In the question, a part of the sentence is italicized.

Alternatives to the italicized part are given

which may improve the sentence. Choose the correct alternative. In case no improvement is
needed.

She gave most of her time to music.

a) Spent
b) lent
c) devoted
d) No improvement

Answer: c

2) Select the word or phrase that is closest in meaning to the given word –
NONCHALANCE

a) Neutrality
b) Indifference
c) All-knowing
d) Ignorance
e) timeliness

Answer: b

3) Find the synonym of the word – PERSISTENT

a) Armageddon
b) Flagrant
c) Tenacious
d) Inconsistent

Answer: c

4) Choose the correct alternative

Flow : River :: Stagnant : ?
a) rain
b) stream
c) pool
d) canal

Answer: c

5) Choose the correct alternative.

Architect: Building :: Sculptor: ?
a) museum
b) stone
c) chisel
d) statue
6) GIGANTIC (opposite)
a) Huge
b) Invisible
c) Zero
d) Tiny

Answer: d

7) Stationary (opposite)
a. Mobile
b. Rapid
c. Active
d. Busy

Answer: a

8) Archaic (opposite)
a) Fresh
b) Modern
c) Ancient
d) Present

Answer: a

9) Castigate (opposite)
a) Trape
b) Discard
c) Complement
d) Berate

Answer: c

10) Credulous (Meaning)

a) Credible
b) Discipline
c) Gullible
d) Incredible

Answer: c

11) Unyoke (Meaning)

a) Merge
b) Amalgamate
c) Split
d) Federate
Answer: c

12) Altercation (Meaning)

a) flexibility
b) animosity
c) incompatibility
d) Concord

Answer: b

13) This is a huge traffic jam ———– of heavy rain

a) As
b) Since
c) Because
d) For

Answer: c

14) Monika is quite intelligent but rather ————

a) idealistic
b) generous
c) lazy
d) optimistic

Answer: c

15) Each of the following sentences has been divided into four parts. There is an error in
one of the parts. Point out the part which has an error.

(A) The man to/ (B) who I sold/ (C) my house/ (D) was a cheat. (E) No error

a) A
b) B
c) C
d) D
e) E

Answer: B

16) Each of the following sentences has been divided into four parts. There is an error in
one of the parts. Point out the part which has an error.

(A)The population of Tokyo/ (B) is greater than/ (C) that of any/ (D) other town in the world.

a) A
b) B
c) C
d) D
e) No correction required

Answer: e

17) Choose the option which gives the closest meaning to the phrase given below

Back seat driver

a) Extra weight
b) Instructor from backend
c) People who criticize from the sideline
d) Second person

Answer: c

18) Read the passage and answer accordingly.

Increasingly, historians are blaming diseases imported from the Old World for the staggering
disparity between the indigenous population of America in 1492—new estimates of which soar
as high as 100 million, or approximately one-sixth of the human race at that time—and the few
million full-blooded Native Americans alive at the end of the nineteenth century. There is no
doubt that chronic disease was an important factor in the precipitous decline, and it is highly
probable that the greatest killer was epidemic disease , especially as manifested in virgin-soil
epidemics.

Virgin-soil epidemics are those in which the populations at risk have had no previous contact
with the diseases that strike them and are therefore immunologically almost defenseless. That
virgin-soil epidemics were important in American history is strongly indicated by evidence that a
number of dangerous maladies—smallpox, measles, malaria, yellow fever, and undoubtedly
several more—were unknown in the pre-Columbian New World. The effects of their sudden
introduction are demonstrated in the early chronicles of America, which contain reports of
horrendous epidemics and steep population declines, confirmed in many cases by recent
quantitative analyses of Spanish tribute records and other sources. The evidence provided by the
documents of British and French colonies is not as definitive because the conquerors of those
areas did not establish permanent settlements and begin to keep continuous records until the
seventeenth century, by which time the worst epidemics had probably already taken place.
Furthermore, the British tended to drive the native populations away, rather than enslaving them
as the Spaniards did, so that the epidemics of British America occurred beyond the range of
colonists’ direct observation.

Even so, the surviving records of North America do contain references to deadly epidemics
among the indigenous population. In 1616-1619 an epidemic, possibly of bubonic or pneumonic
plague, swept coastal New England, killing as many as nine out of ten. During the 1630’s
smallpox, the disease most fatal to the Native American people, eliminated half the population of
the Huron and Iroquois confederations. In the 1820’s fever devastated the people of the
Columbia River area, killing eight out of ten of them.

Unfortunately, the documentation of these and other epidemics is slight and frequently
unreliable, and it is necessary to supplement what little we do know with evidence from recent
epidemics among Native Americans. For example, in 1952 an outbreak of measles among the
Native American inhabitants of Ungava Bay, Quebec, affected 99 percent of the population and
killed 7 percent, even though some had the benefit of modern medicine. Cases such as this
demonstrate that even diseases that are not normally fatal can have devastating consequences
when they strike an immunologically defenseless community.

18) It is implied in the passage

a) Measles is not usually a fatal disease

b) Measles ceased to be problem by seventeenth century
c) Measles is a diseased most commonly involved in virgin soil epidemics
d) Measles was not a problem in Spanish colonies

19) According to the passage, the British colonists were unlike the Spanish colonists in
that the British colonists.

a) collected tribute from the native population

b) kept records from a very early date
c) drove Native Americans off the land
d) were unable to provide medical care against epidemic disease

20) It can be inferred from the passage about native American inhabitant of Ungava Bay
that:

a) They were almost killed by the1952 epidemic.

b) They were defenceless against measles
c) They were the last native people to be stuck by Virginia soil – epidemic
d) They did not come to frequent with white American until the twentieth century

21) Read the following passage.

Knowledge has turned out to be mans greatest asset in mastering and conquering nature. The
word science means literally knowledge. It is this quest and thrust for knowledge and the
curiosity of man to know things beyond his reach that resulted in his becoming the lord of this
plant. His never-ending pursuit to unearth the reason behind phenomenon has resulted in endless
discoveries and inventions, which have proved to be the grate stepping stones in the progress of
mankind.

Inventions like the telephone, radio, t.v, telegraph, transistors, airplanes, automobiles, steam
engine, electricity, wireless, telescopes, microscope etc, have changed man’s life forever. There
have been inventions and discoveries in all aspects of life. Science has worked grater miracles in
the fields of health and medicine and has been the greatest weapon in man’s battle against
diseases of various kinds. Vaccination is a miracle in the field of science. Penicillin,
streptomycin, radium and x-rays have turned out be great blessings.

The discovery of the atom and its structure has been one of the most remarkable discoveries
made by man. The quantum theory, the electricity along with the great findings of Einstein, Neils
Bohr etc, have revolutionized the world of science forever. Computer and information
technology are the latest revolutions in the field of science. With the coming of mobiles, internet,
web conferencing etc, the world has shrunk into a cyber village where time and distance have no
meaning are at least are no longer barriers.

Technology is on a rise every day. Each new day brings better technology with it. However, we
should learn to us our knowledge constructively. Only constructive uses of science can guarantee
the continuation of mankind on this earth. Moreover, it is man who is the great generator, creator
and inventor of all this knowledge and technology. We should be warned of becoming slaves to
our own creations and inventions. Only then, can science be a blessing and a miracle. Science, if
used for the betterment of mankind and society can bring about changes in our lives by making
better, more comfortable and worthwhile.

21) What was the first thing that the man learnt to do?

a) To conquer nature.
b) To battle with his fellow men.
c) To live leisurely in the nature.
d) To eat and sleep.

Answer: a

22) How has the world shrunk for man technologically?

a) Continents on the earth are drifting closer to each other

b) Video conferencing, the internet has made this possible
c) Development of medicines
d) The planet is becoming smaller

Answer: b

23) According to the given passage, _____________is the miracle in the field of science

a) computers
b) vaccination
c) atoms and its structure
d) airplane

Answer: c
24) Mark the option which is closest to the meaning of the word given below

ABNEGATE

a) Renounce
b) Assert
c) Give out
d) Continue

Answer: a

25) Alex had his dinner after he ____

a) completed his work
b) had been completing his work
c) was completing his work
d) had been completed his work

Answer: a

Read the passage and answer the questions:

The Stratosphere, specifically, the lower Stratosphere has, it seems, been drying out. Water
vapour is a greenhouse gas, and the cooling effect on the Earth’s climate due to this desiccation
may account for a fair bit of the slowdown in the rise of global temperatures seen over the past
ten years. The Stratosphere sits on top of the Troposphere, the lowest, densest layer of the
atmosphere. The boundary between the two, the Tropopause, is about 18km above your head if
you are in the tropics, and a few kilometers lower if you are at higher latitudes (or up a
mountain). In the Troposphere, the air at higher altitudes is in general cooler than the air below
it, an unstable situation in which warm and often moist air below is endlessly buoying up into
cooler air above. The resultant commotion creates

clouds, storms and much of the rest of the world’s weather. In the Stratosphere, the air gets
warmer at higher altitudes, which provides stability. The Stratosphere-which extends up to about
55km, where the Mesosphere begins, is made even less weather-prone by the absence of water
vapour, and thus of the clouds and precipitation to which it leads. This is because the top of the
Troposphere is normally very cold, causing ascending water vapour to freeze into ice crystals
that drift and fall, rather than continuing up into the Stratosphere. A little water manages to get
past this cold trap. But as Dr. Solomon and her colleagues note, satellite measurements show that
rather less has been doing so over the past ten years than was the case previously. Plugging the
changes in water vapour into a climate model that looks at the way different substances absorb
and emit infrared radiation, they conclude that between 2000 and 2009 a drop in the
Stratospheric water vapour of less than one part per million slowed the rate of warming at the
Earth’s surface by about 25%. Such a small change in Stratospheric water vapour can have such
a large effect precisely because the Stratosphere is already dry. It is the relative change in the
amount of a greenhouse gas, not its absolute level, which determines how much warming it can
produce.

26) What is the order of layers in the atmosphere, starting from the lowermost and going to
the topmost?
(a) Tropopause, Troposphere, Mesosphere, Stratosphere
(b) Troposphere, Tropopause, Stratosphere Mesosphere
(c) Troposphere, Tropopause, Mesosphere, Stratosphere
(d) Troposphere, Stratosphere, Tropopause, Mesosphere
Ans (B)

27) Why is the situation in the troposphere defined as unstable?

(a) Because, unlike the Stratosphere, there is too much water vapour in the Troposphere
(b) Because the Troposphere is not directly linked to the Stratosphere, but through the
Tropopause which creates much of the world’s weather
(c) Because of the interaction between warm and cool air which is unpredictable in nature and
can lead to storms
(d) Because this layer of the atmosphere is very cloudy and can lead to weather-related
disruptions
Ans:(C)

28) What in the passage has been cited as the main reason affecting global temperatures?
(a) Relative change in water vapour content in the Stratosphere
(b) Drop in Stratospheric water vapour of less than one part per million
(c) The extreme dryness in the Stratosphere
(d) Absorption and emission of infrared radiation by different substances
Ans:(B)

Read the passage and answer the questions:

Indian government’s intention of introducing caste-based quotas for the “Other Backward
Classes” in centrally funded institutions of higher learning and the Prime Minister’s suggestion
to the private sector to ‘voluntarily go in for reservation,’ has once again sparked off a debate on
the merits and demerits of caste-based reservations. Unfortunately, the predictable divide
between the votaries of “social justice” on one hand and those advocating “merit” on the other
seems to have once again camouflaged the real issues. It is necessary to take a holistic and non-
partisan view of the issues involved.
The hue and cry about “sacrificing merit” is untenable simply because merit is, after all, a social
construct and it cannot be determined objectively in a historically unjust and unequal context.
The idea of competitive merit will be worthy of serious attention only in a broadly egalitarian
context. But then, caste is not an obstacle in the way of an egalitarian order.

After all, economic conditions, educational opportunities, and discrimination on the basis of
gender also contribute to the denial of opportunity to express one’s true merit and worth. It is
interesting to note that in the ongoing debate, one side refuses to see the socially constructed
nature of the notion of merit while the other side refuses to recognize the multiplicity of the
mechanisms of exclusion with equal vehemence.

The idea of caste-based reservations is justified by the logic of social justice. This implies the
conscious attempt to restructure a given social order in such a way that individuals belonging to
the traditionally and structurally marginalized social groups get adequate opportunities to
actualize their potential and realize their due share in the resources available.
In any society, particularly in one as diverse and complex as the Indian society, this is going to
be a gigantic exercise and must not be reduced to just one aspect of state policy. Seen in this
light, the caste-based reservation has to work in tandem with other policies ensuring the
elimination of the structures of social marginalization and denial of access. It has to be seen as a
means of achieving social justice and not an end in itself. By the same logic, it must be assessed
and audited from time to time like any other social policy and economic strategy.

29) What is meant by the phrase “Sacrificing merit” referring to?

(a) Killing merit
(b) Selection on the basis of merit
(c) Encouraging reservation
(d) None of these
Ans: C

30) What is the author most likely to agree with?

(a) Caste-based reservation is the answer to India’s problems
(b) Gender-based reservation is the answer to India’s problems
(c) There is no solution to bridge the gap between privileged and underprivileged
(d) None of these
Ans: D

31) What do you mean by the word ‘Egalitarian’?

(a) Characterized by belief in the equality of all people
(b) Characterized by belief in the inequality of all people
(c) Another word for reservations
(d) Growth
Ans: A

DIRECTIONS for questions 1 to 4 : Study the passages below and answer the questions
that follow each passage.
Like most teenagers, I dreamed of one day having my name in lights. And perhaps an interview
in National Geographic for my work with Rwanda's apes. Maybe an Oscar for my portrayal as a
feisty heroine in an epic drama, preferably set in India. Or a Nobel Prize for poetry, which I'd
collect in Stockholm wearing a black turtleneck. Suffice to say, none of these has come true. I
prefer dogs to gorillas. My poetry is used to line the bottom of my drawer. And I've never been
to India. Sure, as a writer, I get my name in the occasional glow of a nine-point byline, but the
difference between Oscars and Nobels and Helvetica type face is that the former are all about
me; the latter is by me. With the advent of the internet, all that has changed. Like most users, I
am a gratuitous googler, squandering valuable work time looking up invaluable topics such as
how to clean my dog's teeth, how to cook Risotto, and myriad medical ailments, including tough
heels (definitely cancer), lumps on elbows (certainly cancer) and easy bruising (absolutely
cancer). But among these endless searches will be a valuable constant: my own name, Helen
Walne. In the great scheme of things I am not very important. I have never been medically
paroled from jailed, I haven't gone to rehab and I am not about to marry a famous celebrity. My
husband has gently suggested that I seek psychological help for my addiction. I google myself
everyday. And yes, there are times when, like a bulimic digging into a second bucket of Kentuky
Fried Chicken, I feel out of control, gorging on blogs, images and news and glimpses of myself.

In cyber space, there is no such thing as big fish in little ponds, or little fish in big ponds. Instead,
it's one swirling, bubbling swamp of amoebae all gasping for their own gulp of air. And for ego
surfers, it's important we float on the surface. Research has found that 47% of internet users have
performed self googling more than double the number from 5 years ago. I have realized that like
wine, watching soap operas and eating pizza, moderation is the key to virtual vanity - and
keeping it to yourself paramount. When you start dabbling in the competitive realms of rival
surfing you are sure to start sinking under the flotsam of self doubt. There is always someone out
there with a higher ranking, a better picture, a bigger job.

1. According to the passage, the author

I. received an Oscar for her portrayal as a feisty heroine in an epic drama.
II. feels that moderation is the key to well being in cyber space.
III. feels that she is the centre of all she checks in the net.
A. I, II and III are correct.
B. I and II are correct.
C. II and III are correct.
D. I and III are correct.

Answer: Option C
First is factually incorrect.

2. It can be inferred from the passage that

A. you have gone too far when you start googling your name multiple times daily.
B. competitive rival surfing is the best way to increase your self esteem.
C. being addicted to self googling is the way forward in the 21st century.
D. the advent of the internet has helped in creating 'a somebody' out of 'a nobody'.

Answer: Option D
We can't infer that somebody has gone far if one starts googling one's name multiple times. Nothing can
be inferred about increasing self esteem. Option C is out of scope.

3. According to the passage,

 A. Helen Walne is a patient of cancer.
B. Helen Walne is a megabyte megalomaniac.
C. Helen Walne thinks that constant rival surfing is the best way to improve self worth.
D. Helen Walne is a conscientious worker.

Answer: Option B
Megalomania is an obsession with doing extravagant or grand things. Helen Wayne is also
obsessed with this. The other options are out of scope.

4. According to the passage, all of the following are not true, except

A. Helen Walne received a prize wearing a turtle neck.

B. Helen Walne's husband feels she needs help to get out of her addiction.
C. In reality there is very little difference in the number of internet users today and five
years ago.
D. Rival surfing gives a better job.

Answer: Option B
Refer to 1st para line “My husband has gently…..addiction."

 DIRECTIONS for questions 5 : The question has a group of sentences marked A, B, C, D

and E. Arrange these to form a logical sequence.
 A. The upsurge of public activism against the setting up of Special Economic Zones,
which eventually forced the State government to announce the scrapping of all 15 such
projects, is an impressive case in point.
B. Early last year, a similar agitation coerced the government into calling for a revision of
the Goa Regional Plan 2Q11, a controversial document that opened up large swathes of
land, including green belts and coastal stretches, for construction.
C. The broad-based agitation against SEZs has demonstrated the power of popular protest
in the State.
D. Those opposed to the projects had questioned the propriety of the government acquiring
large tracts of land and then selling them to promoters at low prices.
E. A coastal State with an area of 3,700 square kilometers and a population of about 1.4
million, Goa has always been extremely sensitive to the impact of unrestrained economic
development.
5.

A. BCDEA
B. CDEAB
C. EABCD
D. DABCE

Answer: Option C
Sentence E introduces 'Goa that has been extremely sensitive to the impact of unrestrained
economic development'. A exemplifies on 'the upsurge. B carries the idea forward with 'a similar
agitation'
 DIRECTIONS for questions 6 to 7 : Choose the option which gives the best way of
writing the sentence ensuring that the message is correctly conveyed.

6.

A.  There were great stable, where a dozen grooms and boys held forth, rows of vine-clad
servant cottages, an endless and orderly array of outhouses, long grape arbors, green
pastures, orchards, and berry patches.
B. There were great stables, where a dozen grooms and boys held forth, rows of vine-clad
servants' cottages, an endless and orderly array of outhouses, long grape arbors, green
pastures, orchards, and berry patches.
C. There are great stables, where a dozen grooms and boys held forth, rows of vine-clad
servants' cottages, an endless and order array of outhouses, long grape arbors, green
pastures, orchards, and berry patches.
D. There were great stables, where a dozen grooms and boys held forth, rows of vine-clad
servant's cottages, an endless and orderly array of outhouse, long grape arbor, green
pasture, orchard, and berry patch.

Answer: Option B
In the 1st sentence- 'stable' does not agree with 'were', so a subject verb agreement error.
2nd sentence-correct.
3rd sentence- there 'are', the rest of the sentence is in past tense, so there is a tense mismatch.
4th sentence- servant's, should be servants'.

7.

A. Then there is the pumping plant for the artesian well, and the big cement tank where
Judge Miller's boys took their morning plunge and kept cool in the hot afternoon.
B. hen there was the pumping plant for the artesian well, and the big cement tank where
Judge Miller's boys took their morning plunge and kept cool in the hot afternoon.
C. hen there was the pumping plant for the artesian well, and the big cement tank were
Judge Miller's boys took their morning plunge and keep cool in the hot afternoon.
D. Then there was the pumping plant though the artesian well, and the big cement tank
where Judge Miller's boys took their morning plunge and kept cool in the hot afternoon.

Answer: Option B
1st sentence- there is a tense mismatch.
2nd sentence- correct.
3rd sentence- 'keep' cool should be kept.
4th sentence – 'through' the artesian well is incorrect.

 DIRECTIONS for questions 8-9 : Choose the option to fill in the blanks.
 8.  We_____________to inform you that we cannot include your thesis in our
library, on the __________________of not receiving permission from your
supervisor.

A. saddened, reason
B. lament, pretext
C. repent, justification
D. regret, grounds

 Answer: Option D
'regret' is a feeling of disappointment.
repent is feeling remorse for one's own wrong doings.
lament is to mourn.
Hence the 4th option is the best fit.

9.  When her illness took a turn for the worse, the doctors took
_____________ to ____________ the situation.

A. steps, ameliorate
B. approaches, better
C. modes, improve
D. measures, enhance

Answer: Option C
'Ameliorate' – to make better, improve. Modes does not fit the first blank so option 3.

 DIRECTIONS for question 10 : A sentence has been broken into four parts with an
error in one of the parts. Identify the part that has an error.
10.

A. A temple was erected to him

B. at the foot of the Capitoline Hill,
C. in which were deposited the
D. public treasury and the laws of the state.

Answer: Option A
A temple was erected in his honour.