Aimcat 2206

DIRECTIONS
for questions 1 to 4: The passage given below is accompanied by a set of four

questions. Choose the best answer to each question.
‘Culture’ is the emergent product of the micro rules of behaviour followed by individuals, and it plays
a role in the economic performance of organisations and nations. While observations on the
connection between culture and macroeconomic performance go back at least to the turn of the last
century and the writings of the German sociologist Max Weber, cultural explanations for economic
outcomes fell out of favour in the 1950s and 60s for two reasons. The first was political correctness.
Culture frightens scholars. It has a sulfuric odour of race and inheritance, an air of immutability. The
second reason was the dominance of Neoclassical economics; culture has little place in a world of
perfect rationality, and to the extent that it does, cultural rules must be self-interested, optimising
strategies, because otherwise, people would not use them.
Fortunately, fears over political correctness have faded as scholars have shown that it is possible to
have discussions about culture that are both scientifically fruitful, and respectful of the diversity of
humankind. One must avoid the relativist trap and not shy away from statements about why the
norms of one culture might be more supportive of economic development than those of another, but
at the same time, one can recognise that there is no one cultural formula for economic success. In a
world in which cultures as varied as Japan’s and Norway’s are among the most economically
successful, such claims of one perfect formula are easily dismissed. Likewise, the rise of behavioural
economics has reduced the influence of Neoclassical assumptions and brought the cultural horse
inside the economic stable.
The multibillion-dollar question then is, which norms support economic development, and which
norms don’t. Various researchers have proposed typologies of cultural rules which fall into three
broad categories.
In the first are norms related to individual behaviour, including those supporting a strong work ethic,
individual accountability, and a belief that you are the protagonist of your own life and not at the
whim of gods or Big Men. Fatalism reduces personal incentives. Economically successful cultures
appear to strike a balance between optimism that improvement is possible, and realism about one’s
current situation.
In the second category are norms related to cooperative behaviour. Foremost is a belief that life is
not a zero-sum-game (where one person has to lose for another to win) and that there are payoffs to
cooperation. Societies that believe in a fixed pie of wealth have a difficult time engendering
cooperation and tend to be low in mutual trust.
The third category contains norms related to innovation. Thus, cultures that look to rational scientific
explanations of the world rather than religious or magical explanations tend to be more innovative.
Likewise, a culture needs to be tolerant of heresy and experimentation, as strict orthodoxy stifles
innovation. Finally, it is important the culture be supportive of competition and celebrate
achievement, since overly egalitarian cultures reduce the incentives for risk taking.
One final norm is important to all three categories: how people view time. Cultures that live for today
have problems ranging from low work ethic to an inability to engage in complex cooperation and low
levels of investment in innovation. In contrast, cultures that have an ethic of investing for tomorrow
tend to value work, demonstrate a willingness to sacrifice short-term pleasures for long-term gain,
and enjoy high levels of cooperation.
Q1. Which of the following explains how the cultural horse was brought inside the economic stable?
a) Behavioural economics weakens the Neoclassical assumptions thereby making

culture relevant again. Your answer is correct
b) Behavioural economics doesn’t apply to a world where cultural rules must be self-
interested.
c) Behavioural economics has proven that culture is still relevant in a world of perfect
rationality.
d) Behavioural economics has proved that we live in a world of perfect rationality.
Q2. Which of the following statements furthers the author’s conclusion about the relation between
innovation and people’s perception of time?
a) People innovate for a better present.
b) Goal-oriented cultures lag in innovation.
c) Innovation can be achieved when people sacrifice their present for the future.
Your answer is correct
d) The work-ethic of people varies with their plans for present and future.
Q3. Which of the following is true about cultures conducive to economic success?
a) While these cultures are optimistic and cooperative, they don’t shy away from
rationality and realism. Your answer is correct
b) Although these cultures don’t invest in the future, they encourage rationality and cooperation
to improve the quality of the present.
c) While these cultures are egalitarian, they believe in the merits of competition and
innovation.
d) While these cultures are optimistic about their future and believe in cooperation, they enjoy
the short-term pleasures of the present.
Q4. Which of the following best summarises why cultural explanations for economic outcomes fell
out of favour in the 1950s and 60s?
a) It wasn’t politically correct to explain economic outcomes using culture whose rules
are valid only in a perfectly rational world.
b) It was politically incorrect to frame explanations around culture whose place in a rational
world was questionable.
c) The sensitivity towards race and inheritance decreased and so did the constraints on
cultural rules to be more optimal. Your answer is incorrect
d) Culture has negative connotations and was deemed ideal only in a world of perfect
rationality.
DIRECTIONS for questions 5 to 7: The passage given below is accompanied by a set of three

Many people worry that there is not enough democracy in the world; I worry that we might never go
beyond democracy. Yes, the ideals of democracy are so appealing to citizens around the world, that
many have sacrificed their livelihoods to fight for it. Indeed, many people pay a “tribute” to
democracy. But our era of civilization is characterized as much by war and conflict as it is by peace
and democracy. Even in established democracies like India, there are pressures that threaten
various democratic foundations.
So, is India a successful democracy? Its multi-party democracy with free “elections”, free speech
and civil liberties has been functioning well, and famine has been eliminated. But democratic rights
have not eliminated undernourishment and ill health. Is the Indian economy doing very well? Yes, it
is growing fast and there is a lot of new income around. But poverty is still very grave. Is Indian
education a great success? Yes, of course, India has a large, well-educated and highly trained
population and it provides skilled labour both within India and across the world. Yet nearly a third of
the population is still illiterate. We need to progress further in order to counter inequalities and abuse
of rights and to ensure political liberty.
Contrast the situation with that of China which has leap-frogged ahead of India. Totalitarianism is the
supposed 'cause' of China's super achievement. Being a one-party state makes it easier for China to
take tough economic decisions. From one child-norm to restrictions on internal travel, from stringent
labour laws to suppression of dissent, the politburo is the master of all it surveys. India's democracy
leaves little room for reforms. No sooner is a major policy decision (tax reforms, fertilizer price hike,
VAT, disinvestment) announced, than the government is forced to put it on hold (“We know what's to
be done, except, democracy wouldn't let us do it”) thanks to the perennial democratic fear – losing
votes. But, universal votes do not guarantee universal economic participation. With one-third of
Indians illiterate and without healthcare, there are strong structural impediments to how quickly we
can grow. Unlike democratic India, communist China has shown exemplary historical commitment in
the social sector. From a well developed system of elementary education, (China has only a sixth of
our university graduates but it is much closer to universal literacy), to land reforms and health care.
These “inclusionary” arrangements have facilitated widespread economic participation, laying the
basis for long-term growth.
In the book, The End of History and the Last Man, Francis Fukuyama had claimed that liberal

democracy was the final form of human government, the “end point of mankind’s ideological or
socio-cultural evolution.” Every country would eventually become democratic, and there would be no
fundamental change in political organization from then on. The spread of democracy may actually
make it harder to discover better forms of political organization that we can aspire to.
Q5. One may infer from the passage that “inclusionary arrangements” would mean policies that:
a) broaden the scope of economic and social benefits.
b) raise the standard of living. Your answer is incorrect
c) improve employment opportunities.
d) encourage greater productivity.
Q6. The word “tribute” in the first para of the passage has been put in quotes by the author in order
to?
a) highlight the fact that the idea of democracy is held in high regard. Your answer
is incorrect
b) show his own contempt for the attitude towards democracy.
c) question the extent of the praise for democracy.

d) indicate that it is ironical that democracy is a successful system of governance.
Q7. Consider the statement given below.

Democracy will turn out to be a historical cul-de-sac, a place that looks pleasant enough from far
away, but doesn't lead any further.
Which of the following options is correct?
a) The author would probably agree with the statement.
b) The author would agree with the statement wholeheartedly and without reserve.
c) The author would disagree with the statement because he feels that democratic
principles, if implemented properly, can lead to better prospects.
d) It is not possible to tell from the information in this passage whether the author would agree
or disagree with the given statement.
DIRECTIONS for questions 8 to 11: The passage given below is accompanied by a set of four

The mission of epistemology, the theory of knowledge, is to clarify what the conception of knowledge
involves, how it is applied, and to explain why it has the features it does. And the idea of knowledge
at issue here must, in the first instance at least, be construed in its modest sense to include also
belief, conjecture, and the like. For it is misleading to call cognitive theory at large “epistemology” or
“the theory of knowledge.” Its range of concern includes not only knowledge proper but also rational
belief, probability, plausibility, evidentiation and – additionally but not least – erotetics, the business
of raising and resolving questions. It is this last area that aims to maintain and substantiate the utility
of approaching epistemological issues from the angle of questions. As Aristotle already indicated,
human inquiry is grounded in wonder. When matters are running along in their accustomed way, we
generally do not puzzle about it and stop to ask questions. But when things are in any way out of the
ordinary, we puzzle over the reason why and seek for an explanation. And gradually our horizons
expand. With increasing sophistication, we learn to be surprised by virtually all of it. We increasingly
want to know what makes things tick – the ordinary as well as the extraordinary, so that questions
gain an increasing prominence within epistemology in general.
Any profitable discussion of knowledge does well to begin by recognizing some basic linguistic facts
about how the verb "to know" and its cognates actually function in the usual range of relevant
discourse. For if one neglects these facts, one is well en route to “changing the subject” to talk about
something different from that very conception that must remain at the center of our concern. It would
clearly be self-defeating to turn away from knowledge as we in fact conceive and discuss it and deal
with some sort of so-called knowledge different from that whose elucidation is the very reason of our
deliberations. If a philosophical analysis is to elucidate a conception that is in actual use, it has no
choice but to address itself to that usage and conform to its actual characteristics.
The first essential step is to recognize that “to know” has both a propositional and a procedural
sense: there is the intellectual matter of “knowing that something or other is the case” (that-
knowledge) and the practical matter of knowing how to perform some action and to go about
realizing some end (how-to-knowledge). This distinction is crucial because only the former,
intellectual and propositional mode of knowledge has generally been the focus of attention in
traditional philosophical epistemology, rather than the latter, practical and performatory mode.
There is a wide variety of cognitive involvements: one can know, believe or accept (disbelieve or
reject), conjecture or surmise or suspect, imagine or think about, assume or suppose, deem likely or
unlikely, and so on. And there is also a wide variety of cognitive performances: realizing, noticing,
remembering – and sometimes also their negatives: ignoring, forgetting, and so on. All of these
cognitive circumstances belong to “the theory of knowledge” – to epistemology broadly speaking,
which accordingly extends far beyond the domain of knowledge as such. But knowledge lies at the
center of the range, and as the very expression indicates, the “theory of knowledge” focuses on
knowledge.
Q8. Which of the following statements about epistemology cannot be inferred to be true?
a) Cognitive theory sometimes tends to be mistaken for epistemology.
b) The inadequacy of epistemology in elucidating what the conceiving of knowledge

involves forms the basis for cognitive theory.
c) One of the objectives of the theory of knowledge is to try to explain how the
conception of knowledge can be applied.
d) Erotetics can help in corroborating the utility of advancing towards epistemological issues
from the angle of questions.
You did not answer this question
Q9. What does the statement 'human inquiry is grounded in wonder' (para 1) imply?
a) Humans start asking questions only when their curiosity gets the better of them.
b) Humans do not seek answers for the familiar and routine.

c) Humans do not start inquiring about anything unless it makes them feel wonderful
about themselves.
d) Humans start questioning their own existence every time they come across things that are
out of the ordinary.
Q10. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
a) Ignoring certain linguistic facts about how the verb 'to know' functions may lead to a
digression from the main issue of concern in the field of epistemology.
b) Turning away from knowledge can be self-defeating because one would end up
dealing with another sort of knowledge whose elucidation is the very reason of our
deliberations.
c) Elucidating a conception that is in actual use need not be strictly confined to that
usage.
d) One must acknowledge all basic linguistic facts about how the verb 'to know' and its
cognates actually function.
Q11. Consider the following two activities:

i. Contemplating the meaning of life.
ii. Observing the people around while travelling by metro to the office.
Which of the following is true in the light of the passage?
a) (i) is a cognitive involvement and (ii) is a cognitive performance.
b) (i) is a cognitive performance and (ii) is a cognitive involvement.
c) Both (i) and (ii) are cognitive involvements.
d) Both (i) and (ii) are cognitive performances.
DIRECTIONS for questions 12 to 15: The passage given below is accompanied by a set of four

In all of the world’s 148 big wild terrestrial herbivorous mammals – the candidates for domestication
– only 14 passed the test. Why did the other 134 species fail? To which conditions was Francis
Galton referring, when he spoke of those other species as ‘destined to perpetual wildness’?
The answer follows from the Anna Karenina principle. To be domesticated, a candidate wild species
must possess many different characteristics. Lack of any single required characteristic dooms efforts
at domestication, just as it dooms efforts at building a happy marriage. Playing marriage counsellor
to the zebra-human couple and other ill-sorted pairs, we can recognize at least four groups of
reasons for failed domestication.
Diet. Every time that an animal eats a plant or another animal the conversion of food biomass into
the consumer’s biomass involves an efficiency of much less than 100 percent: typically, around 10
percent. That is, it takes around 10000 pounds of corn to grow a 1000-pound cow. If instead you
want to grow 1000 pounds of carnivore, you have to feed it 10000 pounds of herbivores grown on
100,000 pounds of corn. Even among herbivores and omnivores, many species like koalas, are too
finicky in their plant preferences to recommend themselves as farm animals. As a result of this
fundamental inefficiency, no mammalian carnivore has ever been domesticated for food.
Growth rate. To be worth keeping, domesticates must also grow quickly. That eliminates gorillas and
elephants, even though they are the vegetarians with admirably non-finicky food preferences and
represent a lot of meat. What would-be gorilla or elephant rancher would wait 15 years for his herd
to reach the adult size?
Problems of captive breeding. Some potentially valuable animal species don’t like to mate under the
watchful eyes of others. That’s what derailed attempts to domesticate cheetahs, the swiftest of all
land animals, despite our strong motivation to do so for thousands of years.
Nasty disposition. Naturally, almost any mammal species that is sufficiently large is capable of killing
a human. People have been killed by pigs, horses, camels, and cattle. Nevertheless, some large
animals have much nastier dispositions and are more incurably dangerous than are others.
Tendencies to kill humans have disqualified many otherwise seemingly ideal candidates for
domestication. One obvious example is the grizzly bear. Bear meat is an expensive delicacy,
grizzlies weigh up to 1700 pounds, they are mainly vegetarians (though formidable hunters), their
vegetable diet is very broad, they thrive on human garbage and they grow relatively fast. If they
behaved themselves in captivity, grizzlies would be a fabulous meat production animal.
Although one of the most puzzling features of animal domestication is the seeming arbitrariness with
which some species have been domesticated while their close relatives have not, it turns out that all
but a few candidates for domestication have been eliminated by the Anna Karenina principle.
Humans and most animal species make an unhappy marriage for one or more of many possible
reasons. Thus, Tolstoy would have approved of the insight offered in another context by an earlier
author, Saint Matthew: “Many are called, but few are chosen.”
Q12. The main theme of the passage is
a) to illustrate how the Anna Karenina principle can be applied to the animal world.
b) to bewail the small percentage of animal species which can actually be domesticated
out of the large number of potential candidates for domestication.
c) to highlight the seeming arbitrariness with which some species have been
domesticated while their close relatives have not.
d) to summarise the characteristics that explain the method behind the madness that is
domestication of wild terrestrial herbivorous animals.
Q13. All of the following can be inferred to be in line with the Anna Karenina principle EXCEPT:
a) Good systems must meet a lot of requirements simultaneously in order to function

properly.
b) All happy families are alike while unhappy families may be unhappy in their own
way.
c) All successful companies have done something different, while every failed company
is same with respect to the fact that it could not avoid competition.
d) Men are good in but one way, but bad in many.
You did not answer this question
Q14. The author uses the example of a grizzly bear to drive home the point that
a) some largely vegetarian animals can be formidable hunters.
b) not every vegetarian animal is necessarily inefficient when it comes to diet

conversion.
c) animals with pernicious temperaments cannot be domesticated.

d) large animals have much nastier dispositions and are more incurably dangerous than are
others.
Q15. All of the following are true based on the information in the passage EXCEPT:
a) Gorilla and elephant ranches don’t exist because waiting for 15 years for the herd to
reach adult size is not economically feasible.
b) 134 of 148 wild terrestrial herbivorous mammals are destined to perpetual wildness
because of the problems in domesticating them.
c) Grizzlies weigh up to 1700 pounds which makes them extremely dangerous to

domesticate.
d) The Anna Karenina principle does explain why many are called but only few are chosen.
Q16. DIRECTIONS for question 16: Four alternative summaries are given below the text. Choose

the option that best captures the author’s position.
As long back as 1891, in ‘The Decay of Lying’, Oscar Wilde warned artists and critics not to become
infatuated with Life at the expense of Art. He wrote: “Art begins with abstract decoration, with purely
imaginative and pleasurable work dealing with what is unreal and non-existent. This is the first stage.
Then Life becomes fascinated with this new wonder, and asks to be admitted into the charmed
circle. Art takes life as part of its rough material, recreates it, and refashions dreams, and keeps
between itself and reality the impenetrable barrier of beautiful style, of decorative or ideal treatment.
The third stage is when Life gets the upper hand, and drives Art out into the wilderness. This is the
true decadence, and it is from this that we are now suffering.” Wilde’s words on the decadence of a
literary culture attracted to fame, gossip and scandal are just as relevant today. By focussing too
much on life in our readings of art, we miss that which is ‘purely imaginative and pleasurable’ – the
element of beauty, music and mystery that differentiates poems and stories from politics and
propaganda.
a) The first stage that Art goes though is characterized by pure insight and gratification.
In the second stage, the elements from life impregnate art. In the third, life wins over art.
Thus each stage takes art closer to the state of moral retrogression.
b) Art goes through three stages. The first stage shows the influence of life in all aspects
of life and treatment. The second stage is characterized by purely inventive or visionary
themes. In the third stage, life is artless. The third stage is a reflection of decadence
prevalent in society.
c) Life has three stages just like art. The first is when art is unreal and enterprising; the
second is when art and life perfectly intersperse with each other; the third is when art is
thrown out of the window of life. The first two stages of art are a reflection of the decadence
in humanity.
d) There are three stages in art – first, when art is unreal, ingenious and gratifying; second,
when art admits life into its space, remodels it but maintains its own impregnable style. The third
represents a degenerative state where life relegates art to the periphery. The third stage is reflected
in the decadence even now prevalent in the literary sphere.
Q17. DIRECTIONS for question 17: The following question has five sentences. Each sentence is

labelled with a number. All but one of the sentences can be rearranged to form a logically coherent
paragraph. Key in the number of the sentence that does not fit contextually with the paragraph
formed by the other four sentences.
1. No obvious talent is coming up behind her from which to draw a potential successor.
2. Angela Merkel may be personally popular in Germany and favoured to remain chancellor
after the parliamentary election in February.
3. They have remained close ever since.
4. But she and her centre-right political camps are starting to face a different problem.
5. One by one, her hopefuls have fallen by the wayside, failing in local elections or resigning
amid scandals of one kind or another.
6. Q18. DIRECTIONS for question 18: Four alternative summaries are given below the text.

Select the option that best captures the essence of the text.
7. Pregnant women who have their teeth scraped of plaque and tartar may dramatically reduce
the risk of having a premature baby, a major study suggests. A research team lead by Dr.
Marjorie K. Jeffcant found that women with gum diseases who have a simple scaling and
root canal treatment cut their risk of going into spontaneous preterm labour by as much as
84 percent. The study builds on research that shows pregnant women with red, inflamed or
bleeding gums are up to eight times more likely to have a premature baby than woman with
good oral health. This is because very often the toxins from bacteria that live in the plaque
can enter a woman’s blood stream and kick-start labour before the baby has had a chance to
reach normal weight. Jeffcoat says that any woman who is planning to become pregnant, or
who has already conceived, should have her gums and teeth checked. Daily flossing and
regular cleanings are good ways to prevent gum disease.
8.
9. a) Research has shown that pregnant women with infected gums are more likely
to have premature babies, for harmful bacterial substances enter the blood, paving
way for preterm labour. It is advisable for women who are pregnant, or are planning
pregnancy, to maintain oral hygiene. Your answer is correct
10. b) Women with good oral health have a better chance of delivering healthy babies
than women who have bleeding or swollen gums. Pregnant women should therefore
take better care of their teeth.
11. c) Studies have shown that 84% of women who have premature babies have
infected gums. Pregnant women should check their teeth and gums and have regular
flossing and cleaning done.
12. d) Pregnant women have started to take extra care about their teeth, because
according to a study, women who have gum diseases are more likely to have premature
babies, for the bacteria from the infected gums induces preterm labour.
Q19. DIRECTIONS for questions 19 and 20: Five sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) are given in each

of the following questions. Four of them can be put together to form a meaningful and coherent short
paragraph and one sentence is the odd one out. Decide on the proper logical order for the
sentences and key in the sequence of four numbers as your answer, even as
you omit the contextually unrelated sentence.
1. Most of them still do much of their shopping on foreign jaunts, as they have done since the
oil money started flowing in the 1970s, but now they also have plenty of places back home to
splash their cash.
2. Bain and Company reckons that luxury spending in the region grew by 10% last year, to just
over $8 billion, a bit less than half the amount spent in mainland China.
3. The Middle East’s rich will soon have yet another way to flaunt their wealth, when the Burj al-
Arab hotel starts selling its guests custom-made 24-carat gold iPads.
4. The conservativeness of Arab society also drives demand for custom-made entertainment.
5. And the Gulf's malls are drawing foreign shoppers from Russia, India and Africa, too.
Q20. DIRECTIONS for questions 19 and 20: Five sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) are given in each
of the following questions. Four of them can be put together to form a meaningful and coherent short
1. Having developed such a sophisticated health-care system, and being deeply embedded in
the global and regional economy, Korea sees a duty and an opportunity to share its medical
expertise with the wider world, and thus to spread the warmth of jeong to global society.
2. The outcomes speak for themselves: OECD data on five-year survival rates for cervical
cancer shows Korea in second place, behind only Norway, and the country ranks first in
survival rates for colorectal cancer.
3. Demonstrating the country's strength in medical research, theses from Korean institutions
are frequently cited in international journals, particularly in the field of liver transplantation.
4. Medical Korea has also been enhanced by the national affinity for science and high
technology that created electronics and automotive superstars like Samsung and Hyundai.
5. Indicators show a high penetration of advanced medical equipment: in 2015, Korea ranked
fourth in the OECD for MRI units per capita and sixth for CT scanners.
Q21. DIRECTIONS for question 21: The following question has five sentences. Each sentence is

labelled with a number. All but one of the sentences can be rearranged to form a logically coherent
paragraph. Key in the number of the sentence that does not fit contextually with the paragraph
formed by the other four sentences.
1. Indeed, digital technologies may prove to be more ephemeral than their predecessors.
2. Surely, though, the more modest goal of the carbon-paperless office is within the reach of
mankind?
3. The “paperless office” has earned a proud place on lists of technological promises that did
not come to pass.
4. But nowadays, a couple of keystrokes can do the same thing without a lot of fuss.
5. Carbon paper allows two copies of a document to be made at once
Q22. DIRECTIONS for question 22: Four alternative summaries are given below the text. Select the
option that best captures the essence of the text.
No organization can depend on genius; the supply is always scarce and unreliable. It is the test of
the organization to make ordinary human beings perform better than they seem capable of, to bring
out whatever strength there is in its members, and to use each person's strength to help all the other
members perform. The purpose of the organization is to enable a common (ordinary) man to do
uncommon (extraordinary) things. It is the task of the organization to neutralize the individual
weaknesses of its members. There should also be focus on increasing the strengths of the members
of an organization. The test of an organization is the spirit of performance. The spirit of performance
requires that there be full scope for individual excellence.
a) Most of the persons have average IQ and more weaknesses than strengths and it is
the primary function of an organization to promote excellence through a spirit of
performance.
b) Motivation and training can improve the performance of an average employee and
help reduce his/her weaknesses.
c) Genius is a rare commodity.
d) A good organization transforms its average worker into a star performer by focusing
on strengths and neutralizing weaknesses. Your answer is correct
Q23. DIRECTIONS for question 23: Five sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) are given in each of the

following questions. Four of them can be put together to form a meaningful and coherent short
1. The idea has been put on a firmer footing than before and a new theory proposes that the
cataclysm which created the rings may also have brought into being quite a few of Saturn's
moons.
2. 13 years of close observation provided by Cassini, an American spacecraft showed the

planet, its moons and its remarkable rings off better and better, revealing finer structures,
striking novelties and greater drama.
3. Reasonably quickly, gravity would have clumped almost all of the debris back together, to
produce a new set of moons.
4. Its observations, which ended last September when the craft was crashed into Saturn's
atmosphere, also provided further evidence that, as might be expected of such delicate
beauty, the rings are quite new to the world.
5. Not everything looks lovelier the longer and closer its inspection, but Saturn does – it is
gorgeous through earthly telescopes.
LRDI
DIRECTIONS for questions 1 to 6: Answer the questions on the basis of the information given below.
Each of five friends – Ankur, Jai, Manish, Naveen and Piyush – has a certain number of marbles
with him. The number of marbles with each person is a distinct prime number. Further, each of the
five friends is either a truth teller, who always speaks the truth, or a liar, who always lies, or an
alternator, who alternates between telling the truth and a lie, in any order. It is known that exactly
one of Ankur, Jai and Manish, is a truth teller, and each of them made three statements regarding
the number of marbles that the five of them have.
Q1. DIRECTIONS for question 1: Select the correct alternative from the given choices.

Who among Ankur, Jai and Manish is the truth teller?
a) Ankur
b) Jai
c) Manish
d) Either Jai or Manish
Q2. DIRECTIONS for question 2: Type in your answer in the input box provided below the question.
How many marbles does Piyush have?
Q3. DIRECTIONS for questions 3 and 4: Select the correct alternative from the given choices.

How many persons among the five have less than ten marbles?
a) 0
b) 2
c) 3
d) 4

Who among the five persons has the third highest number of marbles?
a) Ankur
b) Jai
c) Manish
d) Naveen
Q5. DIRECTIONS for questions 5 and 6: Type in your answer in the input box provided below the

question.
What is the difference between the highest number of marbles with any person and the lowest
number of marbles with any person?
Q6. DIRECTIONS for questions 5 and 6: Type in your answer in the input box provided below the

question.
What is the sum of the number of marbles with Manish and the number of marbles with Jai?
DIRECTIONS for questions 7 to 12: Answer the questions on the basis of the information given

below.
In a class of 100 students, there are five class representatives (CRs) – A, B, C, D and E. Each of
these five CRs has 19 different friends such that every student in the class (who is not a CR) is a
friend of exactly one of these five CRs. A teacher of that class gave them three assignments –
Assignment 1, 2 and 3. After the last day for the submission of the assignments, the teacher asked
all the five CRs to count the number of students in the class who had finished each assignment.
Each of the five CRs included themselves and their friends in the count of those who had finished
each assignment, irrespective of whether they finished it or not. Among those who were not the
friends of a particular CR, the CR counted only the students who had finished the respective
assignments.
Each CR along with his friends is referred to as Group A, Group B, Group C, Group D and Group E
respectively. Partial information about the number of students who finished each assignment
according to each CR is presented in the table below.
Q7. DIRECTIONS for questions 7 to 9: Select the correct alternative from the given choices.

What is the total number of students in the class who finished Assignment 1?
a) 76
b) 74
c) 80
d) Cannot be determined

How many students in Group C finished Assignment 2?
a) 8
b) 12
c) 17

What is the minimum number of students in Group E that must have finished Assignment 3?
a) 6
b) 8
c) 11
d) 13
Q10. DIRECTIONS for question 10: Type in your answer in the input box provided below the

question.
If, in Group A, the number of students who finished Assignment 3 is 15, how many students in Group
C finished Assignment 3?

Which CR definitely did not finish Assignment 2?
a) A
b) E
c) D

question.
If, in Group B, the number of students who finished Assignment 3 is 7, what is the difference
between the number of students in Group A who finished Assignment 2 and the number of students
in Group E who did not finish Assignment 3?

below.
Mr. Sharma categorizes his monthly expenses into exactly five categories – Utility, Rent,
Entertainment, Groceries and Others. The chart below presents the percentage breakup of the
monthly expenses by category of Mr. Sharma for five months, from January to May. It is known that
the amount that he categorizes as Rent remains constant for any month.
For how many months from February to June were the expenses on Entertainment in a month
greater than those in the previous month?
a) 1
b) 2 Your answer is correct
c) 3
d) 4

What is the highest percentage increase in the expenses on Groceries in any month as compared to
the previous month?
a) 50%
b) 133.3% Your answer is incorrect
c) 483.3%
d) 545.5%

question.
If the expenses on Utilities in April were ₹6000, what were the expenses (in ₹) on Groceries in May?

below.
In a television quiz programme called “Kaun Banega Millionaire (KBM)”, five contestants were asked
to name the winner of a tennis tournament in each of the years, from 2016 to 2020. As the
contestants asked for a helpline, the anchor gave the hint that the winners of the five years were
Novak, Daniil, Roger, Rafael and Stefanos, not necessarily in that order. The contestants then gave
their respective orders as follows:
If the contestant names the winners of all the five years correctly, he will get ₹10 lakh as prize
money. If the contestant names the winners of only n but not all of the five years correctly, he will get
₹(n + 1) lakh as prize money. Further, it was found that each of the contestants won a different
amount as prize money.

Who is the winner of the tournament in 2016?
a) Roger
b) Daniil
c) Rafael
d) Cannot be determined Your answer is correct

Who won the least amount as prize money?
a) B
b) C
c) D
d) Cannot be determined Your answer is incorrect

Who won the tournament in 2018?
a) Rafael
b) Novak
c) Stefanos
d) Cannot be determined Your answer is incorrect

below.
Five friends, Amit, Praveen, Mohit, Karan and Uday, study in the same college. On a particular day,
they went to the college mess to have lunch. On arriving at the mess, they found that there were
exactly twenty persons waiting in line to get their lunches served. As they were feeling extremely
hungry, they decided to barge in at different points in the queue. No other person either joined or left
the queue after the five friends arrived at the mess. The following information is known about their
relative positions in the queue, immediately after the five of them barged in on the queue:
i. For the five friends, the number of persons standing in front of any friend is not the same as
the number of persons standing behind that friend or any other friend.
ii. Karan was standing in front of Mohit, who, in turn, was standing in front of Praveen.
iii. At least sixteen persons were standing in front of Amit.
iv. The number of persons standing between Praveen and Karan is the same as the number of
persons standing between Mohit and Amit.
v. The number of persons standing behind Praveen was at least five and at most seven more
than the number of persons standing in front of him.
vi. The number of persons standing between Praveen and Uday was twice the number of
persons standing between Praveen and Amit.

question.
How many persons are standing in the queue behind Karan?

How many persons are standing between Uday and Mohit?
a) 14
b) 10
c) 5

question.
How many persons are standing in the queue behind Mohit?

Between which of the following pairs of friends are the maximum number of persons standing?
a) Amit, Mohit
b) Amit, Praveen
c) Amit, Karan
d) Karan, Uday
QA
(1!)2 + (2!)2 + (3!)2 + ….. when divided by 1152, will leave a remainder of

a) 848
b) 571
c) 48
d) 41
If x and y are positive integers less than 8, how many distinct values can the expression (3x + 7y)
take?
Thomas and I bet on each game of a series of chess games played between us. The bet amount in
each game was twice that in the previous game. The series of games will end when I win a game. If
each of us bets ₹2 in the first game, and the odds of Thomas winning a game against me are 9 : 1,
how much did Thomas lose or gain at the end of the series?
a) Lost ₹2
b) Gained ₹2
c) No loss no gain
d) Depends on the number of games played in the series

Each of Sharmistha and Devjani has a certain number of chocolates with her. If Sharmistha gives
40% of the number of chocolates she has to Devjani, the ratio of the number of chocolates with them
gets reversed. If the number of chocolates that Devjani initially had was p% of those with
Sharmistha, find the value of 12p.

A task is assigned to a group of 18 people, comprising six male adults, six female adults and six
children, each person having a different rate of working. Everyday a subgroup of three persons,
comprising one male adult, one female adult and one child, work together, such that no subgroup
with the same combination works for more than one day. In this way, the entire work is completed in
exactly 216 days. Find what fraction of the total work is completed, if all the 18 people work together
for a single day.
On a circular track of length 18136 metres, two motorcyclists A and B start simultaneously from a
point O in opposite directions. Every time they meet, A increases his speed by 1 m/s and B
decreases his speed by 1 m/s. They stop when B’s speed goes below 2 m/s. If they meet for the
tenth time at 3:36 p.m. and for the 31st time at 5:00 p.m., at what time will they meet for the 23rd time?
a) 4:28 p.m.
b) 4:24 p.m.
c) 4:36 p.m.
d) 4:48 p.m.
At a traffic signal, the durations for which the green light, amber light and red light are kept on are in
the ratio 6 : 1 : 2 from 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM and in the ratio 3 : 1 : 4 from 10:00 PM to 8:00 AM. What
is the total duration for which the green light will be on in 24
hours? (Assume that a light of only one colour is on at any time.)
a) 13 hours and 5 minutes
b) 12 hours and 20 minutes
c) 11 hours and 15 minutes
d) 15 hours and 10 minutes
A natural number N when divided by 10 leaves a remainder of R and quotient of Q. The number N is
equal to the sum of the product QR and the sum (Q + R). If N is a multiple of 9 and is less than
10000, how many values can N assume?
A flag-post is placed on the top of a building of height 200 m. The angles of elevation of the top of
the flag-post observed from the foot and the top of another nearby building of height 150 m, are 60°
and 30° respectively. Find the height of the flag-post.
a) 75 m
b) 25 m
c) 37.5 m
d) 100 m

question.
Out of 17 points on a plane, seven points lie on a circle. No other group of four or more points lie on
a circle and no three points are collinear. What is the maximum number of distinct circles that can be
drawn such that each circle passes through at least three of the given points?

In the figure below, BD : DC = 3 : 4 and AM : MD = 2 : 1. Find AE : EC.
a) 6 : 7
b) 1 : 1
c) 7 : 8
d) 8 : 9
There are 28 identical looking coins, all of which except for one weigh the same. Using a common
balance, what is the minimum number of weighings required to ensure that the coin with the different
weight is identified?
a) 3
b) 5
c) 14
d) 4

question.

Find the real value of k, for which the sum of the squares of the roots of the quadratic equation x2 –
(k + 1)x + 2k – 1 = 0, is minimum.

Consider the following equations:
x – y + z = 4 → A
x + 2y + 3z = 13 → B
x – 3y + 2z = 5 → C
2x – y + 5z= 18 → D
A, B, C, D are 4 linear equations which have exactly one solution (i.e., one set of values for x, y and
z that satisfies all the equations). Which of the four equations can be excluded such that the system
of remaining equations has exactly the same solution as the given system?
a) Only D
b) Either C or D only
c) Any one of A, B, C and D
d) Any one of B, C and D

question.
Let S be the set of all the two-digit natural numbers with distinct digits. In how many ways can the
ordered pair (P, Q) be selected such that P and Q belong to S and have at least one digit in
common?
A person starts writing natural numbers, starting from 1, on a blackboard, at the rate of 60 digits per
minute. At the same time, another person begins to erase the digits from 1 onwards, at the rate of 40
digits per minute. Find the difference between the leftmost digit and the rightmost digit on the
blackboard immediately after one hour.
a) 2
b) 7
c) 8
d) 1

The sum to infinity of the series is
A quadrilateral ABCD is circumscribed about a circle. If AB = 10 cm, BC = 12 cm, CD = 9 cm, then

find AD.
a) 6 cm
b) 7 cm
c) 8 cm
d) 6.5 cm
|X| denotes the number of elements in set X. If |P| = 5 and |Q| = 10, how many functions can be
defined from P to Q which are not onto?
a) 1,00,000
b) 100
c) 1000
d) 10,000

How many roots does the following equation have?
(x2 – 1) (xn–1 + xn–2 + xn–3 + …… 1)2 = 7
a) 4n – 4
b) 2n
c) 2n – 2
d) 2n – 1
If the straight lines x + 2y = 2 and 3x – ay = –5 intersect in the first quadrant, which of the following
values can a assume?
a) –5.5
b) –4.9
c) 5.5
d) 4.9

question.

The following algorithm is executed.
Find the final value of m.

In a quadrilateral PQRS, ∠PQR = 90° and ∠QSP = 60°. If QR is parallel to PS and QR is the

smallest side, then the longest side of the quadrilateral is
a) PQ.
b) RS.
c) PS.

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DIRECTIONS

for questions 1 to 4: The passage given below is accompanied by a set of four

a) Behavioural economics weakens the Neoclassical assumptions thereby making

d) Behavioural economics has proved that we live in a world of perfect rationality.

a) People innovate for a better present.

b) Goal-oriented cultures lag in innovation.

Q3. Which of the following is true about cultures conducive to economic success?

DIRECTIONS for questions 5 to 7: The passage given below is accompanied by a set of three

In the book, The End of History and the Last Man, Francis Fukuyama had claimed that liberal

a) broaden the scope of economic and social benefits.

b) raise the standard of living. Your answer is incorrect

c) improve employment opportunities.

d) encourage greater productivity.

b) show his own contempt for the attitude towards democracy.

c) question the extent of the praise for democracy.

Q7. Consider the statement given below.

Which of the following options is correct?

a) The author would probably agree with the statement.

DIRECTIONS for questions 8 to 11: The passage given below is accompanied by a set of four

Q8. Which of the following statements about epistemology cannot be inferred to be true?

a) Cognitive theory sometimes tends to be mistaken for epistemology.

b) The inadequacy of epistemology in elucidating what the conceiving of knowledge

You did not answer this question

b) Humans do not seek answers for the familiar and routine.

Q10. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?

Q11. Consider the following two activities:

Which of the following is true in the light of the passage?

a) (i) is a cognitive involvement and (ii) is a cognitive performance.

b) (i) is a cognitive performance and (ii) is a cognitive involvement.

c) Both (i) and (ii) are cognitive involvements.

d) Both (i) and (ii) are cognitive performances.

DIRECTIONS for questions 12 to 15: The passage given below is accompanied by a set of four

Q12. The main theme of the passage is

a) Good systems must meet a lot of requirements simultaneously in order to function

d) Men are good in but one way, but bad in many.

You did not answer this question

a) some largely vegetarian animals can be formidable hunters.

b) not every vegetarian animal is necessarily inefficient when it comes to diet

c) animals with pernicious temperaments cannot be domesticated.

c) Grizzlies weigh up to 1700 pounds which makes them extremely dangerous to

Q16. DIRECTIONS for question 16: Four alternative summaries are given below the text. Choose

Q17. DIRECTIONS for question 17: The following question has five sentences. Each sentence is

3. They have remained close ever since.

6. Q18. DIRECTIONS for question 18: Four alternative summaries are given below the text.

Q19. DIRECTIONS for questions 19 and 20: Five sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) are given in each

Q21. DIRECTIONS for question 21: The following question has five sentences. Each sentence is

5. Carbon paper allows two copies of a document to be made at once

c) Genius is a rare commodity.

Q23. DIRECTIONS for question 23: Five sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) are given in each of the

2. 13 years of close observation provided by Cassini, an American spacecraft showed the

DIRECTIONS for questions 1 to 6: Answer the questions on the basis of the information given below.

Q1. DIRECTIONS for question 1: Select the correct alternative from the given choices.

d) Either Jai or Manish

Q3. DIRECTIONS for questions 3 and 4: Select the correct alternative from the given choices.

Q4. DIRECTIONS for questions 3 and 4: Select the correct alternative from the given choices.

Q5. DIRECTIONS for questions 5 and 6: Type in your answer in the input box provided below the

Q6. DIRECTIONS for questions 5 and 6: Type in your answer in the input box provided below the

DIRECTIONS for questions 7 to 12: Answer the questions on the basis of the information given

Q7. DIRECTIONS for questions 7 to 9: Select the correct alternative from the given choices.

Q8. DIRECTIONS for questions 7 to 9: Select the correct alternative from the given choices.

Q9. DIRECTIONS for questions 7 to 9: Select the correct alternative from the given choices.

Q10. DIRECTIONS for question 10: Type in your answer in the input box provided below the