ICAT02

VARC

Directions for questions 1 to 3: The passage given below is followed by a set of questions.
Choose the most appropriate answer to each question.

Questions 1 to 3 carry 3 marks each.

The word convenientia denotes the adjacency of places more strongly than it does
similitude. Those things are 'convenient' which come sufficiently close to one another to
be in juxtaposition; their edges touch, their fringes intermingle, the extremity of the one
also denotes the beginning of the other. In this way, movement, influences, passions, and
properties too, are communicated. So that in this hinge between two things a resemblance
appears. A resemblance that becomes double as soon as one attempts to unravel it: a
resemblance of the place, the site upon which nature has placed the two things, and thus a
similitude of properties; for in his natural container, the world, adjacency is not an exterior
relation between things, but the sign of a relationship, obscure though it may be. And then,
from this contact, by exchange, there arise new resemblances; a common regimen
becomes necessary; upon the similitude that was the hidden reason for their propinquity is
superimposed a resemblance that is the visible effect of that proximity. Body and soul, for
example, are doubly 'convenient': the soul had to be made dense, heavy, and terrestrial for
God to place it in the very heart of matter. But through this propinquity, the soul receives
the movements of the body and assimilates itself to that body, while 'the body is altered
and corrupted by the passions of the soul'. In the vast syntax of the world, the different
beings adjust themselves to one another; the plant communicates with the animal, the
earth with the sea, man with everything around him. Resemblance imposes adjacencies
that in their turn guarantee further resemblances. Place and similitude become entangled:
we see mosses growing on the outsides of shells, plants in the antlers of stags, a sort of
grass on the faces of men; and the strange zoophyte, by mingling together the properties
that make it similar to the plants as well as to the animals, also juxtaposes them. All so
many signs of 'convenience'.
1 Which of the following is not consistent with the conception of 'adjacency' as elucidated
in the passage?
1) The alignment of the body and soul with one another.
2) The facilitation of similitude between proximate things by their intrinsic
characteristics.
3) The convenient exchange of attributes among juxtaposed objects.
4) The abstract association between two things.

2 What does the author imply through “resemblance that becomes double”?
 1) The transformation of close-knit objects in a space due to the complex
association shared by them.
2) The similitude between uncongenial species enabled through continuous
exchange and interaction between them.
3) The semblance between a place and the properties of things that are part of it.
4) The reinforcing connection of similitude among contiguous objects in a space.

3 Which of the following can be concluded on the basis of the passage?

1) Things lack resemblance when they are not adjacent to one another.
2) Convenience alone is responsible for interaction between closely positioned
objects.
3) Resemblance between objects and their juxtaposition share a cyclical association.
4) Resemblance between things is strengthened when their association is doubly
convenient.

Directions for question 4:

The following question consists of a certain number of sentences. Some sentences are
grammatically incorrect or inappropriate. Identify the total number of sentences that are
grammatically incorrect.

Questions 4 and 5 carry 3 marks each.

4 1. To avoid blowing a fuse, he has developed a variety of rituals to distract himself:

2. playing of a few hands of solitaire, to take the dog for a walk, running
“meaningless errands,” and going to the kitchen to have a snack.
3. Driving is an especially useful respect, because it forces him to concentrate on the
road
4. and thus relieves his mind from the burden of thought.
5. Afterward, refreshed by the interval, return to work with a clearer mind is possible
for him.
Directions for question 5:
Arrange statements 1-4 given below in a logical sequence in order to form a coherent
paragraph. Your answer will be the order of statement numbers that forms this logical
sequence e.g. 2314.

5 1. It has the further advantage that its elastic constants and its size change in such a
way that the frequency dependence on temperature can be very low.
2. The resonant frequency of the plate, which depends on its size, will not change
much either, which means that a quartz clock, filter or oscillator will remain
accurate.
3. Quartz has the advantage of generating an electric field as it returns to its previous
shape, and this can generate a voltage.
4. For critical applications the quartz oscillator is mounted in a temperature-
controlled container, called a crystal oven, and can also be mounted on shock
absorbers to prevent perturbation by external mechanical vibrations.

Directions for questions 6 to 11: The passage given below is followed by a set of questions.
Choose the most appropriate answer to each question.

Questions 6 to 11 carry 3 marks each.

Punctuation!!!! Who needs it???? Do we really care that the italic typeface was invented
by a geezer called Aldus Manutius the Elder? Is it of interest to anyone that he was also
the man who printed the first semicolon? And is the semicolon really 'a compliment from
the writer to the reader'? Do you really have to count to two in between two related but
independent clauses before you use it? When is it correct to use an - er - ellipsis? Will not
an ordinary dash - like this one - do just as well?

Well, Lynne Truss, who is a little worried about the dash - I know how you feel, Lynne -
has written a 'zero- tolerance approach to punctuation' that aims to explain why it really
does matter. She has called it Eats, Shoots and Leaves, a title which comes from a joke in
which a panda goes into a bar, asks for a sandwich, eats it and then takes out a revolver
and fires it into the air. When the publican asks him what on earth he is doing, he throws
an animal handbook on to the bar and growls: I am a panda, look me up. The barman
flicks through the book and, under the relevant entry, reads: 'PANDA. Large, black-and-
white, bear-like mammal native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.' There are plenty of
laughs in this book. My favorite story is one about the American chap playing Duncan in
Macbeth, listening with appropriate pity and concern while a wounded soldier gives his
account of a battle and then cheerfully calling out: 'Go get him, surgeons!' And she
reminds us of that old gag loved by Spike Milligan that reworks a sentimental song lyric
into a domestic inquiry with one stroke of a comma - 'What is this thing called, love?' She
 tells - while we're on the subject of commas - a marvellous story about New Yorker editor
Harold Ross, who liked to put commas in far-flung places, rather in the spirit of a British
mountaineer scattering the Union flag in remote corners of the Himalayas. James Thurber,
who fought Ross's comma obsession manfully during his time on the magazine, was once
asked by a correspondent why the paper had printed a comma in the sentence: 'After
dinner, the men went into the living-room.' 'This particular comma,' Thurber explained,
'was Ross's way of giving the men time to push back their chairs and stand up.' Lynne
Truss's book is as much an argument for clear thinking as it is a pedantic defense of
obsolete conventions of written language. Well. Done. Lynne!!!!!!!
6 Which of the following best justifies the abundance of punctuation marks in the passage?

1) The writer is trying to argue that most punctuation marks are unnecessary in
normal writing.
2) While conceding some points to Lynne, the writer is trying to destroy the
argument that punctuation is not an argument in favor of clear thinking.
3) The reviewer is arguing for moderation in punctuation as compared with Lynne’s
zero tolerance approach to punctuation.
4) The reviewer is trying to show her appreciation of Lynne’s pedantic defense of
obsolete conventions of punctuation.

7 The title of Lynne’s book on punctuation, ‘Eats, Shoots and Leaves’ …

1) has an incorrect comma after ‘Eats.’

2) omits a comma incorrectly after ‘Shoots,’ creating an ambiguity.
3) is an accurate description of the panda.
4) while the handbook writer meant verbs, punctuation made them nouns.

8 The real situation in the example of the ‘chap playing Duncan in Macbeth’ was which of
the following?
1) The caller wanted to avenge the doctors.
2) The caller wanted the doctors to kill the patient.
3) The caller was asking for help from doctors.
4) The caller wanted the doctors to get the patient.
9 The tone of the author is …

1) cheerful and hilarious

2) conversational and witty
3) lighthearted and amusing
4) technical and humorous

10 What can be said about Lynne Truss's book from the passage?

1) Truss doesn't want her readers to care about grammar correctness

2) Truss stresses on the difference between a comma and a semi-colon
3) Truss mocks various writers on their usage of comma in their respective works
4) None of the above

11 The author says that New Yorker editor Harold Ross

1) used only a handful of commas in his writing

2) was particular about punctuation
3) wrote articles riddled with commas
4) used slapstick comedy in his writings

Directions for questions 12 to 14: The passage given below is followed by a set of questions.
Choose the most appropriate answer to each question.

Questions 12 to 14 carry 3 marks each.

De-realization affects both the subject and the objects of experience, such that their sense
of identity, constancy, and substance is upset or dissolved. Important precursors to this
notion are found in Kierkegaard, Marx and Nietzsche. Kierkegaard describes modern
society as a network of relations in which individuals are leveled into an abstract phantom
known as “the public”. The modern public, in contrast to ancient and medieval
 communities, is a creation of the press, which is the only instrument capable of holding
together the mass of unreal individuals who never are and never can be united in an actual
situation or organization. In this sense, society has become a realization of abstract
thought, held together by an artificial and all-pervasive medium speaking for everyone
and for no one. In Marx, on the other hand, we have an analysis of the fetishism of
commodities where objects lose the solidity of their use value and become spectral figures
under the aspect of exchange value. Their ghostly nature results from their absorption into
a network of social relations, where their values fluctuate independently of their corporeal
being. Human subjects themselves experience this de-realization because commodities are
products of their labor. Workers paradoxically lose their being in realizing themselves,
and this becomes emblematic for those professing a postmodern sensibility. Suggestions
of de-realization are also found in Nietzsche's writing, who speaks of being as “the last
breath of a vaporizing reality” and remarks upon the dissolution of the distinction between
the “real” and the “apparent” world. In Twilight of the Idols, he traces the history of this
distinction from Plato to his own time, where the “true world” becomes a useless and
superfluous idea. However, with the notion of the true world, he says, we have also done
away with the apparent one. What is left is neither real nor apparent, but something in
between, and therefore something akin to the virtual reality of more recent vintage.
12 Which of the following best defines Kierkegaard's idea of the modern society?

1) A cohesive grid of interconnected beings living outside of their individual values.

2) A corporeal and pervasive entity which aggregates the views of those within it.
3) A medium which brings together dissimilar individuals who can never be united
in reality.
4) An abstruse assemblage of distinct individuals which does not reflect their
subjectivity.

13 Which of the following can be concluded on the basis of the passage?

1) Conformity to the paradigm of collective identity erodes the essence of

individuals.
2) The notion of rigid social definitions is superfluous and futile in modern society.
3) Postmodern thought tends to abstract the views of individuals.
4) De-realization implies the equation of individuals with the products of their
labour.
14 If you were to interview the author, what would be your follow-up question to this
passage?
1) Were primeval communities less prone to the abstraction of individual identity?
2) How does de-realization affect the working class?
3) What is the role of the press in propagating the effects of de-realization?
4) How does individual identity contribute to the representation of the world?

Directions for question 15: Each of the questions below contains a paragraph followed by
alternative summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the paragraph.

Questions 15 to 17 carry 3 marks each.

15 In one sense, in fact, though this may be a little harder for you to understand, you are
sunlight yourselves; for the power in your muscles and nerves that makes you able to
jump and dance and sing and laugh and breathe is the sunlight which you have devoured
in bread and apples and potatoes, and which the plants had tanked up in through their
leaves in the long, sunny days of spring and summer.

1. Sunlight is stored by plants and then these plants are eaten by humans, who in turn
use this energy for all their activities.
2. The power of sun sustains all life like plants who take the sunlight in through their
leaves, and humans who use them for their everyday activities.
3. Every being possesses sunlight inside them by either drinking it directly like plants
or indirectly like humans, through plants.
4. All beings have sunlight within them for sustenance; plants get it directly through
their leaves while humans get it indirectly from plants.

Directions for question 16: Each of the following questions has a paragraph from which the
last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the
paragraph in the most appropriate way.

16 Aid is critical. It helps people in the poorest countries to meet their basic needs. It funds
innovation in the creation of new tools and services, and in their delivery. Unfortunately,
aid budgets are threatened by fiscal weakness in almost all of the advanced countries.
________.
 1. The long and painful austerity-induced economic environment that voters in rich
countries have faced means that they will obviously be less receptive to the very
concept of aid.
2. The long economic “winter” has made financial planners in advanced countries
slash their aid budgets to poor countries.
3. Furthermore, citizens of rich countries have become increasingly apathetic to the
fate of the millions of poor residing in the poorest countries.
4. Unless voters hear about the positive impact that their generosity is having, they
will inevitably focus on issues closer to home.

Directions for question 17:

Four sentences are given below labeled (1), (2), (3) and (4). Of these, three sentences need to
be arranged in a logical order to form a coherent paragraph/passage. Pick out the sentence
that does not fit the sequence.

17 1. It has no time or space for ethics - how many condemned the Godhra killings? - or
for moral politics.
2. That's why we won't have, at least not in a hurry, a Sean Penn who'll pitch a tent in
Haiti, help the war-ravaged for months and write about it for the papers back
home.
3. Filmmaking these days, barring a few exceptions, is more about commerce than art
and lofty ideals.
4. When Bollywood speaks up for Dutt - Jaya Bachchan wants to petition the
governor of Maharashtra for mercy - it shows itself up for what it has become.

Directions for questions 18 to 23: Answer the questions based on the passage given below.

Questions 18 to 23 carry 3 marks each.

While the Indus Civilization may be considered the culmination of a long process
indigenous to the Indus Valley, a number of parallels exist between developments on the
Indus and the rise of civilization in Mesopotamia. It is striking to compare the Indus with
this better-known and more fully documented region and to see how closely the two
coincide with respect to the emergence of cities and of such major concomitants of
civilization as writing, standardized weights and measures, and monumental architecture.
Thus, V. Gordon Childe wrote that: India confronts Egypt and Babylonia by the
 3rd millennium with a thoroughly individual and independent civilization of her own,
technically the peer of the rest. And plainly it is deeply rooted in Indian soil. The Indus
civilization represents a very perfect adjustment of human life to a specific environment.
And it has endured; it is already specifically Indian and forms the basis of modern Indian
culture.
The force of Childe's words can be appreciated even without an examination of the Indus
Valley script found on seals; the attention paid to domestic bathrooms, the drains, and the
Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro can all be compared with elements in the later Indian
civilization. The bullock carts with a framed canopy, called ikkas, and boats are little
changed to this day. The absence of pins and the love of bangles and of elaborate nose
ornaments are all peculiarly Indian. The religion of the Indus also is replete with
suggestions of traits known from later India. The significance of the bull, the tiger, and the
elephant; the composite animals; the seated yogi god of the seals; the tree spirits and the
objects resembling the Siva linga of later times--all these are suggestive of enduring forms
in later Indian civilization.
It is still impossible to do more than guess at the social organization or the political and
administrative control implied by this vast area of cultural uniformity. The evidence of
widespread trade in many commodities, the apparent uniformity of weights and measures,
the common script, and the uniformity--almost common currency--of the seals all indicate
some measure of political and economic control and point to the great cities Mohenjo-daro
and Harappa as their centers. The presence of the great granaries on the citadel mounds in
these cities and of the "citadels" themselves suggests-- on the analogies of the cities of
Mesopotamia--the existence of priest-kings, or at least of a priestly oligarchy, that
controlled the economy and civil government. The intellectual mechanism of this
government and the striking degree of control implicit in it are still matters of speculation.
Nor can scholars yet speak with any certainty regarding relations between the cities and
surrounding villages.
18 In his assessment of the Indus Valley civilization, V. Gordon Childe appears to stress on
which of the following?
1) The parallels between developments on the Indus and the rise of civilization in
Mesopotamia.
2) The similarity between the Indus civilization and the Mesopotamian civilization.
3) The Indianness of the Indus river Valley civilization.
4) The emergence of cities and the concomitants of Mesopotamian and Indus
civilizations.

19 The passage supports the inference that

A. The Mesopotamian and Indus River Valley civilizations existed

contemporaneously in the 3rd millennium before Christ.
 B. Both the Mesopotamian and Indus River Valley civilizations had developed the art
of writing and are completely documented.
C. An examination of the Indus Valley script yields the conclusion that the ancient
culture formed the basis of the modern Indian culture.

1) A only
2) A and C only
3) B only
4) B and C only

20 According to the passage, the comparison between the Egyptian-Babylonian civilization

and the Indus civilization helps support which of the following?

A. The economic and political control exercised by a king or the oligarchy.

B. Either the Egyptian-Babylonian or the Indus civilization culture was clearly
influenced by the other, or both by each other.
C. The evidence of widespread trade between the two civilizations in Mesopotamian
and Indus River Valley.
D. The similarity between the religious practices prevalent in the Babylonian and
Indus civilizations.

1) A only
2) B, C and D
3) A, B, and C
4) All of the above.

21 Which of the following will best introduce the passage? (Title)

1) Principal sites of the Indus Civilization.

2) The Indus Civilization, Character and significance
3) The Genesis Of Ancient Indus River Valley Civilization.
4) A history of the Ancient Indus River Valley Civilization.
22 Which of the following has not been stated in the passage as evidence pointing to the
existence of political and economic control in the civilization of Mesopotamia?
1) Uniformity of the designs of the seals
2) Uniformity of weights and measures
3) The common script
4) Popularity of bangles and nose ornaments

23 According to the author, why is it that an examination of Indus Valley script found on
seals is not necessary to validate the indigeneity of Indus civilization?
1) Elaborate urban infrastructure resembled elements in later Indian
civilization
2) Its writing system was found analogous to Indian script
3) Elaborate symbols drawn on to amulets and tablets by an ancient civilisation
belong to the Indian language
4) Discovery of literary elements such as modes of entertainment, culture and
pastimes reflect Indian culture

Directions for question 24:

Four sentences are given below labeled (1), (2), (3) and (4). Of these, three sentences need to
be arranged in a logical order to form a coherent paragraph/passage. Pick out the sentence
that does not fit the sequence.

Questions 24 and 25 carry 3 marks each.

24 1. To achieve this, they turned to an old idea: xerography.

2. Since then, movable type has given way to other processes, such as lithography
and screen-printing.
3. Printing has come a long way since Johannes Gutenberg perfected the commercial
use of the printing press around 1439.
4. In the digital era, laser and inkjet printers arrived.

Directions for question 25:

From the options, choose the one which can continue the paragraph most logically and
consistently.

25 There is big attention to corruption these days. People are exhorted to stop supporting
corruption, to blow the whistle when they witness corruption, etc. At the same time, after
much noise, few are actually doing it. After much thinking, I concluded that it was
because corruption provides some advantages. It makes things easier by bypassing
lengthier processes and bribes allow an unfavourable authority to become more pleasing.
Most people dislike being in the wrong, and fighting corruption is inconvenient at best and
can be downright dangerous. _____ .

1. Thus, the number of people supporting anti-corruption policies will always remain
low.
2. Thus, there are too many deterrents and very little motivation.
3. Thus, many are reluctant to be the bad guy by challenging wrong doing.
4. Thus, there is little motivation for one to get into actual trouble by fighting
corruption.

Directions for questions 26 to 31: Answer the questions based on the passage given below.

Questions 26 to 31 carry 3 marks each.

At the end of September 2016, the Indian motion picture producer’s association, India’s
largest organisation related to entertainment, announced a ban on all Pakistani artists. In
retaliation, Pakistan authorities imposed a complete ban on airing Indian content on all its
TV channels, including Bollywood movies. This cultural war, triggered by the September
Uri attacks in Kashmir, is far from new.
Until 1947, music, or more specifically classical music, in North India belonged to a
complex social universe. It was written and performed in princely establishments, courts
and bourgeois public spheres in cities. It was present in both Hindu Vaishnav temples and
Sufi Islamic silsilas – social circles that formed around specific teachers and followers,
where music was an integral channel for experiencing mystic ecstasy. North Indian music
flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries, in virtually all of Mughal North India. It was part
of a composite, Indo-Islamic culture, identified then as “ganga jumni tehzib”. The style
incorporated acoustic elements from diverse sources and rested on a multi-lingual
repertoire, conveying the simplicity of both Hindu bhakti and Islamic Sufi poetry. It
commanded diverse genres that moved reasonably effortlessly between court and kotha: a
space most commonly understood as brothel, but which was also part of the popular
entertainment scene.
North Indian music also adapted musical instruments from South and Central Asia to
produce new instruments such as the sitar and the sarod, and improvise with new
 conceptions of melody and vocalisation. This music was carefully nurtured by specialist
families with access to a vast repertoire and a galaxy of brilliant teachers, finding support
in small courts that persisted even after the Great Mutiny of 1857, when the Indian army
revolted. Following the mutiny, musical families were much reduced in power and stature
but found new enthusiasts among a growing middle-class gentry whose rise occurred in a
new context of western education and colonial employment. The heightened middle-class
appreciation of music was mediated through the experience of modernity, which
inevitably fed new anxieties about inheritance, culture and heritage that had to be
projected in a way that was appropriately modern, chaste and spiritual.
Music, practiced by courtesans and Muslim Ustads (teachers and masters), had to be
reconciled with the new aspirations of a western-educated, middle-class Hindu society.
They needed to repurpose this entertainment to suit a Hindu-accented concept of Indian-
ness. The resolution that unfolded was a series of experiments in the late 19th and early
20th century, including publishing primers on music and setting up music appreciation
societies. Ustads were persuaded to turn over their repertoire to be standardised and
printed, while courtesans were marginalised in subtle and sometimes violent ways.
Women were forced to give up their profession or move into new spaces afforded by the
cinema, refashioning themselves in an appropriate manner as Jaddan Bai, the mother of
legendary and pioneer Bollywood artist Nargis, did.
After Partition, these hereditary practitioners were asked for the first time to choose the
country they would live in. It was only then that the music of the region began to bear the
scars of a violent disruption and division. What was to happen even to the naming of this
practice – was it to be Hindustani classical music or ilm e mausiqi Pakistani? This was a
question that cut right to the heart of the problem; a question that musicians on both sides
of the divide agonised over even as they struggled to maintain claims to lineage and
authenticity. Artists moved across borders, confused by the way events transpired. Some
found it easy to settle down and make a niche for themselves, such as singer Noor Jehan,
who settled in Pakistan. Others found it difficult to juggle offers in India with stays in
Pakistan. There was no doubt that the violence of displacement and the zeal of the new
states to prove their fidelity to national identities represented a loss for performers.
Listeners too were ultimately losers, even if the politics of representation and consumption
numbed them to the fractures that music and performance practice had sustained.
We need to understand the shared nature of the subcontinent’s traditions, music perhaps
being the most deeply felt. As Bade Ghulam Ali is supposed to have said: Today, we live
in a world that is saturated with sights and sounds that leak across borders, despite
prohibitions and state posturings. In the digital age, bans make even less sense than older
versions of censorship. It appears mindless when governments speak of patriotism as
some extreme form of clan loyalty, before which all sensibilities have to wither away.
Equally disquieting is that we, as consumers of infotainment, almost never seriously
interrogate the banal but sinister intentions of government propaganda.
26 Based on the passage, what can be said about the author's writing style?

1) Narrative
2) Descriptive
 3) Analytical
4) Argumentative

27 What would be a suitable title for the passage?

1) The disharmonious history of musical censorship in India and Pakistan

2) A sad song of patriotism in India and Pakistan
3) The partition of classical music by politics
4) Classical music forced to choose sides

28 The passage mentions the following except:

1) The sarod and sitar were inspired from South and Central Asian musical
instruments.
2) Music was an integral channel for experiencing mystic ecstasy.
3) After independence, artists had to prove their fidelity to their country.
4) North Indian music flourished under the ganga jumni tehzib.

29 What was the key factor that led to the division of classical music between India and
Pakistan?
1) The musical reformation experiments of the late 19th and early 20th century.
2) The September Uri attacks in Kashmir
3) The Great Mutiny of 1857
4) The partition in 1947.

30 Why were Ustads persuaded to turn over their repertoire to be standardised and printed?

1) because they had to acquiesce to the taste of a Hindu-accented concept of Indian-

ness.
 2) because they were reduced in power and stature after the Great Mutiny of 1857.
3) because they were afraid of being forced to give up their profession.
4) because they wanted to be a part of the experiment of the late 19th and early
20th century that involved publishing primers on music and setting up music
appreciation societies.

31 Which of the following portrays the following statement:

“Today, we live in a world that is saturated with sights and sounds that leak across
borders, despite prohibitions and state posturings.”
1) The music across borders are muddled by the shared nature of the subcontinent’s
traditions.
2) India and Pakistan have tried to suppress their shared musical lineage using
patriotism as a front.
3) The kindred musical lineage of India and Pakistan will find their way over the
barriers constructed by governments.
4) The musicians and listeners of India and Pakistan were the casualties caught in
the crossfire between both governments.

Directions for question 32:

Arrange statements 1-5 given below in a logical sequence in order to form a coherent
paragraph. Your answer will be the order of statement numbers that forms this logical
sequence e.g. 23514.

Questions 32 to 34 carry 3 marks each.

32 1. An a priori concept is one that can be acquired independently of experience,

which may- but need not- involve its being innate, while the acquisition of an a
posteriori concept requires experience.
2. Correspondingly, an a posteriori proposition is knowable a posteriori, while an a
posteriori argument is one the premises of which are a posteriori propositions.
3. An a priori proposition is one that is knowable a priori and an a priori argument is
one the premises of which are a priori propositions.
4. The a priori / a posteriori distinction is sometimes applied to things other than
ways of knowing, for instance, to propositions and arguments.
5. The a priori / a posteriori distinction has also been applied to concepts.
Directions for question 33: From among the options, choose the summary of the passage that
is written in the same style as that of the passage.

33 It is fashionable nowadays to talk about personal attention as a commodity or even a

currency. Many companies are looking for ways to automate the act of “paying attention”
to individual customers on a grand scale, even as many of them also confuse attention
with intention (to buy). Indeed, “attention” is becoming more interesting now that the
Internet makes it easier to measure it. But attention is neither a currency nor a commodity.
It can be bought and sold, to some extent, but it cannot be traded to third parties, and it is
not entirely fungible.

1. Believing in the fungibility of personal attention which has become measurable

because of the internet, companies have mistaken it to be an intention to buy.
2. Companies are increasingly treating “personal attention” as fungible as a
commodity or currency and automating the act and measuring it on the internet.
3. Companies do not realize that “personal attention” is not entirely fungible; hence,
the attempts to automate the act and measure it are bound to ultimate failure.
4. Though “personal attention” to customers is not a commodity or currency,
companies are trying to automate the act which has become measurable because of
the internet.

Directions for question 34:

The following question consists of a certain number of sentences. Some sentences are
grammatically incorrect or inappropriate. Identify the total number of sentences that are
grammatically incorrect.

34 1. Latter scholars have misread Sun Tzu, distorting his words and trying to make
them square with their own one-sided views.
2. Thus, though commentators have not been lacking, only a few have proved equal
to the task.
3. In attempting to provide a critical commentary for Sun Tzu's work, he does not
lose sight of the fact that these sayings were intended for states engaged in
warfare.
4. Sun Wu loved brevity of diction.
5. Whether the subject be marching an army, or handling soldiers, or estimating the
enemy, or control the forces of victory, it is always systematically treated; the
sayings are bound together in strict logical sequence, though this has been
obscured by commentators who have probably failed to grasp their meaning.
DILR

Directions for questions 35 to 38:

Answer the following question based on the information given below.

Questions 35 to 38 carry 3 marks each.

A firm evaluates the performance of five of its employees and their annual increments are
based on their performance rankings.The firm gives an increment of 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25
percent, in decreasing order of ranks. Thus, the worst performing person is ranked 5 and
gets 5% increment. The top three employees also receive a bonus (in Rs.) of 5000, 3000
and 2000 respectively. The salary of all employees is Rs. 10,000 in the year 2000. In a
certain year, no two employees get the same increment. The table shows the sum of
percentage increments for all five employees after 3 years and 5 years respectively.

i. Four employees repeated one of their bonus amounts exactly once.

ii. Only three employees managed to get the highest increment such that B and E
were two of them.
iii. All the five employees were ranked third and fifth at least once.
iv. All the employees got the same rank exactly twice.
v. C got the least bonus in 2005 and B got no bonus in 2002.
vi. Only C and D got the same rank in two consecutive years.
vii. E missed out on bonus in two consecutive years.

35 Who got the highest bonus amongst all ?

1) B only
2) D only
3) B, D and E
4) None of the above

36 What was the highest total increment (in Rs.) given to any one at the end of three years?
37 How many employees at least doubled their salary (excluding bonus) at the end of 5
years?

38 What is the average bonus given out by the company, per employee per year?

Directions for questions 39 to 42:

Answer the following question based on the information given below.

Questions 39 to 42 carry 3 marks each.

A company ABC manufactures and sells 2 products; X and Y.

The product X is such that 30% of the product sold in a particular year gets spoilt in 2
years, while 50% gets spoilt in 3 years and the remaining 20% gets spoilt in 4 years.

The product Y is such that 40% of the product sold in a particular year gets spoilt in 3
years and the remaining gets spoilt in 4 years.

The sales pattern of the 2 products is as shown below but it is not known as to which
graph corresponds to which product.

Assume that all products sold in a particular year are sold off on the first day of that year
and that count of spoilt goods is considered as on the last day of the year.
39 What can be the maximum total quantity of Product X functioning without any spoilage in
the market in the second last week of 2010?
1) 432
2) 502
3) 482
4) 527

40 In 2012, there are 4 companies including ABC selling product Y in the market. If at the
end of 2012, the number of units of products Y for the other 3 companies is 320, 350 and
400, what is the maximum volume wise market share of ABC for product Y, when the
stock is taken at EOD on 31st December 2012?
1) 38%
2) 35.54%
3) 39.72%
4) None of these

41 ABC sales product X at Rs. 24,000 per unit and product Y at Rs. 32,000 per unit. Find the
revenue generated by the company in the given span.
1) Rs. 5,99,20,000
 2) Rs. 6,10,40,000
3) (1) or (2)
4) None of these

42 What is the maximum number of pieces of product X that have been replaced by ABC till
the end of 2012? ABC replaces every piece that gets spoilt.
1) 358
2) 828
3) 712
4) 788

Directions for questions 43 to 46:

Answer the following question based on the information given below.

Questions 43 to 46 carry 3 marks each.

Given below is a set of inter-related activities required to complete a project undertaken

by a contractor.

Crash time indicates the time in which the corresponding activity can be completed at the
earliest along with the corresponding cost involved i.e., crash cost. This crash cost for any
activity gets proportionately reduced if the duration (crash time) is increased.

For example, if activity B is to be completed in four weeks, then the cost involved would
be Rs. 4,000. On the other hand, if this activity is crashed by one week then the additional
 cost will be Rs. 1,000 and if it is crashed by two weeks and is now completed in two
weeks then the corresponding additional cost would be Rs. 2,000 i.e. Activity B can also
be completed in 2 weeks at a cost of Rs. 6,000.

Assume that all the dependent activities commence immediately on completion of the
activities preceding them.
43 If the project is to be completed in 10 weeks, then what would be the minimum cost
involved in the project?
1) Rs. 24,000
2) Rs. 25,000
3) Rs. 24,500
4) Rs. 23,500

44 The contractor has bagged the contract on the condition that it would be completed in
eight weeks. If a penalty of Rs. 2,500 per week is to be levied for late completion of the
project and a bonus of Rs. 1,000 per week is to be awarded to the contractor for early
completion of the project, then which of the following conditions would be ideal for the
contractor if the only parameter used is the cost involved?
1) Complete the project in 8 weeks.
2) Complete the project in 9 weeks.
3) Complete the project in 11 weeks.
4) Complete the project in 7 weeks.

45 Taking the appropriate condition from the previous question, if activity B starts late by 2
weeks, then what would be the minimum cost involved in the project?
1) Rs. 29,500
2) Rs. 31,500
3) Rs. 30,500
4) Rs. 29,000
46 What would be the ratio of the minimum time to maximum time required for the
completion of the project? (Events that can be done simultaneously have to be done
simultaneously).
1) 0.73
2) 0.66
3) 0.78
4) 0.8

Directions for questions 47 to 50:

Answer the following question based on the information given below.

Questions 47 to 50 carry 3 marks each.

The people of three towns - X, Y and Z - use two products - A and B - and live in three
different types of flats - LIG, MIG and HIG. For every town, the table below shows the
ratio of the number of people preferring a particular product-flat type combination to the
total population of that town. In the table, ‘product A’ implies people using product A
,‘product B’ implies people using product B and so on. The population of towns X and Y is
10000 and 12000 respectively.

4 The number of people in town Y that live in MIG flats and use product B is the same as the
7 number of people in town Z that live in MIG flats and use product A. Which of the
following statements is true?
1) There are more users of product A in town X than in town Y.
2) The highest number of users of product A live in HIG flats.
3) The highest number of users of product B live in LIG flats.
4) All of the above.

48 If a person is chosen at random from any of the towns, then the probability that a person
from town X uses neither product A nor B is 1/30. What is the population of town Z?
49 Consider the two statements given and identify the statement(s) that are required to
answer this question: What is the number of people in HIG flats?

I. The ratio of the number of people living in HIG flats and using neither product to
those using both the products is 51 : 154.
II. The total number of people using product B is 21350.

1) I only
2) Either I or II
3) Both I and II
4) Neither I nor II

50 What is the total number of people from X and Y who use both products?

Directions for questions 51 to 54:

Answer the following question based on the information given below.

Questions 51 to 54 carry 3 marks each.

The graph below gives the percentage population of Engineers and Doctors in four cities
as a percentage of the total graduates in these cities. Apart from Doctors and Engineers all
other graduates were placed in the category of others.
51 If the number of other graduates in Bangalore exceeds the number of other graduates in
Delhi by 20%, then by what percentage does the number of Doctors in Bangalore exceed
by when compared to Doctors in Delhi?
1) 75
2) 20
3) 50
4) 87

52 If the total number of graduates in Hyderabad is 20% more than that of Mumbai, then the
number of Engineers in Mumbai forms what percentage of the other graduates in
Hyderabad?
1) 45
2) 50
3) 55.55
4) 72.87

53 If the number of Engineers in each of the four cities is the same, then the number of
Doctors is greatest in which of the cities?
1) Hyderabad
 2) Bangalore
3) Delhi
4) Mumbai

54 If the number of Doctors in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore are in a decreasing
order and the number of other graduates in these cities is denoted
by a, b, c and d respectively, then which of the following is always true?
1) b < c
2) c > d
3) d < a
4) Both 2 and 3

Directions for questions 55 to 58:

Answer the following question based on the information given below.

Questions 55 to 58 carry 3 marks each.

Nikhil had visited his family for a function and was sitting with his five nieces - Deepa,
Aditi, Tanvi, Usha and Manisha - who were trying to guess his 4-digit credit card pin. He
told them that his card had no digit greater than 4 and no zero in it. Also, he offered Rs.
100 to correctly guess the first digit and Rs. 200, Rs. 300 and Rs. 400 to correctly guess
the 2nd, 3rd and 4th digits respectively. He would not penalize them for any wrong guess.
Part guesses of these people are shown in the below table:

It is also known that

 Usha did not guess the same number for any two digits and earned the lowest
possible amount.
 Aditi earned less than Manisha.
  All the digits of his pin are distinct.
 Aditi guessed two different values for the first two digits, but these values weren’t
2 or 4.
 No two people correctly guessed the same number of digits.

55 Who earned the maximum money?

1) Deepa
2) Aditi
3) Tanvi
4) Manisha

56 What is his pin number?

57 What amount (in Rs.) did he distribute in all?

58 Which digit was correctly guessed by the maximum number of persons?

1) 1st
2) 2nd
3) 3rd
4) 4th

Directions for questions 59 to 62:

Answer the following question based on the information given below.

Questions 59 to 62 carry 3 marks each.

 The investment portfolios of certain business families included mutual funds of two
categories: Equity and Debt. To take care of the flip side of the market, these business
families had come out with a proposal to create a contingency fund, the funding of which
would be done by each business family on a monthly basis through withdrawals from the
mutual funds that these families had. It was decided that the withdrawal from each Equity
fund would be either Rs. 1,000 or Rs. 2,000 every month, the amount remaining the same
for every Equity fund for that month; and that from each Debt fund would be Rs. 2,000 or
Rs. 3,000 every month, the amount remaining the same for every Debt fund for that
month. This would hold good for all the business families.

The collection details of various business families are as shown in the table below:

Further details on collection as observed for first five months were as given below:

Rs. 2,000 was withdrawn from every fund of every Business family for exactly two
months, which were necessarily different for each family. For each of the remaining three
months, within any business family, the amount withdrawn from one Debt fund did not
equal the amount withdrawn from one Equity fund. Moreover, the combination of
amounts withdrawn was not repeated; i.e. if B1 had withdrawn Rs. 2,000 from Equity
Funds and Rs. 3,000 from Debt Funds in the month of January, then B1 cannot withdraw
the same combination of Rs. 2,000 from Equity and Rs. 3,000 from Debt in any other
month.

B1 withdrew Rs. 2,000 from every fund in the 1st and 2nd month.

B2 withdrew Rs. 2,000 from every fund in the 2nd and 3rd month.

B6 withdrew Rs. 2,000 from every fund in the 2nd and 4th month.
59 What was the number of mutual funds that were held by Business family B4?
 1) 7
2) 4
3) 5
4) Cannot be determined

60 What was the total amount withdrawn by B3 (in Rs.’000) in the last two months?

1) 4
2) 10
3) 15
4) 18

61 What was the maximum amount withdrawn by B1 (in Rs.’000) in any of the given
months?
1) 13
2) 17
3) 10
4) Cannot be determined

62 What was the amount withdrawn by B1 (in Rs.’000) in April of the given period?

1) 10
2) 13
3) 9
4) Cannot be determined

Directions for questions 63 to 66:

Answer the following question based on the information given below.
Questions 63 to 66 carry 3 marks each.

After the elections, in the year 2080, in the state of Newtonia, four parties A, B, C and D
form a coalition government. As party A has the maximum number of seats in the
alliance, it gets the post of Prime Minister (PM). There are four more posts, Home
Minister (HM), Finance Minister (FM), External Affairs Minister (EM) and Defence
Minister (DM).

All the four parties are going to be allotted one post each. The parties put forward the
following conditions before the PM, who is going to allocate the ministries:

1. If A gets HM, then B does not get EM.

2. If C gets EM, then D does not get FM.
3. If B does not get HM, then D gets DM.
4. If C does not get FM, then D gets FM.
5. If D gets EM, then A does not get DM.

63 Which party gets the Home Ministry?

1) A
2) B
3) C
4) C or D

64 A gets which of the following ministries?

1) EM
2) HM
3) DM
4) DM or HM

65 Which party gets the Defence Ministry?

1) A
2) D
 3) C
4) D or C

66 Which of the following statements is sufficient to find which party got the defence
ministry?
1) C does not get FM
2) B gets HM
3) Both 1 and 2 are individually sufficient
4) Both 1 and 2 are required
QA

Questions 67 to 100 carry 3 marks each.

67 There is a group of 5 boys, all of whose ages are natural numbers and the average of their
ages is taken. The eldest boy leaves the group after having a fight. Now the average age of
the rest of the boys drops by 2 years. The same pattern continues till only the last boy is
left who exclaims, “Had our entire group been together, the average age of our group next
year, would have been 16 years”. What is the present age of the boy?
1) 7 years
2) 9 years
3) 5 years
4) 10 years

68 A survey shows that 50%, 75% and 41% of the people study physics, chemistry and
mathematics respectively. 30% people study exactly two of the three subjects and 10%
study none. What percentage of people study all the three subjects?

69 A thread of length (l = 31cm) is tied to two points A and B (AB = 25 cm ) and another
point C on thread moves to one side of segment AB such that the rope does not sag and it
traces a semi circle. Find the summation of lengths of perpendiculars drawn from point C
to segment AB.
1)

2)

3) 625π
4) None of these

70 Two numbers are such that the ratio of the sum of the two numbers, the difference
between the squares of the numbers and one more than product of the two numbers is 1 : 2
: 4. What is the sum of the squares of the two numbers?
71 The sum of the present ages of Ramesh and Suresh is thrice the sum of their ages ten years
ago. What is the square root of the sum of the squares of their present ages if the product
of their present ages is equal to 112?

72 It is given that ∆OXY is an equilateral triangle with O being the origin. Coordinates of X
and Y are (x, 1.5 ) and (3, y) respectively. Find the value of xy.
1)

2)

3)

4) None of these

73 If digits of a five digit number in base N are increased by 1, the decimal value of the
number increases by 16105. What is the sum of digits of N?
1) 9
2) 7
3) 2
4) None of these

74 Find the sum of the real roots of the equation:

1) 9
2) –6
3) –13
 4) –21

75 To reach school on time, a boy ran at 15 km/hr from home. While running at 15 km/hr he
burnt 650% more calories than what it takes to walk to school at 6 km/hr. He can walk a
maximum distance of 35 km at 6 km/hr. How much the boy ran if he burnt all his calories
just when he reached the school?
1) 3.67 km
2) 7 km
3) 17.5 km
4) None of these

76 ABCD is a trapezium, with AB and CD as the parallel sides. AB measures 10 cm and CD

measures 31 cm. If BC measures 20 cm and AD measures 13 cm, find the area of ABCD.
1) 224 cm2
2) 232 cm2
3) 238 cm2
4) 246 cm2

77

Find the value of x.

1) 3
2) 9
3) 6
4) 27
78 ∆LMN is a right angled triangle with LN as the hypotenuse. Point P is such that L-P-N
and LP : PN = 4 : 5. Perpendiculars drawn from a point P on LM and MN are equal. What
is the area of ∆LMN if LN = 82 units?
1) 820 sq. units
2) 410 sq. units
3) 1640 sq. units
4) None of these

79 The interest obtained in the first two years and first three years on a sum invested,
compounded annually, were 1000 and 1900 respectively. What was the rate of interest? (
Enter integers only )

80 A shopkeeper sells 50 kg of rice at its cost price, but he uses a weight of 900 gm for the 1
kg weight. What is the total profit made by shopkeeper on selling 50 kg if 7 kg of rice, as
weighed by the shopkeeper, costs a customer Rs. 112?
1) Rs. 60
2) Rs. 45
3) Rs. 80
4) Rs. 100

81 In how many ways can you arrange 4 balls of the same size from left to right after
selecting them from one pink, one green, one black, one violet, one white, two red, two
yellow and two blue balls?
1) 990
2) 1980
3) 1950
4) 2454
82 ‘xyz’ is a three digit number where x, y and z denotes digits of the number. If ‘xyzxyz’ is
a six digit number which has 56 factors then what is the number of factors for ‘xyz’. (
Enter Integer only )

83 Four boys and two girls are to be seated on six chairs around a circular table. There is
exactly one flower pot in the room containing the circular table such that it lies behind one
of the chairs. In how many ways can the people be seated around the table such that the
girls are not seated next to each other?(Enter Integers only )

84 A rectangular plot of dimensions 120 m × 90 m is being worked upon. A rectangular

swimming pool of dimensions 1/3rd of that of the plot and depth of 5 metres is to be
constructed in the middle of the plot. The mud dug out of the plot is to be used to fill up
four cylindrical barrels at the corners of the plot and raise the height of the rest of the plot.
If the radius and height of the cylindrical barrel is 7 m what will be the increase in the
height of the plot (in cm)? (Note: Round off your answer to the nearest integer, if
required.)

85 Let x and y be positive integers. Which of the following set of values satisfies the
equation?

x2 − 2y2 = 1
1) (325, 300)
2) (501, 250)
3) (576, 490)
4) (577, 408)

86 There are two types of workers in a plant – skilled and unskilled. A single skilled worker
can complete a given job in 15 hours, and a single unskilled worker will take 60 hours for
the same job. One day, a certain nonzero number of skilled workers and a certain nonzero
number of unskilled workers worked together on this job, and completed it in 3 hours. If
 the total number of workers was odd, what was the minimum possible number of workers
who could have worked on it?
1) 9
2) 11
3) 13
4) 15

87 60% members of the Kapoor family are male and 60% members of the same Kapoor
family are married. 55% members of the Mehta family are female and the number of
couples in the Mehta family is 45% of the total number of members in that family.

If 70% of the total number of members from both the families are married, then what is
the ratio of single males to single females from both the families? (Assume that all
the married people are part of a couple and that no married person is either widowed or
divorced.)
1) 2 : 3
2) 1 : 2
3) 2 : 1
4) 3 : 2

88 An ant carries some sugar from sugar jar to her burrow for 6 days. On nth day she carries
S(n) milligrams of sugar where n varies as 1,2,3,4,5,6. S(1) = ? , S(2) = 285.714, S(3) =
428.571, S(4) = ? , S(5) = 714.285, S(6) = 857.142. What are the values of S(1) and S(4)?
1) 142.857, 487.512
2) 142.857, 571.428
3) 214.758, 572.418
4) 172.854, 512.784

89 a is k percent more than b. If a increases by 10% then k increases by 15%. If b increases

by 10% then k will?
1) Decrease by 5%
2) Decrease by 9.5%
 3) Decrease by 11.5%
4) Decrease by 13.5%

90 It is known that two circles of radii 3 cm and 6 cm have at most 1 common tangent. Let d
and D be the minimum and maximum possible distances between their centres. What is
the value (in cm) of |D − d|?
1) 1.5
2) 3
3) 4.5
4) 6

91 A bag contains 3 white,3 black and 2 red balls. Balls are drawn out one by one without
replacement. What is the probability that the 3rd ball drawn is red?
1) 0.15
2) 0.37
3) 0.25
4) 0.16

92 The angle of elevation of a pole was observed to be 45 degrees from 2 points B and D on
the ground. If the foot of the pole is A, and angle ABD = 45° and the distance BD = 25 m,
what is the height of the pole ?
1) 25 m
2)

3)

4)
93 Which of the following are the lengths of the sides of an obtuse angled triangle?

1) 3, 5, 9
2) n2, (n2 + 1), (2n2 + 3)
3) 3, 4, 5
4) 10, 10, 17

94 If area under the curve of the equation |3x – 14| + |2y – 13| ≤ 4 is A units. What is the
value of 3A ? ( Enter integers only )

95 Rakesh travels from Rampur to Sitapur, 84 km apart, in 17 hours and reaches 6 hours late
than when he had intended to. At what speed should Rakesh travel in order to reach 4
hours earlier than the intended time?
1) 14 km/hour
2) 12 km/hour
3) 9 km/hour
4) 10.05 km/hour

96 Find the tens digit for the following

210 × 48 × 86 × 164 × 322

1) 3
2) 5
3) 2
4) 9

97 Ram, Shyam and Sundaram are three friends who are building a wall. They decide to split
the work of building the wall in three equal parts amongst themselves and start working
on it simultaneously. Ram completes his part of the wall in 4 hours and helps Shyam to
complete his part of the wall in one more hour. Then both Ram and Shyam help Sundaram
 to complete his part of the wall in one more hour. If all of them would have worked with
the efficiency of Sundaram, how much time would they have taken to finish the wall?
1) 16 hours
2) 9 hours
3) 10 hours
4) 15 hours

98 In 2008, real estate business was not doing well because of decline of the sector in share
market. Therefore, Bhatia family decided to sell their bungalow to Patel family at a loss of
5%. If Bhatia family had been able to sell their bungalow at a gain of 8%, then they would
have earned Rs. 1,56,000 more than what they earned. Find the cost price (in Rs.) of the
bungalow. ( Enter your answer in numbers only without any commas or special
characters).

99 It normally takes 64 minutes to mow down an equilateral triangle shaped field. How many
more minutes will be taken to mow the same triangle shaped field with each side
increased by 37.5%. ( Answer in Minutes )

100 The sum of five terms in A.P is 20 and the sum of their squares is 330. What will be the
sum of the smallest and largest of the five numbers?