Tips & Tricks to Solve Odd One Out Questions

Background

• Odd One Out type questions have been recently introduced in the CAT Exam. 
• Out of 34 questions in the Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension Section, 3 questions are from Odd One Out. 
• These questions come under the TITA [Type in the Answer] type of questions, wherein one has to type in the number corresponding to the statement that is the odd one. In this article, we will be seeing some amazing Tips & Tricks to solve the Odd One Out Questions that come in the CAT Exam. 

What exactly are Sentence Exclusion or Odd One Out questions?

• Sentence exclusion or Odd One Out questions test one important skill is to detect an anomaly in data. 
• Sentence exclusion is a new twist on the old Para Jumbles question. 
• An 'irregular' sentence is added to an already haphazard paragraph. 
• Out of the four/ five given sentences, 3/4 sentences are coherent parts of the paragraph, and the remaining one is the one that needs to be taken out. 
• This is an extra task for the candidate as he has to not only fish out the odd sentence but also join the sentences so as to form a proper paragraph.

What you did here to solve the question was:

1. First, you read the words in a given order.
2. You figured out that three of them have the common category of 'vehicles'.
3. You comprehended that the fourth one does not belong to this group, and so that is the answer to this question.

This is exactly what has to be done in the Sentence Exclusion or Odd One Out questions in CGL:

1. You have to read the given sentences in that order.
2. Figure out what they have in common, i.e., what is the main common idea linking them together.
3. Confirm the odd sentence that will be incoherent with the paragraph and finalise the correct order (if asked).

How to find what the given sentences have in common?

• The answer is to find the commonality in the paragraph. The easiest way to figure out the commonality is to find out 'what is going on in the paragraph'. Find the 'topic of discussion', what the author is trying to convey. When you find the 'topic', you will figure out which sentences have that 'subject' in common.
• The 'topic' can commonly be found in the opening sentence of the paragraph. To find the opening sentence, use the usual Para Jumbles technique. The opening sentence mostly chalks out the timeline of the events, the full names of the characters involved, the idea upon which the whole paragraph is built up in the succeeding sentences, and the sentence which does not end abruptly with "however..." or "but...".
• Once the opening sentence is discovered, the rest of the sentences need to be sorted out in order to find the link and connect them to form a paragraph. The sentence which cannot be connected or linked with the other sentences to be a part of the paragraph is usually the odd one out.

Reverse Way of Identifying the Misfit

The odd sentence is usually made to appear as a part of the paragraph to confuse the candidates. It will usually feature the same people involved or have the same broad theme as discussed in the other sentences (For example, the para may be about WWII, and the misfit may be about WWI). Still, there are some obvious signs to fish out the odd sentence: 

• Inconsistent tense - This is perhaps the most common sign of an odd sentence. The entire paragraph may be in one tense or one time frame. Then there may be a sentence that sticks out because it has an entirely different tense. 
• Inconsistent tone - The para may be entirely formal or sometimes informal in tone, and the misfit sentence has the opposite tone. 
• The 'Also' type - The entire para may talk about one thing that a person or persons has/have been doing. The misfit may talk about something entirely different than the same people may have done. This is usually made difficult due to the commonality of people. 
• The 'Opposite' type - The para tries to prove one thing, the misfit tries to prove the opposite. This may seem easy to spot, but is usually made difficult by making the opposition subtle.

To summarize:

1. Find the main theme by finding the opening sentence 
2. Find the one connection, which gives you a reason to single out a misfit 
3. Put the rest of the paragraph together by eliminating the misfit.

Practice Questions with Solutions

Now, let's apply the above-mentioned Tips and Tricks to solve Odd One Out questions in the CAT exam:

Example 1: 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.

1. Neuroscientists have only recently started exploring how exercise affects brain cells-right down to the genetic level.
2. Even at this fundamental biological level, they've discovered evidence of how the body can influence the mind.
3. Research shows that muscle activity creates proteins that enter the bloodstream and reach the brain, where they play essential roles in advanced cognitive functions.
4. In our modern, screen-focused world, it's easy to forget that humans are natural movers-we've effectively designed physical movement out of our daily routines.
5. Only in recent years have scientists begun to identify and explain these mechanisms, with each new finding deepening our understanding in remarkable ways.

Ans: (4)

Explanation: Sentences 1, 2, 3 and 5 form a coherent scientific thread: they describe recent neuroscientific research, specific biological mechanisms and the gradual uncovering of how exercise affects the brain at a cellular and genetic level. Sentence 4 departs from this focus and offers a general comment on modern lifestyle and reduced physical activity. Although it mentions movement, it does not discuss research findings or biological mechanisms and therefore does not fit with the central theme of scientific discovery present in the other sentences.

Example 2: 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.

1. Recent research has revealed a great deal about how birds develop their songs.
2. While some species learn and sing just one common song, others can produce a variety of songs.
3. The most crucial sounds for birds during this learning process are those made by other birds.
4. Every bird species follows a specific sequence in developing its final song.
5. A young bird starts with subsong, progresses through the plastic song phase, and eventually masters the full species song.

Ans: (3)

Explanation: Sentences 1, 2, 4 and 5 focus on the developmental pattern of birdsong: research findings, species-level differences, the idea that species follow sequences, and the named stages a young bird passes through. Sentence 3 concentrates on an external influence - the sounds made by other birds - rather than the internal developmental stages themselves. Because it shifts attention from the process of song development to one of its external influences, it does not align as closely with the main thread formed by the other sentences.

Example 3: 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.

1. The concept of using sign language wasn't entirely new-Native American tribes had long used hand signals to communicate with one another.
2. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle noted that deaf individuals were incapable of speech.
3. Historically, people born deaf were not allowed to make legal wills, as they were assumed to be incapable of understanding or literacy.
4. Resistance to such discrimination began in the 16th century, when Pedro Ponce de León developed a structured sign language for the deaf.
5. For thousands of years, people with hearing loss faced social exclusion due to the belief that language could only be acquired through hearing spoken words.

Ans: (1)

Explanation: Sentences 2, 3, 4 and 5 all centre on societal attitudes toward deaf individuals and the historical development of sign language and rights: wrongful assumptions about capacity (Aristotle), legal exclusion, early efforts to develop structured sign language (Pedro Ponce de León), and broad social exclusion. Sentence 1, while mentioning hand signals used by Native American tribes, refers to general intercultural communication and not specifically to perceptions of deafness, discrimination or the formal development of sign language for the hearing-impaired. Because it addresses a different context, it is the odd one out.