CAT Past Year Question Paper - 1999 | Additional Study Material for CAT PDF Download

 Page 1


Page 1
CAT 1999 Actual Paper
Directions for questions 1 to 5:Sentences given in each question, when properly sequenced, form a
coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labelled with a letter. Choose the most logical order of the sentences
from among the four given choices to construct a coherent paragraph.
1. A. In rejecting the functionalism in positivist organization theory, either wholly or partially, there is
often a move towards a political model of organization theory.
B. Thus, the analysis would shift to the power resources possessed by different groups in the
organization and the way they use these resources in actual power plays to shape the
organizational structure.
C. At the extreme, in one set of writings, the growth of administrators in the organization is held to
be completely unrelated to the work to be done and to be caused totally by the political pursuit
of self-interest.
D. The political model holds that individual interests are pursued in organizational life through the
exercise of power and influence.
a. ADBC b. CBAD c. DBCA d. ABDC
2. A. Group decision-making, however, does not necessarily fully guard against arbitrariness and
anarchy, for individual capriciousness can get substituted by collusion of group members.
B. Nature itself is an intricate system of checks and balances, meant to preserve the delicate
balance between various environmental factors that affect our ecology.
C. In institutions also, there is a need to have in place a system of checks and balances which
inhibits the concentration of power in the hands of only some individuals.
D. When human interventions alter this delicate balance, the outcomes have been seen to be
disastrous.
a. CDAB b. BCAD c. CABD d. BDCA
3. A. He was bone-weary and soul-weary, and found himself muttering, “Either I can’t manage this
place, or it’s unmanageable.”
B. T o his horror, he realized that he had become the victim of an amorphous, unwitting, unconscious
conspiracy to immerse him in routine work that had no significance.
C. It was one of those nights in the office when the office clock was moving towards four in the
morning and Bennis was still not through with the incredible mass of paper stacked before him.
D. He reached for his calendar and ran his eyes down each hour, half-hour, and quarter-hour, to see
where his time had gone that day, the day before, the month before.
a. ABCD b. CADB c. BDCA d. DCBA

	




Page 2


Page 1
CAT 1999 Actual Paper
Directions for questions 1 to 5:Sentences given in each question, when properly sequenced, form a
coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labelled with a letter. Choose the most logical order of the sentences
from among the four given choices to construct a coherent paragraph.
1. A. In rejecting the functionalism in positivist organization theory, either wholly or partially, there is
often a move towards a political model of organization theory.
B. Thus, the analysis would shift to the power resources possessed by different groups in the
organization and the way they use these resources in actual power plays to shape the
organizational structure.
C. At the extreme, in one set of writings, the growth of administrators in the organization is held to
be completely unrelated to the work to be done and to be caused totally by the political pursuit
of self-interest.
D. The political model holds that individual interests are pursued in organizational life through the
exercise of power and influence.
a. ADBC b. CBAD c. DBCA d. ABDC
2. A. Group decision-making, however, does not necessarily fully guard against arbitrariness and
anarchy, for individual capriciousness can get substituted by collusion of group members.
B. Nature itself is an intricate system of checks and balances, meant to preserve the delicate
balance between various environmental factors that affect our ecology.
C. In institutions also, there is a need to have in place a system of checks and balances which
inhibits the concentration of power in the hands of only some individuals.
D. When human interventions alter this delicate balance, the outcomes have been seen to be
disastrous.
a. CDAB b. BCAD c. CABD d. BDCA
3. A. He was bone-weary and soul-weary, and found himself muttering, “Either I can’t manage this
place, or it’s unmanageable.”
B. T o his horror, he realized that he had become the victim of an amorphous, unwitting, unconscious
conspiracy to immerse him in routine work that had no significance.
C. It was one of those nights in the office when the office clock was moving towards four in the
morning and Bennis was still not through with the incredible mass of paper stacked before him.
D. He reached for his calendar and ran his eyes down each hour, half-hour, and quarter-hour, to see
where his time had gone that day, the day before, the month before.
a. ABCD b. CADB c. BDCA d. DCBA

	




Page 2 CAT 1999 Actual Paper
4. A. With that, I swallowed the shampoo, and obtained the most realistic results almost on the spot.
B. The man shuffled away into the back regions to make up a prescription, and after a moment I got
through on the shop-telephone to the Consulate, intimating my location.
C. Then, while the pharmacist was wrapping up a six-ounce bottle of the mixture, I groaned and
inquired whether he could give me something for acute gastric cramp.
D. I intended to stage a sharp gastric attack, and entering an old-fashioned pharmacy, I asked for a
popular shampoo mixture, consisting of olive oil and flaked soap.
a. DCBA b. DACB c. BDAC d. BCDA
5. A. Since then, intelligence tests have been mostly used to separate dull children in school from
average or bright children, so that special education can be provided to the dull.
B. In other words, intelligence tests give us a norm for each age.
C. Intelligence is expressed as intelligence quotient, and tests are developed to indicate what an
average child of a certain age can do …. What a five-year-old can answer, but a four-year-old
cannot, for instance.
D. Binet developed the first set of such tests in the early 1900s to find out which children in school
needed special attention.
E. Intelligence can be measured by tests.
a. CDABE b. DECAB c. EDACB d. CBADE
Directions for questions 6 to 13: Read each of the eight short passages given below and answer the
question that follow it.
6. Three airlines — IA, JA and SA — operate on the Delhi- Mumbai route. To increase the number of
seats sold, SA reduced its fares and this was emulated by IA and JA immediately. The general belief
was that the volume of air travel between Delhi and Mumbai would increase as a result.
Which of the following, if true, would add credence to the general belief?
a. Increase in profitability of the three airlines.
b. Extension of the discount scheme to other routes.
c. A study that shows that air travellers in India are price-conscious.
d. A study that shows that as much as 80 per cent of air travel in India is company-sponsored.
7. According to McNeill, a Brahmin priest was expected to be able to recite at least one of the Vedas.
The practice was essential for several centuries when the Vedas had not yet been written down. It
must have had a selective effect, since priests would have been recruited from those able or willing
to memorize long passages. It must have helped in the dissemination of the work, since a memorized
passage can be duplicated many times.
Which of the following can be inferred from the above passage?
a. Reciting the Vedas was a Brahmin’s obligation.
b. The Vedic priest was like a recorded audio cassette.
c. McNeill studied the behaviour of Brahmin priests.
d. Vedic hymns had not been scripted.
Page 3


Page 1
CAT 1999 Actual Paper
Directions for questions 1 to 5:Sentences given in each question, when properly sequenced, form a
coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labelled with a letter. Choose the most logical order of the sentences
from among the four given choices to construct a coherent paragraph.
1. A. In rejecting the functionalism in positivist organization theory, either wholly or partially, there is
often a move towards a political model of organization theory.
B. Thus, the analysis would shift to the power resources possessed by different groups in the
organization and the way they use these resources in actual power plays to shape the
organizational structure.
C. At the extreme, in one set of writings, the growth of administrators in the organization is held to
be completely unrelated to the work to be done and to be caused totally by the political pursuit
of self-interest.
D. The political model holds that individual interests are pursued in organizational life through the
exercise of power and influence.
a. ADBC b. CBAD c. DBCA d. ABDC
2. A. Group decision-making, however, does not necessarily fully guard against arbitrariness and
anarchy, for individual capriciousness can get substituted by collusion of group members.
B. Nature itself is an intricate system of checks and balances, meant to preserve the delicate
balance between various environmental factors that affect our ecology.
C. In institutions also, there is a need to have in place a system of checks and balances which
inhibits the concentration of power in the hands of only some individuals.
D. When human interventions alter this delicate balance, the outcomes have been seen to be
disastrous.
a. CDAB b. BCAD c. CABD d. BDCA
3. A. He was bone-weary and soul-weary, and found himself muttering, “Either I can’t manage this
place, or it’s unmanageable.”
B. T o his horror, he realized that he had become the victim of an amorphous, unwitting, unconscious
conspiracy to immerse him in routine work that had no significance.
C. It was one of those nights in the office when the office clock was moving towards four in the
morning and Bennis was still not through with the incredible mass of paper stacked before him.
D. He reached for his calendar and ran his eyes down each hour, half-hour, and quarter-hour, to see
where his time had gone that day, the day before, the month before.
a. ABCD b. CADB c. BDCA d. DCBA

	




Page 2 CAT 1999 Actual Paper
4. A. With that, I swallowed the shampoo, and obtained the most realistic results almost on the spot.
B. The man shuffled away into the back regions to make up a prescription, and after a moment I got
through on the shop-telephone to the Consulate, intimating my location.
C. Then, while the pharmacist was wrapping up a six-ounce bottle of the mixture, I groaned and
inquired whether he could give me something for acute gastric cramp.
D. I intended to stage a sharp gastric attack, and entering an old-fashioned pharmacy, I asked for a
popular shampoo mixture, consisting of olive oil and flaked soap.
a. DCBA b. DACB c. BDAC d. BCDA
5. A. Since then, intelligence tests have been mostly used to separate dull children in school from
average or bright children, so that special education can be provided to the dull.
B. In other words, intelligence tests give us a norm for each age.
C. Intelligence is expressed as intelligence quotient, and tests are developed to indicate what an
average child of a certain age can do …. What a five-year-old can answer, but a four-year-old
cannot, for instance.
D. Binet developed the first set of such tests in the early 1900s to find out which children in school
needed special attention.
E. Intelligence can be measured by tests.
a. CDABE b. DECAB c. EDACB d. CBADE
Directions for questions 6 to 13: Read each of the eight short passages given below and answer the
question that follow it.
6. Three airlines — IA, JA and SA — operate on the Delhi- Mumbai route. To increase the number of
seats sold, SA reduced its fares and this was emulated by IA and JA immediately. The general belief
was that the volume of air travel between Delhi and Mumbai would increase as a result.
Which of the following, if true, would add credence to the general belief?
a. Increase in profitability of the three airlines.
b. Extension of the discount scheme to other routes.
c. A study that shows that air travellers in India are price-conscious.
d. A study that shows that as much as 80 per cent of air travel in India is company-sponsored.
7. According to McNeill, a Brahmin priest was expected to be able to recite at least one of the Vedas.
The practice was essential for several centuries when the Vedas had not yet been written down. It
must have had a selective effect, since priests would have been recruited from those able or willing
to memorize long passages. It must have helped in the dissemination of the work, since a memorized
passage can be duplicated many times.
Which of the following can be inferred from the above passage?
a. Reciting the Vedas was a Brahmin’s obligation.
b. The Vedic priest was like a recorded audio cassette.
c. McNeill studied the behaviour of Brahmin priests.
d. Vedic hymns had not been scripted.
Page 3
CAT 1999 Actual Paper
8. Developed countries have made adequate provisions for social security for senior citizens. State
insurers (as well as private ones) offer medicare and pension benefits to people who can no longer
earn. In India, with the collapse of the joint family system, the traditional shelter of the elderly has
disappeared. And the state faced with a financial crunch is not in a position to provide social
security. So, it is advisable that the working population give serious thought to building a financial
base for itself.
Which one of the following, if it were to happen, weakens the conclusions drawn in the above
passage the most?
a. The investible income of the working population, as a proportion of its total income, will grow in
the future.
b. The insurance sector is underdeveloped and trends indicate that it will be extensively privatized
in the future.
c. India is on a path of development that will take it to a developed country status, with all its
positive and negative implications.
d. If the working population builds a stronger financial base, there will be a revival of the joint family
system.
9. V arious studies have shown that our forested and hilly regions and, in general, areas where biodiversity
— as reflected in the variety of flora —  is high, are the places where poverty appears to be high. And
these same areas are also the ones where educational performance seems to be poor. Therefore, it
may be surmised that, even disregarding poverty status, richness in biodiversity goes hand in hand
with educational backwardness.
Which one of the following statements, if true, can be said to best provide supporting evidence for
the surmise mentioned in the passage?
a. In regions where there is little variety in flora, educational performance is seen to be as good as
in regions with high variety in flora, where poverty levels are high.
b. Regions which show high biodiversity also exhibit poor education performance, at low levels of
poverty.
c. Regions which show high biodiversity reveal high levels of poverty and poor educational performance.
d. In regions where there is low biodiversity, at all levels of poverty, educational performance is seen
to be good.
10. Cigarettes constitute a mere 20 per cent of tobacco consumption in India, and fewer than 15 per
cent of the 200 million tobacco users consume cigarettes. Yet these 15 per cent contribute nearly
90 per cent of the tax revenues to the exchequer from the tobacco sector. The punitive cigarette
taxation regime has kept the tax base narrow, and reducing taxes will expand this base.
Which of the following best bolsters the conclusion that reducing duties will expand the tax base?
a. The cigarette manufacturers’ association has decided to indulge in aggressive promotion.
b. There is a likelihood that tobacco consumers will shift to cigarette smoking if cigarette prices
were to reduce.
c. The cigarette manufacturers are lobbying for a reduction on duties.
d. An increase in duties on non-cigarette tobacco may lead to a shift in favour of cigarette smoking.
Page 4


Page 1
CAT 1999 Actual Paper
Directions for questions 1 to 5:Sentences given in each question, when properly sequenced, form a
coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labelled with a letter. Choose the most logical order of the sentences
from among the four given choices to construct a coherent paragraph.
1. A. In rejecting the functionalism in positivist organization theory, either wholly or partially, there is
often a move towards a political model of organization theory.
B. Thus, the analysis would shift to the power resources possessed by different groups in the
organization and the way they use these resources in actual power plays to shape the
organizational structure.
C. At the extreme, in one set of writings, the growth of administrators in the organization is held to
be completely unrelated to the work to be done and to be caused totally by the political pursuit
of self-interest.
D. The political model holds that individual interests are pursued in organizational life through the
exercise of power and influence.
a. ADBC b. CBAD c. DBCA d. ABDC
2. A. Group decision-making, however, does not necessarily fully guard against arbitrariness and
anarchy, for individual capriciousness can get substituted by collusion of group members.
B. Nature itself is an intricate system of checks and balances, meant to preserve the delicate
balance between various environmental factors that affect our ecology.
C. In institutions also, there is a need to have in place a system of checks and balances which
inhibits the concentration of power in the hands of only some individuals.
D. When human interventions alter this delicate balance, the outcomes have been seen to be
disastrous.
a. CDAB b. BCAD c. CABD d. BDCA
3. A. He was bone-weary and soul-weary, and found himself muttering, “Either I can’t manage this
place, or it’s unmanageable.”
B. T o his horror, he realized that he had become the victim of an amorphous, unwitting, unconscious
conspiracy to immerse him in routine work that had no significance.
C. It was one of those nights in the office when the office clock was moving towards four in the
morning and Bennis was still not through with the incredible mass of paper stacked before him.
D. He reached for his calendar and ran his eyes down each hour, half-hour, and quarter-hour, to see
where his time had gone that day, the day before, the month before.
a. ABCD b. CADB c. BDCA d. DCBA

	




Page 2 CAT 1999 Actual Paper
4. A. With that, I swallowed the shampoo, and obtained the most realistic results almost on the spot.
B. The man shuffled away into the back regions to make up a prescription, and after a moment I got
through on the shop-telephone to the Consulate, intimating my location.
C. Then, while the pharmacist was wrapping up a six-ounce bottle of the mixture, I groaned and
inquired whether he could give me something for acute gastric cramp.
D. I intended to stage a sharp gastric attack, and entering an old-fashioned pharmacy, I asked for a
popular shampoo mixture, consisting of olive oil and flaked soap.
a. DCBA b. DACB c. BDAC d. BCDA
5. A. Since then, intelligence tests have been mostly used to separate dull children in school from
average or bright children, so that special education can be provided to the dull.
B. In other words, intelligence tests give us a norm for each age.
C. Intelligence is expressed as intelligence quotient, and tests are developed to indicate what an
average child of a certain age can do …. What a five-year-old can answer, but a four-year-old
cannot, for instance.
D. Binet developed the first set of such tests in the early 1900s to find out which children in school
needed special attention.
E. Intelligence can be measured by tests.
a. CDABE b. DECAB c. EDACB d. CBADE
Directions for questions 6 to 13: Read each of the eight short passages given below and answer the
question that follow it.
6. Three airlines — IA, JA and SA — operate on the Delhi- Mumbai route. To increase the number of
seats sold, SA reduced its fares and this was emulated by IA and JA immediately. The general belief
was that the volume of air travel between Delhi and Mumbai would increase as a result.
Which of the following, if true, would add credence to the general belief?
a. Increase in profitability of the three airlines.
b. Extension of the discount scheme to other routes.
c. A study that shows that air travellers in India are price-conscious.
d. A study that shows that as much as 80 per cent of air travel in India is company-sponsored.
7. According to McNeill, a Brahmin priest was expected to be able to recite at least one of the Vedas.
The practice was essential for several centuries when the Vedas had not yet been written down. It
must have had a selective effect, since priests would have been recruited from those able or willing
to memorize long passages. It must have helped in the dissemination of the work, since a memorized
passage can be duplicated many times.
Which of the following can be inferred from the above passage?
a. Reciting the Vedas was a Brahmin’s obligation.
b. The Vedic priest was like a recorded audio cassette.
c. McNeill studied the behaviour of Brahmin priests.
d. Vedic hymns had not been scripted.
Page 3
CAT 1999 Actual Paper
8. Developed countries have made adequate provisions for social security for senior citizens. State
insurers (as well as private ones) offer medicare and pension benefits to people who can no longer
earn. In India, with the collapse of the joint family system, the traditional shelter of the elderly has
disappeared. And the state faced with a financial crunch is not in a position to provide social
security. So, it is advisable that the working population give serious thought to building a financial
base for itself.
Which one of the following, if it were to happen, weakens the conclusions drawn in the above
passage the most?
a. The investible income of the working population, as a proportion of its total income, will grow in
the future.
b. The insurance sector is underdeveloped and trends indicate that it will be extensively privatized
in the future.
c. India is on a path of development that will take it to a developed country status, with all its
positive and negative implications.
d. If the working population builds a stronger financial base, there will be a revival of the joint family
system.
9. V arious studies have shown that our forested and hilly regions and, in general, areas where biodiversity
— as reflected in the variety of flora —  is high, are the places where poverty appears to be high. And
these same areas are also the ones where educational performance seems to be poor. Therefore, it
may be surmised that, even disregarding poverty status, richness in biodiversity goes hand in hand
with educational backwardness.
Which one of the following statements, if true, can be said to best provide supporting evidence for
the surmise mentioned in the passage?
a. In regions where there is little variety in flora, educational performance is seen to be as good as
in regions with high variety in flora, where poverty levels are high.
b. Regions which show high biodiversity also exhibit poor education performance, at low levels of
poverty.
c. Regions which show high biodiversity reveal high levels of poverty and poor educational performance.
d. In regions where there is low biodiversity, at all levels of poverty, educational performance is seen
to be good.
10. Cigarettes constitute a mere 20 per cent of tobacco consumption in India, and fewer than 15 per
cent of the 200 million tobacco users consume cigarettes. Yet these 15 per cent contribute nearly
90 per cent of the tax revenues to the exchequer from the tobacco sector. The punitive cigarette
taxation regime has kept the tax base narrow, and reducing taxes will expand this base.
Which of the following best bolsters the conclusion that reducing duties will expand the tax base?
a. The cigarette manufacturers’ association has decided to indulge in aggressive promotion.
b. There is a likelihood that tobacco consumers will shift to cigarette smoking if cigarette prices
were to reduce.
c. The cigarette manufacturers are lobbying for a reduction on duties.
d. An increase in duties on non-cigarette tobacco may lead to a shift in favour of cigarette smoking.
Page 4 CAT 1999 Actual Paper
11. Thomas Malthus, the British clergyman-turned economist, predicted that the planet would not be
able to support the human population for long. His explanation was that human population grows at
a geometric rate, while the food supply grows only at an arithmetic rate.
Which one of the following, if true, would not undermine the thesis offered by Malthus?
a. Population growth can be slowed down by the voluntary choices of individuals and not just by
natural disasters.
b. The capacity of the planet to feed a growing human population can be enhanced through
biotechnological means.
c. Human systems, and natural systems like food supply, follow natural laws of growth which have
remained constant, and will remain unchanged.
d. Human beings can colonize other planetary systems on a regular and ongoing basis to
accommodate a growing population.
12. The company’s coffee crop for 1998-99 totalled 8,079 tonnes, an all-time record. The increase over
the previous year’s production of 5,830 tonnes was 38.58 per cent. The previous highest crop was
6,089 tonnes in 1970-71. The company had fixed a target of 8,000 tonnes to be realized by the year
2000-01, and this has been achieved two years earlier, thanks to the emphasis laid on the key areas
of irrigation, replacement of unproductive coffee bushes, intensive refilling and improved agricultural
practices. It is now our endeavour to reach the target of 10,000 tonnes in 2001-02.
Which one of the following would contribute most to making the target of 10,000 tonnes in 2001-02
unrealistic?
a. The potential of the productivity enhancing measures implemented up to now has been exhausted.
b. The total company land under coffee has remained constant since 1969 when an estate in the
Nilgiri Hills was acquired.
c. The sensitivity of the crop to climatic factors makes predictions about production uncertain.
d. The target-setting procedures in the company had been proved to be sound by the achievement
of the 8,000 tonnes target.
13. Animals, in general, are shrewd in proportion as they cultivate society. Elephants and beavers show
the greatest signs of this sagacity when they are together in large numbers, but when man invades
their communities they lose all their spirit of industry. Among insects, the labours of the bee and the
ant have attracted the attention and admiration of naturalists, but all their sagacity seems to be lost
upon separation, and a single bee or ant seems destitute of every degree of industry. It becomes the
most stupid insect imaginable, and it languishes and soon dies.
Which of the following can be inferred from the above passage?
a. Humankind is responsible for the destruction of the natural habitat of animals and insects.
b. Animals, in general, are unable to function effectively outside their normal social environment.
c. Naturalists have great admiration for bees and ants, despite their lack of industry upon separation.
d. Elephants and beavers are smarter than bees and ants in the presence of human beings.
Page 5


Page 1
CAT 1999 Actual Paper
Directions for questions 1 to 5:Sentences given in each question, when properly sequenced, form a
coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labelled with a letter. Choose the most logical order of the sentences
from among the four given choices to construct a coherent paragraph.
1. A. In rejecting the functionalism in positivist organization theory, either wholly or partially, there is
often a move towards a political model of organization theory.
B. Thus, the analysis would shift to the power resources possessed by different groups in the
organization and the way they use these resources in actual power plays to shape the
organizational structure.
C. At the extreme, in one set of writings, the growth of administrators in the organization is held to
be completely unrelated to the work to be done and to be caused totally by the political pursuit
of self-interest.
D. The political model holds that individual interests are pursued in organizational life through the
exercise of power and influence.
a. ADBC b. CBAD c. DBCA d. ABDC
2. A. Group decision-making, however, does not necessarily fully guard against arbitrariness and
anarchy, for individual capriciousness can get substituted by collusion of group members.
B. Nature itself is an intricate system of checks and balances, meant to preserve the delicate
balance between various environmental factors that affect our ecology.
C. In institutions also, there is a need to have in place a system of checks and balances which
inhibits the concentration of power in the hands of only some individuals.
D. When human interventions alter this delicate balance, the outcomes have been seen to be
disastrous.
a. CDAB b. BCAD c. CABD d. BDCA
3. A. He was bone-weary and soul-weary, and found himself muttering, “Either I can’t manage this
place, or it’s unmanageable.”
B. T o his horror, he realized that he had become the victim of an amorphous, unwitting, unconscious
conspiracy to immerse him in routine work that had no significance.
C. It was one of those nights in the office when the office clock was moving towards four in the
morning and Bennis was still not through with the incredible mass of paper stacked before him.
D. He reached for his calendar and ran his eyes down each hour, half-hour, and quarter-hour, to see
where his time had gone that day, the day before, the month before.
a. ABCD b. CADB c. BDCA d. DCBA

	




Page 2 CAT 1999 Actual Paper
4. A. With that, I swallowed the shampoo, and obtained the most realistic results almost on the spot.
B. The man shuffled away into the back regions to make up a prescription, and after a moment I got
through on the shop-telephone to the Consulate, intimating my location.
C. Then, while the pharmacist was wrapping up a six-ounce bottle of the mixture, I groaned and
inquired whether he could give me something for acute gastric cramp.
D. I intended to stage a sharp gastric attack, and entering an old-fashioned pharmacy, I asked for a
popular shampoo mixture, consisting of olive oil and flaked soap.
a. DCBA b. DACB c. BDAC d. BCDA
5. A. Since then, intelligence tests have been mostly used to separate dull children in school from
average or bright children, so that special education can be provided to the dull.
B. In other words, intelligence tests give us a norm for each age.
C. Intelligence is expressed as intelligence quotient, and tests are developed to indicate what an
average child of a certain age can do …. What a five-year-old can answer, but a four-year-old
cannot, for instance.
D. Binet developed the first set of such tests in the early 1900s to find out which children in school
needed special attention.
E. Intelligence can be measured by tests.
a. CDABE b. DECAB c. EDACB d. CBADE
Directions for questions 6 to 13: Read each of the eight short passages given below and answer the
question that follow it.
6. Three airlines — IA, JA and SA — operate on the Delhi- Mumbai route. To increase the number of
seats sold, SA reduced its fares and this was emulated by IA and JA immediately. The general belief
was that the volume of air travel between Delhi and Mumbai would increase as a result.
Which of the following, if true, would add credence to the general belief?
a. Increase in profitability of the three airlines.
b. Extension of the discount scheme to other routes.
c. A study that shows that air travellers in India are price-conscious.
d. A study that shows that as much as 80 per cent of air travel in India is company-sponsored.
7. According to McNeill, a Brahmin priest was expected to be able to recite at least one of the Vedas.
The practice was essential for several centuries when the Vedas had not yet been written down. It
must have had a selective effect, since priests would have been recruited from those able or willing
to memorize long passages. It must have helped in the dissemination of the work, since a memorized
passage can be duplicated many times.
Which of the following can be inferred from the above passage?
a. Reciting the Vedas was a Brahmin’s obligation.
b. The Vedic priest was like a recorded audio cassette.
c. McNeill studied the behaviour of Brahmin priests.
d. Vedic hymns had not been scripted.
Page 3
CAT 1999 Actual Paper
8. Developed countries have made adequate provisions for social security for senior citizens. State
insurers (as well as private ones) offer medicare and pension benefits to people who can no longer
earn. In India, with the collapse of the joint family system, the traditional shelter of the elderly has
disappeared. And the state faced with a financial crunch is not in a position to provide social
security. So, it is advisable that the working population give serious thought to building a financial
base for itself.
Which one of the following, if it were to happen, weakens the conclusions drawn in the above
passage the most?
a. The investible income of the working population, as a proportion of its total income, will grow in
the future.
b. The insurance sector is underdeveloped and trends indicate that it will be extensively privatized
in the future.
c. India is on a path of development that will take it to a developed country status, with all its
positive and negative implications.
d. If the working population builds a stronger financial base, there will be a revival of the joint family
system.
9. V arious studies have shown that our forested and hilly regions and, in general, areas where biodiversity
— as reflected in the variety of flora —  is high, are the places where poverty appears to be high. And
these same areas are also the ones where educational performance seems to be poor. Therefore, it
may be surmised that, even disregarding poverty status, richness in biodiversity goes hand in hand
with educational backwardness.
Which one of the following statements, if true, can be said to best provide supporting evidence for
the surmise mentioned in the passage?
a. In regions where there is little variety in flora, educational performance is seen to be as good as
in regions with high variety in flora, where poverty levels are high.
b. Regions which show high biodiversity also exhibit poor education performance, at low levels of
poverty.
c. Regions which show high biodiversity reveal high levels of poverty and poor educational performance.
d. In regions where there is low biodiversity, at all levels of poverty, educational performance is seen
to be good.
10. Cigarettes constitute a mere 20 per cent of tobacco consumption in India, and fewer than 15 per
cent of the 200 million tobacco users consume cigarettes. Yet these 15 per cent contribute nearly
90 per cent of the tax revenues to the exchequer from the tobacco sector. The punitive cigarette
taxation regime has kept the tax base narrow, and reducing taxes will expand this base.
Which of the following best bolsters the conclusion that reducing duties will expand the tax base?
a. The cigarette manufacturers’ association has decided to indulge in aggressive promotion.
b. There is a likelihood that tobacco consumers will shift to cigarette smoking if cigarette prices
were to reduce.
c. The cigarette manufacturers are lobbying for a reduction on duties.
d. An increase in duties on non-cigarette tobacco may lead to a shift in favour of cigarette smoking.
Page 4 CAT 1999 Actual Paper
11. Thomas Malthus, the British clergyman-turned economist, predicted that the planet would not be
able to support the human population for long. His explanation was that human population grows at
a geometric rate, while the food supply grows only at an arithmetic rate.
Which one of the following, if true, would not undermine the thesis offered by Malthus?
a. Population growth can be slowed down by the voluntary choices of individuals and not just by
natural disasters.
b. The capacity of the planet to feed a growing human population can be enhanced through
biotechnological means.
c. Human systems, and natural systems like food supply, follow natural laws of growth which have
remained constant, and will remain unchanged.
d. Human beings can colonize other planetary systems on a regular and ongoing basis to
accommodate a growing population.
12. The company’s coffee crop for 1998-99 totalled 8,079 tonnes, an all-time record. The increase over
the previous year’s production of 5,830 tonnes was 38.58 per cent. The previous highest crop was
6,089 tonnes in 1970-71. The company had fixed a target of 8,000 tonnes to be realized by the year
2000-01, and this has been achieved two years earlier, thanks to the emphasis laid on the key areas
of irrigation, replacement of unproductive coffee bushes, intensive refilling and improved agricultural
practices. It is now our endeavour to reach the target of 10,000 tonnes in 2001-02.
Which one of the following would contribute most to making the target of 10,000 tonnes in 2001-02
unrealistic?
a. The potential of the productivity enhancing measures implemented up to now has been exhausted.
b. The total company land under coffee has remained constant since 1969 when an estate in the
Nilgiri Hills was acquired.
c. The sensitivity of the crop to climatic factors makes predictions about production uncertain.
d. The target-setting procedures in the company had been proved to be sound by the achievement
of the 8,000 tonnes target.
13. Animals, in general, are shrewd in proportion as they cultivate society. Elephants and beavers show
the greatest signs of this sagacity when they are together in large numbers, but when man invades
their communities they lose all their spirit of industry. Among insects, the labours of the bee and the
ant have attracted the attention and admiration of naturalists, but all their sagacity seems to be lost
upon separation, and a single bee or ant seems destitute of every degree of industry. It becomes the
most stupid insect imaginable, and it languishes and soon dies.
Which of the following can be inferred from the above passage?
a. Humankind is responsible for the destruction of the natural habitat of animals and insects.
b. Animals, in general, are unable to function effectively outside their normal social environment.
c. Naturalists have great admiration for bees and ants, despite their lack of industry upon separation.
d. Elephants and beavers are smarter than bees and ants in the presence of human beings.
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CAT 1999 Actual Paper
Directions for questions 14 and 15: For each of the two questions, indicate which of the statements
given with that particular question is consistent with the description of the unseasonable man in the
passage below.
Unseasonableness is a tendency to do socially permissible things at the wrong time. The unseasonable
man is the sort of person who comes to confide in you when you are busy. He serenades his beloved when
she is ill. He asks a man who has just lost money by paying a bill for a friend to pay a bill for him. He invites
a friend to go for a ride just after the friend has finished a long car trip. He is eager to offer services which
are not wanted, but which cannot be politely refused. If he is present at an arbitration, he stirs up dissension
between the two parties, who were really anxious to agree. Such is the unseasonable man.
14. He tends to
a. entertain women.
b. be a successful arbitrator when dissenting parties are anxious to agree.
c. be helpful when solicited.
d. tell a long story to people who have heard it many times before.
15. The unseasonable man tends to
a. bring a higher bidder to a salesman who has just closed a deal.
b. disclose confidential information to others.
c. sing the praises of the bride when he goes to a wedding.
d. sleep late and rise early.
Directions for questions 16 to 23: In each of the following sentences, a part of the sentence is underlined.
Beneath each sentence, four different ways of phrasing the underlined part are indicated. Choose the best
alternative among the four.
16. It was us who had left before he arrived.
a. we who had left before time he had arrived.
b. us who had went before he arrived.
c. us who had went before had arrived.
d. we who had left before he arrived.
17. The MP rose up to say that in her opinion, she thought the Women’s Reservation Bill should be
passed on unanimously.
a. rose to say that she thought the Women’s Reservation Bill should be passed
b. rose up to say that, the Women’s Reservation Bill should be passed on
c. rose to say that, in her opinion, she thought that the Women’s Reservation Bill should be passed
d. rose to say that, in her opinion, the Women’s Reservation Bill should be passed on
18. Mr Pillai, the president of the union and who is also a member of the community group,  will be in
charge of the negotiations.
a. since he is a member of the community group
b. also being a member of the community group
c. a member of the community group
d. in addition, who is a member of the community group