G Strategy: CRAFT
C — Core → What is the paragraph about?
R — Relationships → Which sentences connect?
A — Anchor → Where does the paragraph begin?
F — Flow → What is the logical sequence?
T — Test → Does the paragraph make sense?
CAT 2025 Odd Man Out
CAT 2025 VARC Slot 1, 2, and 3
Instructions: 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.
Q1 Moderate
1. The Bayeux tapestry was, therefore, an obvious way to tell people about the downfall of the English and the rise of the Normans.
2. So if we take expert in Anglo-Saxon culture Gale Owen-Crocker’s idea that the tapestry was originally hung in a square with certain scenes facing each other, people would have stood in the centre.
3. Art historian Linda Neagley has argued that pre-Renaissance people interacted with art visually, kinaesthetically (sensory perception through bodily movement) and physically.
4. That would make it an 11th-century immersive space with scenes corresponding and echoing each other, drawing the viewer’s attention, playing on their senses and understanding of the story they thought they knew.
5. The Bayeux tapestry would have been hung at eye level to enable this.
Correct Option: 1
Rationale: Sentences 3, 2, 5, and 4 form a coherent paragraph detailing how pre-Renaissance people interacted with art kinaesthetically and how the Bayeux tapestry fits this immersive framework by being hung at eye level in a square formation.
Why other options wrong: Sentence 1 shifts to a summary conclusion about the tapestry telling the story of the English downfall and Norman rise, which disrupts the structural and physical art-history flow.
Rationale: Sentences 3, 2, 5, and 4 form a coherent paragraph detailing how pre-Renaissance people interacted with art kinaesthetically and how the Bayeux tapestry fits this immersive framework by being hung at eye level in a square formation.
Why other options wrong: Sentence 1 shifts to a summary conclusion about the tapestry telling the story of the English downfall and Norman rise, which disrupts the structural and physical art-history flow.
Q2 Moderate
1. Developments both technological and sociocultural have afforded us far greater freedom over death than we had in the past, and while we are still adapting ourselves to that freedom, we now appreciate the moral importance of this freedom.
2. But I believe that a type of freedom we can call freedom over death – that is, a freedom in which we shape the timing and circumstances of how we die – should be central to this conversation.
3. Legalising assisted dying is but a further step in realising this freedom over death.
4. Many people endorse, through their opinions or their choices, our freedom over death encompassing a right to medical assistance in hastening our deaths.
5. Freedom is a notoriously complex and contested philosophical notion, and I won’t pretend to settle any of the big controversies it raises.
Correct Option: 5
Rationale: Sentences 1, 2, 3, and 4 cohere tightly around the theme of freedom over death, societal adaptations, shaping the timing of death, and legalizing assisted dying.
Why other options wrong: Sentence 5 introduces a broad, abstract meta-commentary on the definition of freedom as a contested philosophical notion, breaking the paragraph’s targeted focus.
Rationale: Sentences 1, 2, 3, and 4 cohere tightly around the theme of freedom over death, societal adaptations, shaping the timing of death, and legalizing assisted dying.
Why other options wrong: Sentence 5 introduces a broad, abstract meta-commentary on the definition of freedom as a contested philosophical notion, breaking the paragraph’s targeted focus.
Q3 Moderate
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.
Correct Option: 4
Rationale: Sentences 1, 2, 3, and 5 discuss cellular and genetic impacts of exercise on the brain, muscle-produced proteins, and recent neuroscientific discoveries.
Why other options wrong: Sentence 4 shifts abruptly into a cultural critique about technology-driven lifestyles and modern sedentary habits, making it contextually distinct.
Rationale: Sentences 1, 2, 3, and 5 discuss cellular and genetic impacts of exercise on the brain, muscle-produced proteins, and recent neuroscientific discoveries.
Why other options wrong: Sentence 4 shifts abruptly into a cultural critique about technology-driven lifestyles and modern sedentary habits, making it contextually distinct.
Q4 Moderate
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.
Correct Option: 3
Rationale: Sentences 5, 2, 4, and 1 construct a unified explanation of how Mars lost its early water and atmosphere due to solar storms and particles from the Sun.
Why other options wrong: Sentence 3 focuses on remaining water, frozen deposits, and underground aquifers, which diverges from the atmospheric loss and scientific studies of planetary depletion.
Rationale: Sentences 5, 2, 4, and 1 construct a unified explanation of how Mars lost its early water and atmosphere due to solar storms and particles from the Sun.
Why other options wrong: Sentence 3 focuses on remaining water, frozen deposits, and underground aquifers, which diverges from the atmospheric loss and scientific studies of planetary depletion.
Q5 Moderate
1. In English, there is no systematic rule for the naming of numbers; after ten, we have “eleven” and “twelve” and then the teens: “thirteen”, “fourteen”, “fifteen” and so on.
2. Even more confusingly, some English words invert the numbers they refer to: the word “fourteen” puts the four first, even though it appears last.
3. It can take children a while to learn all these words, and understand that “fourteen” is different from “forty”.
4. For multiples of 10, English speakers switch to a different pattern: “twenty”, “thirty”, “forty” and so on.
5. If you didn’t know the word for “eleven”, you would be unable to just guess it; you might come up with something like “one-teen”.
Correct Option: 5
Rationale: Sentences 1, 2, 4, and 3 address the lack of systematic rules, inverted numbers in teens, pattern shifts for multiples of 10, and children learning these numerical labels.
Why other options wrong: Sentence 5 discusses hypothetical guessing of unknown words like “one-teen”, which breaks the descriptive flow of English number nomenclature.
Rationale: Sentences 1, 2, 4, and 3 address the lack of systematic rules, inverted numbers in teens, pattern shifts for multiples of 10, and children learning these numerical labels.
Why other options wrong: Sentence 5 discusses hypothetical guessing of unknown words like “one-teen”, which breaks the descriptive flow of English number nomenclature.
Q6 Moderate
1. About half of all the oxygen we breathe is made near the surface of the ocean by tiny organisms called phytoplankton.
2. Despite their microscopic scale, these organisms support complex marine food webs and drive global biochemical cycles.
3. Industrial pollutants entering coastal waterways have severely impacted fish populations across multiple continents.
4. Phytoplankton capture carbon dioxide during photosynthesis, acting as a crucial natural buffer against rising global temperatures.
5. Changes in ocean temperature and acidity can rapidly disrupt phytoplankton growth, threatening marine ecosystems worldwide.
Correct Option: 3
Rationale: Sentences 1, 2, 4, and 5 center on phytoplankton, oceanic oxygen production, carbon capture, food webs, and climate vulnerability.
Why other options wrong: Sentence 3 targets industrial pollution affecting coastal fish populations, which is outside the specific ecological focus on phytoplankton.
Rationale: Sentences 1, 2, 4, and 5 center on phytoplankton, oceanic oxygen production, carbon capture, food webs, and climate vulnerability.
Why other options wrong: Sentence 3 targets industrial pollution affecting coastal fish populations, which is outside the specific ecological focus on phytoplankton.
CAT 2024 Odd Man Out
CAT 2024 VARC Slot 1, 2, and 3
Instructions: 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.
Q1 Slot 1 – Animal Rights Moderate
1. Animals have an interest in fulfilling their basic needs, but also in avoiding suffering, and thus we ought to extend moral consideration.
2. Singer viewed himself as a utilitarian, and presents a direct moral theory concerning animal rights, in contrast to indirect positions, such as welfarist views.
3. He argued for extending moral consideration to animals because, similar to humans, animals have certain significant interests.
4. The event that publicly announced animal rights as a legitimate issue within contemporary philosophy was Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation text in 1975.
5. As such, we ought to view their interests alongside and equal to human interests, which results in humans having direct moral duties towards animals.
Correct Option: 4
Detailed Explanation:
Sentence 2 introduces Peter Singer and his utilitarian framework.
Sentence 3 builds on Singer’s core argument—why animals deserve moral consideration.
Sentence 1 elaborates on those interests (avoid suffering).
Sentence 5 concludes the logical chain: humans have direct moral duties to animals.
Sentence 4, though relevant factually, is biographical and historical, not argumentative. It introduces a timeline event, not a philosophical point. It breaks the reasoning chain.
Coherent paragraph: 2-3-1-5
Detailed Explanation:
Sentence 2 introduces Peter Singer and his utilitarian framework.
Sentence 3 builds on Singer’s core argument—why animals deserve moral consideration.
Sentence 1 elaborates on those interests (avoid suffering).
Sentence 5 concludes the logical chain: humans have direct moral duties to animals.
Sentence 4, though relevant factually, is biographical and historical, not argumentative. It introduces a timeline event, not a philosophical point. It breaks the reasoning chain.
Coherent paragraph: 2-3-1-5
Q2 Slot 1 – Urban Public Transport Moderate
1. Urbanites also have more and better options for getting around: Uber is ubiquitous; easy-to-rent dockless bicycles are spreading; battery-powered scooters will be next.
2. When more people use buses or trains the service usually improves because public-transport agencies run more buses and trains.
3. Worsening services on public transport, terrorist attacks in some urban metros and a rise in fares have been blamed for this trend.
4. It seems more likely that public transport is being squeezed structurally as people’s need to travel is diminishing as a result of smartphones, videoconferencing, online shopping and so on.
5. There has been a puzzling decline in the use of urban public transport in many countries in the west, despite the growth in urban populations and rising employment.
Correct Option: 1
Detailed Explanation:
Sentence 5 introduces the puzzle (decline despite urban growth).
Sentence 3 presents blamed factors (terror, fares).
Sentence 4 gives a deeper structural explanation (tech changes).
Sentence 2 discusses the positive feedback loop of usage and service.
Sentence 1 is out of place—it mentions alternate transport options, not directly part of explaining the decline in public transport structurally as discussed in the main narrative.
Coherent paragraph: 5-3-4-2
Detailed Explanation:
Sentence 5 introduces the puzzle (decline despite urban growth).
Sentence 3 presents blamed factors (terror, fares).
Sentence 4 gives a deeper structural explanation (tech changes).
Sentence 2 discusses the positive feedback loop of usage and service.
Sentence 1 is out of place—it mentions alternate transport options, not directly part of explaining the decline in public transport structurally as discussed in the main narrative.
Coherent paragraph: 5-3-4-2
Q3 Slot 2 – Gender Debate Hard
1. No known real researcher of human behaviour would say that gender is all nature or all nurture.
2. The evidence for a biological basis for gender certainly doesn’t mean we should be complacent in the face of sexism.
3. Many people are uncomfortable with the idea that gender is not purely a social construct.
4. Despite this empirical truth, researchers who study the biological basis of gender often face political pushback.
5. There’s a political preference for gender to be only a reflection of social factors and so entirely malleable.
Correct Option: 2
Detailed Explanation:
Sentence 1 sets a balanced view: neither nature nor nurture dominates.
Sentence 3 introduces people’s discomfort with a non-social explanation.
Sentence 5 presents the ideological preference for social-only views.
Sentence 4 shows that researchers face backlash.
Sentence 2, although well-meaning, is normative advice (“we shouldn’t be complacent”), unlike the rest which describe social and political reactions. It breaks the tone and logical flow.
Coherent paragraph: 1-3-5-4
Detailed Explanation:
Sentence 1 sets a balanced view: neither nature nor nurture dominates.
Sentence 3 introduces people’s discomfort with a non-social explanation.
Sentence 5 presents the ideological preference for social-only views.
Sentence 4 shows that researchers face backlash.
Sentence 2, although well-meaning, is normative advice (“we shouldn’t be complacent”), unlike the rest which describe social and political reactions. It breaks the tone and logical flow.
Coherent paragraph: 1-3-5-4
Q4 Slot 2 – Cultivated Meat in UK Moderate
1. The UK is a world leader in developing cultivated meat and the approval of a cultivated pet food is an important milestone.
2. If we’re to realise the full potential benefits of cultivated meat the government must invest in research and infrastructure.
3. The first UK applications for cultivated meat produced for humans remain under assessment with the Food Standards Agency.
4. The previous UK government had been looking at fast-tracking the approval of cultivated meat for human consumption.
5. It underscores the potential for new innovation to help reduce the negative impacts of intensive animal agriculture.
Correct Option: 2
Detailed Explanation:
Sentence 1 sets the status: pet food approved.
Sentence 3 and 4 show where human food approval stands.
Sentence 5 connects innovation to sustainability benefit.
Sentence 2 is a policy prescription, not factual or status-based. The rest are descriptive or informative, not prescriptive.
Coherent paragraph: 1-3-4-5
Detailed Explanation:
Sentence 1 sets the status: pet food approved.
Sentence 3 and 4 show where human food approval stands.
Sentence 5 connects innovation to sustainability benefit.
Sentence 2 is a policy prescription, not factual or status-based. The rest are descriptive or informative, not prescriptive.
Coherent paragraph: 1-3-4-5
Q5 Slot 3 – Neural Development Hard
1. To create a synapse, the neuron has specialized structures, often seen as tiny swellings, at its terminal end of the axon where it stores the chemicals that are emitted to transmit a signal to the next neuron.
2. This fetal warm-up act—the soldering of neural connections before the eyes actually function—is crucial to the performance of the visual system.
3. The reasons for this paring back of synapses is a mystery, but synaptic pruning is thought to sharpen and reinforce the “correct” synapses, while removing the weak and unnecessary ones.
4. Neural connections between the eyes and the brain are formed long before birth, establishing the wiring and the circuitry that allow a child to begin visualizing the world the minute she emerges from the womb.
5. During this rehearsal period, synapses—points of chemical connection—between nerve cells are generated in great excess, only to be pruned back during later development.
Correct Option: 1
Detailed Explanation:
Sentences 2, 4, 5, and 3 talk about neural development during fetal stage, visual system, and pruning. The theme is how neural pathways for vision develop and are refined.
Sentence 1 is too technical and structural, explaining synapse structure, not visual system development. It feels out of sync with the others’ focus on functional development and pruning.
Coherent paragraph: 4-2-5-3
Detailed Explanation:
Sentences 2, 4, 5, and 3 talk about neural development during fetal stage, visual system, and pruning. The theme is how neural pathways for vision develop and are refined.
Sentence 1 is too technical and structural, explaining synapse structure, not visual system development. It feels out of sync with the others’ focus on functional development and pruning.
Coherent paragraph: 4-2-5-3
Q6 Slot 3 – Forecasting and Intelligence Moderate
1. Part of the appeal of forecasting is not just that it seems to work, but that you don’t seem to need specialized expertise to succeed at it.
2. The tight connection between forecasting and building a model of the world helps explain why so much of the early interest in the idea came from the intelligence community.
3. This was true even though the latter had access to classified intelligence.
4. One frequently cited study found that accurate forecasters’ predictions of geopolitical events, when aggregated using standard scientific methods, were more accurate than the forecasts of members of the US intelligence community who answered the same questions in a confidential prediction market.
5. The aggregated opinions of non-experts doing forecasting have proven to be a better guide to the future than the aggregated opinions of experts.
Correct Option: 3
Detailed Explanation:
Sentences 1, 2, 4, and 5 describe how non-experts outperform intelligence experts in forecasting.
Sentence 2 explains the intelligence community’s early interest.
Sentence 4 provides a research-backed example of non-expert success.
Sentence 5 is a summary claim.
Sentence 3 is an explanatory aside that doesn’t add meaningfully to the central comparison; it weakens the flow and appears tacked on.
Coherent paragraph: 1-2-4-5
Detailed Explanation:
Sentences 1, 2, 4, and 5 describe how non-experts outperform intelligence experts in forecasting.
Sentence 2 explains the intelligence community’s early interest.
Sentence 4 provides a research-backed example of non-expert success.
Sentence 5 is a summary claim.
Sentence 3 is an explanatory aside that doesn’t add meaningfully to the central comparison; it weakens the flow and appears tacked on.
Coherent paragraph: 1-2-4-5
CAT Odd Man Out is not about randomly finding the sentence that “looks different.” This PYQ Bible covers CAT 2019–2025 Odd One Out questions using the CRAFT framework — Core, Relationships, Anchor, Flow and Test. Learn how to identify the paragraph theme, connect sentences and eliminate the true odd sentence logically.
CAT Odd Man Out PYQ Bible brings together actual CAT VARC Odd One Out questions from CAT 2019 to CAT 2025, with detailed explanations and a powerful CRAFT Strategy.
C — Core: What is the paragraph really about?
R — Relationships: Which sentences connect with each other?
A — Anchor: Which sentence can naturally begin the paragraph?
F — Flow: What is the logical sequence of the connected sentences?
T — Test: Does the final paragraph make complete sense?
From Theory of Mind, Animal Rights, Gender, Technology, Book Bans, Neuroscience, Forecasting, Ocean Plastic and more, learn how CAT creates distractors and how to spot the true odd sentence.
Master the pattern, not just the questions!
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