The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author' s position. For each of the past three years, temperatures have hit peaks not seen since the birth of meteorology, and probably not for more than 110,000 years. The amount of carbon dioxide in the air is at its highest level in 4 million years. This does not cause storms like Harvey — there have always been storms and hurricanes along the Gulf of Mexico — but it makes them wetter and more powerful. As the seas warm, they evaporate more easily and provide energy to storm fronts. As the air above them warms, it holds more water vapour. For every half a degree Celsius in warming, there is about a 3% increase in atmospheric moisture content. Scientists call this the Clausius-Clapeyron equation. This means the skies fill more quickly and have more to dump. The storm surge was greater because sea levels have risen 20 cm as a result of more than 100 years of human-related global warming which has melted glaciers and thermally expanded the volume of seawater.
  1. The storm Harvey is one of the regular, annual ones from the Gulf of Mexico; global warming and Harvey are unrelated phenomena.
  2. Global warming does not breed storms but makes them more destructive; the Clausius-Clapeyron equation, though it predicts potential increase in atmospheric moisture content, cannot predict the scale of damage storms might wreck.
  3. Global warming melts glaciers, resulting in seawater volume expansion; this enables more water vapour to fill the air above faster. Thus, modern storms contain more destructive energy.
  4. It is naive to think that rising sea levels and the force of tropical storms are unrelated; Harvey was destructive as global warming has armed it with more moisture content, but this may not be true of all storms.
Answer and solution

Answer: (C) Global warming melts glaciers, resulting in seawater volume expansion; this enables more water vapour to fill the air above faster. Thus, modern storms contain more destructive energy.

The author's point is that global warming does not cause storms like Harvey but makes them 'wetter and more powerful'. Warmer seas evaporate more easily and feed energy to storms, and warmer air holds more water vapour, about 3% more for every half a degree Celsius (the Clausius-Clapeyron equation). Sea levels have also risen by 20 cm because warming has melted glaciers and expanded seawater. Option C is the closest to this reasoning: it ties global warming, melting glaciers and expanding seawater to storms that carry more destructive energy, although in the passage the extra water vapour comes from warmer seas and air, while the higher sea level adds to the storm surge. Option B is the closest trap. Its first half is right, but it adds that the Clausius-Clapeyron equation cannot predict the scale of damage, which the passage never discusses. Option D limits the point to Harvey and adds that the effect 'may not be true of all storms', against the author's general claim. Option A contradicts the passage, which links warming to the strength of storms like Harvey. Hence, option C (Global warming melts glaciers, resulting in seawater volume expansion; this enables more water vapour to fill the air above faster. Thus, modern storms contain more destructive energy).

Q28TITAPara Jumbles

The five sentences labelled 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) given in this question, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labelled with a number. Decide on the proper order for the sentences and key in this sequence of five numbers as your answer. 1. The process of handing down implies not a passive transfer, but some contestation in defining what exactly is to be handed down. 2. Wherever Western scholars have worked on the Indian past, the selection is even more apparent and the inventing of a tradition much more recognizable. 3. Every generation selects what it requires from the past and makes its innovations, some more than others. 4. It is now a truism to say that traditions are not handed down unchanged, but are invented. 5. Just as life has death as its opposite, so is tradition by default the opposite of innovation.

Type in your answer (TITA). No negative mark for a wrong answer.

Answer and solution

Answer: 54132

Sentence 5 opens the paragraph. It sets up the contrast between tradition and innovation: tradition is 'by default the opposite of innovation'. Sentence 4 then questions that contrast. It is 'now a truism' that traditions are not handed down unchanged but invented. Sentence 1 explains 'the process of handing down' mentioned in 4. It is not a passive transfer but a contest over what exactly is handed down. Sentence 3 describes that contest. Every generation 'selects what it requires from the past' and makes its own innovations. Sentence 2 comes last. Its 'even more apparent' selection compares with the selection described in 3, and it applies the idea to Western scholars working on the Indian past. So the order is 5, 4, 1, 3, 2. The answer is 54132.

Q29TITAPara Jumbles

The five sentences labelled (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) given in this question, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labelled with a number. Decide on the proper order for the sentences and key in this sequence of five numbers as your answer. 1. Scientists have for the first time managed to edit genes in a human embryo to repair a genetic mutation, fuelling hopes that such procedures may one day be available outside laboratory conditions. 2. The cardiac disease causes sudden death in otherwise healthy young athletes and affects about one in 500 people overall. 3. Correcting the mutation in the gene would not only ensure that the child is healthy but also prevents transmission of the mutation to future generations. 4. It is caused by a mutation in a particular gene and a child will suffer from the condition even if it inherits only one copy of the mutated gene. 5. In results announced in Nature this week, scientists fixed a mutation that thickens the heart muscle, a condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Type in your answer (TITA). No negative mark for a wrong answer.

Answer and solution

Answer: 15243

Sentence 1 introduces the topic: for the first time, scientists have edited genes in a human embryo to repair a genetic mutation. Sentence 5 gives the specifics: the results, announced in Nature, fixed a mutation that causes hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Sentence 2 follows 5, because 'The cardiac disease' refers back to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Sentence 4 ('It is caused by a mutation in a particular gene…') explains the cause of that disease, so it comes after 2. Sentence 3 closes the paragraph. 'Correcting the mutation in the gene' refers to the mutation described in 4, and the sentence states the benefit: a healthy child and no transmission to future generations. So the order is 1-5-2-4-3. The answer is 15243.

Q30TITAPara Jumbles

The five sentences labelled (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) given in this question, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labelled with a number. Decide on the proper order for the sentences and key in this sequence of five numbers as your answer. 1. The study suggests that the disease did not spread with such intensity, but that it may have driven human migrations across Europe and Asia. 2. The oldest sample came from an individual who lived in southeast Russia about 5,000 years ago. 3. The ages of the skeletons correspond to a time of mass exodus from today's Russia and Ukraine into western Europe and central Asia, suggesting that a pandemic could have driven these migrations. 4. In the analysis of fragments of DNA from 101 Bronze Age skeletons for sequences from Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes the disease, seven tested positive. 5. DNA from Bronze Age human skeletons indicate that the black plague could have emerged as early as 3,000 BCE, long before the epidemic that swept through Europe in the rnid-1300s.

Type in your answer (TITA). No negative mark for a wrong answer.

Answer and solution

Answer: 54123

Sentence 5 introduces the topic. DNA from Bronze Age skeletons suggests that the plague could have emerged as early as 3,000 BCE. Sentence 4 describes the analysis behind this claim. DNA from 101 Bronze Age skeletons was tested for Yersinia pestis, and seven were positive. Sentence 1 refers to that analysis as 'the study' and gives its conclusion. The disease may not have spread with great intensity, but it may have driven migrations across Europe and Asia. Sentence 2 adds a detail about the samples: 'the oldest sample' came from southeast Russia, about 5,000 years ago. Sentence 3 follows with 'the ages of the skeletons'. They match a mass exodus from Russia and Ukraine, which supports the migration idea raised in 1. So the order is 5, 4, 1, 2, 3. The answer is 54123.

Q31TITAPara Jumbles

The five sentences labelled (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) given in this question, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labelled with a number. Decide on the proper order for the sentences and key in this sequence of five numbers as your answer. 1. This visual turn in social media has merely accentuated this announcing instinct of ours, enabling us with easy-to-create, easy-to-share, easy-to-store and easy-to-consume platforms, gadgets and apps. 2. There is absolutely nothing new about us framing the vision of who we are or what we want, visually or otherwise, in our Facebook page, for example. 3. Turning the pages of most family albums, which belong to a period well before the digital dissemination of self-created and self-curated moments and images, would reconfirm the basic instinct of documenting our presence in a particular space, on a significant occasion, with others who matter. 4. We are empowered to book our faces and act as celebrities within the confinement of our respective friend lists, and communicate our activities, companionship and locations with minimal clicks and touches. 5. What is unprecedented is not the desire to put out newsfeeds related to the self, but the ease with which this broadcast operation can now be executed, often provoking (un)anticipated responses from beyond one' s immediate location.

Type in your answer (TITA). No negative mark for a wrong answer.

Answer and solution

Answer: 32145

Sentence 3 opens the paragraph. Old family albums show that we have always had the 'basic instinct of documenting our presence'. Sentence 2 draws the conclusion for today: there is 'absolutely nothing new' about framing who we are on a Facebook page. Sentence 1 continues: 'this visual turn in social media' has only 'accentuated this announcing instinct', the instinct described in 3 and 2, by giving us 'easy-to-create, easy-to-share' tools. Sentence 4 shows that ease in practice. We can 'book our faces' and share our activities 'with minimal clicks and touches'. Sentence 5 concludes. What is new is 'not the desire' to broadcast ourselves but 'the ease' of doing it, which sums up the contrast built by 2, 1 and 4. So the order is 3, 2, 1, 4, 5. The answer is 32145.

Q32TITAOdd One Out

Five sentences related to a topic are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a meaningful and coherent short paragraph. Identify the odd one out. 1. People who study children's language spend a lot of time watching how babies react to the speech they hear around them. 2. They make films of adults and babies interacting, and examine them very carefully to see whether the babies show any signs of understanding what the adults say. 3. They believe that babies begin to react to language from the very moment they are born. 4. Sometimes the signs are very subtle — slight movements of the baby's eyes or the head or the hands. 5. You'd never notice them if you were just sitting with the child, but by watching a recording over and over, you can spot them.

Type in your answer (TITA). No negative mark for a wrong answer.

Answer and solution

Answer: 3

Sentences 1, 2, 4 and 5 describe one research method. Sentence 1 says that people who study children's language watch how babies react to the speech around them. Sentence 2 says they film adults and babies and examine the films for 'signs of understanding'. Sentence 4 picks up 'the signs', which are sometimes very subtle. Sentence 5 says such signs can be spotted only by watching a recording over and over. Sentence 3 is different. It states a belief, that babies react to language 'from the very moment they are born', and says nothing about how the researchers observe. The other four form a chain linked by 'they' and 'the signs', and sentence 3 is not part of it. So sentence 3 is the odd one out. The answer is 3.

Q33TITAOdd One Out

Five sentences related to a topic are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a meaningful and coherent short paragraph. Identify the odd one out. 1. Neuroscientists have just begun studying exercise's impact within brain cells — on the genes themselves. 2. Even there, in the roots of our biology, they' ve found signs of the body's influence on the mind. 3. It turns out that moving our muscles produces proteins that travel through the bloodstream and into the brain, where they play pivotal roles in the mechanisms of our highest thought processes. 4. In today's technology-driven, plasma-screened-in world, it's easy to forget that we are born movers-animals, in fact — because we' ve engineered movement right out of our lives. 5. It's only in the past few years that neuroscientists have begun to describe these factors and how they work, and each new discovery adds awe-inspiring depth to the picture.

Type in your answer (TITA). No negative mark for a wrong answer.

Answer and solution

Answer: 4

Sentences 1, 2, 3 and 5 form a paragraph about new research on exercise and the brain. Sentence 1 says neuroscientists have begun studying exercise's impact within brain cells, 'on the genes themselves'. Sentence 2 follows with 'Even there', meaning in the genes, where they have found signs of the body's influence on the mind. Sentence 3 explains how. Moving our muscles produces proteins that travel to the brain and play key roles in our highest thought processes. Sentence 5 refers to 'these factors', the proteins in 3, and says each new discovery adds depth to the picture. Sentence 4 is about something else. It says modern technology has 'engineered movement right out of our lives', a general remark about lifestyle rather than part of the research account. The answer is 4.

Q34TITAOdd One Out

Five sentences related to a topic are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a meaningful and coherent short paragraph. Identify the odd one out. 1. The water that made up ancient lakes and perhaps an ocean was lost. 2. Particles from the Sun collided with molecules in the atmosphere, knocking them into space or giving them an electric charge that caused them to be swept away by the solar wind. 3. Most of the planet's remaining water is now frozen or buried, but clues over the past decade suggested that some liquid water, a presumed necessity for life, might survive in underground aquifers. 4. Data from NASA's MAVEN orbiter show that solar storms stripped away most of Mars's once-thick atmosphere. 5. A recent study reveals how Mars lost much of its early water, while another indicates that some liquid water remains.

Type in your answer (TITA). No negative mark for a wrong answer.

Answer and solution

Answer: 1

Sentence 5 introduces two findings. One study shows how Mars lost much of its early water, and another shows that some liquid water remains. Sentences 4 and 2 explain the first finding. MAVEN data show that solar storms stripped away most of Mars's once-thick atmosphere (4), and sentence 2 describes how: particles from the Sun knocked molecules into space, or charged them so that the solar wind swept them away. Sentence 3 covers the second finding. Most of the remaining water is frozen or buried, but some liquid water may survive in underground aquifers. So 5, 4, 2, 3 form a complete paragraph. Sentence 1 only restates that water was lost, which 5 already says, and its 'ancient lakes and perhaps an ocean' are not picked up by any other sentence. It adds nothing to either finding. The answer is 1.