CAT Questions | CAT Paragraph Summary Questions

CAT Verbal Ability | Paragraph Summary for CAT

The following questions are from Paragraph Summary for Verbal Ability for CAT. Have a look at some examples below. Paragraph Summary questions often feature in the CAT. Given a paragraph and four choices, you are asked to choose the option that summarizes the paragraph best. Comprehending the paragraph is key to solving these. Let us look at some examples below. If you would like to take these questions as a Quiz, head on here to take these questions in a test format, absolutely free.

CAT Paragraph Summary: Totalitarianism and Intellectual Liberty

Totalitarianism is not always operated by diktat. It can be insinuated by suggestion and replication. Dissent does not have to be banned if it is countered by orchestrated mass promo rallies and hypnotizing oratory. Despotic establishments do not need to turn Hitlerian; all they need to do is to let the Reich chemistry work. Self-regulation and self-censorship will click in. Then any dissident who wants to retain his intellectual liberty will find himself thwarted by the general drift of society rather than by active persecution.
1. Totalitarianism is generally operated by undermining freedom of expression through active persecution and censorship.
2. Hypnotizing oratory and promo rallies can effectively counter dissent and lead to persecution of the masses.
3. Self-regulation and self-censorship in societies stifle freedom of expression.
4. Intellectual liberty does not have to be repressed by authority if there are self-appointed vigilantes to bully it into silence.
Choice D
CAT Paragraph Summary: Violence and Apocalyptic Myths

Modern history abounds with violence fueled by apocalyptic myths, not always explicitly religious in nature. The aim of the Jacobin terror in revolutionary France was the creation of a modern state. If the violent suppression of the peasant revolt in the Vendée is included, the casualties ran into the hundreds of thousands. The myths that possessed these anarchists in their campaigns of assassination were secular myths of social transformation. Lenin avowedly followed the Jacobin example when he used the Cheka to create a modern state in Russia. One of the factors that distinguished Nazism and fascism from conventional tyrannies was the belief that a new society could be fashioned by the systematic use of terror. Violent jihadism has more in common with these modern totalitarian movements than is commonly supposed.
1. Violent jihadism is justified on the secular myth of social transformation, rather than the idea of religious apocalypse.
2. The myth of social transformation has underpinned many totalitarian movements in modern history, and violent jihadism too exploits this.
3. Although it is believed that violence is fueled by religion, the reality is that it is unleashed on the premise of the creation of a modern state.
4. Modern history illustrates that it is a myth that societies can be transformed by the systematic use of terror.
Choice B
CAT Paragraph Summary: The Evolution of Telegraphic Languages

When a language seems especially telegraphic (that is, requiring less to be actually said to put a sentence together), it is usually because enough adults learnt it at a certain stage in its history that, given the difficulty of learning a new language after childhood, it became a kind of stripped-down “schoolroom” version of itself. Because all languages, are, to some extent, busier than they need to be, this streamlining leaves the language thoroughly complex and nuanced, just lighter on the bric-a-brac that so many languages pant under. For example, Indonesian, one of the most economical languages in the world, is a first language to only one in four of its speakers; the language has been used for many centuries as a lingua franca in a vast region, imposed on speakers of several hundred languages. This means that while other languages can be like overgrown lawns, Indonesian’s grammar has been regularly mowed, such that especially the colloquial forms are tidier.
1. When a language has been used for many centuries as the lingua franca in a vast region, it becomes especially telegraphic.
2. Languages become less "busy" and more nuanced when imposed over long periods of time on new people, who learn it as adults.
3. When more adults who are non-native speakers are forced, over time, to learn a language, its colloquial forms become cryptic.
4. In languages that have been spoken for centuries over vast regions, time and repetition wear words out, and what wears away is often a nugget of meaning.
Choice B
CAT Paragraph Summary: Democracy and Liberal Values

Nineteenth-century liberals recognized that democracy comes in various forms, and dreaded the version advocated by Rousseau, in which an inspired lawgiver interprets and implements the will of the people. Nowadays such fears are dismissed as elitist. But the old-fashioned liberals grasped a vital truth: popular government has no necessary connection with the freedom of individuals or minorities. Of course, liberals today will say this can be remedied by installing the rule of constitutional rights. Such systems are fragile, however, and count for nothing when large sections of society are indifferent or actively hostile to liberal values. Where this is the case, democracy means not much more than the tyranny of the majority.
1. Inspired lawgivers in liberal democracies are better equipped to interpret and implement the will of the people than in illiberal democracies.
2. Nineteenth-century liberals believed that democracy means not much more than the tyranny of the majority.
3. Constitutional rights are fragile and ineffective in ensuring protection of the freedom of individuals in any democracy.
4. Popular governments in illiberal democracies use the power of the majority to clamp down on the freedom of minorities.
Choice D
CAT Paragraph Summary: Studio-Era Movies and Artistic Authenticity

Cheapness and its cinematic markers, such as hand-held camera work and low or high-contrast light, aren’t themselves guarantors of a tone of artistic authenticity. In fact, they’re often misused by filmmakers short of inspiration as badges of sincerity that take the place of actual artistry. The theatrical realism of many older, ostensibly classic movies have dated terribly and reflect the very exclusions and compromises of the system that produced them. Only the ingenious exertions and inventions of a slender minority of great filmmakers could circumvent and override them. Yet, critics fetishize the styles of studio-era movies and take them for an enduring and immutable aesthetic standard – as if, with an appreciation of Shakespeare came a comparable fixation on lesser Elizabethans and a disdain for latter-day dramatists for not writing in iambic pentameter.
1. Nostalgia for movies as they were made in the past converges to nostalgic exaltation of their production methods.
2. Rather than imitating the styles of studio-era movies in a bid to achieve artistic authenticity, filmmakers need to focus on inventive ideas and realistic themes.
3. Only the brilliance and resourcefulness of small minority of great filmmakers could overcome the hurdles posed by budget constraints in studio-era movies.
4. The veneration of the styles and production methods of low-budget movies of the studio-era as the ideal aesthetic standard is misguided.
Choice D
CAT Paragraph Summary: High-Level Mathematical Thinking

A recent study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has shown that high-level mathematical reasoning rests on a set of brain areas that do not overlap with the classical left-hemisphere regions involved in verbal semantics. Instead, all domains of mathematics tested (algebra, analysis, geometry, and topology) recruit a bilateral network, of prefrontal, parietal, and inferior temporal regions, which is also activated when mathematicians or non-mathematicians recognize and manipulate numbers mentally. These results suggest that high-level mathematical thinking makes minimal use of language areas and instead recruits circuits initially involved in space and number. This result may explain why knowledge of number and space, during early childhood, predicts mathematical achievement.
1. High-level mathematical expertise and basic number sense share common roots in a non-linguistic brain circuit.
2. Regardless of domain- algebra, analysis,geometry or topology- mathematicians recognize and manipulate numbers mentally.
3. Classic left-hemisphere regions involved in verbal semantics are not as well developed in mathematicians as the brain areas involving number and space.
4. The mathematical achievement of an individual can be predicted based on his knowledge of number, space and language during childhood.
Choice A
CAT Paragraph Summary: What Led to the Holocaust

Since the Holocaust is an axial event of modern history, its misunderstanding turns our minds in the wrong direction. When the Holocaust is blamed on the modern state, the weakening of state authority appears salutary. On the political right, the erosion of state power by international capitalism seems natural; on the political left, rudderless revolutions portray themselves as virtuous. In the 21st century, anarchical protest movements join in a friendly tussle with global oligarchy, in which neither side can be hurt since both see the real enemy as the state. Both the left and the right tend to fear order rather than its destruction or absence.
1. The Holocaust was a result of an all-powerful state, which forced order through fear and crushed dissent from both the political right and the political left.
2. Following the Holocaust, the power of the state has been systematically eroded by international capitalism and rudderless revolutions, as both the right and the left fear order more than its absence.
3. The weakened state is the fundamental reason for disorder in the world, be it anarchical uprisings, global oligarchy or the Holocaust.
4. The Holocaust is not to be blamed on the modern state, but on the tussle between the political right and the political left.
Choice C
CAT Paragraph Summary: The Pursuit of Audience

Journalism may never have been as public-spirited an enterprise as editors and writers liked to think it was. Yet the myth mattered. It pushed journalism to challenge power; it made journalists loath to bend to the whims of their audience; it provided a crucial sense of detachment. The new generation of media giants that dominates journalism today has no patience for the old ethos of detachment. It’s not that these companies don’t have aspirations toward journalistic greatness. BuzzFeed, Vice, and the Huffington Post invest in excellent reporting and employ first-rate journalists—and they have produced some of the most memorable pieces of investigative journalism in this century. But in the pursuit of audience, they have allowed the endless feedback loop of the web to shape their editorial sensibility and determine their editorial investments.
1. The belief that editorial insight can be engineered with the help of audience feedback loops has eroded the very nature of journalism.
2. The ethos of detachment and social-consciousness that marked journalism earlier has been progressively eroded by the relentless pursuit of the audience by media giants.
3. By playing to the audience, media giants that have engulfed journalism today have shattered the myth of detachment and compromised editorial sensibility.
4. The steady rise in the role of media giants in journalism and their strategic pursuit of the audience has had a damaging effect on the quality of journalism and its ethos.
Choice C
CAT Paragraph Summary: Political Homogenisation

Much has rightly been made of the problem of political polarisation, but not nearly as much has been said about the problem of political homogenisation. Both are toxic to public discourse. While the former makes for awkward conversations at the family dinner table, the latter buries difficult conversations. Where agreement is sought without a decent discussion, opinion corridors form, limiting the range of ideas tolerated in public discourse. Where all views are not heard in appropriate discussion, the only alternative is inappropriate discussion. And populist rhetoric cuts through this muffled discussion culture like a hot knife through butter, as the pent-up need to be heard surfaces.
1. Political ambivalence is as harmful to public discourse as political polarisation.
2. By subduing discussion, political homogenisation can lead to the rise of populism.
3. When opinion across the political spectrum is not heard, public discourse is crippled.
4. Political homogenisation is as much a cause for rise of populism as political polarisation.
Choice B
CAT Paragraph Summary: Hydropower

Though they do not involve burning dirty fossil fuels, hydropower projects are not emissions free. Often, large dams flood vast vegetated areas. As a result, the vegetation rots under water. Eventually, this leads to the release of methane, a greenhouse gas 34 times as potent as carbon dioxide. In some cases, large dams can result in even more lifetime greenhouse gas emissions than equivalent conventional sources. And this does not even include the emissions resulting from the construction of such dams – cement and equipment-heavy projects that usually take several years to build.
1. Large hydropower projects contribute more to climate change than fossil fuels plants of equivalent generating capacity.
2. As large dams result in significant greenhouse gas emissions, hydropower cannot be regarded as a clean source of energy.
3. Hydropower projects cause flooding, leading to significant greenhouse gas emissions from rotting organic material.
4. In terms of greenhouse gas costs, hydropower is comparable to more conventional sources of energy.
Choice B
CAT Paragraph Summary: The Ignorant Mind

An ignorant mind is precisely not a spotless, empty vessel, but one that’s filled with the clutter of irrelevant or misleading life experiences, theories, facts, intuitions, strategies, algorithms, heuristics, metaphors, and hunches that regrettably have the look and feel of useful and accurate knowledge. This clutter is an unfortunate by-product of one of our greatest strengths as a species. We are unbridled pattern recognizers and profligate theorizers. Often, our theories are good enough to get us through the day, or at least to an age when we can procreate. But our genius for creative storytelling, combined with our inability to detect our own ignorance, can sometimes lead to situations that are embarrassing, unfortunate, or downright dangerous—especially in a technologically advanced, complex democratic society that occasionally invests mistaken popular beliefs with immense destructive power (See: crisis, financial; war, Iraq).
1. The ability to recognize patterns and creatively formulate theories is both the greatest strength and the greatest weakness of our species.
2. The clutter in our minds that stems from our storytelling ability, along with our inability to perceive our own ignorance, hampers our judgement.
3. Our ignorance is compounded by our tendency to create stories around inaccurate, irrelevant and misleading information that clutters our minds.
4. Our tendency to weave theories out of the clutter of information stored in our minds can often lead us to truly dangerous situations.
Choice B
CAT Paragraph Summary: The Waning of the Nation State

The most momentous development of our era, precisely, is the waning of the nation state: its inability to withstand countervailing 21st-century forces, and its calamitous loss of influence over human circumstance. National political authority is in decline, and, since we do not know any other sort, it feels like the end of the world. This is why a strange brand of apocalyptic nationalism is so widely in vogue. The current appeal of machismo as political style, the wall-building and xenophobia, the mythology and race theory, the fantastical promises of national restoration – these are not cures, but symptoms of what is slowly revealing itself to all: nation states everywhere are in an advanced state of political and moral decay from which they cannot individually extricate themselves.
1. Apocalyptic nationalism is on the rise because the nation state is on the decline.
2. Buffeted by countervailing 21st century forces, nation states have lost political authority.
3. Xenophobia and apocalyptic nationalism have led to the waning of the nation state.
4. The political and moral decay of nation states is the most significant development of our era.
Choice A

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CAT VARC : CAT 2023 Question Paper Slot 1

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

CAT 2023 Slot 1 - VA RC

Manipulating information was a feature of history long before modern journalism established rules of integrity. A record dates back to ancient Rome, when Antony met Cleopatra and his political enemy Octavian launched a smear campaign against him with "short, sharp slogans written upon coins." The perpetrator became the first Roman Emperor and "fake news had allowed Octavian to hack the republican system once and for all". But the 21^st century has seen the weaponization of information on an unprecedented scale. Powerful new technology makes the fabrication of content simple, and social networks amplify falsehoods peddled by States, populist politicians, and dishonest corporate entities. The platforms have become fertile ground for computational propaganda, 'trolling' and 'troll armies'.
1. Disinformation, which is mediated by technology today, is not new and has existed since ancient times.
2. People need to become critical of what they read, since historically, weaponization of information has led to corruption.
3. Use of misinformation for attaining power, a practice that is as old as the Octavian era, is currently fueled by technology.
4. Octavian used fake news to manipulate people and attain power and influence, just as people do today.
Choice C
Use of misinformation for attaining power, a practice that is as old as the Octavian era, is currently fueled by technology.
CAT 2023 Slot 1 - VA RC

Colonialism is not a modern phenomenon. World history is full of examples of one society gradually expanding by incorporating adjacent territory and settling its people on newly conquered territory. In the sixteenth century, colonialism changed decisively because of technological developments in navigation that began to connect more remote parts of the world. The modern European colonial project emerged when it became possible to move large numbers of people across the ocean and to maintain political control in spite of geographical dispersion. The term colonialism is used to describe the process of European settlement, violent dispossession and political domination over the rest of the world, including the Americas, Australia, and parts of Africa and Asia.
1. Colonialism surged in the 16^th century due to advancements in navigation, enabling British settlements abroad and global dominance.
2. As a result of developments in navigation technology, European colonialism, led to the displacement of indigenous populations and global political changes in the 16^thcentury.
3. Colonialism, conceptualized in the 16^th century, allowed colonizers to expand their territories, establish settlements, and exercise political power.
4. Technological advancements in navigation in the 16^th century, transformed colonialism, enabling Europeans to establish settlements and exert political dominance over distant regions.
Choice D
Technological advancements in navigation in the 16^th century, transformed colonialism, enabling Europeans to establish settlements and exert political dominance over distant regions.

CAT VARC : CAT 2023 Question Paper Slot 2

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

CAT 2023 Slot 2 - VA RC

Heatwaves are becoming longer, frequent and intense due to climate change. The impacts of extreme heat are unevenly experienced; with older people and young children, those with pre-existing medical conditions and on low incomes significantly more vulnerable. Adaptation to heatwaves is a significant public policy concern. Research conducted among at-risk people in the UK reveals that even vulnerable people do not perceive themselves as at risk of extreme heat; therefore, early warnings of extreme heat events do not perform as intended. This suggests that understanding how extreme heat is narrated is very important. The news media play a central role in this process and can help warn people about the potential danger, as well as about impacts on infrastructure and society.
1. Protection from heat waves is important but current reports and public policies seem ineffective.
2. Heatwaves pose an enormous risk; the media plays a pivotal role in alerting people to this danger.
3. People are vulnerable to heatwaves caused due to climate change, measures taken are ineffective.
4. News stories help in warning about heatwaves, but they have to become more effective.
Choice B
Heatwaves pose an enormous risk; the media plays a pivotal role in alerting people to this danger.
CAT 2023 Slot 2 - VA RC

People spontaneously create counterfactual alternatives to reality when they think "if only" or "what if" and imagine how the past could have been different. The mind computes counterfactuals for many reasons. Counterfactuals explain the past and prepare for the future, they implicate various relations including causal ones, and they affect intentions and decisions. They modulate emotions such as regret and relief, and they support moral judgments such as blame. The ability to create counterfactuals develops throughout childhood and contributes to reasoning about other people's beliefs, including their false beliefs.
1. People create counterfactual alternatives to reality for various reasons, including reasoning about other people's beliefs.
2. Counterfactual thinking helps to reverse past and future actions and reason out false beliefs.
3. Counterfactual alternatives to reality are created for a variety of reasons and is part of one's developmental process.
4. Counterfactuals help people to prepare for the future by understanding intentions and making decisions.
Choice C
Counterfactual alternatives to reality are created for a variety of reasons and is part of one's developmental process.

CAT VARC : CAT 2023 Question Paper Slot 3

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

CAT 2023 Slot 3 - VA RC

Gradually, life for the island's birds is improving. Antarctic prions and white-headed petrels, which also nest in burrows, had managed to cling on in some sites while pests were on the island. Their numbers are now increasing. "It's fantastic and so exciting," Shaw says. As birds return to breed, they also poo. This adds nutrients to the soil, which in turn helps the plants to grow back stronger. Tall plants then help burrowing birds hide from predatory skuas. "It's this wonderful feedback loop," Shaw says. Today, the "pretty paddock" that Houghton first experienced has been transformed. "The tussock is over your head, and you're dodging all these penguin tunnels," she says. The orchids and tiny herb that had been protected by fencing have started turning up all over the place.
1. There is an increasing number of predatory birds and plants on the island despite the presence of pests which is a positive development.
2. In the absence of pests, life on the island is now protected, and there has been a revival of a variety of birds and plants.
3. There is a huge positive transformation of the ecosystem of the island when brought under environmental protection.
4. Flowering plants, herbs and birds are now being protected on this wonderful Antarctic island.
Choice B
In the absence of pests, life on the island is now protected, and there has been a revival of a variety of birds and plants.
CAT 2023 Slot 3 - VA RC

The weight of society's expectations is hardly a new phenomenon but it has become particularly draining over recent decades, perhaps because expectations themselves are so multifarious and contradictory. The perfectionism of the 1950s was rooted in the norms of mass culture and captured in famous advertising images of the ideal white American family that now seem self-satirising. In that era, perfectionism meant seamlessly conforming to values, behaviour and appearance: chiselled confidence for men, demure graciousness for women. The perfectionist was under pressure to look like everyone else, only more so. The perfectionists of today, by contrast, feel an obligation to stand out through their idiosyncratic style and wit if they are to gain a foothold in the attention economy.
1. Though long-standing, the pressure to appear perfect and thereby attract attention, has evolved over time from one of conformism to one of non-conformism.
2. The pressure to appear perfect has been the cause of tension and conflict because the idea itself has been in a state of flux and hard to define.
3. The desire to attract attention is so deep-rooted in individual consciousness that people are willing to go to any lengths to achieve it.
4. The image of perfectionism is reflected in and perpetuated by the media; and people do their best to adhere to these ideals.
Choice A
Though long-standing, the pressure to appear perfect and thereby attract attention, has evolved over time from one of conformism to one of non-conformism.

CAT VARC : CAT 2022 Question Paper Slot 1

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

CAT 2022 Slot 1 - VA RC

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

Petitioning is an expeditious democratic tradition, used frequently in prior centuries, by which citizens can bring issues directly to governments. As expressions of collective voice, they support procedural democracy by shaping agendas. They can also recruit citizens to causes, give voice to the voteless, and apply the discipline of rhetorical argument that clarifies a point of view. By contrast, elections are limited in several respects: they involve only a few candidates, and thus fall far short of a representative democracy. Further, voters' choices are not specific to particular policies or laws, and elections are episodic, whereas the voice of the people needs to be heard and integrated constantly into democratic government.
1. Petitioning has been important to democratic functioning, as it supplements the electoral process by enabling ongoing engagement with the government.
2. Petitioning is definitely more representative of the collective voice, and the functioning of democratic government could improve if we relied more on petitioning rather than holding periodic elections.
3. By giving citizens greater control over shaping political and democratic agendas, political petitions are invaluable as they represent an ideal form of a representative democracy.
4. Citizens become less inclined to petitioning as it enables vocal citizens to shape political agendas, but this needs to change to strengthen democracies today.
Choice A
Petitioning has been important to democratic functioning, as it supplements the electoral process by enabling ongoing engagement with the government.
CAT 2022 Slot 1 - VA RC

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

All that we think we know about how life hangs together is really some kind of illusion that we have perpetrated on ourselves because of our limited vision. What appear to be inanimate objects such as stones turn out not only to be alive in the same way that we are, but also in many infinitesimal ways to be affected by stimuli just as humans are. The distinction between animate and inanimate simply cannot be made when you enter the world of quantum mechanics and try to determine how those apparent subatomic particles, of which you and everything else in our universe is composed, are all tied together. The point is that physics and metaphysics show there is a pattern to the universe that goes beyond our capacity to grasp it with our brains.
1. Arbitrary distinctions between inanimate and animate objects disappear at the scale at which quantum mechanics works.
2. Quantum physics indicates that an astigmatic view of reality results in erroneous assumptions about the universe.
3. The inanimate world is both sentient and cognizant like its animate counterpart.
4. The effect of stimuli is similar in inanimate objects when compared to animate objects or living beings.
Choice A
Arbitrary distinctions between inanimate and animate objects disappear at the scale at which quantum mechanics works.
CAT 2022 Slot 1 - VA RC

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

It's not that modern historians of medieval Africa have been ignorant about contacts between Ethiopia and Europe; they just had the power dynamic reversed. The traditional narrative stressed Ethiopia as weak and in trouble in the face of aggression from external forces, so Ethiopia sought military assistance from their fellow Christians to the north. But the real story, buried in plain sight in medieval diplomatic texts, simply had not yet been put together by modern scholars. Recent research pushes scholars of medieval Europe to imagine a much more richly connected medieval world: at the beginning of the so-called Age of Exploration, there is evidence that the kings of Ethiopia were sponsoring their own missions of diplomacy, faith and commerce.
1. Medieval historical sources selectively promoted the narrative that powerful European forces were called on to protect weak African civilisations such as Ethiopia, but this is far from reality.
2. Medieval texts have been 'cherry-picked' to promote a view of Ethiopia as weak and in need of Europe's military help with aggressive neighbours, but recent studies reveal it was a well-connected and outward-looking culture.
3. Medieval texts have documented how strong connections between the Christian communities of Ethiopia and Europe were invaluable in establishing military and trade links between the two civilisations.
4. Historians were under the illusion that Ethiopia needed military protection from their neighbours, but in fact the country had close commercial and religious connections with them.
Choice B
Medieval texts have been 'cherry-picked' to promote a view of Ethiopia as weak and in need of Europe's military help with aggressive neighbours, but recent studies reveal it was a well-connected and outward-looking culture.

CAT VARC : CAT 2022 Question Paper Slot 2

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

CAT 2022 Slot 2 - VA RC

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

Several of the world's earliest cities were organised along egalitarian lines. In some regions, urban populations governed themselves for centuries without any indication of the temples and palaces that would later emerge; in others, temples and palaces never emerged at all, and there is simply no evidence of a class of administrators or any other sort of ruling stratum. It would seem that the mere fact of urban life does not, necessarily, imply any particular form of political organization, and never did. Far from resigning us to inequality, the picture that is now emerging of humanity's past may open our eyes to egalitarian possibilities we otherwise would have never considered.
1. We now have the evidence in support of the existence of an egalitarian urban life in some ancient cities, where political and civic organisation was far less hierarchical.
2. The emergence of a class of administrators and ruling stratum transformed the egalitarian urban life of ancient cities to the hierarchical civic organisations of today.
3. Contrary to our assumption that urban settlements have always involved hierarchical political and administrative structures, ancient cities were not organised in this way.
4. The lack of hierarchical administration in ancient cities can be deduced by the absence of religious and regal structures such as temples and palaces.
Choice A
We now have the evidence in support of the existence of an egalitarian urban life in some ancient cities, where political and civic organisation was far less hierarchical.
CAT 2022 Slot 2 - VA RC

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

Today, many of the debates about behavioural control in the age of big data echo Cold War-era anxieties about brainwashing, insidious manipulation and repression in the 'technological society'. In his book Psychopolitics, Han warns of the sophisticated use of targeted online content, enabling 'influence to take place on a pre-reflexive level'. On our current trajectory, "freedom will prove to have been merely an interlude." The fear is that the digital age has not liberated us but exposed us, by offering up our private lives to machine-learning algorithms that can process masses of personal and behavioural data. In a world of influencers and digital entrepreneurs, it's not easy to imagine the resurgence of a culture engendered through disconnect and disaffiliation, but concerns over the threat of online targeting, polarisation and big data have inspired recent polemics about the need to rediscover solitude and disconnect.
1. Rather than freeing us, digital technology is enslaving us by collecting personal information and influencing our online behaviour.
2. With big data making personal information freely available, the debate on the nature of freedom and the need for privacy has resurfaced.
3. The notion of freedom and privacy is at stake in a world where artificial intelligence is capable of influencing behaviour through data gathered online.
4. The role of technology in influencing public behaviour is reminiscent of the manner in which behaviour was manipulated during the Cold War.
Choice B
With big data making personal information freely available, the debate on the nature of freedom and the need for privacy has resurfaced.
CAT 2022 Slot 2 - VA RC

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

There's a common idea that museum artworks are somehow timeless objects available to admire for generations to come. But many are objects of decay. Even the most venerable Old Master paintings don't escape: pigments discolour, varnishes crack, canvases warp. This challenging fact of art-world life is down to something that sounds more like a thread from a morality tale: inherent vice. Damien Hirst's iconic shark floating in a tank - entitled The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living - is a work that put a spotlight on inherent vice. When he made it in 1991, Hirst got himself in a pickle by not using the right kind of pickle to preserve the giant fish. The result was that the shark began to decompose quite quickly - its preserving liquid clouding, the skin wrinkling, and an unpleasant smell wafting from the tank.
1. Museums are left with the moral responsibility of restoring and preserving the artworks since artists cannot preserve their works beyond their life.
2. Artworks may not last forever; they may deteriorate with time, and the challenge is to slow down their degeneration.
3. The role of museums has evolved to ensure that the artworks are preserved forever in addition to guarding and displaying them.
4. Museums have to guard timeless art treasures from intrinsic defects such as the deterioration of paint, polish and canvas.
Choice B
Artworks may not last forever; they may deteriorate with time, and the challenge is to slow down their degeneration.

CAT VARC : CAT 2022 Question Paper Slot 3

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

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."
1. All jokes target someone and one should be able to joke about anyone in the society, which is inconsistent with cancel culture.
2. Victims of jokes must not only be politicians and royalty, but also arrogant people from lower classes should be mentioned by comedians.
3. Every joke needs a victim and one needs to include people from lower down the society and not just the upper class.
4. Cancel culture does not understand the role and duty of comedians, which is to deride and mock everyone.
Choice A
All jokes target someone and one should be able to joke about anyone in the society, which is inconsistent with cancel culture.
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."
1. Media has encouraged mass production; images are copied effortlessly without care or concern for the interests of ethnic communities.
2. Cultural collaboration is the need of the hour. Beautiful design ideas of indigenous people need to be showcased and shared worldwide.
3. Taking fashion ideas from any cultural group without their consent is a form of appropriation without giving due credit, compensation, and respect.
4. Copying an embroidery design or pattern of textile from native communities who own them is tantamount to stealing and they need to be compensated.
Choice C
Taking fashion ideas from any cultural group without their consent is a form of appropriation without giving due credit, compensation, and respect.
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 alphabetisation may seem bizarre, so obvious is its application that it is hard to imagine a reference, catalogue 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 categorise 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.
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. The ban on the use by scholars of any form of categorisation - but the divinely ordained one - delayed the adoption of the alphabetic sequence by several centuries.
4. Unlike the alphabet, once the efficacy of the alphabetic sequence became apparent to scholars and administrators, its use became widespread.
Choice B
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.

CAT VARC : CAT 2021 Question Paper Slot 1

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

CAT 2021 Slot 1 - VA RC

McGurk and MacDonald (1976) reported a powerful multisensory illusion occurring with audio-visual speech. They recorded a voice articulating a consonant 'ba-ba-ba' and dubbed it with a face articulating another consonant 'ga-ga-ga'. Even though the acoustic speech signal was well recognized alone, it was heard as another consonant after dubbing with incongruent visual speech i.e., 'da-da-da'. The illusion, termed as the McGurk effect, has been replicated many times, and it has sparked an abundance of research. The reason for the great impact is that this is a striking demonstration of multisensory integration, where that auditory and visual information is merged into a unified, integrated percept.
1. When the auditory speech signal does not match the visual speech movements, the acoustic speech signal is confusing and integration of the two is imperfect.
2. When the quality of auditory information is poor, the visual information wins over the auditory information.
3. The McGurk effect which is a demonstration of multisensory integration has been replicated many times.
4. Visual speech mismatched with auditory speech can result in the perception of an entirely different message: this illusion is known as the McGurk effect.
Choice D
Visual speech mismatched with auditory speech can result in the perception of an entirely different message: this illusion is known as the McGurk effect.
CAT 2021 Slot 1 - VA RC

Developing countries are becoming hotbeds of business innovation in much the same way as Japan did from the 1950s onwards. They are reinventing systems of production and distribution, and experimenting with entirely new business models. Why are countries that were until recently associated with cheap hands now becoming leaders in innovation? Driven by a mixture of ambition and fear they are relentlessly climbing up the value chain. Emerging-market champions have not only proved highly competitive in their own backyards, they are also going global themselves.
1. Developing countries are being forced to invent new business models which challenge the old business models, so they can remain competitive domestically.
2. Innovations in production and distribution are helping emerging economies compete with countries to which they once supplied cheap labour.
3. Competition has driven emerging economies, once suppliers of cheap labour, to become innovators of business models that have enabled them to move up the value chain and go global.
4. Production and distribution models are going through rapid innovations worldwide as developed countries are being challenged by their earlier suppliers from the developing world.
Choice C
Competition has driven emerging economies, once suppliers of cheap labour, to become innovators of business models that have enabled them to move up the value chain and go global.
CAT 2021 Slot 1 - VA RC

Foreign peacekeepers often exist in a bubble in the poor countries in which they are deployed; they live in posh compounds, drive fancy vehicles, and distance themselves from locals. This may be partially justified as they are outsiders, living in constant fear, performing a job that is emotionally draining. But they are often despised by the locals, and many would like them to leave. A better solution would be bottom-up peacebuilding, which would involve their spending more time working with communities, understanding their grievances and earning their trust, rather than only meeting government officials.
1. The environment in poor countries has tended to make foreign peacekeeping forces live in enclaves, but it is time to change this scenario.
2. Peacekeeping duties would be more effectively performed by local residents given their better understanding, knowledge and rapport with their own communities.
3. Peacekeeping forces in foreign countries have tended to be aloof for valid reasons but would be more effective if they worked more closely with local communities.
4. Extravagant lifestyles and an aloof attitude among the foreigners working as peacekeepers in poor countries have justifiably make them the target of local anger.
Choice C
Peacekeeping forces in foreign countries have tended to be aloof for valid reasons but would be more effective if they worked more closely with local communities.

CAT VARC : CAT 2021 Question Paper Slot 2

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

CAT 2021 Slot 2 - VA RC

Biologists who publish their research directly to the Web have been labelled as "rogue", but physicists have been routinely publishing research digitally ("preprints"), prior to submitting in a peer-reviewed journal. Advocates of preprints argue that quick and open dissemination of research speeds up scientific progress and allows for wider access to knowledge. But some journals still don't accept research previously published as a preprint. Even if the idea of preprints is gaining ground, one of the biggest barriers for biologists is how they would be viewed by members of their conservative research community.
1. Preprints of research are frowned on by some scientific fields as they do not undergo a rigourous reviewing process but are accepted among biologists as a quick way to disseminate information.
2. Compared to biologists, physicists are less conservative in their acceptance of digital pre-publication of research papers, which allows for faster dissemination of knowledge.
3. While digital publication of research is gaining popularity in many scientific disciplines, almost all peer-reviewed journals are reluctant to accept papers that have been published before.
4. One of the advantages of digital preprints of research is they hasten the dissemination process, but these are not accepted by most scientific communities.
Choice B
Compared to biologists, physicists are less conservative in their acceptance of digital pre-publication of research papers, which allows for faster dissemination of knowledge.
CAT 2021 Slot 2 - VA RC

Creativity is now viewed as the engine of economic progress. Various organizations are devoted to its study and promotion; there are encyclopedias and handbooks surveying creativity research. But this proliferating success has tended to erode creativity's stable identity: it has become so invested with value that it has become impossible to police its meaning and the practices that supposedly identify and encourage it. Many people and organizations committed to producing original thoughts now feel that undue obsession with the idea of creativity gets in the way of real creativity.
1. The obsession with original thought, how it can be promoted and researched, has made it impossible for people and organizations to define the concept anymore.
2. The value assigned to creativity today has assumed such proportions that the concept itself has lost its real meaning and this is hampering the engendering of real creativity.
3. The industry that has built up around researching what comprises and encourages creativity has destroyed the creative process itself.
4. Creativity has proliferated to the extent that is no longer a stable process, and its mutating identity has stifled the creative process.
Choice B
The value assigned to creativity today has assumed such proportions that the concept itself has lost its real meaning and this is hampering the engendering of real creativity.
CAT 2021 Slot 2 - VA RC

The unlikely alliance of the incumbent industrialist and the distressed unemployed worker is especially powerful amid the debris of corporate bankruptcies and layoffs. In an economic downturn, the capitalist is more likely to focus on costs of the competition emanating from free markets than on the opportunities they create. And the unemployed worker will find many others in a similar condition and with anxieties similar to his, which will make it easier for them to organize together. Using the cover and the political organization provided by the distressed, the capitalist captures the political agenda.
1. The purpose of an unlikely alliance between the industrialist and the unemployed during an economic downturn is to stifle competition in free markets.
2. In an economic downturn, the capitalists use the anxieties of the unemployed and their political organisation to set the political agenda to suit their economic interests.
3. An unlikely alliance of the industrialist and the unemployed happens during an economic downturn in which they come together to unite politically and capture the political agenda.
4. An economic downturn creates competition because of which the capitalists capture the political agenda created by the political organisation provided by the unemployed.
Choice B
In an economic downturn, the capitalists use the anxieties of the unemployed and their political organisation to set the political agenda to suit their economic interests.

CAT VARC : CAT 2021 Question Paper Slot 3

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

CAT 2021 Slot 3 - VA RC

People view idleness as a sin and industriousness as a virtue, and in the process have developed an unsatisfactory relationship with their jobs. Work has become a way for them to keep busy, even though many find their work meaningless. In their need for activity people undertake what was once considered work (fishing, gardening) as hobbies. The opposing view is that hard work has made us prosperous and improved our levels of health and education. It has also brought innovation and labour and time-saving devices, which have lessened life's drudgery.
1. Some believe that hard work has been glorified to the extent that it has become meaningless, and led to greater idleness, but it has also had enormous positive impacts on everyday life.
2. Despite some detractors, hard work is essential in today's world to enable economic progress, for education and health and to propel innovations that make life easier.
3. Hard work has overtaken all aspects of our lives and has enabled economic prosperity, but it is important that people reserve their leisure time for some idleness.
4. While the idealisation of hard work has propelled people into meaningless jobs and endless activity, it has also led to tremendous social benefits from prosperity and innovation.
Choice D
While the idealisation of hard work has propelled people into meaningless jobs and endless activity, it has also led to tremendous social benefits from prosperity and innovation.
CAT 2021 Slot 3 - VA RC

Brazil's growth rate has been low, yet most Brazilians say their financial situation has improved, and they expect it to get even better. This is because most incomes are rising fast, with higher minimum wages and very low unemployment. The result is falling inequality and a growing middle class - the result of economic stabilization, improved social security and universal primary education. But despite recent improvements the Brazilian economy is still painfully unequal, with poor Brazilians paying the biggest share of their income in taxes and getting the least back in government services.
1. Most Brazilians feel they have benefitted from recent economic events, but the poor continue to be dealt unfairly by the state.
2. Economic reforms have benefitted many Brazilians, but they are unaware of the impending problems from rising inequalities in their society.
3. With rising incomes and falling unemployment, most Brazilians are being misled into thinking that their economy is doing well.
4. Good economic indicators have masked the unfair taxation of the poor that is likely to destabilise the Brazilian economy in the next few years.
Choice A
Most Brazilians feel they have benefitted from recent economic events, but the poor continue to be dealt unfairly by the state.
CAT 2021 Slot 3 - VA RC

The human mind is wired to see patterns. Not only does the brain process information as it comes in, it also stores insights from all our past experiences. Every interaction, happy or sad, is catalogued in our memory. Intuition draws from that deep memory well to inform our decisions going forward. In other words, intuitive decisions are based on data, and not contrary to data as many would like to assume. When we subconsciously spot patterns, the body starts firing neurochemicals in both the brain and gut. These "somatic markers" are what give us that instant sense that something is right ... or that it's off. Not only are these automatic processes faster than rational thought, but our intuition draws from decades of diverse qualitative experience (sights, sounds, interactions, etc.) - a wholly human feature that big data alone could never accomplish.
1. Intuitions are automatic processes and are therefore faster than rational thought, and so decisions based on them are better.
2. Intuition draws from deep memory, and may not be related to data, but to decades of diverse qualitative experience.
3. Intuition is infinitely richer than big data which is based on rational thought and accomplishes more than what big data can.
4. Intuitions are neuro-chemical firings based on pattern recognition and draw upon a rich and vast database of experiences.
Choice D
Intuitions are neuro-chemical firings based on pattern recognition and draw upon a rich and vast database of experiences.

CAT VARC : CAT 2020 Question Paper Slot 1

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

CAT 2020 Question Paper Slot 1

For nearly a century most psychologists have embraced one view of intelligence. Individuals are born with more or less intelligence potential (I.Q.); this potential is heavily in\xef\xac\x82uenced by heredity and difcult to alter; experts in measurement can determine a person’s intelligence early in life, currently from paper-and-pencil measures, perhaps eventually from examining the brain in action or even scrutinizing his/her genome. Recently, criticism of this conventional wisdom has mounted. Biologists ask if speaking of a single entity called “intelligence” is coherent and question the validity of measures used to estimate heritability of a trait in humans, who, unlike plants or animals, are not conceived and bred under controlled conditions.
1. Biologists have questioned the long-standing view that ‘intelligence’ is a single entity and the attempts to estimate it's heritability.
2. Biologists have questioned the view that ‘intelligence’ is a single entity and the ways in which what is inherited.
3. Biologists have criticised that conventional wisdom that individuals are born with more or less intelligence potential.
4. Biologists have started questioning psychologists' view of 'intelligence' as a measurable immutable characteristic of an individual.
Choice A
Biologists have questioned the long-standing view that ‘intelligence’ is a single entity and the attempts to estimate it's heritability.
CAT 2020 Question Paper Slot 1

For years, movies and television series like Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) paint an unrealistic picture of the “science of voices.” In the 1994 movie Clear and Present Danger an expert listens to a brief recorded utterance and declares that the speaker is “Cuban, aged 35 to 45, educated in the […] eastern United States.” The recording is then fed to a supercomputer that matches the voice to that of a suspect, concluding that the probability of correct identification is 90%. This sequence sums up a good number of misimpressions about forensic phonetics, which have led to errors in real-life justice. Indeed, that movie scene exemplifies the so-called “CSI effect”—the phenomenon in which judges hold unrealistic expectations of the capabilities of forensic science.
1. Voice recognition has started to feature prominently in crime-scene intelligence investigations because of movies and television series.
2. Voice recognition as used in many movies to identify criminals has been used to identify criminals in real life also.
3. Although voice recognition is often presented as evidence in legal cases, its scientific basis can be shaky.
4. Movies and televisions have led to the belief that the use of forensic phonetics in legal investigations is robust and fool proof.
Choice D
Movies and televisions have led to the belief that the use of forensic phonetics in legal investigations is robust and fool proof.
CAT 2020 Question Paper Slot 1

As Soviet power declined, the world became to some extent multipolar, and Europe strove to define an independent identity. What a journey Europe has undertaken to reach this point. It had in every century changed its internal structure and invented new ways of thinking about the nature of international order. Now at the culmination of an era, Europe, in order to participate in it, felt obliged to set aside the political mechanisms through which it had conducted its affairs for three and a half centuries. Impelled also by the desire to cushion the emergent unification of Germany, the new European Union established a common currency in 2002 and a formal political structure in 2004. It proclaimed a Europe united, whole, and free, adjusting its differences by peaceful mechanisms.
1. Europe has consistently changed in keeping with the changing world order and that has culminated in a united Europe.
2. The establishment of a formal political structure in Europe was hastened by the unification of Germany and the emergence of a multipolar world.
3. Europe has consistently changed its internal structure to successfully adapt to the changing world order.
4. Europe has chosen to lower political and economic heterogeneity, in order to adapt itself to an emerging multi-polar world.
Choice D
Europe has chosen to lower political and economic heterogeneity, in order to adapt itself to an emerging multi-polar world.

CAT VARC : CAT 2020 Question Paper Slot 2

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

CAT 2020 Question Paper Slot 2

With the Treaty of Westphalia, the papacy had been confined to ecclesiastical functions, and the doctrine of sovereign equality reigned. What political theory could then explain the origin and justify the functions of secular political order? In his Leviathan, published in 1651, three years after the Peace of Westphalia, Thomas Hobbes provided such a theory. He imagined a “state of nature” in the past when the absence of authority produced a “war of all against all.” To escape such intolerable insecurity, he theorized, people delivered their rights to a sovereign power in return for the sovereign’s provision of security for all within the state’s border. The sovereign state’s monopoly on power was established as the only way to overcome the perpetual fear of violent death and war.
1. Thomas Hobbes theorized the voluntary surrender of rights by people as essential for emergence of sovereign states.
2. Thomas Hobbes theorized the emergence of sovereign states as a form of transactional governance to limit the power of the papacy.
3. Thomas Hobbes theorized the emergence of sovereign states based on a transactional relationship between people and sovereign state that was necessitated by a sense of insecurity of the people.
4. Thomas Hobbes theorized that sovereign states emerged out of people’s voluntary desire to overcome the sense of insecurity and establish the doctrine of sovereign equality.
Choice C
Thomas Hobbes theorized the emergence of sovereign states based on a transactional relationship between people and sovereign state that was necessitated by a sense of insecurity of the people.
CAT 2020 Question Paper Slot 2

All humans make decisions based on one or a combination of two factors. This is either intuition or information. Decisions made through intuition are usually fast, people don’t even think about the problem. It is quite philosophical, meaning that someone who made a decision based on intuition will have difficulty explaining the reasoning behind it. The decision-maker would often utilize her senses in drawing conclusions, which again is based on some experience in the field of study. On the other side of the spectrum, we have decisions made based on information. These decisions are rational — it is based on facts and figures, which unfortunately also means that it can be quite slow. The decision-maker would frequently use reports, analyses, and indicators to form her conclusion. This methodology results in accurate, quantifiable decisions, meaning that a person can clearly explain the rationale behind it.
1. While decisions based on intuition can be made fast, the reasons that led to these cannot be spelt out.
2. We make decisions based on intuition or information on the basis of the time available.
3. It is better to make decisions based on information because it is more accurate, and the rationale behind it can be explained.
4. Decisions based on intuition and information result in differential speed and ability to provide a rationale.
Choice D
Decisions based on intuition and information result in differential speed and ability to provide a rationale.
CAT 2020 Question Paper Slot 2

The rural-urban continuum and the heterogeneity of urban settings pose an obvious challenge to identifying urban areas and measuring urbanization rates in a consistent way within and across countries. An objective methodology for distinguishing between urban and rural areas that is based on one or two metrics with fixed thresholds may not adequately capture the wide diversity of places. A richer combination of criteria would better describe the multifaceted nature of a city’s function and its environment, but the joint interpretation of these criteria may require an element of human judgment.
1. Distinguishing between urban and rural areas might call for some judgement on the objective methodology being used to define a city’s functions.
2. The difficulty of accurately identifying urban areas means that we need to create a rich combination of criteria that can be applied to all urban areas.
3. Current methodologies used to define urban and rural areas are no longer relevant to our being able to study trends in urbanisation.
4. With the diversity of urban landscapes, measurable criteria for defining urban areas may need to be supplemented with human judgement.
Choice D
With the diversity of urban landscapes, measurable criteria for defining urban areas may need to be supplemented with human judgement.

CAT VARC : CAT 2020 Question Paper Slot 3

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

CAT 2020 Question Paper Slot 3

Brown et al. (2001) suggest that ‘metabolic theory may provide a conceptual foundation for much of ecology just as genetic theory provides a foundation for much of evolutionary biology’. One of the successes of genetic theory is the diversity of theoretical approaches and models that have been developed and applied. A Web of Science (v. 5.9. Thomson Reuters) search on genetic* + theor* + evol* identifies more than 12000 publications between 2005 and 2012. Considering only the 10 most-cited papers within this 12000 publication set, genetic theory can be seen to focus on genome dynamics, phylogenetic inference, game theory and the regulation of gene expression. There is no one fundamental genetic equation, but rather a wide array of genetic models, ranging from simple to complex, with differing inputs and outputs, and divergent areas of application, loosely connected to each other through the shared conceptual foundation of heritable variation.
1. Genetic theory has a wide range of theoretical approaches and applications and Metabolic theory must have the same in the field of ecology.
2. Genetic theory has a wide range of theoretical approaches and application and is foundational to evolutionary biology and Metabolic theory has the potential to do the same for ecology.
3. Genetic theory provides an example of how a range of theoretical approaches and applications can make a theory successful.
4. Genetic theory has evolved to spawn a wide range of theoretical models and applications but Metabolic theory need not evolve in a similar manner in the field of ecology.
Choice B
Genetic theory has a wide range of theoretical approaches and application and is foundational to evolutionary biology and Metabolic theory has the potential to do the same for ecology.
CAT 2020 Question Paper Slot 3

Aesthetic political representation urges us to realize that ‘the representative has autonomy with regard to the people represented’ but autonomy then is not an excuse to abandon one’s responsibility. Aesthetic autonomy requires cultivation of ‘disinterestedness’ on the part of actors which is not indifference. To have disinterestedness, that is, to have comportment towards the beautiful that is devoid of all ulterior references to use – requires a kind of aesthetic commitment; it is the liberation of ourselves for the release of what has proper worth only in itself.
1. Disinterestedness is different from indifference as the former means a non-subjective evaluation of things which is what constitutes aesthetic political representation.
2. Aesthetic political representation advocates autonomy for the representatives drawing from disinterestedness, which itself is different from indifference.
3. Disinterestedness, as distinct from indifference, is the basis of political representation.
4. Aesthetic political representation advocates autonomy for the representatives manifested through disinterestedness which itself is different from indifference.
Choice B
Aesthetic political representation advocates autonomy for the representatives drawing from disinterestedness, which itself is different from indifference.
CAT 2020 Question Paper Slot 3

The dominant hypotheses in modern science believe that language evolved to allow humans to exchange factual information about the physical world. But an alternative view is that language evolved, in modern humans at least, to facilitate social bonding. It increased our ancestors’ chances of survival by enabling them to hunt more successfully or to cooperate more extensively. Language meant that things could be explained and that plans and past experiences could be shared efficiently.
1. From the belief that humans invented language to process factual information, scholars now think that language was the outcome of the need to ensure social cohesion and thus human survival.
2. Most believe that language originated from a need to articulate facts, but others think it emerged from the need to promote social cohesion and cooperation, thus enabling human survival.
3. Since its origin, language has been continuously evolving to higher forms, from being used to identify objects to ensuring human survival by enabling our ancestors to bond and cooperate.
4. Experts are challenging the narrow view of the origin of language, as being merely used to describe facts and label objects, to being necessary to promote more complex interactions among humans.
Choice B
Most believe that language originated from a need to articulate facts, but others think it emerged from the need to promote social cohesion and cooperation, thus enabling human survival.

CAT VARC : CAT 2019 Question Paper Slot 1

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

CAT 2019 Question Paper - Slot 1

Vance Packard’s The Hidden Persuaders alerted the public to the psychoanalytical techniques used by the advertising industry. Its premise was that advertising agencies were using depth interviews to identify hidden consumer motivations, which were then used to entice consumers to buy goods. Critics and reporters often wrongly assumed that Packard was writing mainly about subliminal advertising. Packard never mentioned the word subliminal, however, and devoted very little space to discussions of “subthreshold” effects. Instead, his views largely aligned with the notion that individuals do not always have access to their conscious thoughts and can be persuaded by supraliminal messages without their knowledge.
1. Packard argued that advertising as a ‘hidden persuasion’ understands the hidden motivations of consumers and works at the subliminal level, on the subconscious level of the awareness of the people targeted.
2. Packard held that advertising as a ‘hidden persuasion’ understands the hidden motivations of consumers and works at the supraliminal level, though the people targeted have no awareness of being persuaded.
3. Packard held that advertising as a ‘hidden persuasion’ builds on peoples’ conscious thoughts and awareness, by understanding the hidden motivations of consumers and works at the subliminal level.
4. Packard argued that advertising as a ‘hidden persuasion’ works at the supraliminal level, wherein the people targeted are aware of being persuaded, after understanding the hidden motivations of consumers and works.
Choice B
Packard held that advertising as a ‘hidden persuasion’ understands the hidden motivations of consumers and works at the supraliminal level, though the people targeted have no awareness of being persuaded.
CAT 2019 Question Paper - Slot 1

A distinguishing feature of language is our ability to refer to absent things, known as displaced reference. A speaker can bring distant referents to mind in the absence of any obvious stimuli. Thoughts, not limited to the here and now, can pop into our heads for unfathomable reasons. This ability to think about distant things necessarily precedes the ability to talk about them. Thought precedes meaningful referential communication. A prerequisite for the emergence of human-like meaningful symbols is that the mental categories they relate to can be invoked even in the absence of immediate stimuli.
1. Thoughts precede all speech acts and these thoughts pop up in our heads even in the absence of any stimulus.
2. The ability to think about objects not present in our environment precedes the development of human communication.
3. Thoughts are essential to communication and only humans have the ability to think about objects not present in their surroundings.
4. Displaced reference is particular to humans and thoughts pop into our heads for no real reason.
Choice B
The ability to think about objects not present in our environment precedes the development of human communication.
CAT 2019 Question Paper - Slot 1

Physics is a pure science that seeks to understand the behavior of matter without regard to whether it will afford any practical benefit. Engineering is the correlative applied science in which physical theories are put to some specific use, such as building a bridge or a nuclear reactor. Engineers obviously rely heavily on the discoveries of physicists, but an engineer's knowledge of the world is not the same as the physicist's knowledge. In fact, an engineer's know-how will often depend on physical theories that, from the point of view of pure physics, are false. There are some reasons for this. First, theories that are false in the purest and strictest sense are still sometimes very good approximations to the true ones, and often have the added virtue of being much easier to work with. Second, sometimes the true theories apply only under highly idealized conditions which can only be created under controlled experimental situations. The engineer finds that in the real world, theories rejected by physicists yield more accurate predictions than the ones that they accept.
1. The unique task of the engineer is to identify, understand, and interpret the design constraints to produce a successful result.
2. The relationship between pure and applied science is strictly linear, with the pure science directing applied science, and never the other way round.
3. Though engineering draws heavily from pure science, it contributes to knowledge, by incorporating the constraints and conditions in the real world.
4. Engineering and physics fundamentally differ on matters like building a bridge or a nuclear reactor.
Choice C
Though engineering draws heavily from pure science, it contributes to knowledge, by incorporating the constraints and conditions in the real world.

CAT VARC : CAT 2019 Question Paper Slot 2

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

CAT 2019 Question Paper - Slot 2

Language is an autapomorphy found only in our lineage, and not shared with other branches of our group such as primates. We also have no definitive evidence that any species other than Homo sapiens ever had language. However, it must be noted straightaway that ‘language’ is not a monolithic entity, but rather a complex bundle of traits that must have evolved over a significant time frame.... Moreover, language crucially draws on aspects of cognition that are long established in the primate lineage, such as memory: the language faculty as a whole comprises more than just the uniquely linguistic features.
1. Language, a derived trait found only in humans, has evolved over time and involves memory.
2. Language is a distinctively human feature as there is no evidence of the existence of language in any other species.
3. Language evolved with linguistic features building on features of cognition such as memory.
4. Language is not a single, uniform entity but the end result of a long and complex process of linguistic evolution.
Choice C
Language evolved with linguistic features building on features of cognition such as memory.
CAT 2019 Question Paper - Slot 2

Social movement organizations often struggle to mobilize supporters from allied movements in their efforts to achieve critical mass. Organizations with hybrid identities—those whose organizational identities span the boundaries of two or more social movements, issues, or identities—are vital to mobilizing these constituencies. Studies of the post-9/11 U.S. antiwar movement show that individuals with past involvement in non-anti-war movements are more likely to join hybrid organizations than are individuals without involvement in non-anti-war movements. In addition, they show that organizations with hybrid identities occupy relatively more central positions in inter-organizational contact networks within the antiwar movement and thus recruit significantly more participants in demonstrations than do nonhybrid organizations.
1. Post 9/11 studies show that people who are involved in non anti-war movements are likely to join hybrid organizations.
2. Hybrid organizations attract individuals that are deeply involved in anti-war movements.
3. Movements that work towards social change often find it difficult to mobilize a critical mass of supporters.
4. Organizations with hybrid identities are able to mobilize individuals with different points of view.
Choice D
Organizations with hybrid identities are able to mobilize individuals with different points of view.
CAT 2019 Question Paper - Slot 2

Privacy-challenged office workers may find it hard to believe, but open-plan offices and cubicles were invented by architects and designers who thought that to break down the social walls that divide people, you had to break down the real walls, too. Modernist architects saw walls and rooms as downright fascist. The spaciousness and flexibility of an open plan would liberate homeowners and office dwellers from the confines of boxes. But companies took up their idea less out of a democratic ideology than a desire to pack in as many workers as they could. The typical open-plan office of the first half of the 20th century was a white-collar assembly line. Cubicles were interior designers’ attempt to put some soul back in.
1. Wall-free office spaces did not quite work out as desired and therefore cubicles came into being.
2. Wall-free office spaces did not quite work out the way their utopian inventors intended, as they became tools for exploitation of labor.
3. Wall-free office spaces could have worked out the way their utopian inventors intended had companies cared for workers' satisfaction.
4. Wall-free office spaces did not quite work out as companies don’t believe in democratic ideology.
Choice B
Wall-free office spaces did not quite work out the way their utopian inventors intended, as they became tools for exploitation of labor.

CAT VARC : CAT 2018 Question Paper Slot 1

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author's position

CAT 2018 Question Paper - Slot 1

Artificial embryo twinning is a relatively low-tech way to make clones. As the name suggests, this technique mimics the natural process that creates identical twins. In nature, twins form very early in development when the embryo splits in two. Twinning happens in the first days after egg and sperm join, while the embryo is made of just a small number of unspecialized cells. Each half of the embryo continues dividing on its own, ultimately developing into separate, complete individuals. Since they developed from the same fertilized egg, the resulting individuals are genetically identical.
1. Artificial embryo twinning is low-tech and mimetic of the natural development of genetically identical twins from the embryo after fertilization.
2. Artificial embryo twinning is just like the natural development of twins, where during fertilization twins are formed.
3. Artificial embryo twinning is low-tech unlike the natural development of identical twins from the embryo after fertilization.
4. Artificial embryo twinning is low-tech and is close to the natural development of twins where the embryo splits into two identical twins.
Choice A
Artificial embryo twinning is low-tech and mimetic of the natural development of genetically identical twins from the embryo after fertilization.
CAT 2018 Question Paper - Slot 1

Production and legitimation of scientific knowledge can be approached from a number of perspectives. To study knowledge production from the sociology of professions perspective would mean a focus on the institutionalization of a body of knowledge. The professions-approach informed earlier research on managerial occupation, business schools and management knowledge. It however tends to reify institutional power structures in its understanding of the links between knowledge and authority. Knowledge production is restricted in the perspective to the selected members of the professional community, most notably to the university faculties and professional colleges. Power is understood as a negative mechanism, which prevents the nonprofessional actors from offering their ideas and information as legitimate knowledge.
1. The study of knowledge production can be done through many perspectives.
2. The professions-approach has been one of the most relied upon perspective in the study of management knowledge production.
3. Professions-approach aims at the institutionalisation of knowledge but restricts knowledge production as a function of a select few.
4. Professions-approach focuses on the creation of institutions of higher education and disciplines to promote knowledge production
Choice C
Professions-approach aims at the institutionalisation of knowledge but restricts knowledge production as a function of a select few.
CAT 2018 Question Paper - Slot 1

The conceptualization of landscape as a geometric object first occurred in Europe and is historically related to the European conceptualization of the organism, particularly the human body, as a geometric object with parts having a rational, three-dimensional organization and integration. The European idea of landscape appeared before the science of landscape emerged, and it is no coincidence that Renaissance artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, who studied the structure of the human body, also facilitated an understanding of the structure of landscape. Landscape which had been a subordinate background to religious or historical narratives, became an independent genre or subject of art by the end of sixteenth century or the beginning of the seventeenth century.
1. The study of landscape as an independent genre was aided by the Renaissance artists.
2. The three-dimensional understanding of the organism in Europe led to a similar approach towards the understanding of landscape.
3. The Renaissance artists were responsible for the study of landscape as a subject of art.
4. Landscape became a major subject of art at the turn of the sixteenth century.
Choice A
The study of landscape as an independent genre was aided by the Renaissance artists.

CAT VARC : CAT 2018 Question Paper Slot 2

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author's position

CAT 2018 Question Paper - Slot 2

The early optimism about sport's deterrent effects on delinquency was premature as researchers failed to find any consistent relationships between sports participation and deviance. As the initial studies were based upon cross-sectional data and the effects captured -were short-term, it was problematic to test and verify the temporal sequencing of events suggested by the deterrence theory. The correlation bet-ween sport and delinquency could not be disentangled from class and cultural variables known. Choosing individuals to play sports in the first place was problematic, which became more acute in the subsequent decades as researchers began to document Just how closely sports participation was linked to social class indicators.
1. There is a direct relationship between sport participation and delinquency but it needs more empirical evidence.
2. Contradicting the previous optimism, latter researchers have proved that there is no consistent relationship between sports participation and deviance.
3. Statistical and empirical weaknesses stand in the way of inferring any relationship between sports participation and deviance.
4. Sports participation is linked to class and cultural variables such as education, income, and social capital.
Choice C
Statistical and empirical weaknesses stand in the way of inferring any relationship between sports participation and deviance.
CAT 2018 Question Paper - Slot 2

Should the moral obligation to rescue and aid persons in grave peril, felt by a few, be enforced by the criminal law? Should we follow the lead of a number of European countries and enact bad Samaritan laws? Proponents of bad Samaritan laws must overcome at least three different sorts of obstacles. First, they must show the laws are morally legitimate in principle, that is, that the duty to aid others is a proper candidate for legal enforcement. Second, they must show that this duty to aid can be defined in a way that can be fairly enforced by the courts. Third, they must show that the benefits of the laws are worth their problems, risks and costs.
1. Everyone agrees that people ought to aid others, the only debate is whether to have a law on it.
2. A number of European countries that have successfully enacted bad Samaritan laws may serve as model statutes.
3. Bad Samaritan laws may be desirable but they need to be tested for legal soundness.
4. If bad Samaritan laws are found to be legally sound and enforceable they must be enacted.
Choice C
Bad Samaritan laws may be desirable but they need to be tested for legal soundness.
CAT 2018 Question Paper - Slot 2

A Japanese government panel announced that it recommends regulating only genetically modified organisms that have had foreign genes permanently introduced into their genomes and not those whose endogenous genes have been edited. The only stipulation is that researchers and businesses will have to register their modifications to plants or animals with the government, with the exception of microbes cultured in contained environments. Reactions to the decision are mixed. While lauding the potential benefits of genome editing, an editorial opposes across-the-board permission. Unforeseen risks in gene editing cannot be ruled out. All genetically modified products must go through the same safety and labeling processes regardless of method.
1. A government panel in Japan says transgenic modification and genome editing are not the same.
2. Creating categories within genetically modified products in terms of transgenic modification and genome editing advances science but defies laws.
3. Exempting from regulations the editing of endogenous genes is not desirable as this procedure might be risk-prone.
4. Excepting microbes cultured in contained environments from the regulations of genome editing is premature.
Choice C
Exempting from regulations the editing of endogenous genes is not desirable as this procedure might be risk-prone.

CAT VARC : CAT 2017 Question Paper Slot 1

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

CAT 2017 Question Paper - Slot 1

To me, a "classic" means precisely the opposite of what my predecessors understood: a work is classical by reason of its resistance to contemporaneity and supposed universality, by reason of its capacity to indicate human particularity and difference in that past epoch. The classic is not what tells me about shared humanity—or, more truthfully put, what lets me recognize myself as already present in the past, what nourishes in me the illusion that everything has been like me and has existed only to prepare the way for me. Instead, the classic is what gives access to radically different forms of human consciousness for any given generation of readers, and thereby expands for them the range of possibilities of what it means to be a human being.
1. A classic is able to focus on the contemporary human condition and a unified experience of human consciousness.
2. A classical work seeks to resist particularity and temporal difference even as it focuses on a common humanity
3. A classic is a work exploring the new., going beyond the universal, the contemporary, and the notion of a unified human consciousness
4. A classic is a work that provides access to a universal experience of the human race as opposed to radically different forms of human consciousness
Choice C
A classic is a work exploring the new., going beyond the universal, the contemporary, and the notion of a unified human consciousness
CAT 2017 Question Paper - Slot 1

A translator of literary works needs a secure hold upon the two languages involved, supported by a good measure of familiarity with the two cultures. For an Indian translating works in an Indian language into English, finding satisfactory equivalents in a generalized western culture of practices and symbols in the original would be less difficult than gaining fluent control of contemporary English. When a westerner works on texts in Indian languages the interpretation of cultural elements will be the major challenge, rather than control over the grammar and essential vocabulary of the language concerned. It is much easier to remedy lapses in language in a text translated into English, than flaws of content. Since it is easier for an Indian to learn the English language than it is for a Briton or American to comprehend Indian culture, translations of Indian texts is better left to Indians.
1. While translating, the Indian and the westerner face the same challenges but they have different skill profiles and the former has the advantage.
2. As preserving cultural meanings is the essence of literary translation Indians' knowledge of the local culture outweighs the initial disadvantage of lower fluency in English.
3. Indian translators should translate Indian texts into English as their work is less likely to pose cultural problems which are harder to address than the quality of language.
4. Westerners might be good at gaining reasonable fluency in new languages, but as understanding the culture reflected in literature is crucial, Indians remain better placed.
Choice C
Indian translators should translate Indian texts into English as their work is less likely to pose cultural problems which are harder to address than the quality of language.
CAT 2017 Question Paper - Slot 1

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

CAT VARC : CAT 2017 Question Paper Slot 2

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

CAT 2017 Question Paper - Slot 2

North American walnut sphinx moth caterpillars (Amorpha juglandis) look like easy meals for birds, but they have a trick up their sleeves — they produce whistles that sound like bird alarm calls, scaring potential predators away. At first, scientists suspected birds were simply startled by the loud noise. But a new study suggests a more sophisticated mechanism: the caterpillar's whistle appears to mimic a bird alarm call, sending avian predators scrambling for cover. When pecked by a bird, the caterpillars whistle by compressing their bodies like an accordion and forcing air out through specialized holes in their sides. The whistles are impressively loud — they have been measured at over 80 dB from 5 cm away from the caterpillar — considering they are made by a two-inch long insect.
1. North American walnut sphinx moth caterpillars will whistle periodically to ward off predator birds - they have a specialized vocal tract that helps them whistle.
2. North American walnut sphinx moth caterpillars can whistle very loudly; the loudness of their whistles is shocking as they are very small insects.
3. The North American walnut sphinx moth caterpillars, in a case of acoustic deception, produce whistles that mimic bird alarm calls to defend themselves
4. North American. walnut sphinx moth caterpillars, in. a case of deception and camouflage, produce whistles that mimic bird alarm calls to defend themselves.
Choice C
The North American walnut sphinx moth caterpillars, in a case of acoustic deception, produce whistles that mimic bird alarm calls to defend themselves
CAT 2017 Question Paper - Slot 2

Both Socrates and Bacon were very good at asking useful questions. In fact, Socrates is largely credited with coming up with a way of asking questions, 'the Socratic method,' which itself is at the core of the 'scientific method,' popularised by Bacon. The Socratic method disproves arguments by finding exceptions to them, and can therefore lead your opponent to a point where they admit something that contradicts their original position. In common with Socrates, Bacon stressed it was as important to disprove a theory as it was to prove one — and real-world observation and experimentation were key to achieving both aims. Bacon also saw science as a collaborative affair, with scientists working together, challenging each other.
1. Both Socrates and Bacon advocated clever questioning of the opponents to disprove their arguments and theories.
2. Both Socrates and Bacon advocated challenging arguments and theories by observation and experimentation.
3. Both Socrates and Bacon advocated confirming arguments and theories by finding exceptions.
4. Both Socrates and Bacon advocated examining arguments and theories from both sides to prove them.
Choice D
Both Socrates and Bacon advocated examining arguments and theories from both sides to prove them.
CAT 2017 Question Paper - Slot 2

A fundamental property of language is that it is slippery and messy and more liquid than solid, a gelatinous mass that changes shape to fit. As Wittgenstein would remind us, "usage has no sharp boundary." Oftentimes, the only way to determine the meaning of a word is to examine how it is used. This insight is often described as the "meaning is use" doctrine. There are differences between the "meaning is use" doctrine and a dictionary-first theory of meaning. "The dictionary's careful fixing of words to definitions, like butterflies pinned under glass, can suggest that this is how language works. The definitions can seem to ensure and fix the meaning of words, just as the gold standard can back a country's currency." What Wittgenstein found in the circulation of ordinary language, however, was a freefloating currency of meaning. The value of each word arises out of the exchange. The lexicographer abstracts a meaning from that exchange, which is then set within the conventions of the dictionary definition.
1. Dictionary definitions are like 'gold standards' — artificial, theoretical and dogmatic. Actual meaning of words is their free-exchange value.
2. Language is already slippery; given this, accounting for 'meaning in use' will only exasperate the problem. That is why lexicographers 'fix' meanings.
3. Meaning is dynamic; definitions are static. The 'meaning in use' theory helps us understand that definitions of words are culled from their meaning in exchange and use and not vice versa.
4. The meaning of words in dictionaries is clear, fixed and less dangerous and ambiguous than the meaning that arises when words are exchanged between people.
Choice C
Meaning is dynamic; definitions are static. The 'meaning in use' theory helps us understand that definitions of words are culled from their meaning in exchange and use and not vice versa.