Additional Mock CAT VARC Test 1

Additional Mock CAT VARC Test 1 | 1
MOCK TEST 1
Additional Mock CAT VARC Test 1
Questions: 34 Tim e Allotted: 60 minutes
Directions: The passages given below are followed by a set of questions each. Choose the best answer to each
question.
PASSAGE 1
Are viruses alive? A living entity is in a state bounded by birth and death. Living organisms require a degree of
biochemical autonomy, carrying on the metabolic activities that produce the molecules and energy needed to
sustain the organism. But a spectrum may exist between what is certainly alive and what is not. A rock is not
alive. A bacterium, though, is alive. Although it is a single cell, it can generate energy and the molecules needed
to sustain itself, and it can reproduce. But what about a seed? A seed might not be considered alive. Yet it has
a potential for life, and it may be destroyed. In this regard, viruses resemble seeds more than they do live cells.
They have a certain potential, which can be snuffed out, but they do not attain the more autonomous state of
life.
A virus consists of genetic material (DNA or RNA—nucleic acids) enclosed in a protein coat that may also shelter
viral proteins involved in infection, but it lacks essential systems necessary for metabolic functions. When a virus
enters a cell (called a host after infection), it sheds its coat, bares its genes and induces the cell’s own replication
machinery to reproduce the intruder’s DNA or RNA and manufacture more viral protein based on the instructions
in the viral nucleic acid. The newly created viral bits assemble to reproduce more viruses, which then infect other
host cells. These behaviours are what led many to think of viruses as existing at the border between chemistry
and life—viruses lead “a kind of borrowed life.”
Viruses have their own, ancient evolutionary history, dating to the very origin of cellular life. For example, some
viral-repair enzymes—which excise and resynthesize damaged DNA, mend oxygen radical damage, and so on—
are unique to certain viruses and have existed almost unchanged probably for billions of years.
2 | Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension for CAT
Viruses directly exchange genetic information with living organisms. They take up residence in cells, where they
may remain dormant for long periods or take advantage of the cells’ replication apparatus to reproduce at a slow
and steady rate. These viruses have developed many clever ways to avoid detection by the host immune system—
essentially every step in the immune process can be altered or controlled by various genes found in one virus or
another.
Furthermore, a virus genome can permanently colonize its host, adding viral genes to host lineages and
ultimately becoming a critical part of the host species’ genome. The huge population of viruses, combined with
their rapid rates of replication and mutation, makes them the world’s leading source of genetic innovation: they
constantly “invent” new genes. And unique genes of viral origin may travel, finding their way into other organisms
and contributing to evolutionary change.
The cell nucleus itself is of viral origin. The advent of the nucleus—which differentiates eukaryotes (organisms
whose cells contain a true nucleus), including humans, from prokaryotes, such as bacteria—cannot be
satisfactorily explained solely by the gradual adaptation of prokaryotic cells until they became eukaryotic. Rather
the nucleus may have evolved from a persisting large DNA virus that made a permanent home within
prokaryotes. Some support for this idea comes from sequence data showing that the gene for a DNA polymerase
(a DNA-copying enzyme) in the virus called T4, which infects bacteria, is closely related to other DNA polymerase
genes in both eukaryotes and the viruses that infect them.
1. Which of the following support the analogous relationship between a virus and a seed, EXCEPT?
1. Both are non-living things.
2. Both are not alive.
3. Both have the potential for life.
4. Both can be destroyed.
2. Which are some of the functions that viruses have performed throughout their evolutionary history,
EXCEPT?
1. Created new genetic material.
2. Repaired damaged genetic material.
3. Helped synthesize live cells.
4. Exchanged genetic material with living organisms.
3. Which of the following can be inferred in respect of the evolution of the cell nucleus from the
passage?
1. Prokaryotic cells evolved into eukaryotic cells through a gradual process of natural selection.
2. Prokaryotic cells evolved into eukaryotic cells through a process of genetic mutation.
3. Prokaryotic cells evolved into eukaryotic cells through viral intervention.
4. Possibly by a combination of all of the above.
4. Which of the following can be inferred to be the implications of the ability of viruses to permanently
colonize its host, EXCEPT?
1. Evolutionary change through genetic innovation and genetic transfer across species.
2. Building the immune system of the host species.
3. Speciation of host species through viral intervention.
4. Integration of the virus genome with the host species’ genome.
5. Which of the following can be inferred to be sufficient conditions to be considered a living organism,
EXCEPT?
1. Be made up of live cell(s).
2. Ability to reproduce on their own.
3. Have genetic material.

4. Have metabolic autonomy.
PASSAGE 2
In The Selfish Gene (1976), Richard Dawkins put forward the idea that genes strive for immortality, and
individuals, families, and species are merely vehicles in that quest. Before this, it had been proposed that natural
selection was honing the behaviour of living things to promote the continuance through time of the individual
creature, or family, or group or species. But Dawkins clarified that in fact the behaviour of all living things is in
service of their genes hence, metaphorically, genes are selfish. It is a paradox, however, that the selfish gene
metaphor actually explains altruism. We help others who are not directly related to us because we share similar
versions of genes with them.
Once this gene-centric view of evolution became the dominant idea in biology, in the 1990s there followed a
technological goldrush—the Human Genome Project—to find them all. Then it turned out that we didn’t have
enough genes to account for our presumed sophistication, and that the genome itself was replete with DNA that
did not make up genes. Many of these areas were genetic control switches, the on and off buttons to tell genes
where and when to function. Some were just the decaying remains of genes whose function have been lost in
time.
And what by far the larger part of the genome is doing for much of the time is still something of a mystery. Today
we can scan genomes by the hundreds and look for the signals of natural selection in DNA, regardless of what
that DNA is actually doing. It’s like knowing an animal had been there by finding its prints in the forest. Genomics
has become an industry devoted to trying to work out the immense complexities of DNA. But, none of the
complications of modern genomes erodes the central premise of the selfish gene.
It’s also an idea that permeates all biology, right back to the beginnings of life on Earth. We’ve made great strides
in understanding the process by which chemistry on Earth became biology. Life was simpler then, and the first
information encoded in a gene would probably have simply been the instruction to replicate itself. Molecules
that do just that have been created in the lab, or, more precisely, have been allowed to create themselves by a
process of chemical natural selection. A gene’s only desire is to reproduce itself, and that the complexity of
genomes makes that reproduction more efficient.
Where Dawkins places the origin of life squarely with the origin of replicators, i.e. the first gene, an emerging
view suggests otherwise. This view is that this process—genetics—followed the establishment of a system that
could host that information replication. Genes in cells rely on a metabolism that generates the power needed for
them to enact their programmes and replicate themselves. Logically, a metabolism of sorts must have preceded
the establishment of the first selfish gene, and some of us now think that it might have occurred deep in the
geological crannies in the ocean floors some 4 billion years ago.
Life has been continuous on this planet ever since—on a sort of single evolutionary tree. We share dozens of
genes with our most distant relatives, single-celled bacteria and archaea. These are probably the most
successful—the most selfish—of any genes, since their existence spans the entire duration of life on Earth.
6. In which ways has the Human Genome Project helped us better understand the complications of
modern genomics, EXCEPT?
1. A gene’s only desire is to reproduce itself, and but it the genome that makes that reproduction more
efficient.
2. Genomes provide the signals of natural selection in DNA, regardless of what that DNA is actually
doing.
3. The human genome did not have enough genes to account for our presumed sophistication.
4. Genomes are not just the repository of genes but are replete with DNA performing multiple roles.
7. Which of the examples, if true, illustrate the paradox referred to in the first paragraph, EXCEPT?
1. Drones devote their whole lives to caring for the queen, constructing and protecting the nest,
foraging for food, and tending the larvae in a bee colony.
2. Birds help in raising the young of other birds, protecting the nest from predators and helping to feed
the fledglings.
3. Vervet monkeys give alarm calls to warn fellow monkeys of the presence of predators, even at the
risk of attracting attention to themselves.
4. Neighbour crabs join together to fend off intruder crabs in order to retain territorial control over their
area.
8. Which of the following, if true, would bolster the idea of “The Selfish Gene” as put forward by Richard
Dawkins, EXCEPT?
1. Life did not originate with genes but with the establishment of a system that could host genes.
2. Genes that are passed on are the ones whose evolutionary consequences serve their own implicit
interest in being replicated, not necessarily those of the organism.
3. The more two individuals are genetically related, the more they behave selflessly with each other.
4. Genes are not driven by any selfish motives, but their effects can be metaphorically described as
if they were.
9. “The idea of the selfish gene implies that life has no plan other than to keep chugging along.” Which
are possible implications for humans that can further emerge from this statement in the context of
the passage, EXCEPT?
1. The innate selfishness of humans can be traced to their selfish genes.
2. Humans function merely to serve the genes and do not have any free will of their own.
3. Humans aspire to transcend life on earth and become immortal.
4. If survival is the only goal, then any action or behaviour that promotes this goal is morally justifiable.
10. Which of the following best summarises the gene-centric view of evolution?
1. Genes are at the centre of evolution starting from single-celled micro-organisms to humans and
promote selfishness in the fight for survival of the fittest.
2. Life originated with genes which were the “first replicators” found in single-celled micro-organisms
which had a metabolism that provided the power for genes to replicate themselves.
3. Natural selection and evolution operate at the level of the gene and not that of the individual
creature, or family, or group or species—they are mere vehicles for the genome which provides for
the efficient reproduction of genes.
4. Genes strive for immortality and some dozens of genes that we share with single-celled bacteria and
archaea have achieved immortality during some 4 billion years of life on Earth.
PASSAGE 3
Why is it that only humans have language, the most complex of animal behaviours? Surely something must have
happened to cut us off from our nearest surviving relatives.
Our lineage, Homo, dates back around 2.5 million years. Before that, our nearest forebears were essentially
upright apes, creatures that were probably about as smart as chimpanzees. But at some point, something in
their ecological niche must have shifted. These early pre-humans moved from a fruit-based diet—like most of
today’s great apes—to meat. The new diet required novel social arrangements and a new type of co-operative
strategy (it’s hard to hunt big game alone). This in turn seems to have entailed new forms of co-operative thought
more generally: social arrangements arose to guarantee hunters an equal share of the bounty, and to ensure
that women and children who were less able to participate also got a share.
By the time the common ancestor of Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis had emerged sometime around
300,000 years ago, ancestral humans had already developed a sophisticated type of co-operative intelligence.
This much is evident from the archaeological record, which demonstrates the complex social living and
interactional arrangements among ancestral humans. They probably had symbol use—which prefigures
language—and the ability to engage in recursive thought (a consequence, on some accounts, of the slow
emergence of an increasingly sophisticated symbolic grammar). Their new ecological situation would have led,
inexorably, to changes in human behaviour. Tool-use would have been required, and co-operative hunting, as
well as new social arrangements—such as agreements to safeguard monogamous breeding privileges while
males were away on hunts.
These new social pressures would have precipitated changes in brain organisation. In time, we would see a
capacity for language. Language is, after all, the paradigmatic example of co-operative behaviour: it requires
conventions—norms that are agreed within a community—and it can be deployed to co-ordinate all the additional
complex behaviours that the new niche demanded.
This allows us to picture the emergence of language as a gradual process from many overlapping tendencies. It
might have begun as a sophisticated gestural system, for example, only later progressing to its vocal
manifestations. But surely the most profound spur on the road to speech would have been the development of
our instinct for co-operation. By this, I don’t mean to say that we always get on. But we do almost always recognise
other humans as minded creatures, like us, who have thoughts and feelings that we can attempt to influence.
We see this instinct at work in human infants as they attempt to acquire their mother tongue. They are able to
deploy sophisticated intention-recognition abilities from a young age, perhaps as early as nine months old, in
order to begin to figure out the communicative purposes of the adults around them. And this is, ultimately, an
outcome of our co-operative minds. Which is not to belittle language: once it came into being, it allowed us to
shape the world to our will—for better or for worse. It unleashed humanity’s tremendous powers of invention and
transformation. But it didn’t come out of nowhere, and it doesn’t stand apart from the rest of life.
11. In the context of the passage, which 5-word/phrase sequence best captures the development of
language in Homo Sapiens after the shift to meat-eating?
1. Hunting—Gestural System—Vocal System—Symbol Use—Language
2. Hunting—Tool-making— Symbol Use—Complex Societies—Language
3. Hunting—Co-operative Living—Complex Societies—Changes in Brain Organisation—Language
4. Hunting—Gestural System—Recursive Thought—Co-operative Intelligence—Language
12. Which of the following best defines and explains the term “ecological niche” in the context of the
passage?
1. An ecological niche is the role and position a species has in its environment, including all of its
interactions with its environment.
2. An ecological niche is the position of a species within the pecking order of an ecosystem that ensures
its dominance.
3. An ecological niche is the perfect match of a species to specific environmental/geographical
conditions.
4. The concept of ecological niche is central to ecological biogeography, which focuses on spatial
patterns of ecological communities.
13. The author refers to “agreements to safeguard monogamous breeding privileges”. Which of the
following were possible reasons, if true, for the need for monogamy in some early human societies,
EXCEPT?
1. Changes in roles leading to gender differentiation.
2. Prolonged dependency of human children on parental care leading to the institutions of home and
family.
3. No seasonal restrictions on reproductive receptivity in human females leading to promiscuity and

within-group conflict.
4. Innate possessiveness of mating partners in humans leading to stable relationships.
14. What can be inferred from the term “instinct for co-operation or co-operative intelligence” in the
context of the last two paragraphs, EXCEPT?
1. Humans have the capacity to influence the thoughts and feelings of others.
2. Humans have the capacity for invention and transformation.
3. Humans have the capacity to infer and understand others’ motives and actions.
4. Humans have the capacity to attribute thoughts and feelings to others.
15. Which of the following are examples of co-operative behaviour in early human societies as stated or
suggested in the passage, EXCEPT?
1. Division of labour among different activities, such as, hunting, tool-making, etc. to facilitate
organised living.
2. Foraging for food by gathering of plants, grasses, insects, etc. provided by nature.
3. Coordinating the distribution of the fair share of food in the group.
4. Hunting in groups to trap and overpower big game.
PASSAGE 4
Life has been soaking up sunlight and storing it as a fuel source for billions of years. But scientists have just put
a new twist on this ancient process that could finally provide us with the efficiency we need to compete with
fossil fuels.
A study led by the University of Cambridge in the UK has resulted in a better way to split water into hydrogen and
oxygen by linking a photosynthesis pathway with an enzyme called hydrogenase. While there's nothing new about
breaking water apart to create a clean supply of energy, most methods to date have relied on expensive catalysts,
making it a challenge to go economy-size. This new process could change that.
Photosynthesis is the rearrangement of water and carbon dioxide into glucose, locking up light energy for later
use while releasing free oxygen. It's done a good job keeping plants, algae, and certain bacteria alive for a few
billion years, and is ultimately responsible for making the fossil fuels we now burn by the tonne.
But it's not overly efficient as far as energy capture processes go. After all, plants only need a few percent of the
energy that rains down from the sky each day. And freeing that energy now stored as coal comes with the problem
of also freeing all that carbon dioxide, which, as we know has unleashed its own problems.
Scientists have now invented a semi-artificial version of photosynthesis that improves on nature's formula,
reactivating a long-abandoned process that evolution had left behind. The key is an ancient enzyme known as
hydrogenase. Hydrogenase is an enzyme present in algae that is capable of reducing protons into hydrogen.
During evolution this process has been deactivated because it wasn't necessary for survival but we successfully
managed to bypass the inactivity to achieve the reaction we wanted—splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen.
Mimicking photosynthesis in the name of collecting and storing energy is something scientists have been
experimenting with for years. More than just a potential power source, it could also help mop up carbon dioxide in
its traditional form. But most earlier technologies simply won't scale up to industrial levels, either because they're
too expensive, inefficient, or use materials that pose their own risks as pollutants. The new approach was to
create an electrochemical cell—not unlike a battery—based on the light-collecting biochemistry of a process
called photosystem II. This provided the necessary voltage required for the hydrogenase enzyme to do its work,
reducing the hydrogen in water so it can divorce from oxygen and bubble away as a gas. It sounds simple in
principle, but connecting artificial systems with organic processes is anything but a walk in the park.
This work overcomes many difficult challenges associated with the integration of biological and organic
components into inorganic materials for the assembly of semi-artificial devices and opens up a toolbox for
developing future systems for solar energy conversion. This process is unlikely to be the end point, with plenty
more research to be done. Finding the right balance of natural materials and human intervention could be the
ticket to inexpensive, truly clean energy.
A hydrogen fuel economy is still some way off in the future, with other challenges to overcome in storage and
transport. Though researchers are making plenty of headway there as well.
16. Which of the following can be inferred to be true from the passage, EXCEPT?
1. Carbon dioxide captured from the atmosphere by photosynthesis is ultimately released back to the
atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels.
2. Photosynthesis is an efficient way to capture solar energy and store it for later use.
3. Fossil fuels are formed from the dead remains of plants, algae and other organic matter.
4. Fossil fuels are nothing but solar energy stored in the form of chemical energy.
17. What is the precise function of the process of “photosystem II” in the semi-artificial version of
photosynthesis invented by scientists?
1. To convert solar energy into chemical energy and in turn into electrical energy for splitting water into
oxygen and hydrogen.
2. To create an electrochemical cell that provides electrical energy for splitting water into oxygen and
hydrogen.
3. To store solar energy as chemical energy in an electrochemical cell that provides electrical energy
for splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen.
4. To replicate the process of photosynthesis in splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen and mopping
up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
18. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage, EXCEPT?
1. Large amounts of algae are available in nature to provide the quantities of the enzyme hydrogenase
needed for large-scale operation.
2. Hydrogen gas released after the splitting of water can serve as a renewable fuel.
3. Splitting of water into oxygen and hydrogen is an endothermic process.
4. Photosystem II process works separately from the photosynthesis process.
19. Which one of the following would be the most suitable title for the passage among the given options?
1. Replicating Nature in the Laboratory
2. Tapping Solar Energy on a Large Scale Through Artificial Photosynthesis
3. Devising Efficient Ways to Turn Sunlight into Unlimited, Renewable Fuel
4. Photosynthesis—Nature’s Smartest Invention
PASSAGE 5
George Orwell’s “1984” was published in 1949, but its relevance seems never to fade. One is the portrayal of
the surveillance state—Big Brother and the telescreen, an astonishingly prescient conception that Orwell
dreamed up when he had probably never seen a television. Another is Newspeak, a favourite topic of Orwell’s:
the abuse of language for political purposes.
No novel of the past century has had more influence than George Orwell’s 1984. It’s almost impossible to talk
about propaganda, surveillance, authoritarian politics, or perversions of truth without dropping a reference
to 1984. Throughout the Cold War, the novel found avid underground readers behind the Iron Curtain who
wondered, How did he know?
Orwell maintained that the novel was not an attack on any particular government but a satire of the totalitarian
tendencies in Western society and intellectuals: “The moral to be drawn from this dangerous nightmare situation
is a simple one: Don’t let it happen. It depends on you.” But every work of art escapes the artist’s control—the
more popular and complex, the greater the misunderstandings.
Today we are living in a new kind of totalitarian regime that didn’t exist in Orwell’s time. We pass our days under
the nonstop surveillance of a telescreen that we bought at the Apple Store, carry with us everywhere, and tell
everything to, without any coercion by the state. The problem today is too much information from too many
sources, with a resulting plague of fragmentation and division—not excessive authority but its disappearance,
which leaves ordinary people to work out the facts for themselves, at the mercy of their own prejudices and
delusions.
A different sort of doublethink has become pervasive. It’s not the claim that true is fake or that two plus two
makes five. Progressive doublethink—which has grown worse in reaction to the right-wing kind—creates a more
insidious unreality because it operates in the name of all that is good.
For example, many on the left now share an unacknowledged but common assumption that a good work of art
is made of good politics and that good politics is a matter of identity. The progressive view of a book or play
depends on its political stance, and its stance—even its subject matter—is scrutinized in light of the group
affiliation of the artist: Personal identity plus political position equals aesthetic value. This confusion of categories
guides judgments all across the worlds of media, the arts, and education, from movie reviews to grant
committees. Some people who register the assumption as doublethink might be privately troubled, but they don’t
say so publicly. Then self-censorship turns into self-deception, until the recognition itself disappears—a lie you
accept becomes a lie you forget. In this way, intelligent people do the work of eliminating their own unorthodoxy
without the Thought Police.
This willing constriction of intellectual freedom will do lasting damage. It corrupts the ability to think clearly, and
it undermines both culture and progress. Good art doesn’t come from wokeness, and social problems starved of
debate can’t find real solutions. Not much has changed since the 1940s when Orwell wrote “1984”. The will to
power still passes through hatred on the right and virtue on the left.
20. Which of the following can be inferred as features of “insidious unreality” in the statement
“Progressive doublethink—which has grown worse in reaction to the right-wing kind—creates a more
insidious unreality because it operates in the name of all that is good”, EXCEPT?
1. Aesthetic value of a work of art is related to the political stance of the artist.
2. Progressive doublethink leads to confusion of categories in the name of virtue.
3. Hatred on the right merge with virtue on the left in the will to power.
4. Political stance of an artist is related to his/her group affiliations.
21. Which of the following CANNOT be inferred as one of the “totalitarian tendencies in Western society
and intellectuals”?
1. Exercise of the will to power.
2. Use of propaganda to promote the government’s ideology.
3. Muzzling of the media to constrict intellectual freedom.
4. Use of information overload through all forms of the media.
22. Which of the following can be inferred to be harmful effects of the voluntary self-censorship and self-
deception of intelligent people, EXCEPT?
1. Social problems are not deliberated upon.
2. Art is politicised.
3. Doublethink undermines culture and progress.
4. Good art comes from wokeness.
23. Which of the following can be inferred to be some aspects of “today’s new kind of totalitarian regime”
as compared with the totalitarian regime reflected in “1984”, EXCEPT?
1. Big Brother and the telescreen in “1984” have been replaced by ordinary people freely watching the
screens of their smartphones for all sorts of information under the surveillance of tech giants, such
as Google, Facebook, etc.
2. Excessive authority in “1984” has been replaced by the absence of any authority that can clear the
confusion for the public.
3. Coercion by the state in “1984” has been replaced by the prejudices and delusions of ordinary
people in controlling and shaping their own thoughts.
4. Thought Police of the state in “1984” has been replaced by intelligent people themselves who
through self-deception believe lies rather than questioning them and exposing them publicly.
24. Which of the following best states the primary purpose of the author in the passage?
1. To highlight the enduring relevance of George Orwell’s novel “1984”.
2. To delineate the present manifestations of our totalitarian tendencies.
3. To suggest that we should not allow our innate totalitarian tendences to emerge.
4. To caution against the damage and harm that doublethink can do in today’s world.
25. Five sentences related to a topic are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a
meaningful and coherent short paragraph. Identify the odd one out. Choose its number as your
answer and key it in.
1. This myth might teach us that autocrats who plan to rule in perpetuity don’t like to encourage the
birth of ideas that might displace them.
2. Since gods plan on sticking around for ever, they don’t want a more powerful offspring to compete
with them; so Thetis married a mortal, King Peleus, and gave birth to Achilles.
3. Mortals do like their children to outshine them.
4. Greek mythology tells that Zeus and Poseidon, two of the greatest gods, competed for the hand of
the goddess Thetis.
5. But when they heard the prophecy that Thetis would bear a son more powerful than his father, both
withdrew in alarm.
Answer: ______
26. The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4) given below, when properly sequenced would yield a coherent
paragraph. Decide on the proper sequence of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of
the four numbers as your answer.
1. Every writer who is original is often doubtful about the value of a work.
2. A writer would think to himself: “So I’m found out and that odious rice pudding of a book is what I
thought it—a dank failure.”
3. Praise from a critic whom he respects is a treasured reassurance; and silence or blame a
confirmation of his worst fears.
4. Some writers keep up an air of stoic indifference to reviews, some avoid distress by refusing to read
them, but they all care, and for good reasons.
Answer: ______
1. Indeed, the horrific Thirty Years’ War, in which, basically, Europe’s Roman Catholics killed all the
Protestants they could, and vice versa, can in some measure be laid at Luther’s door.
2. Once he had divided the Church, it could not be healed; his reforms survived to breed other reforms,
many of which he disapproved of; his church splintered and splintered.
3. Martin Luther, the founder of Protestantism, was one of those figures who touched off something
much larger than himself; namely, the Reformation—the sundering of the Church and a fundamental
revision of its theology.
4. Although it did not begin until decades after his death, it arose in part because he had created no
institutional structure to replace the one he walked away from.
Answer: ______
1. Part of your humanness is your ability both to invent new sentences and to comprehend the verbal
inventions of other people.
2. Thus, it is that the manner in which you utter words, write words, and receive words throughout your
life determines how effectively and resourcefully you carry on the business of being a member of the
human race.
3. “If you fill your speech and writing with prefabricated clichés, ramshackle abstractions, and leaden
expressions, you are denying the abounding creativity that is inherent in the very nature of human
language.”
4. Linguist Noam Chomsky maintains that “when we study human language, we are approaching what
some might call ‘the human essence,’ the distinct qualities of mind that are, so far as we know,
unique to man.”
Answer: ______
29. Five sentences related to a topic are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a
meaningful and coherent short paragraph. Identify the odd one out. Choose its number as your
answer and key it in.
1. It is true that social dynamics are complex and there are a variety of factors that could affect how
euthanasia legislation is received in one society as compared to another.
2. No one profits from impolitic policy and it would be a monumental blunder to enact euthanasia
legislation in a hurry.
3. But, rather than offering a glib dismissal of the arguments, we need to review the hard facts about
euthanasia creep and the social costs of assisted dying as experienced in some societies.
4. And it is also true that claims about euthanasia creep don’t constitute an argument against
euthanasia as such--they are only claims about what might happen if assisted dying is legalised in a
particular society.
5. Indeed, some proponents of assisted dying might argue that its wide adoption is a positive
development.
Answer: ______
30. The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best
captures the essence of the passage.
Voters rely on the simple heuristic of throwing out incumbents who have made them unhappy, a
technique that in political science goes by the polite name of “retrospective voting.” But to impose
full accountability on the incumbent, voters would need to know “who the incumbents are, what they
did, what they could have done, what happened when the incumbents did what they did, and whether
the challengers are likely to be any better than the incumbents.” Most don’t know all this, of course.
Some observers point out that voters have punished incumbents for droughts and shark attacks and
rewarded them for recent sports victories. Some scholars have dismissed retrospective voting as “no
more rational than killing the pharaoh when the Nile does not flood.”
1. Voters throw out incumbents who they think have not performed well and vote in their challengers
with the hope that they would perform better. This is called retrospective voting.
2. Retrospective voting is more often based on the whims and fancies of the voters than on adequate
information and is hence irrational.
3. Retrospective voting is tantamount to punishing the incumbents for their poor performance and acts
as a deterrent to performing badly.
4. Retrospective voting is a simple trial-and-error voting method employed when voters have
insufficient information.
31. Five sentences related to a topic are given below in a jumbled order. Four of them form a coherent
and unified paragraph. Identify the odd sentence that does not go with the four. Key in the number
of the option that you choose.
1. In recent years, McCoy’s legacy was honoured when he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall
of Fame, and when a patent office in Detroit was named after him.
2. The prolific black inventor Elijah McCoy, who may have given us the phrase “the real McCoy”, held
57 United States patents, mostly related to the railway.
3. Like many other black inventors, McCoy faced racism and exclusion in his work, but his lengthy
career was a successful one.
4. His inventions, which were not headline-making outside the field of steam engines, were so
associated with quality and good function that people at that time began using “the real McCoy” to
refer to quality products.
5. But his most widely known legacy—the "real McCoy" phrase in the English language—remains less
certain, as there are other contenders as well.
Answer: ______
High-achieving people sometimes experience feelings of intellectual phoniness despite outstanding

academic and professional accomplishments. The defining characteristic of “imposter syndrome” is
feeling like a fraud—believing that others perceive you more favourably than is really true and
warranted. Though most of us experience imposter syndrome to some degree, imposter syndrome is
on a bell curve, with some people experiencing imposter syndrome much more frequently in their
daily lives. Those who report a high frequency of impostor tendencies are prone to constant feelings
of shame (not guilt), depression, and even suicidal ideation. These individuals tend to dismiss praise,
downplay the truth of positive evaluations. For instance, they will brush off successes to factors other
than ability, such as luck, being in the right place at the right time, or just plain hard work.
1. Most of us sometimes experience feelings of underserved praise despite our achievements and
hence tend to downplay them—the imposter syndrome. But those who experience the imposter
syndrome very frequently are prone to shame, depression and even suicidal tendencies.
2. Imposter syndrome is a tendency to feel like an imposter, a phoney or a fraud and to attribute your
achievements to luck, availability of opportunity or hard work and not to your intrinsic intelligence
and competence.
3. Some high-achieving people experience the imposter syndrome, which in its serious form can even
lead to depression and suicidal tendencies. The imposter syndrome is a feeling of intellectual
phoniness in your academic and professional accomplishments.
4. Imposter syndrome is feeling like a fraud or an imposter when others are lauding your achievements
which you feel are an outcome of luck or just hard work, and as such you do not deserve any credit
for them.
1. Today revered as the father of modern physics and the inventor of calculus, Newton was describing
a recipe for the Philosophers’ Stone, a legendary substance that reputedly could turn base metals
like iron and lead into gold.
2. Holding the yellowed manuscript in his hands and studying the scribbled words, he understood that
he was looking at one of the best-kept secrets in the history of science.
3. Newton’s dabblings in alchemy are well known, but his belief that he had found the closely guarded
blueprint for the Philosophers’ Stone was astonishing indeed.
4. Any Newton manuscript is of interest, but this one was worth its weight in gold, literally—as Lawrence
Principe, a chemist and historian of science at Johns Hopkins University, recognized immediately.
Answer: ______
We are repeatedly sold the same message: that individual action is the only real way to solve social
problems, so we should take responsibility. We are trapped in a neoliberal trance by what the
education scholar Henry Giroux calls a “disimagination machine”, because it stifles critical and
radical thinking. We are admonished to look inward, and to manage ourselves. Disimagination impels
us to abandon creative ideas about new possibilities. Instead of seeking to dismantle capitalism, or
rein in its excesses, we should accept its demands and use self-discipline to be more effective in the
market. To change the world, we are told to work on ourselves—to change our minds by being more
mindful, non-judgmental, and accepting of circumstances.
1. The “disimagination machine” is stifling our critical and creative thinking and forcing us to toe the
line for the smooth functioning of the system that we are part of.
2. We are just expected to shut down our critical and imaginative faculties and mould ourselves to the
system, shunning any radical thoughts of dismantling capitalism or reining in its excesses.
3. We are expected as good and responsible citizens to be self-disciplined and manage ourselves which
is the real way to solve social problems, if any, and to not use our imagination too much.
4. We are trapped in a neoliberal trance by a “disimagination machine” which does not allow us to see
the flaws of the capitalist system by directing our attention inward.
ANSWER KEY
1. (1) 2. (3) 3. (4) 4. (2)

5. (3) 6. (3) 7. (4) 8. (1)
9. (3) 10. (3) 11. (3) 12. (1)
13. (1) 14. (2) 15. (2) 16. (2)
17. (3) 18. (4) 19. (3) 20. (3)
21. (4) 22. (4) 23. (2) 24. (2)
25. 3 26. 4132 27. 3214 28. 1432
29. 2 30. (2) 31. 3 32. (1)
33. 4213 34. (2)
EXPLANATORY ANSWERS
PASSAGE 1
SUITABLE TITLE: Viruses are not alive but have the potential for life and contribute to evolutionary change.
Difficult Words/Phrases (in the order of their appearance)

1. virus: (n) an infective agent that typically consists of a nucleic acid molecule in a protein coat, is too small
to be seen by light microscopy, and is able to multiply only within the living cells of a host.
2. autonomy: (n) freedom from external control or influence; independence.
3. metabolism: (n) the chemical processes that occur within a living organism in order to maintain life.
4. excise: (v) cut out surgically.
5. synthesis: (n) Protein synthesis is the process in which cells build proteins. Proteins can often
be synthesized directly from genes by translating mRNA.
6. genome: (n) he complete set of genes or genetic material present in a cell or organism.
7. mutation: (n) the changing of the structure of a gene, resulting in a variant form that may be transmitted
to subsequent generations, caused by the alteration of single base units in DNA, or the deletion, insertion,
or rearrangement of larger sections of genes or chromosomes.
8. eukaryotes: (n) organisms consisting of a cell or cells in which the genetic material is DNA in the form of
chromosomes contained within a distinct nucleus. Eukaryotes include all living organisms other than the
eubacteria and archaea.
9. prokaryotes: (n) microscopic single-celled organisms which have neither a distinct nucleus with a
membrane nor other specialized organelles, including the bacteria and cyanobacteria.
10. speciation: (n) the formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution.
SUMMARY
Viruses are not alive because they do not have the essential systems for metabolic functions as live cells do. But
they consist of genetic material and have the potential for life. They can enter a living organism (the host) and
reproduce and even permanently colonize the host, thereby leading a kind of borrowed life. Viruses have existed
since the beginning of cellular life and have had their own evolutionary history. They have large populations with
rapid rates of replication and mutation, making them the leading source of genetic innovation. They have played
a contributory role in evolutionary change because of their ability to create and exchange genetic material within
the host species and across organisms. There is also some evidence to suggest that viruses have also played a
contributory role in the evolution of the cell nucleus itself.
1. Ans. 1
Explanation:
Option 1 is the exception because neither a virus nor a seed can be classified under “non-living things”
among rocks, minerals, metals, water, etc. Viruses and seeds are not made up of live cells and do not have
essential systems for metabolic functions; hence, they cannot be considered alive. But they are made up
of biochemical and genetic material and hence have a potential for life.
Other options are directly stated in the first paragraph: “A rock is not alive. A bacterium, though, is alive.
Although it is a single cell, it can generate energy and the molecules needed to sustain itself, and it can
reproduce. But what about a seed? (Option 2) A seed might not be considered alive. (Option 3) Yet it has
a potential for life, and (Option 4) it may be destroyed. In this regard, viruses resemble seeds more than
they do live cells. They have a certain potential, which can be snuffed out, but they do not attain the more
autonomous state of life (NOT alive).” Hence, Options 2, 3 and 4 can be eliminated.
2. Ans. 3
Explanation:
Option 3 is the obvious exception because “synthesizing live cells” is tantamount to “creating life”, which
scientists have not been able to do, though they have succeeded in “synthesizing DNA molecules” in the
laboratory. Option 3 is an option trap because the passage does mention “…some viral-repair enzymes—
which excise and resynthesize damaged DNA…”
The other options are directly stated in the passage: Option 1— “The huge population of viruses, combined
with their rapid rates of replication and mutation, makes them the world’s leading source of genetic
innovation: they constantly “invent” new genes”; Option 2— “…some viral-repair enzymes—which excise
and resynthesize damaged DNA, mend oxygen radical damage, and so on—are unique to certain viruses
and have existed almost unchanged probably for billions of years”; and Option 4— “Viruses directly
exchange genetic information with living organisms. They take up residence in cells, where they may
remain dormant for long periods or take advantage of the cells’ replication apparatus to reproduce at a
slow and steady rate.” Hence, Options 1, 2 and 4 can be eliminated.
3. Ans. 4
Explanation:
Option 4: The passage leaves open the possibility that the cell nucleus may have evolved through a
combination of natural selection (adaptation to environment) or viral intervention. There is some evidence
to suggest exchange of viral genetic material—naturally created through replication or mutation. The
evolution of the cell nucleus cannot be explained solely by the process of gradual adaptation.
This is clear from: “The advent of the nucleus—which differentiates eukaryotes (organisms whose cells
contain a true nucleus), including humans, from prokaryotes, such as bacteria— (Option 1) cannot be
satisfactorily explained solely by the gradual adaptation of prokaryotic cells until they became eukaryotic.
(Option 3) Rather the nucleus may (possibly) have evolved from a persisting large DNA virus that made
a permanent home within prokaryotes (Last paragraph); and “The huge population of viruses, combined
with their (Option 2) rapid rates of replication and mutation, makes them the world’s leading source of
genetic innovation: they constantly “invent” new genes (Third paragraph)”. Hence, Options 1, 2 and 3 can
be eliminated.
4. Ans. 2
Explanation:
Option 2 is the exception as the passage points to the ability of viruses to avoid detection by altering and
controlling the immune system of the host organisms NOT to build their immune systems: “These viruses
have developed many clever ways to avoid detection by the host immune system—essentially every step
in the immune process can be altered or controlled by various genes found in one virus or another.”
The other options can be inferred from the fourth paragraph: “Furthermore, a virus genome can
permanently colonize its host, (Option 3) adding viral genes to host lineages (speciation) and (Option 4)
ultimately becoming a critical part of the host species’ genome. The huge population of viruses, combined
with their rapid rates of replication and mutation, makes them the world’s leading source of (Option 1)
genetic innovation: they constantly “invent” new genes. And unique genes of viral origin may travel, finding
their way into other organisms and contributing to evolutionary change.” Hence, Options 1, 3 and 4 can be
eliminated.
5. Ans. 3
Explanation:
Option 3: Having genetic material in terms of biochemical molecules though is a necessary condition but it
is NOT a sufficient condition to be considered a living organism, as in the case of viruses—viruses have
genetic material but are NOT considered living organisms. Viruses survive and reproduce by entering into a
living organism’s live cells and thus lead a “borrowed life”. But a bacterium even with a single live cell (also
with genetic material) is a living organism.
It is live cells (Option 1) with necessary systems for metabolic functions (Option 4) and the ability to
reproduce on their own (Option 2) that characterize living organisms and are sufficient and necessary
conditions to be considered living organisms: “Living organisms require a degree of biochemical autonomy,
carrying on the metabolic activities that produce the molecules and energy needed to sustain the organism.
…A virus consists of genetic material enclosed in a protein… but it lacks essential systems necessary for
metabolic functions.” Hence, Options 1, 2 and 4 can be eliminated.
PASSAGE 2
Suitable Title: The Selfish Gene—Natural Selection Occurs at the Level of Genes and NOT at the Level of
Individuals, Families, Groups or Species as Earlier Thought.

1. paradox: (n) a seemingly absurd or contradictory statement or proposition which when investigated
may prove to be well founded or true.
2. altruism: (n) disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others; (Zoology) behaviour of
an animal that benefits another at its own expense.
3. Human Genome Project: was an international scientific research project (1990-2003) with the goal
of determining the base pairs that make up human DNA, and of identifying and mapping all of the
genes of the human genome from both a physical and a functional standpoint.
4. genomics: (n) the branch of molecular biology concerned with the structure, function, evolution, and
mapping of genomes (the complete set of genes or genetic material present in a cell or organism).
5. genetics: the study of heredity and the variation of inherited characteristics; the genetic properties
or features of an organism, characteristic, etc.
SUMMARY
In his book The Selfish Gene (1976), Richard Dawkins introduced the gene-centric view of evolution, which
became a dominant idea in biology, replacing the earlier view that natural selection operated at the level of
individuals, families, groups or species. The gene-centric view led to more intensive research in genomics— most
notably, the Human Genome Project—to work out the immense complexities of DNA. The central idea of the
selfish gene remained intact— “A gene’s only desire is to reproduce itself, and that the complexity of genomes
makes that reproduction more efficient.”
The concept of the selfish gene also helped understand the many instances of “altruism” displayed by insects
and animals found in nature. Since the only objective of the selfish gene is to perpetuate itself, members of
different species help other members directly related to them, carrying similar genes.
Dawkins further placed the origin of life with the origin of replicators, i.e. the first gene. But there is an emerging
view which suggests that life originated with the establishment of a system that could host that information
replication—a metabolism that generates the power needed for genes to replicate themselves.
6. Ans. 3
Explanation:
Option 3 is the exception and the correct answer because we thought that the human genome would be
very complex with a large number of genes, but the findings of the Human Genome Project disappointed us
in this regard: “…it turned out that we didn’t have enough genes to account for our presumed
sophistication…” (Second Paragraph).
Other options highlight the findings of the Human Genome Project and other research in genomics that
have enhanced our understanding. Option 1 is directly from the last sentence, fourth paragraph; Option 2
is directly from the third paragraph; and Option 4 is from second paragraph: “…the genome itself was
replete with DNA that did not make up genes. Many of these areas were genetic control switches, the on
and off buttons to tell genes where and when to function…”. Hence, Options 1, 2 and 4 can be eliminated.
7. Ans. 4
Explanation:
Option 4 is the exception and the correct answer because it is NOT an example of “altruism” (the selfless
concern for the well-being of others) BUT of “cooperative behaviour in advancing a common objective” —
the protection of common territory of the group.
On the other hand, Options 1, 2 and 3 are clear examples of “altruism” —selfless concern and behaviour
that benefits another at one’s own expense—with the “selfish” objective of perpetuation of similar sets of
genes. These examples also help resolve the apparent paradox mentioned in the first paragraph. Hence,
Options 1, 2 and 3 can be eliminated.
8. Ans. 1
Explanation:
Option 1 is the exception and the correct answer because it undermines Dawkins’ view that life originated
with genes. The emerging view is that something came before genes—the establishment of a system, a
metabolism that generated the power needed for genes to replicate themselves.
Other options support the gene-centric view (The Selfish Gene): Option 2 highlights that natural selection
or evolution takes place at the level of genes NOT at the level of the organism as earlier thought; Option 3
explains why the selfish gene behaves in an altruistic or selfless manner (also discussed in explanatory
notes at Q. 7 above); and Option 4 clarifies that metaphorical term “The Selfish Gene”. Hence, Options 2,
3 and 4 can be eliminated.
9. Ans. 3
Explanation:
The concept of the selfish gene reduces the purpose of all life to simply “Staying Alive” or perpetuation of
life on earth. This has further implications at the metaphysical or philosophical or moral levels related to
our understanding of human existence, purpose and behaviour. Options 1, 2 and 4 highlight some of the
possible implications.
Option 1—since “our behaviour is in service of the genes” (first paragraph), so the selfishness of humans
must be to serve the purpose of the selfish gene. Option 2—since the selfish gene guides human purpose
and behaviour, humans obviously cannot make choices by the exercise of “free will” which work contrary to
gene’s scheme of things. Option 4—resolves the moral question that “the end (objective) of
survival/perpetuation of the gene DOES justify the means, which may be violence against, or destruction of
other life forms (with different set of genes). Hence, Options 1, 2 and 4 can be eliminated.
Option 3 is the exception and the correct answer because it raises the metaphysical issue of “the higher
purpose of humans and human consciousness”—to go beyond life on earth NOT perpetuation of life on
earth.
10. Ans. 3
Explanation:
Option 3 best summarises the gene-centric view of evolution and includes the following key points: (1) Life
originated with genes, which are the centre of life and the behaviour of all living things is in service of the
genes; (2) Natural selection, therefore, operates at the level of genes and NOT at the level of individuals,
families, groups or species, as earlier thought; and (3) A gene’s only desire is to reproduce itself, and that
the complexity of genomes makes that reproduction more efficient.
Options 1 and 2 do not cover key points (2) and (3); and Option 4 misses out all the key points and focuses
only on “immortality of some set of genes” that existed in micro-organisms in oceans at the beginning of
life on earth and are also found in the human genome today. Hence, Options 1, 2 and 4 can be eliminated.
PASSAGE 3
Suitable Title: Development of Language in Humans—An Outcome of Co-operative Living

1. ecology: (n) is the science that studies the biota (living things), the environment, and their
interactions. (It comes from the Greek oikos = house; logos = study.) It is the study of ecosystems—
the web or network of relations among organisms at different scales of organization.
2. niche: (n) (in Ecology) a role taken by a type of organism within its community.
3. recursive thought: (n) thought that is characterized by recurrence or repetition.
4. monogamous: (adj) involving marriage to one person at a time; having a sexual relationship with only
one partner at a time.
5. precipitate: (v) cause (an event or situation) to happen suddenly, unexpectedly, or prematurely.
6. paradigmatic: (adj) serving as a typical example of something.
7. profound: (adj) (of a state, quality, or emotion) very great or intense.
8. spur: (n) a thing that prompts or encourages someone; an incentive.
9. minded creatures: (n) animals that have the ability to attribute mental states (such
as intention, desires, pretending, knowledge) to themselves and others, including recognition that
others have mental states that are different from their own.
10. pecking order: (phrase) a hierarchy of status seen among members of a group of people or animals,
originally as observed among hens.
11. promiscuity: (n) state of being promiscuous—having or characterized by many transient sexual
relationships.
12. forage: (v) (of a person or animal) search widely for food or provisions.
SUMMARY
The development of language, the most complex of animal behaviours, started with the shift from a fruit-based
diet to meat among early pre-humans—shift in ecological niche from “gatherers” to “hunters”. This led to big
game hunting in groups that required working in co-operation and in turn led to living under co-operative social
arrangements in complex societies.
Communication was initially through use of gestures and symbols to engage in recursive thought and
communication and gradually progressed to vocal manifestations and development of norms and conventions
of language.
Co-operative living in increasingly complex societies with a widening web of new social arrangements
necessitated an instinct for co-operation. This in turn led to changes in brain organisation to develop co-operative
intelligence and progressively to language.
11. Ans. 3
Explanation:
Option 3 best captures the development of language as given in the SUMMARY above. The main focus of
the author is how co-operative living in increasingly complex societies led to development of co-operative
intelligence with accompanying changes in brain organisation, which was “the most profound spur” to the
development of language.
Option 1 focuses more on communication modes rather than the social, behavioural or cognitive changes.
Options 2 and 4 mix up communication modes with other changes and miss the key connection between
co-operative living and language. Hence, Options 1, 2 and 4 can be eliminated.
12. Ans. 1
Explanation:
Option 1 best defines the term “ecological niche” which is used in the passage with reference to the shift
from a fruit-based diet to meat among early pre-humans. This implies a shift in their ecological niche from
“gatherers” to “hunters”. Pre-humans were mainly “gatherers” at first, foraging for food by gathering fruit,
plants, grasses, insects, etc.—this was their role and position in their environment or their ecological niche.
As they shifted to a meat diet and engaged in big game hunting, their role and position shifted to the of
“hunters” or predators in relation to their new environment.
Option 2 relates position of a species in relation with their “dominance” in the environment, which is an
incorrect inference because even being a “prey” is an ecological niche that serves a purpose to maintain
ecological balance. Option 3 is an extreme and misleading option because of the phrase “perfect match”;
adaptability to an environment is important for survival but the concept of a perfect match does not exist
in ecology. Option 4 does not define or explain what the term means in the context of the passage, but
provides some inconsequential technical point. Hence, options 2, 3, and 4 can be eliminated.
13. Ans. 1
Explanation:
This is an application-based question that asks for possible reasons, if they are true, for the “need for
monogamy” in early human societies. Some of the possible reasons are given in Options 2, 3 and 4. Option
2—If human infants require prolonged care as compared to other species, then both biological parents
should be together to give the best care and attention as part of one family living together in a home. Option
3—If there is no seasonal restriction to reproduction as compared to other species, then having multiple
mating partners may become common which may lead to conflicts and disrupt the co-operative social
arrangements; hence, there would be a need to ensure monogamous arrangements are protected so that
conflict does not arise. Option 4—If it is a natural instinct to be possessive about mating partners, then
surely promiscuity or polygamy would lead to conflict: hence, the need for monogamy. Hence, Options 2, 3
and 4 can be eliminated.
Option 1 related to roles and gender differentiation suggests that since the mother is biologically equipped
for the care of young babies, their role should be to look after the children while the men go hunting. This
option, however, does not relate to the need for monogamy; hence Option 1 is the exception and the correct
answer.
14. Ans. 2
Explanation:
Option 2 is the exception as it is not related to “co-operative intelligence” per se as discussed in the
passage. The author states that language is “ultimately, an outcome of our co-operative minds…and once
it came into being…it unleased humanity’s tremendous powers of invention and transformation” (last
paragraph). Hence, invention and transformation are the further outcomes of language NOT directly of “co-
operative intelligence”.
Other options are related to “co-operative intelligence”. Options 1 and 4—are directly from: “…the
development of our instinct for co-operation…we…recognise other humans as minded creatures, like us,
who have thoughts and feelings that we can attempt to influence” (Second Last paragraph). Option 3—is
directly from: “…human infants…deploy sophisticated intention-recognition abilities…to figure out the
communicative purposes of the adults around them” (Last paragraph). Hence, Options 1, 3 and 4 can be
eliminated.
15. Ans. 2
Explanation:
Option 2 is the exception as it is NOT an example of co-operative behaviour BUT relates to pre-humans in
their earlier role as “gatherers” when individuals could forage for their own food without any need for a co-
operative strategy. It is only when they shifted to “big game hunting” is when co-operative behaviour became
necessary.
Other options are examples of “co-operative behaviour” as directly given in the passage: Option 1— “Tool-
use would have been required, and co-operative hunting, as well as new social arrangements…” ; Option
3— “…social arrangements arose to guarantee hunters an equal share of the bounty, and to ensure that
women and children who were less able to participate also got a share.”; and Option 4— “The new diet
required novel social arrangements and a new type of co-operative strategy (it’s hard to hunt big game
alone)...”. Hence, Options 1, 3 and 4 can be eliminated.
PASSAGE 4
Suitable Title: Devising an Efficient Way to Turn Sunlight into Unlimited, Renewable Fuel—A Semi-Artificial Version
of Photosynthesis.

1. photosynthesis: (n) the process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to
synthesize nutrients from carbon dioxide and water. Photosynthesis in plants generally involves the
green pigment chlorophyll and generates oxygen as a by-product.
2. fossil fuels: (n) a natural fuel such as coal, petroleum or gas, formed in the geological past from the
remains of living organisms.
3. photosystem II: (n) a biochemical mechanism in plants by which chlorophyll absorbs light energy for
photosynthesis. There are two such mechanisms (photosystems I and II) involving different
chlorophyll–protein complexes.
4. Hydrogen economy: (n) is the use of hydrogen as a low carbon fuel, particularly for heat; but also
for hydrogen vehicles, seasonal energy storage and long distance transport of energy. The hydrogen
economy is developing as a small part of the low-carbon economy. In order to phase out fossil
fuels and limit global warming, hydrogen is starting to be used as its combustion only releases clean
water, and no CO2 to the atmosphere.
SUMMARY
Photosynthesis is the process by which plants, and algae use sunlight to synthesize nutrients (hydrocarbons)
from carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and water from the soil, and release oxygen as a by-product to the
atmosphere. Over millions of years, the dead remains (fossils) of these plants have been buried on land and the
seabed under sand and silt, trapping the hydrocarbon compounds in dead plants as coal, petroleum and gas,
referred to as fossil fuels. In other words, photosynthesis helps trap solar energy in the form of potential
biochemical energy for later use in the form of fossil fuels. But it is also an inefficient process in terms of the
extent of energy capture considering that there are vast amounts of solar energy available for capture.
Today we are largely dependent on these fossil fuels for our energy needs. But burning them large scale releases
carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and causes the problem of global warming and climate change. Hence, there
has been a constant search for inexpensive, clean, renewable energy sources that can be available in large
amounts to replace fossil fuels.
Scientists have recently come up with a semi-artificial version of photosynthesis for splitting water into oxygen
and hydrogen gas (for use as a clean fuel) by capturing solar energy. This approach is to create an
electrochemical cell—not unlike a battery—based on the light-collecting biochemistry of a process
called photosystem II (part of photosynthesis). This provides the necessary voltage required for the hydrogenase
enzyme (found in algae) to split water into oxygen and hydrogen gas, while mopping up carbon dioxide from the
environment. The released hydrogen gas can then be stored and transported and used as a clean alternative
fuel.
But a hydrogen economy is still some way off into the future. The immediate problem is connecting artificial
systems with organic processes for the above invention to work on a large scale.
16. Ans. 2
Explanation:
Option 2 is the exception as it is contrary to what the passage says: “But it's not overly efficient as far as
energy capture processes go. After all, plants only need a few percent of the energy that rains down from
the sky each day (Third paragraph).”
Other options 1, 3 and 4 can be inferred from the third paragraph: “Photosynthesis…is ultimately
responsible for making the fossil fuels we now burn by the tonne…And freeing that energy now stored as
coal comes with the problem of also freeing all that carbon dioxide”. Hence, Options 1, 3 and 4 can be
eliminated.
REFERENCE—SUMMARY (first paragraph): Photosynthesis is the process by which plants, and algae use
sunlight to synthesize nutrients (hydrocarbons) from carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and water from
the soil, and release oxygen as a by-product to the atmosphere. Over millions of years, the dead remains
(fossils) of these plants have been buried on land and the seabed under sand and silt, trapping the
hydrocarbon compounds in dead plants as coal, petroleum and gas, referred to as fossil fuels. In other
words, photosynthesis helps trap solar energy in the form of potential biochemical energy for later use in
the form of fossil fuels. But it is also an inefficient process in terms of the extent of energy capture
considering that there are vast amounts of solar energy available for capture.
17. Ans. 3
Explanation:
Option 3 can be inferred from: “This approach is to create an electrochemical cell—not unlike a battery—
based on the light-collecting biochemistry (solar energy to chemical energy) of a process
called photosystem II (part of photosynthesis). This provides the necessary voltage (electrical energy)
required for the hydrogenase enzyme (found in algae) to split water into oxygen and hydrogen gas (Fifth
paragraph).”
Option 1 misses out “electrochemical cell” which coverts chemical to electrical energy like a battery. Option
2 misses out the first part—conversion of solar energy into chemical energy. Option 4 gives the general
principle on which the new invention is based NOT the precise way it functions. Hence, Options 1, 2 and 4
can be eliminated.
18. Ans. 4
Explanation:
Option 4 is the exception because it can be inferred that the photosystem II process is very much an
essential part of the natural process of photosynthesis from: (1) “A study…has resulted in a better way to
split water into hydrogen and oxygen by linking a photosynthesis pathway with an enzyme called
hydrogenase (Second paragraph)”; and (2) “…based on the light-collecting biochemistry of a process
called photosystem II…(Fifth paragraph)”.
Option 1 can be inferred as this new approach promises inexpensive, large scale production of hydrogen
gas as a clean alternative fuel once the remaining technical issues are sorted out. If shortage of the enzyme
hydrogenase was a constraint, then this whole research is a waste of time and effort. Option 2 can be
inferred from: “A hydrogen fuel economy… (last paragraph)”. Option 3 can be inferred from the fact that an
input of solar energy (endothermic) is required in photosynthesis to split water (from the soil) into oxygen
(released to the atmosphere) and hydrogen (captured in hydrocarbons). Hence, Options 1, 2 and 3 can be
eliminated.
19. Ans. 3
Explanation:
Option 3 makes the most suitable title because there has been a constant search for inexpensive (efficient),
clean, renewable energy sources that can be available in large amounts to replace fossil fuels. Our
dependence on fossil fuels is leading to the serious problem of global warming and climate change.
Option 1 is too broad in scope and does not give the reader any inkling of what to expect in the passage.
Option 2 is a close contender but it misses the idea of “efficient ways” and “clean fuel”. Option 4 is
misleading and clashes with the introductory paragraph of the passage: “Life has been soaking up sunlight
(through photosynthesis) and storing it as a fuel source for billions of years. But scientists have just put a
new twist on this ancient process that could finally provide us with the efficiency we need to compete with
fossil fuels.” Hence, Options 1, 2 and 4 can be eliminated.
PASSAGE 5
Suitable Title: Totalitarian Tendencies in Western Societies and Intellectuals—Exercise of Will to Power Through
Hatred on the Right and Virtue on the Left.

1. Big Brother: (phrase) a person or organization exercising total control over people's lives.
2. prescient: (adj) having or showing knowledge of events before they take place.
3. Newspeak: (n) ambiguous euphemistic language used chiefly in political propaganda.
4. perversion: (n) distortion or corruption of the original course, meaning, or state of something.
5. totalitarian: (adj) relating to a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires
complete subservience to the state.
6. coercion: (n) the action or practice of persuading someone to do something by using force or threats.
7. doublethink: (n) the acceptance of contrary opinions or beliefs at the same time, especially as a
result of political indoctrination.
8. insidious: (adj) proceeding in a gradual, subtle way, but with very harmful effects.
9. progressivism: (n) support for or advocacy of social reform.
10. thought police: (n) a group of people who aim or are seen as aiming to suppress ideas that deviate
from the way of thinking that they believe to be correct.
11. constriction: (n) the action of making something narrower by pressure or of becoming narrower;
tightening.
12. wokeness: (n) (US informal) awareness of and active attentiveness to important facts and issues
(especially issues of racial and social justice)
13. will to power: (phrase) a conscious or unconscious desire to exercise authority over others.
14. right wing: (n) the conservative or reactionary section of a political party or system.
15. left wing: (n) the radical, reforming, or socialist section of a political party or system.
16. muzzle: (v) prevent (a person or group) from expressing their opinions freely.
17. delineate: (v) describe or portray (something) precisely.
18. manifestation: (n) an event, action, or object that clearly shows or embodies something abstract or
theoretical.
SUMMARY
George Orwell’s novel (1949) was not an attack on any particular government but a satire of the totalitarian
tendencies in Western society and intellectuals. The novel is even relevant today even though the manifestations
of these totalitarian tendences are different from the ones reflected in the novel:
1. Big Brother and the telescreen in “1984” have been replaced by ordinary people freely watching the
screens of their smartphones for all sorts of information and voluntarily allowing themselves to be under
the non-stop surveillance of tech giants, such as Google, Facebook, etc.—Surveillance Capitalism.
2. Coercion by the state in “1984” has been replaced by the prejudices and delusions of ordinary people
in controlling and shaping their own thoughts. The problem today is too much information from too many
sources, with a resulting plague of fragmentation and division—not excessive authority but its
disappearance, which leaves ordinary people to work out the facts for themselves, at the mercy of their
own prejudices and delusions.
3. Thought Police of the state in “1984” (that ruthlessly suppressed ideas that deviated from the way of
thinking that were believed to be correct by the government) has been replaced by intelligent people
themselves who through self-deception believe lies rather than questioning them and exposing them
publicly—constricting their own intellectual freedom.
The net effect of these totalitarian tendencies is doublethink out of hatred on the right and virtue on the left of
the political spectrum that is corrupting our ability to think clearly and thereby undermining culture and progress.
20. Ans. 3
Explanation:
Option 3 is the exception because it distorts the meaning by referring to “merging” the doublethink or
totalitarian tendencies on the right and left end of the political spectrum—these are poles apart and cannot
be merged.
The other options are discussed in the second last paragraph as examples of “progressive (leftist)
doublethink” and the “insidious unreality” it creates by ostensibly operating in the name of “all that is good
(virtue)”. Options 1 and 4 are directly from: “For example, many on the left now share an unacknowledged
but common assumption that a good work of art is made of good politics and that good politics is a matter
of identity. The progressive (leftist) view of a book or play depends on its political stance, and its stance—
even its subject matter—is scrutinized in light of the group affiliation of the artist: Personal identity plus
political position equals aesthetic value.” Option 2 can be inferred from: “…This confusion of categories
guides judgments…” which is an example of progressive (leftist) doublethink ostensibly in the name of “all
that is good (virtue)”. Hence, Options 1, 2 and 4 can be eliminated.
21. Ans. 4
Explanation:
Option 4 is the exception because it is not the “information overload” itself that reflects a totalitarian
tendency. The problem is the “fragmentation and division” of the information from diverse sources
projecting the doublethink of the right and left that confuse ordinary people, leaving them to work out the
facts for themselves, at the mercy of their own prejudices and delusions.
Option 1 talks of exercise of authority by both the right and left, directly from the last sentence of the
passage: “The will to power still passes through hatred on the right and virtue on the left”. Options 2 and 3
are implicit in the role of “Thought Police” and directly stated at: “It’s almost impossible to talk about
propaganda, surveillance, authoritarian politics, or perversions of truth without dropping a reference
to 1984”. Hence, Options 1, 2 and 3 can be eliminated.
22. Ans. 4
Explanation:
This question is with reference to the last paragraph starting with: “This willing constriction of intellectual
freedom will do lasting damage”. Option 4 is the exception (and the correct answer) as it is contrary to
what has been said— “Good art doesn’t come from wokeness (awareness of important social issues)”
which is given as an example of how culture is undermined.
Art is instead politicised (option 2) as explained in the second last paragraph and discussed in the
explanatory notes at Q. 20. Option 1 is directly from: “…social problems starved of debate can’t find real
solutions”. And Option 3 is directly from: “…it undermines culture and progress”. Hence, Options 1, 2 and
3 can be eliminated.
23. Ans. 2
Explanation:
Option 2 refers to “absence of authority that can clear the confusion for the public” which is contrary to a
key argument of the author that “double think” is corrupting people’s ability to think clearly and hence they
are guided by “their own prejudices and delusions”. Hence, Option 2 is the exception and the correct
answer.
Options 1, 3 and 4 are clear from the passage and have been explained in the SUMMARY above: and hence
can be eliminated.
REFERENCE—SUMMARY
Option 1: Big Brother and the telescreen in “1984” have been replaced by ordinary people freely watching
the screens of their smartphones for all sorts of information and voluntarily allowing themselves to be under
the non-stop surveillance of tech giants, such as Google, Facebook, etc.—
Surveillance Capitalism.
Option 3: Coercion by the state in “1984” has been replaced by the prejudices and delusions of ordinary
people in controlling and shaping their own thoughts. The problem today is too much information from too
many sources, with a resulting plague of fragmentation and division—not excessive authority but its
disappearance, which leaves ordinary people to work out the facts for themselves, at the mercy of their own
prejudices and delusions.
Option 4: Thought Police of the state in “1984” (that ruthlessly suppressed ideas that deviated from the
way of thinking that were believed to be correct by the government) has been replaced by intelligent people
themselves who through self-deception believe lies rather than questioning them and exposing them
publicly—constricting their own intellectual freedom.
24. Ans. 2
Explanation
Option 2 best states the primary purpose of the author, which is to show the way totalitarian tendences are
manifesting themselves today in a “new kind of totalitarian regime” from fourth paragraph onwards.
Option 1: Though it may appear from the first four paragraphs that highlighting the relevance of the novel
is the primary purpose, but the primary purpose is to explain/discuss (delineate) features of the “new kind
of totalitarian regime” today (Option 2). The first four paragraphs only provide a background or reference
point to discuss the “new kind of totalitarian regime” in the rest of the passage. Option 3 is an option trap
as it covers a limited point the author makes in the third paragraph: ““The moral to be drawn from this
dangerous nightmare situation is a simple one: Don’t let it happen. It depends on you.” Option 4 is again
an option trap as it only covers the “consequences of the new kind of totalitarian regime” in the concluding
paragraph. The real substance of the passage or primary purpose is covered from the fourth to the second
last paragraph (Option 2). Hence, Options 1, 3 and 4 can be eliminated.
25. Ans. 3
Explanation
The coherent paragraph is 4521. 4-5-2 narrate a story from Greek mythology and 1 highlights the lesson to
be learnt from it— “This myth…” in 1 links back to the story, giving a meaningful end to the paragraph. 3
can also possibly fit after 4-5-2 but it provides a very abrupt end to the paragraph and the reader is left
wondering as to the purpose of the writer in telling this story. Hence, 3 is out-of-context.
26. Ans. 4132
Explanation
This paragraph is talking about how writers react to reviews of critics. The singular “he” in 3 links back to
the singular “Every writer” in 1, making 1-3 a mandatory pair. (3 cannot come after 4 because “some
writers” in 4 is plural.) 2 gives the reaction of a writer whose “worst fears about his book are confirmed”
that it is “a dank failure”; hence, 2 should follow 3, giving us 1-3-2. We are left with 4, which cannot follow
2 at the end but can only fit in the beginning; hence, 4132 forms a coherent paragraph.
27. Ans. 3214
Explanation:
This paragraph is talking about European history: Reformation and the Thirty Years’ War. The paragraph
starts with 3 which introduces Martin Luther and Reformation—division of the Christian Church. “Once he
(Martin Luther) had divided the Church…” in 2 links back to 3 and highlights the consequent numerous
splintering of the Church, making 3-2 a mandatory pair. This is followed by the pair 1-4: “Indeed…” in 1
emphasises that Martin Luther is to blame for the Thirty Years’ War; then 4 explains why he is to blame—
because he did not create any institutional structure to replace the earlier one (“it” in 4 links back to “Thirty
Years’ War” in 1, making 1-4 another mandatory pair). Hence, 3214 forms a coherent paragraph.
28. Ans. 1432
Explanation:
This paragraph is talking about language and our humanness or human creativity. What the linguist Noam
Chomsky had to say about it starts with 4 and continues into 3 as evident from the quotation marks, making
4-3 a mandatory pair. 3 describes a specific ‘manner’ of expressions which show lack of human creativity;
this links forward with “Thus, it is the manner…” in 2, connecting 4-3 with 2. 1 would be awkward at the
end after 4-3-2, so 1 can only be at the beginning. The author starts by making an assertion in 1, then
quotes Chomsky in 4-3 and concludes in 2. Hence, 1432 forms a coherent paragraph.
29. Ans. 2
Explanation:
The coherent paragraph is 1453, which is talking about legislating euthanasia (assisted dying) and its
effects in different societies, such as “euthanasia creep” —wide adoption of assisted dying by people
because it is now legal. The paragraph starts with the pair 1-4 which are grammatically linked by the
repetition of the expression: “It is true that…” in 1 and “And it is also true that…” in 4. This is followed by 5
which emphasises (“Indeed…”) that some proponents consider euthanasia creep to be a positive
development, which is followed by 3 which cautions (“But…”) against glib dismissal of arguments and
instead recommends reviewing of hard facts as observed in different societies. Hence, 1453 forms a
coherent paragraph. On the other hand, 2 takes an extreme position on enacting euthanasia legislation,
which is not in consonance with the rest of the paragraph; hence, 2 is out-of-context.
30. Ans. 2
Explanation:
The paragraph is talking about “retrospective voting” as a form of voter behaviour whereby voters try out
different leaders/political parties and vote them out if they are “unhappy” and get in someone else for the
next term and so on. The voters often do not bother to gather information and analyse the incumbent’s
performance fully and rationally but exercise their choice more on adverse situations they faced for no real
fault of the incumbent—these are the inherent flaws. Option 2 best summarised the passage with use of
“based on whims and fancies of the voters (as evident from given examples)”, “than on adequate
information”, and “hence irrational”.
Option 1 merely presents a definition of “retrospective voting” (RV) without highlighting the aspects of voter
ignorance and irrationality. Option 3 gives the purpose that RV serves but does not mention the inherent
flaws. Option 4 presents “insufficient information” as a circumstance for resorting to RV—a totally new angle
and hence a distortion of what is said in the paragraph. Hence, options 1, 3 and 4 can easily be eliminated.
31. Ans. 3
Explanation:
The coherent paragraph is 2415. The paragraph is talking about an inventor Elijah McCoy and whether the
origin of the phrase “real McCoy” (meaning ‘the real thing’, ‘the genuine article’) in the English language is
related to him. The paragraph starts with the pair 2-4 to introduce the inventor and possibly how the phrase
“real McCoy” may be related to his inventions in the past. Then shifts to “In recent years…” in 1-5
(mandatory pair) when the legacy of his inventions is honoured, but the legacy of the phrase remains less
certain. 3 can naturally fit in after 2-4 and 2-4-3-1-5 can form a 5-sentence coherent paragraph. But we
need a 4-sentence coherent paragraph, which naturally would be formed by the two mandatory pairs 2-4
and 1-5; hence, 3 will have to be dropped as out-of-context.
32. Ans. 1
Explanation:
The paragraph is discussing the “imposter syndrome”—a feeling of being a fraud or a phoney and
considering the praise of others for you underserved. Most people experience it to some extent and it follows
a bell-curve (normal distribution), with those who experience it very frequently (right end of the bell-curve)
being prone to certain psychological problems. Option 1 covers both these points and best summarises the
paragraph.
Options 2 and 4 merely explain or define the “imposter syndrome” and miss out the point about frequency
of occurrence or the bell-curve. Option 3 mentions “its serious form” but does not relate it to frequency of
occurrence or the bell-curve. Hence, options 2, 3 and 4 can be eliminated as mere part-summaries.
33. Ans. 4213
Explanation:
The paragraph is talking about a manuscript written by Newton, which Lawrence Principe, a chemist and
historian of science, gets hold off in his research, in which Newton had written the recipe of the
Philosopher’s Stone, ironically revealing Newton’s interest in alchemy. The pair 4-2 make by a good starting
pair by arousing interest and curiosity about the specific “yellowed” manuscript of Newton— “he” in 2 links
back to “Lawrence Principe” in 4. “…the yellowed manuscript…” in 2 is followed by “…Newton was
describing…” in 1. So, we have 4-2-1. The pair 1-3 highlight the irony that Newton who is “revered as the
father of modern physics…” (1) actually believed that “he had found the closely guarded blueprint of the
Philosopher’s Stone” (3). Hence, 4213 form a coherent paragraph.
34. Ans. 2
Explanation:
The paragraph is talking about how we are presently living in an era of neoliberalism (totally free-market
capitalism) wherein we are trapped in a neoliberal trance by a “disimagination machine”. Whenever we
raise the social problems and excesses of the capitalistic system we are living in and want changes to be
made in the system (extreme social inequalities, privatisation of essential public services, hegemony of big
corporations, etc.), we are told not to question how the system works or seek to change it (“stifle critical
and radical thinking”) but instead to change ourselves to fit into the system and accept the circumstances.
Option 2 best summarises the paragraph, even if it does not repeat the phrase “disimagination machine”
as used in the paragraph. This part of option 2 is crucial: “shunning any radical thoughts of dismantling
capitalism or reining in its excesses.”
Option 1 is treating the “disimagination machine” in a more literal sense— “forces us to toe the line” — than
in the metaphorical sense used in the paragraph to refer to “propaganda”. Option 3 sounds more like
defining the role of good and responsible citizens per se and misses the point that people want to correct
the existing problems and excesses of capitalism but are told not to entertain such thoughts. Option 4 uses
the expression “does not allow us to see the flaws in the capitalist system”— this does not precisely capture
the sense of: “Instead of seeking to dismantle capitalism, or rein in its excesses, we should accept its
demands…” as given in the paragraph. Hence, options 1, 3 and 4 can be eliminated.

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Questions: 34 Tim e Allotted: 60 minutes

3. Have genetic material.

3. No seasonal restrictions on reproductive receptivity in human females leading to promiscuity and

High-achieving people sometimes experience feelings of intellectual phoniness despite outstanding

1. (1) 2. (3) 3. (4) 4. (2)

Difficult Words/Phrases (in the order of their appearance)

Difficult Words/Phrases (in the order of their appearance)

Suitable Title: Development of Language in Humans—An Outcome of Co-operative Living

Difficult Words/Phrases (in the order of their appearance)

Difficult Words/Phrases (in the order of their appearance)

Difficult Words/Phrases (in the order of their appearance)

26. Ans. 4132

27. Ans. 3214

28. Ans. 1432

33. Ans. 4213

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