Practice Test for XAT - 2 - CAT MCQ

DIRECTION for the question: Read the passage and answer the question based on it. 

There is an essential and irreducible 'duality' in the normative conceptualisation of an individual person. We can see the person in terms of his or her 'agency', recognizing and respecting his or her ability to form goals, commitments, values, etc., and we can also see the person in terms of his or her 'well-being'. This dichotomy is lost in a model of exclusively self-interested motivation, in which a person's agency must be entirely geared to his or her own well-being. But once that straitjacket of self-interested motivation is removed, it becomes possible to recognize the indisputable fact that the person's agency can well be geared to considerations not covered - or at least not fully covered - by his or her own well-being. Agency may be seen as important (not just instrumentally for the pursuit of well-being, but also intrinsically), but that still leaves open the question as to how that agency is to be evaluated and appraised. Even though the use of one's agency is a matter for oneself to judge, the need for careful assessment of aims, objective, allegiances, etc., and the conception of the good, may be important and exacting.
To recognize the distinction between the 'agency aspect' and the 'well-being aspect' of a person does not require us to take the view that the person's success as an agent must be independent, or completely separable from, his or her success in terms of well-being. A person may well feel happier and better off as a result of achieving what he or she wanted to achieve - perhaps for his or her family, or community, or class, or party, or some other cause. Also it is quite possible that a person's well-being will go down as a result of frustration if there is some failure to achieve what he or she wanted to achieve as an agent, even though those achievements are not directly concerned with his or her well-being. There is really no sound basis for demanding that the agency aspect and the well-being aspect of a person should be independent of each other, and it is, I suppose, even possible that every change in one will affect the other as well. However, the point at issue is not the plausibility of their independence, but the sustainability and relevance of the distinction. The fact that two variables may be so related that one cannot change without the other, does not imply that they are the same variable, or that they will have the same values, or that the value of one can be obtained from the other on basis of some simple transformation.
The importance of an agency achievement does not rest entirely on the enhancement of well-being that it may indirectly cause. The agency achievement and well-being achievement, both of which have some distinct importance, may be casually linked with each other, but this fact does not compromise the specific importance of either. In so far as utility-based welfare calculations concentrate only on the well-being of the person, ignoring the agency aspect, or actually fails to distinguish between the agency aspect and well-being aspect altogether, something of real importance is lost.

Q. Read the sentences given below and choose the option that is best in accordance with the ideas in the passage.
I.There is a need to distinguish between the agency aspect and the well-being aspect of a person.
II.A person can be conceptualised in terms of either agency or well-being.
III. Agency is important, not just instrumentally, for the pursuit of well-being.

DIRECTION for the question: Read the passage and answer the question based on it. 

There is an essential and irreducible 'duality' in the normative conceptualisation of an individual person. We can see the person in terms of his or her 'agency', recognizing and respecting his or her ability to form goals, commitments, values, etc., and we can also see the person in terms of his or her 'well-being'. This dichotomy is lost in a model of exclusively self-interested motivation, in which a person's agency must be entirely geared to his or her own well-being. But once that straitjacket of self-interested motivation is removed, it becomes possible to recognize the indisputable fact that the person's agency can well be geared to considerations not covered - or at least not fully covered - by his or her own well-being. Agency may be seen as important (not just instrumentally for the pursuit of well-being, but also intrinsically), but that still leaves open the question as to how that agency is to be evaluated and appraised. Even though the use of one's agency is a matter for oneself to judge, the need for careful assessment of aims, objective, allegiances, etc., and the conception of the good, may be important and exacting.
To recognize the distinction between the 'agency aspect' and the 'well-being aspect' of a person does not require us to take the view that the person's success as an agent must be independent, or completely separable from, his or her success in terms of well-being. A person may well feel happier and better off as a result of achieving what he or she wanted to achieve - perhaps for his or her family, or community, or class, or party, or some other cause. Also it is quite possible that a person's well-being will go down as a result of frustration if there is some failure to achieve what he or she wanted to achieve as an agent, even though those achievements are not directly concerned with his or her well-being. There is really no sound basis for demanding that the agency aspect and the well-being aspect of a person should be independent of each other, and it is, I suppose, even possible that every change in one will affect the other as well. However, the point at issue is not the plausibility of their independence, but the sustainability and relevance of the distinction. The fact that two variables may be so related that one cannot change without the other, does not imply that they are the same variable, or that they will have the same values, or that the value of one can be obtained from the other on basis of some simple transformation.
The importance of an agency achievement does not rest entirely on the enhancement of well-being that it may indirectly cause. The agency achievement and well-being achievement, both of which have some distinct importance, may be casually linked with each other, but this fact does not compromise the specific importance of either. In so far as utility-based welfare calculations concentrate only on the well-being of the person, ignoring the agency aspect, or actually fails to distinguish between the agency aspect and well-being aspect altogether, something of real importance is lost.

Q. The idea of agency, as used in the passage, is implied in all the options given below, except:

DIRECTION for the question: Answer the question based on the information given in the passage.

Ethologists, people who study animal behaviour, have traditionally divided an organism's actions into two categories: learned behaviour (based on experience) and instinctive behaviour (based on genotype). Some current scholars reject this distinction, claiming that all behaviour is a predictable interaction of experience and genotype.

Q. Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the arguments made in the sentence above?

DIRECTION for the question: Answer the question based on the information given in the passage.

Most of the Asian countries have trade-deficit with China. Bangladesh's trade deficit with China this year has increased by 35%. Despite large increases in exports to China, Indonesia's trade deficit with China continues to increase. So does that of South Korea, home of Samsung Electronics, one of the world's largest manufacturers of electronic gadgets.

Q. Which of the following, if true, would be most inconsistent with the above passage?

DIRECTION for the question: Choose the most logical order of sentences from among the given choices to construct a coherent paragraph.

A. In fact, it is considered as a dumping ground for unwanted people in quite a few organizations.
B. In many - parts of the country, traditional castes such as Kothari, Kotwal, Bhandari and Bhandarkar have for generations been dealing in procuring, stocking, distributing goods and merchandise.
C. This is due to the fact that Indian traders have been trading with many parts of the world.
D. However, though the concept of warehousing has been prevalent for over 2000 years, the warehouse has not yet obtained due recognition in modern times.
E. The concept of warehousing or stores function is not new in India.

DIRECTION for the question: Complete the sentence by filling in the appropriate blank/blanks from the options provided.

Nature is _____________ and  unchangeable, and it is ___________ as to whether its hidden reasons and _____________ are _____________ to man or not.

DIRECTION for the question: Read the passage and answer the question based on it.

Maybe it started with Indiana Jones. When Raiders of the Lost Ark premiered in 1981, audiences were treated to the vivid spectacle of bumbling Nazi officials obsessed with esoteric lore, eager to harness ancient occult powers for their own nefarious purposes. Fast-forward a few decades, and today’s popular culture is still awash in the imagery of Nazi occultism. Somehow, we have all become, like Indy himself, experts on the occult. And a whole lot of us are convinced that its arcane secrets hold the key to understanding Nazism.
The problem with this alluring image is not just that it is false. The myth of Nazi occultism is more than an amusing curiosity, a testament to the power of cinematic suggestion. It actively detracts from a historical understanding of the very themes it highlights. It yields a distorted view of Nazism and a distorted view of occultism.
Why is the association between Nazism and the occult so fascinating and so enduring? Claims about Hitler’s supposed connections to occultism circulated before he even came to power. The image comes in several forms: Nazism as the tool of dark forces, or Nazis as covert masters of the occult. Since ordinary explanations seem so inadequate for the abominations of the Nazi era, the esoteric alternative is enticing. It also fits the rhetoric of Nazism itself: suggestive and seductive rather than plainspoken and straightforward, filled with grandiose dreams and nebulous promises of an ineffable something that transcends everyday reality. 
That is where the danger lies. To blame Nazism on otherworldly forces is to exonerate the prosaic causes that brought Hitler to power in the first place. Consider three chief elements in the longstanding popular image of Nazi occultism: the Thule Society, the Ahnenerbe or ‘Ancestral Heritage’ office of the SS, and the Wewelsburg castle. Each of them did in fact have some connection to the occult, but the links were more mundane – and, paradoxically, more revealing – than the myths would have us believe.
The short-lived Thule Society is frequently portrayed as a paradigmatic example of the ‘secret societies’ that supposedly gave birth to the Nazi party. While the organisation was indeed secretive, and its modest membership did include several figures who went on to become leading Nazis, it was not an occult order. Hitler had nothing to do with the group. The notion of the Thule Society as incubator of the Nazi party is a product of the group’s founder -Sebottendorff’s megalomaniacal imagination.
What of Heinrich Himmler’s Ahnenerbe? This was an SS department devoted to researching the alleged Aryan origins of the German people. Thanks to Himmler’s personal fascination with the occult, some of the projects pursued under the aegis of the Ahnenerbe had esoteric affiliations. But most didn’t. Until the war started, the organisation largely focused on conventional archeological exploration, folklore and prehistoric studies. After 1939, attention shifted to military matters, including medical experiments on human subjects.
Similar problems bedevil the lurid image of the Wewelsburg castle as a site of SS occult rituals. This peculiarly resilient belief presents a case study in the evolution of historical myths. In the wake of the German defeat, former SS officers found an opportune way to deflect responsibility by accentuating Himmler’s ostensibly demonic ambitions. It took decades for historical research on the castle, and the uses the SS made of it, to catch up with these exculpatory tabloid tales. By then, the legend had long since displaced the reality, obscuring its actual functions within the Nazi system: routine bureaucratic tasks, supplemented by labour from a nearby concentration camp.
Not long after the final collapse of the Nazi regime, Theodor Adorno characterised occultism as ‘the metaphysics of fools’. This harsh judgment has been roundly criticised by scholars who study esoteric worldviews. Occult traditions are intellectually rich and diverse; there is much more to them than the bizarre and fantastic connotations. But Adorno had a point. A fixation on diabolical forces can distract attention from the social forces that shape reality. So it is with efforts to make sense out of the stark senselessness of Nazism. Attributing the horrors of Nazi Germany to obscure occult sources is all too often a convenient way of absolving ourselves from the hard work of understanding the past.

Q. Which of the following statements is/are true w.r.t the perceived association of Nazism with Occultism?
I) The influence of supernatural on the origin and working tenets of Nazism are superficial at best
II) Even after the war, Wewelsburg conjured up the horrors of pre-war imagery surrounding it  in the minds of the people
III) Occult played a  major role in the ascension of Nazism in the collective psyche of people

DIRECTION for the question: Read the passage and answer the question based on it.

Maybe it started with Indiana Jones. When Raiders of the Lost Ark premiered in 1981, audiences were treated to the vivid spectacle of bumbling Nazi officials obsessed with esoteric lore, eager to harness ancient occult powers for their own nefarious purposes. Fast-forward a few decades, and today’s popular culture is still awash in the imagery of Nazi occultism. Somehow, we have all become, like Indy himself, experts on the occult. And a whole lot of us are convinced that its arcane secrets hold the key to understanding Nazism.
The problem with this alluring image is not just that it is false. The myth of Nazi occultism is more than an amusing curiosity, a testament to the power of cinematic suggestion. It actively detracts from a historical understanding of the very themes it highlights. It yields a distorted view of Nazism and a distorted view of occultism.
Why is the association between Nazism and the occult so fascinating and so enduring? Claims about Hitler’s supposed connections to occultism circulated before he even came to power. The image comes in several forms: Nazism as the tool of dark forces, or Nazis as covert masters of the occult. Since ordinary explanations seem so inadequate for the abominations of the Nazi era, the esoteric alternative is enticing. It also fits the rhetoric of Nazism itself: suggestive and seductive rather than plainspoken and straightforward, filled with grandiose dreams and nebulous promises of an ineffable something that transcends everyday reality. 
That is where the danger lies. To blame Nazism on otherworldly forces is to exonerate the prosaic causes that brought Hitler to power in the first place. Consider three chief elements in the longstanding popular image of Nazi occultism: the Thule Society, the Ahnenerbe or ‘Ancestral Heritage’ office of the SS, and the Wewelsburg castle. Each of them did in fact have some connection to the occult, but the links were more mundane – and, paradoxically, more revealing – than the myths would have us believe.
The short-lived Thule Society is frequently portrayed as a paradigmatic example of the ‘secret societies’ that supposedly gave birth to the Nazi party. While the organisation was indeed secretive, and its modest membership did include several figures who went on to become leading Nazis, it was not an occult order. Hitler had nothing to do with the group. The notion of the Thule Society as incubator of the Nazi party is a product of the group’s founder -Sebottendorff’s megalomaniacal imagination.
What of Heinrich Himmler’s Ahnenerbe? This was an SS department devoted to researching the alleged Aryan origins of the German people. Thanks to Himmler’s personal fascination with the occult, some of the projects pursued under the aegis of the Ahnenerbe had esoteric affiliations. But most didn’t. Until the war started, the organisation largely focused on conventional archeological exploration, folklore and prehistoric studies. After 1939, attention shifted to military matters, including medical experiments on human subjects.
Similar problems bedevil the lurid image of the Wewelsburg castle as a site of SS occult rituals. This peculiarly resilient belief presents a case study in the evolution of historical myths. In the wake of the German defeat, former SS officers found an opportune way to deflect responsibility by accentuating Himmler’s ostensibly demonic ambitions. It took decades for historical research on the castle, and the uses the SS made of it, to catch up with these exculpatory tabloid tales. By then, the legend had long since displaced the reality, obscuring its actual functions within the Nazi system: routine bureaucratic tasks, supplemented by labour from a nearby concentration camp.
Not long after the final collapse of the Nazi regime, Theodor Adorno characterised occultism as ‘the metaphysics of fools’. This harsh judgment has been roundly criticised by scholars who study esoteric worldviews. Occult traditions are intellectually rich and diverse; there is much more to them than the bizarre and fantastic connotations. But Adorno had a point. A fixation on diabolical forces can distract attention from the social forces that shape reality. So it is with efforts to make sense out of the stark senselessness of Nazism. Attributing the horrors of Nazi Germany to obscure occult sources is all too often a convenient way of absolving ourselves from the hard work of understanding the past.

Q. Which of the following can be inferred on the basis of the passage?
I) The belief that occult was entrenched in Nazism affected the imagination of people to such an extent that it found entertainment value
II) Misappropriation of a commonly held belief, eventually leads to misinterpretation and misrepresentation of past 
III) Informed and rational decisions are seldom the product of beliefs

DIRECTION for the question: Read the passage and answer the question based on it.

Maybe it started with Indiana Jones. When Raiders of the Lost Ark premiered in 1981, audiences were treated to the vivid spectacle of bumbling Nazi officials obsessed with esoteric lore, eager to harness ancient occult powers for their own nefarious purposes. Fast-forward a few decades, and today’s popular culture is still awash in the imagery of Nazi occultism. Somehow, we have all become, like Indy himself, experts on the occult. And a whole lot of us are convinced that its arcane secrets hold the key to understanding Nazism.
The problem with this alluring image is not just that it is false. The myth of Nazi occultism is more than an amusing curiosity, a testament to the power of cinematic suggestion. It actively detracts from a historical understanding of the very themes it highlights. It yields a distorted view of Nazism and a distorted view of occultism.
Why is the association between Nazism and the occult so fascinating and so enduring? Claims about Hitler’s supposed connections to occultism circulated before he even came to power. The image comes in several forms: Nazism as the tool of dark forces, or Nazis as covert masters of the occult. Since ordinary explanations seem so inadequate for the abominations of the Nazi era, the esoteric alternative is enticing. It also fits the rhetoric of Nazism itself: suggestive and seductive rather than plainspoken and straightforward, filled with grandiose dreams and nebulous promises of an ineffable something that transcends everyday reality. 
That is where the danger lies. To blame Nazism on otherworldly forces is to exonerate the prosaic causes that brought Hitler to power in the first place. Consider three chief elements in the longstanding popular image of Nazi occultism: the Thule Society, the Ahnenerbe or ‘Ancestral Heritage’ office of the SS, and the Wewelsburg castle. Each of them did in fact have some connection to the occult, but the links were more mundane – and, paradoxically, more revealing – than the myths would have us believe.
The short-lived Thule Society is frequently portrayed as a paradigmatic example of the ‘secret societies’ that supposedly gave birth to the Nazi party. While the organisation was indeed secretive, and its modest membership did include several figures who went on to become leading Nazis, it was not an occult order. Hitler had nothing to do with the group. The notion of the Thule Society as incubator of the Nazi party is a product of the group’s founder -Sebottendorff’s megalomaniacal imagination.
What of Heinrich Himmler’s Ahnenerbe? This was an SS department devoted to researching the alleged Aryan origins of the German people. Thanks to Himmler’s personal fascination with the occult, some of the projects pursued under the aegis of the Ahnenerbe had esoteric affiliations. But most didn’t. Until the war started, the organisation largely focused on conventional archeological exploration, folklore and prehistoric studies. After 1939, attention shifted to military matters, including medical experiments on human subjects.
Similar problems bedevil the lurid image of the Wewelsburg castle as a site of SS occult rituals. This peculiarly resilient belief presents a case study in the evolution of historical myths. In the wake of the German defeat, former SS officers found an opportune way to deflect responsibility by accentuating Himmler’s ostensibly demonic ambitions. It took decades for historical research on the castle, and the uses the SS made of it, to catch up with these exculpatory tabloid tales. By then, the legend had long since displaced the reality, obscuring its actual functions within the Nazi system: routine bureaucratic tasks, supplemented by labour from a nearby concentration camp.
Not long after the final collapse of the Nazi regime, Theodor Adorno characterised occultism as ‘the metaphysics of fools’. This harsh judgment has been roundly criticised by scholars who study esoteric worldviews. Occult traditions are intellectually rich and diverse; there is much more to them than the bizarre and fantastic connotations. But Adorno had a point. A fixation on diabolical forces can distract attention from the social forces that shape reality. So it is with efforts to make sense out of the stark senselessness of Nazism. Attributing the horrors of Nazi Germany to obscure occult sources is all too often a convenient way of absolving ourselves from the hard work of understanding the past.

Q. Try to gauge the meaning of the word megalomaniac from the context, and select the most appropriate synonym for the same.

DIRECTION for the question: Read the passage and answer the question based on it.

Maybe it started with Indiana Jones. When Raiders of the Lost Ark premiered in 1981, audiences were treated to the vivid spectacle of bumbling Nazi officials obsessed with esoteric lore, eager to harness ancient occult powers for their own nefarious purposes. Fast-forward a few decades, and today’s popular culture is still awash in the imagery of Nazi occultism. Somehow, we have all become, like Indy himself, experts on the occult. And a whole lot of us are convinced that its arcane secrets hold the key to understanding Nazism.
The problem with this alluring image is not just that it is false. The myth of Nazi occultism is more than an amusing curiosity, a testament to the power of cinematic suggestion. It actively detracts from a historical understanding of the very themes it highlights. It yields a distorted view of Nazism and a distorted view of occultism.
Why is the association between Nazism and the occult so fascinating and so enduring? Claims about Hitler’s supposed connections to occultism circulated before he even came to power. The image comes in several forms: Nazism as the tool of dark forces, or Nazis as covert masters of the occult. Since ordinary explanations seem so inadequate for the abominations of the Nazi era, the esoteric alternative is enticing. It also fits the rhetoric of Nazism itself: suggestive and seductive rather than plainspoken and straightforward, filled with grandiose dreams and nebulous promises of an ineffable something that transcends everyday reality. 
That is where the danger lies. To blame Nazism on otherworldly forces is to exonerate the prosaic causes that brought Hitler to power in the first place. Consider three chief elements in the longstanding popular image of Nazi occultism: the Thule Society, the Ahnenerbe or ‘Ancestral Heritage’ office of the SS, and the Wewelsburg castle. Each of them did in fact have some connection to the occult, but the links were more mundane – and, paradoxically, more revealing – than the myths would have us believe.
The short-lived Thule Society is frequently portrayed as a paradigmatic example of the ‘secret societies’ that supposedly gave birth to the Nazi party. While the organisation was indeed secretive, and its modest membership did include several figures who went on to become leading Nazis, it was not an occult order. Hitler had nothing to do with the group. The notion of the Thule Society as incubator of the Nazi party is a product of the group’s founder -Sebottendorff’s megalomaniacal imagination.
What of Heinrich Himmler’s Ahnenerbe? This was an SS department devoted to researching the alleged Aryan origins of the German people. Thanks to Himmler’s personal fascination with the occult, some of the projects pursued under the aegis of the Ahnenerbe had esoteric affiliations. But most didn’t. Until the war started, the organisation largely focused on conventional archeological exploration, folklore and prehistoric studies. After 1939, attention shifted to military matters, including medical experiments on human subjects.
Similar problems bedevil the lurid image of the Wewelsburg castle as a site of SS occult rituals. This peculiarly resilient belief presents a case study in the evolution of historical myths. In the wake of the German defeat, former SS officers found an opportune way to deflect responsibility by accentuating Himmler’s ostensibly demonic ambitions. It took decades for historical research on the castle, and the uses the SS made of it, to catch up with these exculpatory tabloid tales. By then, the legend had long since displaced the reality, obscuring its actual functions within the Nazi system: routine bureaucratic tasks, supplemented by labour from a nearby concentration camp.
Not long after the final collapse of the Nazi regime, Theodor Adorno characterised occultism as ‘the metaphysics of fools’. This harsh judgment has been roundly criticised by scholars who study esoteric worldviews. Occult traditions are intellectually rich and diverse; there is much more to them than the bizarre and fantastic connotations. But Adorno had a point. A fixation on diabolical forces can distract attention from the social forces that shape reality. So it is with efforts to make sense out of the stark senselessness of Nazism. Attributing the horrors of Nazi Germany to obscure occult sources is all too often a convenient way of absolving ourselves from the hard work of understanding the past.

Q. Keeping in mind the author’s reaction to attributing horrors of Nazism to occult, which of the following can be reasonably concluded-
I. The allure of conjuring up an alternative explanation of influence of occult on Nazism is hard to resist by the people
II. The author is critical of people’s tendency to expect an extra-ordinary factor playing a role in the rise of Nazism
III. Indiana Jones is a fictional character, who thwarted the nefarious plans of Nazis in the cinematic rendition of the real Nazi war-crimes

DIRECTION for the question: Read the passage and answer the question based on it.

In Hume’s eyes productive labour was the greatest asset of a country, and foreign trade was valuable because it enabled a nation to use more and more varied labour than would otherwise be possible. But commerce was of mutual advantage to the nations involved, not a benefit to one and injury to other. “The increase of riches and commerce in any one nation,” added Hume, “instead of hurting, commonly, promotes the riches and commerce of all its neighbours.” “The emulation in rival nations serves…to keep industry alive in all of them.”

Q. The importance of foreign trade, in eyes of Hume, was due to that:

DIRECTION for the question: Read the passage and answer the question based on it.

In Hume’s eyes productive labour was the greatest asset of a country, and foreign trade was valuable because it enabled a nation to use more and more varied labour than would otherwise be possible. But commerce was of mutual advantage to the nations involved, not a benefit to one and injury to other. “The increase of riches and commerce in any one nation,” added Hume, “instead of hurting, commonly, promotes the riches and commerce of all its neighbours.” “The emulation in rival nations serves…to keep industry alive in all of them.”

Q. As per Hume, free trade between nations was made advantageous by the outcome of:

DIRECTION for the question: Read the passage and answer the question based on it.

Demography of organizations, also called population ecology is an interesting field. It proposes that organisational mortality processes depend upon the age and size of the organizations, as well as on characteristics of populations and environments. Moreover, there is evidence of an imprinting process – meaning that environmental conditions at certain early phases in an organisation’s development have long-term consequence. In particular, organizations subject to intense competition have elevated mortality hazards at all ages. A central theme is structural inertia, the tendency for organizations to respond slowly relative to the speed of environmental change. A central argument holds that the inertia derives from the very characteristics that make organizations favoured actors in modern society in terms of reliability and (formal) accountability. It follows that changes in an organisation’s core features are disruptive and increase mortality hazards, at least in the short-run. Research on this subject tends to support this view. The concept of niche provides a framework for relating environmental variations and competition to population dynamics and segmentation. Much empirical work examines the niches of organisational populations in terms of dimensions of social, political, and economic environments. Most research in this field builds on theories of resource partition and of density dependence. Resource-partitioning theory concerns the relationship between increasing market concentration and increasing proliferation of specialists in mature industries. The key implication of this theory concerns the effects of concentration on the viability of specialist organizations (those that seek to exploit a narrow range of resources). The theory of density-dependent organisational evolution synthesizes ecological and institutional processes. It holds that growth in the number of organizations in a population (density) drives processes of social legitimatization and competition that, in turn, shape the vital rates.

Q. Consider the following: “Tata Steel, one of biggest steel makers in the world, was born in Jamshedpur.” If above passage is true, then it can be concluded that location of Tata Steel has been one of the reasons for its success.

A. The conclusion is false.
B. This is a farfetched conclusion.
C. This is a valid conclusion.

DIRECTION for the question: Read the passage and answer the question based on it.

Demography of organizations, also called population ecology is an interesting field. It proposes that organisational mortality processes depend upon the age and size of the organizations, as well as on characteristics of populations and environments. Moreover, there is evidence of an imprinting process – meaning that environmental conditions at certain early phases in an organisation’s development have long-term consequence. In particular, organizations subject to intense competition have elevated mortality hazards at all ages. A central theme is structural inertia, the tendency for organizations to respond slowly relative to the speed of environmental change. A central argument holds that the inertia derives from the very characteristics that make organizations favoured actors in modern society in terms of reliability and (formal) accountability. It follows that changes in an organisation’s core features are disruptive and increase mortality hazards, at least in the short-run. Research on this subject tends to support this view. The concept of niche provides a framework for relating environmental variations and competition to population dynamics and segmentation. Much empirical work examines the niches of organisational populations in terms of dimensions of social, political, and economic environments. Most research in this field builds on theories of resource partition and of density dependence. Resource-partitioning theory concerns the relationship between increasing market concentration and increasing proliferation of specialists in mature industries. The key implication of this theory concerns the effects of concentration on the viability of specialist organizations (those that seek to exploit a narrow range of resources). The theory of density-dependent organisational evolution synthesizes ecological and institutional processes. It holds that growth in the number of organizations in a population (density) drives processes of social legitimatization and competition that, in turn, shape the vital rates.

Q. “Tata Steel, one of biggest steel makers in the world, was born in Jamshedpur. The very success of Tata Steel could lead to its failure in the future and hence the challenge for Tata Steel is to recognize its strengths that made it successful in initial conditions and stick to them.”
A. This is a valid conclusion.
B. The conclusion is contrary to the ideas described in the passage.
C. The conclusion is an internally contradictory.

DIRECTION for the question: Read the passage and answer the question based on it.

Demography of organizations, also called population ecology is an interesting field. It proposes that organisational mortality processes depend upon the age and size of the organizations, as well as on characteristics of populations and environments. Moreover, there is evidence of an imprinting process – meaning that environmental conditions at certain early phases in an organisation’s development have long-term consequence. In particular, organizations subject to intense competition have elevated mortality hazards at all ages. A central theme is structural inertia, the tendency for organizations to respond slowly relative to the speed of environmental change. A central argument holds that the inertia derives from the very characteristics that make organizations favoured actors in modern society in terms of reliability and (formal) accountability. It follows that changes in an organisation’s core features are disruptive and increase mortality hazards, at least in the short-run. Research on this subject tends to support this view. The concept of niche provides a framework for relating environmental variations and competition to population dynamics and segmentation. Much empirical work examines the niches of organisational populations in terms of dimensions of social, political, and economic environments. Most research in this field builds on theories of resource partition and of density dependence. Resource-partitioning theory concerns the relationship between increasing market concentration and increasing proliferation of specialists in mature industries. The key implication of this theory concerns the effects of concentration on the viability of specialist organizations (those that seek to exploit a narrow range of resources). The theory of density-dependent organisational evolution synthesizes ecological and institutional processes. It holds that growth in the number of organizations in a population (density) drives processes of social legitimatization and competition that, in turn, shape the vital rates.

Q. Most top-notch business consultants recommend changing the entire configuration of an organisation’s strategy, structure and systems. If the ideas contained in the passage are agreed to, then such a recommendation:

DIRECTION for the question: Read the passage and answer the question based on it.

Demography of organizations, also called population ecology is an interesting field. It proposes that organisational mortality processes depend upon the age and size of the organizations, as well as on characteristics of populations and environments. Moreover, there is evidence of an imprinting process – meaning that environmental conditions at certain early phases in an organisation’s development have long-term consequence. In particular, organizations subject to intense competition have elevated mortality hazards at all ages. A central theme is structural inertia, the tendency for organizations to respond slowly relative to the speed of environmental change. A central argument holds that the inertia derives from the very characteristics that make organizations favoured actors in modern society in terms of reliability and (formal) accountability. It follows that changes in an organisation’s core features are disruptive and increase mortality hazards, at least in the short-run. Research on this subject tends to support this view. The concept of niche provides a framework for relating environmental variations and competition to population dynamics and segmentation. Much empirical work examines the niches of organisational populations in terms of dimensions of social, political, and economic environments. Most research in this field builds on theories of resource partition and of density dependence. Resource-partitioning theory concerns the relationship between increasing market concentration and increasing proliferation of specialists in mature industries. The key implication of this theory concerns the effects of concentration on the viability of specialist organizations (those that seek to exploit a narrow range of resources). The theory of density-dependent organisational evolution synthesizes ecological and institutional processes. It holds that growth in the number of organizations in a population (density) drives processes of social legitimatization and competition that, in turn, shape the vital rates.

Q. Recently it was reported that Indian textile sector was not doing well. If the ideas contained in the passage are agreed to, then which of the following could be the possible reason(s)?
A. All Indian firms are as old as international firms.
B. Indian textile firms are dispersed all over the country, with most of them also having international presence.
C. Textile firms in India were subjected to trade union activity in the period from 1960s to 1980s.

DIRECTION for the question: Answer the question based on the information given in the passage.

Ram, an economist, and Ramesh, an astrologer, had a debate. Ram said “Astrology does not work. It just cannot predict.” “It can predict better than your subject” rebutted Ramesh.

Q. The evidence that best resolves the above debate will be:

DIRECTION for the question: Answer the question based on the information given in the passage.

In this era of global capital flows, so much money is now flowing throughout the world that no single country can fight the problem of inflation effectively by tightening its monetary policy.

Q. If the above is true, which of the following could be most logically concluded?

DIRECTION for the question: Read the following sentence/sentences and identify the figure of speech.

Q. Which of the following contains a non-sequitur?

DIRECTION for the question: In this question, the first two words are related in a particular manner. You have to choose a word from the options so that a new pair of words is formed where the relation is the same as in the case of the given pair of words. The question stem has the first word of the second pair. You may have to consider the secondary meaning of certain words while choosing an answer.

Q. Recommence is to suspend as: nonchalant is to:

DIRECTION for the question: Answer the question based on the information given in the passage.

Q. As man casts off worn-out garments and puts on others that are new, similarly the embodied soul, casting off worn-out bodies, enters into others, which are new. Of the following, which one best typifies the argument?

DIRECTION for the question: Choose the word from the options which is Opposite in meaning to the given word.

Hypothesize

DIRECTION for the question: Complete the sentence by filling in the appropriate blank/blanks from the options provided.

The fossils of humans and other animals, found all over the world, are as a result of_________ preservation.

DIRECTION for the question: Read the following information and choose the best alternative:

RIITJEE is a leading IIT-JEE test-preparation company in Chandigarh, Punjab. The company teaches more than 5000 students annually and has been a leading brand in the industry for the last 10 years. In the last 3 years, the Government of India has introduced a series of new norms and regulations to regulate the IIT-JEE industry and has increased the percentage weight of Class 12 board exams in the final marking scheme. Because of these changes, the IIT-JEE industry saw a contraction of about 15% in market size in the last three years, with parents preferring to send their wards to board teachers for tuitions. In lieu of these changes, RIITJEE introduced free in-house board coaching for students. This was introduced in order to attract students the institute again, as it had also seen a drop in numbers in the last 3 years. In order to shore up its board education capabilities, it hired a couple of teachers who had expertise in board examination, and with their help, trained their existing staff to take classes for board papers as well. As a result of these measures, the numbers at RIITJEE have increased by 5% this year but are still below the peak achieved three years back.
The teachers at RIITJEE are an annoyed lot these days. For the last two years, they have been denied any increase in salary on the grounds that the institute has not been able to grow in terms of numbers. This year, the teachers have had the additional responsibility of teaching students for board exams as well. Considering that the RIITJEE management is not providing any increment to the teachers, they have threatened the management with a strike, and have warned them that if their salaries are not increased, they would go on a strike.

Q. The approach of RIITJEE management can be labeled as:

DIRECTION for the question: Read the following information and choose the best alternative:

RIITJEE is a leading IIT-JEE test-preparation company in Chandigarh, Punjab. The company teaches more than 5000 students annually and has been a leading brand in the industry for the last 10 years. In the last 3 years, the Government of India has introduced a series of new norms and regulations to regulate the IIT-JEE industry and has increased the percentage weight of Class 12 board exams in the final marking scheme. Because of these changes, the IIT-JEE industry saw a contraction of about 15% in market size in the last three years, with parents preferring to send their wards to board teachers for tuitions. In lieu of these changes, RIITJEE introduced free in-house board coaching for students. This was introduced in order to attract students the institute again, as it had also seen a drop in numbers in the last 3 years. In order to shore up its board education capabilities, it hired a couple of teachers who had expertise in board examination, and with their help, trained their existing staff to take classes for board papers as well. As a result of these measures, the numbers at RIITJEE have increased by 5% this year but are still below the peak achieved three years back.
The teachers at RIITJEE are an annoyed lot these days. For the last two years, they have been denied any increase in salary on the grounds that the institute has not been able to grow in terms of numbers. This year, the teachers have had the additional responsibility of teaching students for board exams as well. Considering that the RIITJEE management is not providing any increment to the teachers, they have threatened the management with a strike, and have warned them that if their salaries are not increased, they would go on a strike.

Q. The demand of the RIITJEE teachers and the style adopted by them (in that order) can be labeled as:

DIRECTION for the question: Read the following information and choose the best alternative:

RIITJEE is a leading IIT-JEE test-preparation company in Chandigarh, Punjab. The company teaches more than 5000 students annually and has been a leading brand in the industry for the last 10 years. In the last 3 years, the Government of India has introduced a series of new norms and regulations to regulate the IIT-JEE industry and has increased the percentage weight of Class 12 board exams in the final marking scheme. Because of these changes, the IIT-JEE industry saw a contraction of about 15% in market size in the last three years, with parents preferring to send their wards to board teachers for tuitions. In lieu of these changes, RIITJEE introduced free in-house board coaching for students. This was introduced in order to attract students the institute again, as it had also seen a drop in numbers in the last 3 years. In order to shore up its board education capabilities, it hired a couple of teachers who had expertise in board examination, and with their help, trained their existing staff to take classes for board papers as well. As a result of these measures, the numbers at RIITJEE have increased by 5% this year but are still below the peak achieved three years back.
The teachers at RIITJEE are an annoyed lot these days. For the last two years, they have been denied any increase in salary on the grounds that the institute has not been able to grow in terms of numbers. This year, the teachers have had the additional responsibility of teaching students for board exams as well. Considering that the RIITJEE management is not providing any increment to the teachers, they have threatened the management with a strike, and have warned them that if their salaries are not increased, they would go on a strike.

Q. The best solution that can be adopted by the RIITJEE management in the given case is:

DIRECTION for the question: Read the following information and choose the best alternative:

RIITJEE is a leading IIT-JEE test-preparation company in Chandigarh, Punjab. The company teaches more than 5000 students annually and has been a leading brand in the industry for the last 10 years. In the last 3 years, the Government of India has introduced a series of new norms and regulations to regulate the IIT-JEE industry and has increased the percentage weight of Class 12 board exams in the final marking scheme. Because of these changes, the IIT-JEE industry saw a contraction of about 15% in market size in the last three years, with parents preferring to send their wards to board teachers for tuitions. In lieu of these changes, RIITJEE introduced free in-house board coaching for students. This was introduced in order to attract students the institute again, as it had also seen a drop in numbers in the last 3 years. In order to shore up its board education capabilities, it hired a couple of teachers who had expertise in board examination, and with their help, trained their existing staff to take classes for board papers as well. As a result of these measures, the numbers at RIITJEE have increased by 5% this year but are still below the peak achieved three years back.
The teachers at RIITJEE are an annoyed lot these days. For the last two years, they have been denied any increase in salary on the grounds that the institute has not been able to grow in terms of numbers. This year, the teachers have had the additional responsibility of teaching students for board exams as well. Considering that the RIITJEE management is not providing any increment to the teachers, they have threatened the management with a strike, and have warned them that if their salaries are not increased, they would go on a strike.

Q. In the given situation above, the two most important areas where a company needs to focus on in order to resolve the situation include giving priority to:
I. Student Satisfaction
II. Employee satisfaction           
III. Market scenario
IV. Company costs