The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.
As software improves, the people using it become less likely to sharpen their own know-how. Applications that offer lots of prompts and tips are often to blame; simpler, less solicitous programs push people harder to think, act and learn.
Ten years ago, information scientists at Utrecht University in the Netherlands had a group of people carry out complicated analytical and planning tasks using either rudimentary software that provided no assistance or sophisticated software that offered a great deal of aid. The researchers found that the people using the simple software developed better strategies, made fewer mistakes and developed a deeper aptitude for the work. The people using the more advanced software, meanwhile, would often “aimlessly click around” when confronted with a tricky problem. The supposedly helpful software actually short-circuited their thinking and learning.
[According to] philosopher Hubert Dreyfus . . . . our skills get sharper only through practice, when we use them regularly to overcome different sorts of difficult challenges. The goal of modern software, by contrast, is to ease our way through such challenges. Arduous, painstaking work is exactly what programmers are most eager to automate-after all, that is where the immediate efficiency gains tend to lie. In other words, a fundamental tension ripples between the interests of the people doing the automation and the interests of the people doing the work.
Nevertheless, automation’s scope continues to widen. With the rise of electronic health records, physicians increasingly rely on software templates to guide them through patient exams. The programs incorporate valuable checklists and alerts, but they also make medicine more routinized and formulaic-and distance doctors from their patients. . . . Harvard Medical School professor Beth Lown, in a 2012 journal article . . . warned that when doctors become “screen-driven,” following a computer’s prompts rather than “the patient’s narrative thread,” their thinking can become constricted. In the worst cases, they may miss important diagnostic signals. . . .
In a recent paper published in the journal Diagnosis, three medical researchers . . . examined the misdiagnosis of Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to die of Ebola in the U.S., at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. They argue that the digital templates used by the hospital’s clinicians to record patient information probably helped to induce a kind of tunnel vision. “These highly constrained tools,” the researchers write, “are optimized for data capture but at the expense of sacrificing their utility for appropriate triage and diagnosis, leading users to miss the forest for the trees.” Medical software, they write, is no “replacement for basic history-taking, examination skills, and critical thinking.” . . .
There is an alternative. In “human-centered automation,” the talents of people take precedence. . . . In this model, software plays an essential but secondary role. It takes over routine functions that a human operator has already mastered, issues alerts when unexpected situations arise, provides fresh information that expands the operator’s perspective and counters the biases that often distort human thinking. The technology becomes the expert’s partner, not the expert’s replacement.
- CAT 2022 Slot 3 – VA RC
From the passage, we can infer that the author is apprehensive about the use of sophisticated automation for all of the following reasons EXCEPT that:
- it stops users from exercising their minds.
- it could mislead people.
- computers could replace humans.
- it stunts the development of its users.
Details
Explanatory Answer
Nowhere in the passage does the author express the fear that computers could replace humans.
The author says that with the use of sophisticated automation, “the people using it become less likely to sharpen their own know-how”, “their thinking can become constricted” and that “in the worst cases, they may miss important diagnostic signals”. So, all other options are inferred.
The question is ” From the passage, we can infer that the author is apprehensive about the use of sophisticated automation for all of the following reasons EXCEPT that: “
Hence, the answer is ‘computers could replace humans.’
Choice C is the correct answer.
- CAT 2022 Slot 3 – VA RC
In the Ebola misdiagnosis case, we can infer that doctors probably missed the forest for the trees because:
- they were led by the data processed by digital templates.
- the digital templates forced them to acquire tunnel vision.
- they used the wrong type of digital templates for the case.
- the data collected were not sufficient for appropriate triage.
Details
Explanatory Answer
According to the passage, researchers in the Ebola misdiagnosis case believe that the digital templates used by the hospital’s clinicians to record patient information “probably helped to induce a kind of tunnel vision”. So, the doctors were led by the data processed by digital templates.
Note that option B is incorrect as it says the templates “forced” doctors to acquire tunnel vision. This is too extreme.
The question is ” In the Ebola misdiagnosis case, we can infer that doctors probably missed the forest for the trees because: “
Hence, the answer is ‘they were led by the data processed by digital templates.’
Choice A is the correct answer.
- CAT 2022 Slot 3 – VA RC
In the context of the passage, all of the following can be considered examples of human- centered automation EXCEPT:
- software that offers interpretations when requested by the human operator.
- software that auto-completes text when the user writes an email.
- medical software that provides optional feedback on the doctor’s analysis of the medical situation.
- a smart-home system that changes the temperature as instructed by the resident.
Details
Explanatory Answer
In the fourth paragraph, the passage warns that software prompts that guide patient exams can constrict doctors’ thinking. Auto-completion of text is also prompt by software. This is the kind of automation the passage speaks out against.
In the last paragraph, the passage explains how human-centered automation works: “It takes over routine functions that a human operator has already mastered, issues alerts when unexpected situations arise, provides fresh information that expands the operator’s perspective and counters the biases that often distort human thinking.” Options A, C and D relate to such functions.
The question is ” In the context of the passage, all of the following can be considered examples of human-centered automation EXCEPT: “
Hence, the answer is ‘software that auto-completes text when the user writes an email.’
Choice B is the correct answer.
- CAT 2022 Slot 3 – VA RC
It can be inferred that in the Utrecht University experiment, one group of people was “aimlessly clicking around” because:
- they were hoping that the software would help carry out the tasks.
- they did not have the skill-set to address complicated tasks.
- the other group was carrying out the tasks more efficiently.
- they wanted to avoid making mistakes.
Details
Explanatory Answer
Easy question. According to the passage, the people using the more advanced software would often aimlessly click around when confronted with a tricky problem as “the supposedly helpful software actually short-circuited their thinking and learning”. They were, in effect, hoping that the software would help carry out the tasks.
The question is ” It can be inferred that in the Utrecht University experiment, one group of people was “aimlessly clicking around” because: “
Hence, the answer is ‘they were hoping that the software would help carry out the tasks.’
Choice A is the correct answer.
The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.
Nature has all along yielded her flesh to humans. First, we took nature’s materials as food, fibers, and shelter. Then we learned to extract raw materials from her biosphere to create our own new synthetic materials. Now Bios is yielding us her mind-we are taking her logic.
Clockwork logic-the logic of the machines-will only build simple contraptions. Truly complex systems such as a cell, a meadow, an economy, or a brain (natural or artificial) require a rigorous nontechnological logic. We now see that no logic except bio-logic can assemble a thinking device, or even a workable system of any magnitude.
It is an astounding discovery that one can extract the logic of Bios out of biology and have something useful. Although many philosophers in the past have suspected one could abstract the laws of life and apply them elsewhere, it wasn’t until the complexity of computers and human-made systems became as complicated as living things, that it was possible to prove this. It’s eerie how much of life can be transferred. So far, some of the traits of the living that have successfully been transported to mechanical systems are: self- replication, self-governance, limited self-repair, mild evolution, and partial learning.
We have reason to believe yet more can be synthesized and made into something new. Yet at the same time that the logic of Bios is being imported into machines, the logic of Technos is being imported into life. The root of bioengineering is the desire to control the organic long enough to improve it. Domesticated plants and animals are examples of technos-logic applied to life. The wild aromatic root of the Queen Anne’s lace weed has been fine-tuned over generations by selective herb gatherers until it has evolved into a sweet carrot of the garden; the udders of wild bovines have been selectively enlarged in a “unnatural” way to satisfy humans rather than calves. Milk cows and carrots, therefore, are human inventions as much as steam engines and gunpowder are. But milk cows and carrots are more indicative of the kind of inventions humans will make in the future: products that are grown
rather than manufactured.
Genetic engineering is precisely what cattle breeders do when they select better strains of Holsteins, only bioengineers employ more precise and powerful control. While carrot and milk cow breeders had to rely on diffuse organic evolution, modern genetic engineers can use directed artificial evolution-purposeful design-which greatly accelerates improvements.
The overlap of the mechanical and the lifelike increases year by year. Part of this bionic convergence is a matter of words. The meanings of “mechanical” and “l ife” are both stretching until all complicated things can be perceived as machines, and all self-sustaining machines can be perceived as alive. Yet beyond semantics, two concrete trends are happening: (1) Human-made things are behaving more lifelike, and (2) Life is becoming more engineered. The apparent veil between the organic and the manufactured has crumpled to reveal that the two really are, and have always been, of one being.
- CAT 2022 Slot 3 – VA RC
The author claims that, “Part of this bionic convergence is a matter of words”. Which one of the following statements best expresses the point being made by the author?
- “Bios” and “Technos” are both convergent forms of logic, but they generate meanings about the world that are mutually
exclusive.
- A bionic convergence indicates the meeting ground of genetic engineering and artificial intelligence.
- “Mechanical” and “life” are words from different logical systems and are, therefore, fundamentally incompatible in meaning.
- “Mechanical” and “life” were earlier seen as opposite in meaning, but the difference between the two is increasingly
blurred.
Details
Explanatory Answer
The author says that overlap of the mechanical and the lifelike increases year by year and that part of this bionic convergence is a matter of words. The point the author makes here is that the difference between the mechanical and the lifelike is becoming more and more blurred.
The question is ” The author claims that, “Part of this bionic convergence is a matter of words”. Which one of the following statements best expresses the point being made by the author? “
Hence, the answer is ‘”Mechanical” and “life” were earlier seen as opposite in meaning, but the difference between the two is increasingly blurred.’
Choice D is the correct answer.
- CAT 2022 Slot 3 – VA RC
Which one of the following sets of words/phrases best serves as keywords to the passage?
- Complex systems; Carrots; Milk cows; Convergence; Technos- logic
- Nature; Bios; Technos; Self-repair; Holsteins
- Nature; Computers; Carrots; Milk cows; Genetic engineering
- Complex systems; Bio-logic; Bioengineering; Technos-logic; Convergence
Details
Explanatory Answer
The convergence of bio-logic and technos-logic is the main idea of the passage. Option D contains all important keywords.
All other options contain words like carrots and Hosteins which are not keywords.
The question is ” Which one of the following sets of words/phrases best serves as keywords to the passage? “
Hence, the answer is ‘Complex systems; Bio-logic; Bioengineering; Technos-logic; Convergence’
Choice D is the correct answer.
- CAT 2022 Slot 3 – VA RC
None of the following statements is implied by the arguments of the passage, EXCEPT:
- purposeful design represents the pinnacle of scientific
expertise in the service of human betterment and civilisational progress.
- the biological realm is as complex as the mechanical one; which is why the logic of Bios is being imported into machines.
- genetic engineers and bioengineers are the same insofar as they both seek to force evolution in an artificial way.
- historically, philosophers have known that the laws of life can be abstracted and applied elsewhere.
Details
Explanatory Answer
The question can be rephrased as only one of the given statements is implied by the passage.
Option C can be inferred from the passage based on the lines, “Genetic engineering is precisely what cattle breeders do when they select better strains of Holsteins, only bioengineers employ more precise and powerful control. While carrot and milk cow breeders had to rely on diffuse organic evolution, modern genetic engineers can use directed artificial evolution—purposeful design—which greatly accelerates improvements.”
The passage says that directed artificial evolution or purposeful design is used by genetic engineers but it does not state or imply that this is “the pinnacle of scientific expertise”. So, option A is out.
The passage clearly states that the logic of the Bios is more complex than the logic of machines. So, option B is incorrect.
According to the passage, many philosophers in the past have “suspected” one could abstract the laws of life and apply them elsewhere. Option D is incorrect as it says philosophers have known this.
The question is ” None of the following statements is implied by the arguments of the passage, EXCEPT: “
Hence, the answer is ‘genetic engineers and bioengineers are the same insofar as they both seek to force evolution in an artificial way.’
Choice C is the correct answer.
- CAT 2022 Slot 3 – VA RC
The author claims that, “The apparent veil between the organic and the manufactured has crumpled to reveal that the two really are, and have always been, of one being.”
Which one of the following statements best expresses the point being made by the author here?
- Scientific advances are making it increasingly difficult to distinguish between organic reality and manufactured reality.
- Apparent reality and organic reality are distinguished by the fact that the former is manufactured.
- Organic reality has crumpled under the veil of manufacturing, rendering the apparent and the real as the same being.
- The crumpling of the organic veil between apparent and manufactured reality reveals them to have the same being.
Details
Explanatory Answer
The given statement implies that the lines demarking the organic and the manufactured have blurred and the two are and have always been the same. In other words, scientific advances are making it increasingly difficult to distinguish between organic reality and manufactured reality.
The answer is ‘Scientific advances are making it increasingly difficult to distinguish between organic reality and manufactured reality.’
Choice A is the correct answer.
The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.
Interpretations of the Indian past . . . were inevitably influenced by colonial concerns and interests, and also by prevalent European ideas about history, civilization and the Orient. Orientalist scholars studied the languages and the texts with selected Indian scholars, but made little attempt to understand the world-view of those who were teaching them. The readings therefore are something of a disjuncture from the traditional ways of looking at the
Indian past. . . .
Orientalism [which we can understand broadly as Western perceptions of the Orient] fuelled the fantasy and the freedom sought by European Romanticism, particularly in its opposition to the more disciplined Neo-Classicism. The cultures of Asia were seen as bringing a new Romantic paradigm. Another Renaissance was anticipated through an acquaintance with the Orient, and this, it was thought, would be different from the earlier Greek Renaissance. It was believed that this Oriental Renaissance would liberate European thought and literature from the increasing focus on discipline and rationality that had followed from the earlier Enlightenment. . . . [The Romantic English poets, Wordsworth and Coleridge,] were apprehensive of the changes introduced by industrialization and turned to nature and to fantasies of the Orient.
However, this enthusiasm gradually changed, to conform with the emphasis later in the nineteenth century on the innate superiority of European civilization. Oriental civilizations were now seen as having once been great but currently in decline. The various phases of Orientalism tended to mould European understanding of the Indian past into a particular pattern. There was an attempt to formulate Indian culture as uniform, such formulations
being derived from texts that were given priority. The so-called ‘discovery’ of India was largely through selected literature in Sanskrit. This interpretation tended to emphasize non- historical aspects of Indian culture, for example the idea of an unchanging continuity of society and religion over 3,000 years; and it was believed that the Indian pattern of life was so concerned with metaphysics and the subtleties of religious belief that little attention was given to the more tangible aspects.
German Romanticism endorsed this image of India, and it became the mystic land for many Europeans, where even the most ordinary actions were imbued with a complex symbolism. This was the genesis of the idea of the spiritual east, and also, incidentally, the refuge of European intellectuals seeking to distance themselves from the changing patterns of their own societies. A dichotomy in values was maintained, Indian values being described as
‘spiritual’ and European values as ‘materialistic’, with little attempt to juxtapose these values with the reality of Indian society. This theme has been even more firmly endorsed by a section of Indian opinion during the last hundred years.
It was a consolation to the Indian intelligentsia for its perceived inability to counter the technical superiority of the west, a superiority viewed as having enabled Europe to colonize Asia and other parts of the world. At the height of anti-colonial nationalism it acted as a salve for having been made a colony of Britain.
- CAT 2022 Slot 3 – VA RC
It can be inferred from the passage that to gain a more accurate view of a nation’s history and culture, scholars should do all of the following EXCEPT:
- develop an oppositional framework to grasp cultural differences.
- examine the complex reality of that nation’s society.
- read widely in the country’s literature.
- examine their own beliefs and biases.
Details
Explanatory Answer
The passage says that Orientalist scholars who studied Indian texts made “little attempt to understand the world-view of those who were teaching them”. The author argues that the idea of the ‘spiritual’ East as opposed to the ‘materialistic’ West promoted by European intellectuals was at a disjuncture from traditional ways of looking at the Indian past. So, it can be inferred from the passage that to gain a more accurate view of a nation’s history and culture, scholars should not attempt to develop an oppositional framework to grasp cultural differences.
In light of the passage, it can be inferred that scholars must try to read the country’s literature widely, examine their own beliefs and biases and examine the complex reality of that nation’s society in order to gain an accurate view of the country’s history.
The question is ” It can be inferred from the passage that to gain a more accurate view of a nation’s history and culture, scholars should do all of the following EXCEPT: “
Hence, the answer is ‘develop an oppositional framework to grasp cultural differences.’
Choice A is the correct answer.
- CAT 2022 Slot 3 – VA RC
It can be inferred from the passage that the author is not likely to support the view that:
- the Orientalist view of Asia fired the imagination of some Western poets.
- Indian culture acknowledges the material aspects of life.
- India’s culture has evolved over the centuries.
- India became a colony although it matched the technical knowledge of the West.
Details
Explanatory Answer
The author says that the dichotomy of values maintained by European intellectuals “was a consolation to the Indian intelligentsia for its perceived inability to counter the technical superiority of the west, a superiority viewed as having enabled Europe to colonize Asia and other parts of the world.” The author is hence not likely to support the view that India became a colony although it matched the technical knowledge of the West.
According to the passage, “The Romantic English poets, Wordsworth and Coleridge, were apprehensive of the changes introduced by industrialization and turned to nature and to fantasies of the Orient.” So, the author is likely to support the view that the Orientalist view of Asia fired the imagination of some Western poets.
The author argues that European intellectuals paid “little attention was given to the more tangible aspects” of the Indian pattern of life and tried to maintain a dichotomy in values with “little attempt to juxtapose these values with the reality of Indian society”. So, the author is likely to support the view that Indian culture acknowledges the material aspects of life.
That Indian culture has evolved over the centuries is again a view that the author is likely to support.
The question is ” It can be inferred from the passage that the author is not likely to support the view that: “
Hence, the answer is ‘India became a colony although it matched the technical knowledge of the West.’
Choice D is the correct answer.
- CAT 2022 Slot 3 – VA RC
Which one of the following styles of research is most similar to the Orientalist scholars’ method of understanding Indian history and culture?
- Reading about the life of early American settlers and later waves of migration to understand the evolution of American culture.
- Reading 18th century accounts by travellers to India to see how they viewed Indian life and culture of the time.
- Studying artefacts excavated at a palace to understand the lifestyle of those who lived there.
- Analysing Hollywood action movies that depict violence and sex to understand contemporary America.
Details
Explanatory Answer
On the Orientalist scholars’ method of understanding Indian history and culture, the author says that “The various phases of Orientalism tended to mould European understanding of the Indian past into a particular pattern. . . . There was an attempt to formulate Indian culture as uniform, such formulations being derived from texts that were given priority. The so-called ‘discovery’ of India was largely through selected literature in Sanskrit.” In other words, there was an attempt to selectively analyze material that conformed to a specific view of India. Analysing Hollywood action movies that depict violence and sex to understand contemporary America is similar to this.
The question is ” Which one of the following styles of research is most similar to the Orientalist scholars’ method of understanding Indian history and culture? “
Hence, the answer is ‘Analysing Hollywood action movies that depict violence and sex to understand contemporary America.’
Choice D is the correct answer.
- CAT 2022 Slot 3 – VA RC
In the context of the passage, all of the following statements are true EXCEPT:
- Orientalist scholarship influenced Indians.
- Indian texts influenced Orientalist scholars.
- India’s spiritualism served as a salve for European colonisers.
- Orientalists’ understanding of Indian history was linked to colonial concerns.
Details
Explanatory Answer
The last line of the passage implies that India’s spiritualism served as a salve for anti-colonial nationalists. Option C is clearly incorrect.
That Oriental scholarship influenced Indians is implied from the first line of the paragraph. The passage says that Orientalist scholars tried to ‘discover’ India through ‘selected literature’ in Sanskrit. So, option B is also true. That Orientalists’ understanding of Indian history was linked to colonial concerns can also be inferred from passage.
The question is ” In the context of the passage, all of the following statements are true EXCEPT: “
Hence, the answer is ‘India’s spiritualism served as a salve for European colonisers.’
Choice C is the correct answer.
The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.
Sociologists working in the Chicago School tradition have focused on how rapid or dramatic social change causes increases in crime. Just as Durkheim, Marx, Toennies, and other European sociologists thought that the rapid changes produced by industrialization and urbanization produced crime and disorder, so too did the Chicago School theorists. The location of the University of Chicago provided an excellent opportunity for Park, Burgess, and McKenzie to study the social ecology of the city. Shaw and McKay found . . . that areas of the city characterized by high levels of social disorganization had higher rates of crime and delinquency.
In the 1920s and 1930s Chicago, like many American cities, experienced considerable immigration. Rapid population growth is a disorganizing influence, but growth resulting from in-migration of very different people is particularly disruptive. Chicago’s in-migrants were both native-born whites and blacks from rural areas and small towns, and foreign immigrants. The heavy industry of cities like Chicago, Detroit, and Pittsburgh drew those seeking opportunities and new lives. Farmers and villagers from America’s hinterland, like their European cousins of whom Durkheim wrote, moved in large numbers into cities. At the start of the twentieth century, Americans were predominately a rural population, but by the century’s mid-point most lived in urban areas. The social lives of these migrants, as well as those already living in the cities they moved to, were disrupted by the differences between urban and rural life. According to social disorganization theory, until the social ecology of the ”new place” can adapt, this rapid change is a criminogenic influence. But most rural migrants, and even many of the foreign immigrants to the city, looked like and eventually spoke the same language as the natives of the cities into which they moved. These
similarities allowed for more rapid social integration for these migrants than was the case for African Americans and most foreign immigrants.
In these same decades America experienced what has been called ”the great migration”: the massive movement of African Americans out of the rural South and into northern (and some southern) cities. The scale of this migration is one of the most dramatic in human history. These migrants, unlike their white counterparts, were not integrated into the cities they now called home. In fact, most American cities at the end of the twentieth century were characterized by high levels of racial residential segregation . . . Failure to integrate these migrants, coupled with other forces of social disorganization such as crowding, poverty, and illness, caused crime rates to climb in the cities, particularly in the segregated wards and neighborhoods where the migrants were forced to live.
Foreign immigrants during this period did not look as dramatically different from the rest of the population as blacks did, but the migrants from eastern and southern Europe who came to American cities did not speak English, and were frequently Catholic, while the native born were mostly Protestant. The combination of rapid population growth with the diversity of those moving into the cities created what the Chicago School sociologists called social disorganization.
- CAT 2022 Slot 3 – VA RC
A fundamental conclusion by the author is that:
- the best circumstances for crime to flourish are when there are severe racial disparities.
- to prevent crime, it is important to maintain social order through maintaining social segregation.
- according to European sociologists, crime in America is mainly in Chicago.
- rapid population growth and demographic diversity give rise to social disorganisation that can feed the growth of crime.
Details
Explanatory Answer
Refer to the last line: “The combination of rapid population growth with the diversity of those moving into the cities created what the Chicago School sociologists called social disorganization”. Rapid or dramatic social change, according to the passage, causes increases in crime. So, a fundamental conclusion by the author is that rapid population growth and demographic diversity give rise to social disorganisation that can feed the growth of crime.
Option A blames racial disparities for the flourishing of crime. This is incorrect. The passage only says that where there is massive migration of people of different races into cities without social integration, crime flourishes.
Option B is the opposite of what the passage says.
Option C is incorrect. The passage does not say that according to European sociologists, crime in America is mainly in Chicago.
The question is ” A fundamental conclusion by the author is that: “
Hence, the answer is ‘rapid population growth and demographic diversity give rise to social disorganisation that can feed the growth of crime.’
Choice D is the correct answer.
- CAT 2022 Slot 3 – VA RC
The author notes that, “At the start of the twentieth century, Americans were predominately a rural population, but by the century’s mid-point most lived in urban areas.” Which one of the following statements, if true, does not contradict this
statement?
- Demographic transition in America in the twentieth century is strongly marked by an out-migration from rural areas.
- A population census conducted in 1952 showed that more Americans lived in rural areas than in urban ones.
- The estimation of per capita income in America in the mid- twentieth century primarily required data from rural areas.
- Economists have found that throughout the twentieth century, the size of the labour force in America has always been largest in rural areas.
Details
Explanatory Answer
The question can be rephrased as “Which statement, if true, is in line with the given statement?”
Option A states that demographic transition in America in the twentieth century is strongly marked by an out-migration from rural areas. If true, this is in line with the statement that Americans were predominantly rural at the start of the 20th century, but most lived in urban areas by the 1950s.
Option B states that a population census conducted in 1952 showed that more Americans lived in rural areas than in urban ones. If true this contradicts the given statement.
If the estimation of per capita income in America in the mid-twentieth century primarily required data from rural areas, then most of the population should have been living in rural areas. Option C contradicts the given statement.
If economists have found that throughout the twentieth century, the size of the labour force in America has always been largest in rural areas, then that contradicts the given statement too.
The answer is ‘Demographic transition in America in the twentieth century is strongly marked by an out-migration from rural areas.’
Choice A is the correct answer.
- CAT 2022 Slot 3 – VA RC
Which one of the following is not a valid inference from the passage?
- The failure to integrate in-migrants, along with social problems like poverty, was a significant reason for the rise in crime in American cities.
- According to social disorganisation theory, fast-paced social change provides fertile ground for the rapid growth of crime.
- The differences between urban and rural lifestyles were crucial factors in the disruption experienced by migrants to American cities.
- According to social disorganisation theory, the social integration of African American migrants into Chicago was slower because they were less organised.
Details
Explanatory Answer
Option D is not a valid inference from the passage. The passage does not say that African American migrants into Chicago were ‘less organised’ and hence unable to integrate into society.
All other statements given are based on key ideas in the passage and can be easily inferred.
The question is ” Which one of the following is not a valid inference from the passage? “
Hence, the answer is ‘According to social disorganisation theory, the social integration of African American migrants into Chicago was slower because they were less organised.’
Choice D is the correct answer.
- CAT 2022 Slot 3 – VA RC
Which one of the following sets of words/phrases best encapsulates the issues discussed in the passage?
- Durkheim; Marx; Toennies; Shaw
- Chicago School; Native-born Whites; European immigrants; Poverty
- Chicago School; Social organisation; Migration; Crime
- Rapid population growth; Heavy industry; Segregation; Crime
Details
Explanatory Answer
Chicago School, social organisation,migration and crime are key ideas in the passage.
Option A names some sociologists mentioned in the passage. This can be easily ruled out. Option B does not mention ‘crime’ which is a key idea. Option D includes ‘heavy industry’ which is not a key idea.
The question is ” Which one of the following sets of words/phrases best encapsulates the issues discussed in the passage? “
Hence, the answer is ‘Chicago School; Social organisation; Migration; Crime’
Choice C is the correct answer.
- CAT 2022 Slot 3 – VA RC
The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer:
1.Various industrial sectors including retail, transit systems, enterprises, educational institutions, event organizing, finance, travel etc. have now started leveraging these beacons solutions to track and communicate with their customers.
2.A beacon fixed on to a shop wall enables the retailer to assess the proximity of the
customer, and come up with a much targeted or personalized communication like offers, discounts and combos on products in each shelf.
- Smart phones or other mobile devices can capture the beacon signals, and distance can be estimated by measuring received signal strength.
- Beacons are tiny and inexpensive, micro-location-based technology devices that can send radio frequency signals and notify nearby Bluetooth devices of their presence and transmit information.
Details
Explanatory Answer
4 introduces beacons and is the best starting sentence. 43 is a link: 4 states that beacons send radio frequency signals; 3 explains that smart phones and other mobile devices capture these signals. 12 is also a link: 1 says that several industrial sectors have begun to use beacons to track and communicate with their customers; 2 explains how these beacons are actually put to use to track this information. 4312 is hence the correct order.
The answer is ‘4312’
- CAT 2022 Slot 3 – VA RC
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
“It does seem to me that the job of comedy is to offend, or have the potential to offend, and it cannot be drained of that potential,” Rowan Atkinson said of cancel culture. “Every joke has a victim. That’s the definition of a joke. Someone or something or an idea is
made to look ridiculous.” The Netflix star continued, “I think you’ve got to be very, very
careful about saying what you’re allowed to make jokes about. You’ve always got to kick up? Really?” He added, “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
- All jokes target someone and one should be able to joke about anyone in the society, which is inconsistent with cancel culture.
- Victims of jokes must not only be politicians and royalty, but also arrogant people from lower classes should be mentioned by comedians.
- Every joke needs a victim and one needs to include people from lower down the society and not just the upper class.
- Cancel culture does not understand the role and duty of comedians, which is to deride and mock everyone.
Details
Explanatory Answer
Speaking of cancel culture, Rowan Atkinson says that every joke offends someone or something and so, in a proper free society, jokes about absolutely anything should be allowed. Option A summarizes the paragraph well.
Option B misses the main idea and also speaks of ‘politicians’ and ‘royalty’ which are not part of the given quote.
Option C, while true, does not mention ‘cancel culture’ which is a key idea.
The given quote does not talk of the ‘role and duty’ of comedians. Option D is not a good summary.
The answer is ‘All jokes target someone and one should be able to joke about anyone in the society, which is inconsistent with cancel culture.’
Choice A is the correct answer.
- CAT 2022 Slot 3 – VA RC
The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer:
- The more we are able to accept that our achievements are largely out of our control, the easier it becomes to understand that our failures, and those of others, are too.
- But the raft of recent books about the limits of merit is an important correction to the arrogance of contemporary entitlement and an opportunity to reassert the importance of luck, or grace, in our thinking.
- Meritocracy as an organising principle is an inevitable function of a free society, as we are designed to see our achievements as worthy of reward.
- And that in turn should increase our humility and the respect with which we treat our fellow citizens, helping ultimately to build a more compassionate society.
Details
Explanatory Answer
3 is the most general statement and hence the best one to start the paragraph. 32 is a link: 3 states that we are designed to see our achievements as worthy of reward; 2 talks about a raft of recent books that throw light on the limits of this kind of thinking. 21 is a link, with 1 adding to the point made in 2 about the limits of merit and how understanding this can help us become more accepting. 4 follows 1 and concludes the paragraph with how this, in turn, will help build a more compassionate society. 3214 is the correct order.
The answer is ‘3214’
- CAT 2022 Slot 3 – VA RC
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Tamsin Blanchard, curator of Fashion Open Studio, an initiative by a campaign group
showcasing the work of ethical designers says, “We’re all drawn to an exquisite piece of embroidery, a colourful textile or even a style of dressing that might have originated
from another heritage. [But] this magpie mentality, where all of culture and history is up for grabs as ‘inspiration’, has accelerated since the proliferation of social media… Where once a fashion student might research the history and traditions of a particular item of
clothing with care and respect, we now have a world where images are lifted from image libraries without a care for their cultural significance. It’s easier than ever to steal a motif or a craft technique and transfer it on to a piece of clothing that is either mass produced or appears on a runway without credit or compensation to their original communities.”
- Media has encouraged mass production; images are copied effortlessly without care or concern for the interests of ethnic communities.
- Cultural collaboration is the need of the hour. Beautiful design ideas of indigenous people need to be showcased and shared worldwide.
- Taking fashion ideas from any cultural group without their consent is a form of appropriation without giving due credit, compensation, and respect.
- Copying an embroidery design or pattern of textile from native communities who own them is tantamount to stealing and they need to be compensated.
Details
Explanatory Answer
The main idea expressed here is that the proliferation of social media has led to easy access to fashion ideas from different cultures and it is now easier than ever to unethically use these ideas or techniques without giving credit or compensation to the original communities. Option C captures the essence of the paragraph.
Option A says that the media has ‘encouraged mass production’. This is incorrect.
Option B talks of ‘cultural collaboration’, which is not what the given paragraph is about.
Option D is not worded well. It talks about copying an embroidery design or pattern of textile from native communities who ‘own’ them. The ideas belong to a community, they are not ‘owned’ by them. Also, this option does not touch upon credit or respect that is owed to these communities.
The answer is ‘Taking fashion ideas from any cultural group without their consent is a form of appropriation without giving due credit, compensation, and respect.’
Choice C is the correct answer.
- CAT 2022 Slot 3 – VA RC
There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide in which blank (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.
Sentence: This has meant a lot of uncertainty around what a wide-scale return to o?ce might look like in practice.
Paragraph: Bringing workers back to their desks has been a rocky road for employers and employees alike. The evolution of the pandemic has meant that best laid plans have often not materialised. ___(1)___ The flow of workers back into o?ces has been more of a trickle than a steady stream. ___(2)___ Yet while plenty of companies are still working through their new policies, some employees across the globe are now back at their desks, whether on a full-time or hybrid basis. ___(3)___ That means we’re beginning to
get some clarity on what return-to-o?ce means – what’s working, as well as what has yet to be settled. ___(4)___
- Option 1
- Option 2
- Option 3
- Option 4
Details
- CAT 2022 Slot 3 – VA RC
There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide in which blank (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.
Sentence: When people socially learn from each other, they often learn without understanding why what they’re copying-the beliefs and behaviours and technologies and know-how-works.
Paragraph: ___(1)___. The dual-inheritance theory ….says. that inheritance is itself an
evolutionary system. It has variation. What makes us a new kind of animal, and so different and successful as a species, is we rely heavily on social learning, to the point where socially acquired information is effectively a second line of inheritance, the first being our genes…. ___(2)___. People tend to home in on who seems to be the smartest or most successful person around, as well as what everybody seems to be doing-the
majority of people have something worth learning. ___(3)___. When you repeat this process over time, you can get, around the world, cultural packages-beliefs or behaviours or technology or other solutions-that are adapted to the local conditions. People have different psychologies, effectively. ___(4)___.
- Option 1
- Option 2
- Option 3
- Option 4
Details
Explanatory Answer
Slightly tricky question. We can rule out option 4 as the sentence before says clarity is emerging, so the missing sentence, which is about uncertainty prevailing cannot be put in here. Option 3 can also be ruled out as the line before says some employees are now returning to their desks. The given sentence does not make sense here.
Both option 1 and 2 look like possibilities as ‘this has meant a lot of uncertainty’ can apply equally well to the sentence before each of these options. But looking at the sentence that follows and the flow of ideas, the given sentence makes better sense in option 2. Workers are returning in a trickle, rather than a steady stream–there is hence uncertainty about what a wide scale return to office might look like–yet, even as companies are still working on their new policies, employees are getting back at their desks on a full-time or hybrid basis.
The answer is ‘Option 2’
Choice B is the correct answer.
- CAT 2022 Slot 3 – VA RC
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
To defend the sequence of alphabetization may seem bizarre, so obvious is its application that it is hard to imagine a reference, catalog or listing without it. But alphabetical order was not an immediate consequence of the alphabet itself. In the Middle Ages, deference for ecclesiastical tradition left scholars reluctant to categories things according to the alphabet – to do so would be a rejection of the divine order. The rediscovery of the ancient Greek and Roman classics necessitated more efficient ways of ordering, searching and referencing texts. Government bureaucracy in the 16th and
17th centuries quickened the advance of alphabetical order, bringing with it pigeonholes, notebooks and card indexes.
- While adoption of the written alphabet was easily accomplished, it took scholars several centuries to accept the alphabetic sequence as a useful tool in their work.
- The alphabetic order took several centuries to gain common currency because of religious beliefs and a lack of appreciation of its efficacy in the ordering of things.
- The ban on the use by scholars of any form of categorization – but the divinely ordained one – delayed the adoption of the
alphabetic sequence by several centuries.
- Unlike the alphabet, once the efficacy of the alphabetic sequence became apparent to scholars and administrators, its use became widespread.
Details
Explanatory Answer
Reading the given paragraph, we can see that the missing sentence does not make a good starting sentence or conclusion to the paragraph. So, we can easily rule out options 1 and 4.
The flow of ideas in case of option 3 is already smooth. The majority of people have something worth learning from the people around them and when this learning process is repeated over time, you can get cultural packages adapted to local conditions.
The best place to fit the given sentence is option 2. The previous sentence talks about ‘socially acquired information’. The given sentence explains how people socially learn from each other. The next sentence adds to this idea of learning from people around. So, option 2 is the correct choice.
The answer is ‘Option 2’
Choice B is the correct answer.
- CAT 2022 Slot 3 – VA RC
The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer:
- If I wanted to sit indoors and read, or play Sonic the Hedgehog on a red-hot Sega Mega Drive, I would often be made to feel guilty about not going outside to “enjoy it while it lasts”.
- My mum, quite reasonably, wanted me and my sister out of the house, in the sun.
- Tales of my mum’s idyllic-sounding childhood in the Sussex countryside, where trees were climbed by 8 am and streams navigated by lunchtime, were passed down to us like folklore.
- To an introverted kid, that felt like a threat – and the feeling has stayed with me.
Details
Explanatory Answer
According to the given paragraph, alphabetical order was not an immediate consequence of the alphabet itself. Religious beliefs led to the rejection of alphabetical order in the Middle Ages and it was only with the need for more efficient ways of ordering and referencing texts as well as the need to deal with government bureaucracy in the 16th and 17th centuries that alphabetical order became popular. Option B captures all key ideas and summarizes the paragraph well.
Option A says that the adoption of the written alphabet was easily accomplished. This is something the paragraph given does not touch upon.
Option C is incorrect as it says there was a ‘ban’ on the use of any form of categorisation but a divinely ordained one. This is not what the paragraph given says. Further, religious beliefs hindering the widespread adoption of alphabetical order is just one idea in the given paragraph.
Option D states that ‘unlike the alphabet’, the use of the alphabetic sequence became widespread once its efficacy became known. This is not what the paragraph given says.
The answer is ‘The alphabetic order took several centuries to gain common currency because of religious beliefs and a lack of appreciation of its efficacy in the ordering of things.’
Choice B is the correct answer.
