CAT Practice Test - 18 - CAT MCQ

Group Question

Answer the questions based on the passage given below.

 When it comes to sustained communication with hospitalised patients about complex and chronic illness and helping them navigate the end of life, the burden on physicians has always been high, which is why it’s a worry when as a group, they express uncertainty about their ability to provide this core component of care. At the end of life, physicians are typically the doctors expected to explore your deepest longings and regrets, your strongest convictions and worst fears. In between, they deliberate resuscitation status, stop antibiotics, encourage palliation and provide counsel to the frazzled resident who says, “He is dying but the family wants everything done. How should I respond?”

No matter how prepared one is for the end of life, for most of us there is accompanying consternation, grief and anxiety. One might reasonably expect a physician to be the custodian of good health but also the guarantor of comfort and dignity in death. It’s clear that physicians aspire to be that doctor but confess to needing help. In the survey, a staggering 90% of physicians thought that communication skills training should be mandatory. It isn’t, you ask. No, and it has never been. Such training in medicine, especially when it pertains to end of life care, is patchy, undervalued and considered an optional extra rather than a clinical imperative. In an era where we have mapped the human genome and talk about cancer moonshots we have consistently failed to provide not just physicians, but all doctors, with the tools to be effective communicators.It’s often feared that in discussing mortality a doctor will extinguish hope - and there is indeed a tension between maintaining hope and telling the truth - but patients tell us they value honesty and doctors know it’s the right thing to do. Becoming a tactful, sensitive and honest communicator is a lifelong process but it’s important enough that it shouldn’t be left to chance. But this is exactly what medical schools and hospitals largely do. And then we lament that despite all the advances in medicine, doctor-patient communication remains a fraught problem that underpins a significant majority of health care complaints. Doctor-patient communication has long been viewed as an indulgence that comes at the cost of service delivery. If they are clamouring to become better communicators, it’s time we took note.

Q. Which of the following can be inferred about physicians?   

When it comes to sustained communication with hospitalised patients about complex and chronic illness and helping them navigate the end of life, the burden on physicians has always been high, which is why it’s a worry when as a group, they express uncertainty about their ability to provide this core component of care. At the end of life, physicians are typically the doctors expected to explore your deepest longings and regrets, your strongest convictions and worst fears. In between, they deliberate resuscitation status, stop antibiotics, encourage palliation and provide counsel to the frazzled resident who says, “He is dying but the family wants everything done. How should I respond?”

No matter how prepared one is for the end of life, for most of us there is accompanying consternation, grief and anxiety. One might reasonably expect a physician to be the custodian of good health but also the guarantor of comfort and dignity in death. It’s clear that physicians aspire to be that doctor but confess to needing help. In the survey, a staggering 90% of physicians thought that communication skills training should be mandatory. It isn’t, you ask. No, and it has never been. Such training in medicine, especially when it pertains to end of life care, is patchy, undervalued and considered an optional extra rather than a clinical imperative. In an era where we have mapped the human genome and talk about cancer moonshots we have consistently failed to provide not just physicians, but all doctors, with the tools to be effective communicators.It’s often feared that in discussing mortality a doctor will extinguish hope - and there is indeed a tension between maintaining hope and telling the truth - but patients tell us they value honesty and doctors know it’s the right thing to do. Becoming a tactful, sensitive and honest communicator is a lifelong process but it’s important enough that it shouldn’t be left to chance. But this is exactly what medical schools and hospitals largely do. And then we lament that despite all the advances in medicine, doctor-patient communication remains a fraught problem that underpins a significant majority of health care complaints. Doctor-patient communication has long been viewed as an indulgence that comes at the cost of service delivery. If they are clamouring to become better communicators, it’s time we took note.

Q. What does the following line say about the doctor? "He is dying but the family wants everything done. How should I respond?”

When it comes to sustained communication with hospitalised patients about complex and chronic illness and helping them navigate the end of life, the burden on physicians has always been high, which is why it’s a worry when as a group, they express uncertainty about their ability to provide this core component of care. At the end of life, physicians are typically the doctors expected to explore your deepest longings and regrets, your strongest convictions and worst fears. In between, they deliberate resuscitation status, stop antibiotics, encourage palliation and provide counsel to the frazzled resident who says, “He is dying but the family wants everything done. How should I respond?”

No matter how prepared one is for the end of life, for most of us there is accompanying consternation, grief and anxiety. One might reasonably expect a physician to be the custodian of good health but also the guarantor of comfort and dignity in death. It’s clear that physicians aspire to be that doctor but confess to needing help. In the survey, a staggering 90% of physicians thought that communication skills training should be mandatory. It isn’t, you ask. No, and it has never been. Such training in medicine, especially when it pertains to end of life care, is patchy, undervalued and considered an optional extra rather than a clinical imperative. In an era where we have mapped the human genome and talk about cancer moonshots we have consistently failed to provide not just physicians, but all doctors, with the tools to be effective communicators.It’s often feared that in discussing mortality a doctor will extinguish hope - and there is indeed a tension between maintaining hope and telling the truth - but patients tell us they value honesty and doctors know it’s the right thing to do. Becoming a tactful, sensitive and honest communicator is a lifelong process but it’s important enough that it shouldn’t be left to chance. But this is exactly what medical schools and hospitals largely do. And then we lament that despite all the advances in medicine, doctor-patient communication remains a fraught problem that underpins a significant majority of health care complaints. Doctor-patient communication has long been viewed as an indulgence that comes at the cost of service delivery. If they are clamouring to become better communicators, it’s time we took note.

Q. ‘‘No matter how prepared one is for the end of life, for most of us there is accompanying consternation, grief and anxiety.” From the above we can assume that:

A. Doctors need training to obscure their grief while communicating with terminally ill patients

B. Although doctors are counselled, they avoid communicating with terminally ill patients

When it comes to sustained communication with hospitalised patients about complex and chronic illness and helping them navigate the end of life, the burden on physicians has always been high, which is why it’s a worry when as a group, they express uncertainty about their ability to provide this core component of care. At the end of life, physicians are typically the doctors expected to explore your deepest longings and regrets, your strongest convictions and worst fears. In between, they deliberate resuscitation status, stop antibiotics, encourage palliation and provide counsel to the frazzled resident who says, “He is dying but the family wants everything done. How should I respond?”

No matter how prepared one is for the end of life, for most of us there is accompanying consternation, grief and anxiety. One might reasonably expect a physician to be the custodian of good health but also the guarantor of comfort and dignity in death. It’s clear that physicians aspire to be that doctor but confess to needing help. In the survey, a staggering 90% of physicians thought that communication skills training should be mandatory. It isn’t, you ask. No, and it has never been. Such training in medicine, especially when it pertains to end of life care, is patchy, undervalued and considered an optional extra rather than a clinical imperative. In an era where we have mapped the human genome and talk about cancer moonshots we have consistently failed to provide not just physicians, but all doctors, with the tools to be effective communicators.It’s often feared that in discussing mortality a doctor will extinguish hope - and there is indeed a tension between maintaining hope and telling the truth - but patients tell us they value honesty and doctors know it’s the right thing to do. Becoming a tactful, sensitive and honest communicator is a lifelong process but it’s important enough that it shouldn’t be left to chance. But this is exactly what medical schools and hospitals largely do. And then we lament that despite all the advances in medicine, doctor-patient communication remains a fraught problem that underpins a significant majority of health care complaints. Doctor-patient communication has long been viewed as an indulgence that comes at the cost of service delivery. If they are clamouring to become better communicators, it’s time we took note.

Q. Which of the following is true about end of life care situation mentioned in the passage?

When it comes to sustained communication with hospitalised patients about complex and chronic illness and helping them navigate the end of life, the burden on physicians has always been high, which is why it’s a worry when as a group, they express uncertainty about their ability to provide this core component of care. At the end of life, physicians are typically the doctors expected to explore your deepest longings and regrets, your strongest convictions and worst fears. In between, they deliberate resuscitation status, stop antibiotics, encourage palliation and provide counsel to the frazzled resident who says, “He is dying but the family wants everything done. How should I respond?”

No matter how prepared one is for the end of life, for most of us there is accompanying consternation, grief and anxiety. One might reasonably expect a physician to be the custodian of good health but also the guarantor of comfort and dignity in death. It’s clear that physicians aspire to be that doctor but confess to needing help. In the survey, a staggering 90% of physicians thought that communication skills training should be mandatory. It isn’t, you ask. No, and it has never been. Such training in medicine, especially when it pertains to end of life care, is patchy, undervalued and considered an optional extra rather than a clinical imperative. In an era where we have mapped the human genome and talk about cancer moonshots we have consistently failed to provide not just physicians, but all doctors, with the tools to be effective communicators.It’s often feared that in discussing mortality a doctor will extinguish hope - and there is indeed a tension between maintaining hope and telling the truth - but patients tell us they value honesty and doctors know it’s the right thing to do. Becoming a tactful, sensitive and honest communicator is a lifelong process but it’s important enough that it shouldn’t be left to chance. But this is exactly what medical schools and hospitals largely do. And then we lament that despite all the advances in medicine, doctor-patient communication remains a fraught problem that underpins a significant majority of health care complaints. Doctor-patient communication has long been viewed as an indulgence that comes at the cost of service delivery. If they are clamouring to become better communicators, it’s time we took note.

Q.  An appropriate title for this passage would

When it comes to sustained communication with hospitalised patients about complex and chronic illness and helping them navigate the end of life, the burden on physicians has always been high, which is why it’s a worry when as a group, they express uncertainty about their ability to provide this core component of care. At the end of life, physicians are typically the doctors expected to explore your deepest longings and regrets, your strongest convictions and worst fears. In between, they deliberate resuscitation status, stop antibiotics, encourage palliation and provide counsel to the frazzled resident who says, “He is dying but the family wants everything done. How should I respond?”

No matter how prepared one is for the end of life, for most of us there is accompanying consternation, grief and anxiety. One might reasonably expect a physician to be the custodian of good health but also the guarantor of comfort and dignity in death. It’s clear that physicians aspire to be that doctor but confess to needing help. In the survey, a staggering 90% of physicians thought that communication skills training should be mandatory. It isn’t, you ask. No, and it has never been. Such training in medicine, especially when it pertains to end of life care, is patchy, undervalued and considered an optional extra rather than a clinical imperative. In an era where we have mapped the human genome and talk about cancer moonshots we have consistently failed to provide not just physicians, but all doctors, with the tools to be effective communicators.It’s often feared that in discussing mortality a doctor will extinguish hope - and there is indeed a tension between maintaining hope and telling the truth - but patients tell us they value honesty and doctors know it’s the right thing to do. Becoming a tactful, sensitive and honest communicator is a lifelong process but it’s important enough that it shouldn’t be left to chance. But this is exactly what medical schools and hospitals largely do. And then we lament that despite all the advances in medicine, doctor-patient communication remains a fraught problem that underpins a significant majority of health care complaints. Doctor-patient communication has long been viewed as an indulgence that comes at the cost of service delivery. If they are clamouring to become better communicators, it’s time we took note.

Q. The passage talks about: 

A. Doctor-patient communication

B. End of life care

Group Question

A passage is followed by questions pertaining to the passage. Read the passage and answer the questions. Choose the most appropriate answer.

Mandarin Oranges (C. reticulata) tend to be the hardest of the common Citrus species and can withstand short periods down to as cold as -10°C, but realistically temperatures not falling below -2°C are required for successful cultivation. Tangerines, tangors and yuzu can be grown outside, even in regions with more marked sub-zero degrees in winter, although this may affect fruit quality. A few hardy hybrids can withstand temperatures well below freezing, but do not produce quality fruit.

Lemons can be commercially grown in cooler-summer/moderate-winter coastal Southern California, because sweetness is neither attained nor expected in retail lemon fruit. The related Trifoliate Orange (Poncirus trifoliata) can survive below -20°C; its fruits are astringent and inedible unless cooked but a few better-tasting cultivars and hybrids have been developed.

The trees thrive in a consistently sunny, humid environment with fertile soil and adequate rainfall or irrigation. Abandoned trees in valleys may suffer and yet survive the dry summer of Central California's Inner Coast Ranges. Though broadleaved, they are evergreen and do not drop leaves except when stressed. The stems of many varieties have large sharp thorns. The trees flower in the spring, and fruit is set shortly afterward. Fruit begins to ripen in fall or early winter months, depending on cultivar, and develops increasing sweetness afterward. Some cultivars of tangerines ripen by winter. Some, such as the grapefruit, may take up to eighteen months to ripen.

An orangery was a feature of royal and aristocratic residences through the 17th and 18th centuries.
The Orangery at the Palace of the Louvre, 1617, inspired imitations that were not eclipsed until the development of the modern greenhouse in the 1840s. In the United States, the earliest surviving orangery is at the Tayloe House, Mount Airy, Virginia. George Washington had an orangery at Mount Vernon.

Q. Based on the information provided in the passage, which of the following statements is most  likely to be true?

Mandarin Oranges (C. reticulata) tend to be the hardest of the common Citrus species and can withstand short periods down to as cold as -10°C, but realistically temperatures not falling below -2°C are required for successful cultivation. Tangerines, tangors and yuzu can be grown outside, even in regions with more marked sub-zero degrees in winter, although this may affect fruit quality. A few hardy hybrids can withstand temperatures well below freezing, but do not produce quality fruit.

Lemons can be commercially grown in cooler-summer/moderate-winter coastal Southern California, because sweetness is neither attained nor expected in retail lemon fruit. The related Trifoliate Orange (Poncirus trifoliata) can survive below -20°C; its fruits are astringent and inedible unless cooked but a few better-tasting cultivars and hybrids have been developed.

The trees thrive in a consistently sunny, humid environment with fertile soil and adequate rainfall or irrigation. Abandoned trees in valleys may suffer and yet survive the dry summer of Central California's Inner Coast Ranges. Though broadleaved, they are evergreen and do not drop leaves except when stressed. The stems of many varieties have large sharp thorns. The trees flower in the spring, and fruit is set shortly afterward. Fruit begins to ripen in fall or early winter months, depending on cultivar, and develops increasing sweetness afterward. Some cultivars of tangerines ripen by winter. Some, such as the grapefruit, may take up to eighteen months to ripen.

An orangery was a feature of royal and aristocratic residences through the 17th and 18th centuries.
The Orangery at the Palace of the Louvre, 1617, inspired imitations that were not eclipsed until the development of the modern greenhouse in the 1840s. In the United States, the earliest surviving orangery is at the Tayloe House, Mount Airy, Virginia. George Washington had an orangery at Mount Vernon.

Q. Which of the following is not needed for the trees to thrive?

Mandarin Oranges (C. reticulata) tend to be the hardest of the common Citrus species and can withstand short periods down to as cold as -10°C, but realistically temperatures not falling below -2°C are required for successful cultivation. Tangerines, tangors and yuzu can be grown outside, even in regions with more marked sub-zero degrees in winter, although this may affect fruit quality. A few hardy hybrids can withstand temperatures well below freezing, but do not produce quality fruit.

Lemons can be commercially grown in cooler-summer/moderate-winter coastal Southern California, because sweetness is neither attained nor expected in retail lemon fruit. The related Trifoliate Orange (Poncirus trifoliata) can survive below -20°C; its fruits are astringent and inedible unless cooked but a few better-tasting cultivars and hybrids have been developed.

The trees thrive in a consistently sunny, humid environment with fertile soil and adequate rainfall or irrigation. Abandoned trees in valleys may suffer and yet survive the dry summer of Central California's Inner Coast Ranges. Though broadleaved, they are evergreen and do not drop leaves except when stressed. The stems of many varieties have large sharp thorns. The trees flower in the spring, and fruit is set shortly afterward. Fruit begins to ripen in fall or early winter months, depending on cultivar, and develops increasing sweetness afterward. Some cultivars of tangerines ripen by winter. Some, such as the grapefruit, may take up to eighteen months to ripen.

An orangery was a feature of royal and aristocratic residences through the 17th and 18th centuries.
The Orangery at the Palace of the Louvre, 1617, inspired imitations that were not eclipsed until the development of the modern greenhouse in the 1840s. In the United States, the earliest surviving orangery is at the Tayloe House, Mount Airy, Virginia. George Washington had an orangery at Mount Vernon.

Q. What do we learn about Orangeries from the passage?   

Group Question

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.

Are poor people poor because of inferior genes? This notion is especially popular with members of the ruling elite, who like to think their position is the result of genetic superiority rather than the fact they have privileged backgrounds.
Low intelligence and high rates of mental illness are more common in poor people. Geneticists maintain that genes play a major role in causing both. But if they were right there would be an inexorable logic that suggests inferior DNA caused poor people to sink to the bottom of the gene pool.
In the light of the findings of the human genome project, however, that idea is no longer defensible - as the leading psychologist Ken Richardson recently pointed out in the house magazine of the psychology profession. On the contrary, the implication of the unimportance of genes is that if we changed society in the right ways, we could virtually eradicate not only low academic performance and mental illness but also criminality and problems such as substance abuse. Since the project published its results 16 years ago, genes have been found to have a significant influence on physical traits like height and weight, so you might have expected the same for psychology by now. But Britain’s leading geneticist - Robert Plomin, of King’s College, London - hasn’t found any specific DNA variants that have a significant effect on differences in our psychology.

Scientists call this the missing heritability. But there are strong grounds for supposing the heritability is not actually missing - it’s non-existent.
Of course, even if DNA variants are not found, it does not mean it’s all down to nurture. For instance, we know for sure that what happens in the womb can have a big effect on childhood problems like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It’s also clear that many autistic children are born with brain abnormalities. So if you have children who are terrible at maths, knowing it’s not their genetic destiny increases the likelihood of improvement.

A classic study provided a large sample of children with the lesson that their maths ability was not fixed. Two years later their maths had improved significantly: the more children had initially believed their abilities to be fixed, the greater the improvement. Moreover, if parents and teachers believe children’s abilities are flexible, pupils are more likely to improve. As has been shown in Finland, if it’s assumed that every child has the potential to do well and the right resources are put into your educational system, you can end up doing well in the international league tables. The Finns achieve that without the coercion and hothousing techniques used in Singapore.

Q. Which of the following can be said to be true about Finland? 

Are poor people poor because of inferior genes? This notion is especially popular with members of the ruling elite, who like to think their position is the result of genetic superiority rather than the fact they have privileged backgrounds.
Low intelligence and high rates of mental illness are more common in poor people. Geneticists maintain that genes play a major role in causing both. But if they were right there would be an inexorable logic that suggests inferior DNA caused poor people to sink to the bottom of the gene pool.
In the light of the findings of the human genome project, however, that idea is no longer defensible - as the leading psychologist Ken Richardson recently pointed out in the house magazine of the psychology profession. On the contrary, the implication of the unimportance of genes is that if we changed society in the right ways, we could virtually eradicate not only low academic performance and mental illness but also criminality and problems such as substance abuse. Since the project published its results 16 years ago, genes have been found to have a significant influence on physical traits like height and weight, so you might have expected the same for psychology by now. But Britain’s leading geneticist - Robert Plomin, of King’s College, London - hasn’t found any specific DNA variants that have a significant effect on differences in our psychology.

Scientists call this the missing heritability. But there are strong grounds for supposing the heritability is not actually missing - it’s non-existent.
Of course, even if DNA variants are not found, it does not mean it’s all down to nurture. For instance, we know for sure that what happens in the womb can have a big effect on childhood problems like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It’s also clear that many autistic children are born with brain abnormalities. So if you have children who are terrible at maths, knowing it’s not their genetic destiny increases the likelihood of improvement.

A classic study provided a large sample of children with the lesson that their maths ability was not fixed. Two years later their maths had improved significantly: the more children had initially believed their abilities to be fixed, the greater the improvement. Moreover, if parents and teachers believe children’s abilities are flexible, pupils are more likely to improve. As has been shown in Finland, if it’s assumed that every child has the potential to do well and the right resources are put into your educational system, you can end up doing well in the international league tables. The Finns achieve that without the coercion and hothousing techniques used in Singapore.
 

Q. Which of the following would weaken the claims of the human genome project?

A. Low intelligence and high rates of mental illness are more common in poor people.

B. Genes have a miniscule role in determining one’s prognosis of mental illness.

C. One’s social status is the result of socio-economic backgrounds rather than one's DNA.

Are poor people poor because of inferior genes? This notion is especially popular with members of the ruling elite, who like to think their position is the result of genetic superiority rather than the fact they have privileged backgrounds.
Low intelligence and high rates of mental illness are more common in poor people. Geneticists maintain that genes play a major role in causing both. But if they were right there would be an inexorable logic that suggests inferior DNA caused poor people to sink to the bottom of the gene pool.
In the light of the findings of the human genome project, however, that idea is no longer defensible - as the leading psychologist Ken Richardson recently pointed out in the house magazine of the psychology profession. On the contrary, the implication of the unimportance of genes is that if we changed society in the right ways, we could virtually eradicate not only low academic performance and mental illness but also criminality and problems such as substance abuse. Since the project published its results 16 years ago, genes have been found to have a significant influence on physical traits like height and weight, so you might have expected the same for psychology by now. But Britain’s leading geneticist - Robert Plomin, of King’s College, London - hasn’t found any specific DNA variants that have a significant effect on differences in our psychology.

Scientists call this the missing heritability. But there are strong grounds for supposing the heritability is not actually missing - it’s non-existent.
Of course, even if DNA variants are not found, it does not mean it’s all down to nurture. For instance, we know for sure that what happens in the womb can have a big effect on childhood problems like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It’s also clear that many autistic children are born with brain abnormalities. So if you have children who are terrible at maths, knowing it’s not their genetic destiny increases the likelihood of improvement.

A classic study provided a large sample of children with the lesson that their maths ability was not fixed. Two years later their maths had improved significantly: the more children had initially believed their abilities to be fixed, the greater the improvement. Moreover, if parents and teachers believe children’s abilities are flexible, pupils are more likely to improve. As has been shown in Finland, if it’s assumed that every child has the potential to do well and the right resources are put into your educational system, you can end up doing well in the international league tables. The Finns achieve that without the coercion and hothousing techniques used in Singapore.

Q. “The missing heritability” theory states:

Are poor people poor because of inferior genes? This notion is especially popular with members of the ruling elite, who like to think their position is the result of genetic superiority rather than the fact they have privileged backgrounds.
Low intelligence and high rates of mental illness are more common in poor people. Geneticists maintain that genes play a major role in causing both. But if they were right there would be an inexorable logic that suggests inferior DNA caused poor people to sink to the bottom of the gene pool.
In the light of the findings of the human genome project, however, that idea is no longer defensible - as the leading psychologist Ken Richardson recently pointed out in the house magazine of the psychology profession. On the contrary, the implication of the unimportance of genes is that if we changed society in the right ways, we could virtually eradicate not only low academic performance and mental illness but also criminality and problems such as substance abuse. Since the project published its results 16 years ago, genes have been found to have a significant influence on physical traits like height and weight, so you might have expected the same for psychology by now. But Britain’s leading geneticist - Robert Plomin, of King’s College, London - hasn’t found any specific DNA variants that have a significant effect on differences in our psychology.

Scientists call this the missing heritability. But there are strong grounds for supposing the heritability is not actually missing - it’s non-existent.
Of course, even if DNA variants are not found, it does not mean it’s all down to nurture. For instance, we know for sure that what happens in the womb can have a big effect on childhood problems like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It’s also clear that many autistic children are born with brain abnormalities. So if you have children who are terrible at maths, knowing it’s not their genetic destiny increases the likelihood of improvement.

A classic study provided a large sample of children with the lesson that their maths ability was not fixed. Two years later their maths had improved significantly: the more children had initially believed their abilities to be fixed, the greater the improvement. Moreover, if parents and teachers believe children’s abilities are flexible, pupils are more likely to improve. As has been shown in Finland, if it’s assumed that every child has the potential to do well and the right resources are put into your educational system, you can end up doing well in the international league tables. The Finns achieve that without the coercion and hothousing techniques used in Singapore.

Q. Why does the author begin with - “Are poor people poor because of inferior genes”?  

Are poor people poor because of inferior genes? This notion is especially popular with members of the ruling elite, who like to think their position is the result of genetic superiority rather than the fact they have privileged backgrounds.
Low intelligence and high rates of mental illness are more common in poor people. Geneticists maintain that genes play a major role in causing both. But if they were right there would be an inexorable logic that suggests inferior DNA caused poor people to sink to the bottom of the gene pool.
In the light of the findings of the human genome project, however, that idea is no longer defensible - as the leading psychologist Ken Richardson recently pointed out in the house magazine of the psychology profession. On the contrary, the implication of the unimportance of genes is that if we changed society in the right ways, we could virtually eradicate not only low academic performance and mental illness but also criminality and problems such as substance abuse. Since the project published its results 16 years ago, genes have been found to have a significant influence on physical traits like height and weight, so you might have expected the same for psychology by now. But Britain’s leading geneticist - Robert Plomin, of King’s College, London - hasn’t found any specific DNA variants that have a significant effect on differences in our psychology.

Scientists call this the missing heritability. But there are strong grounds for supposing the heritability is not actually missing - it’s non-existent.
Of course, even if DNA variants are not found, it does not mean it’s all down to nurture. For instance, we know for sure that what happens in the womb can have a big effect on childhood problems like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It’s also clear that many autistic children are born with brain abnormalities. So if you have children who are terrible at maths, knowing it’s not their genetic destiny increases the likelihood of improvement.

A classic study provided a large sample of children with the lesson that their maths ability was not fixed. Two years later their maths had improved significantly: the more children had initially believed their abilities to be fixed, the greater the improvement. Moreover, if parents and teachers believe children’s abilities are flexible, pupils are more likely to improve. As has been shown in Finland, if it’s assumed that every child has the potential to do well and the right resources are put into your educational system, you can end up doing well in the international league tables. The Finns achieve that without the coercion and hothousing techniques used in Singapore.

Q. The statement, “...we could virtually eradicate not only low academic performance and mental illness but also criminality and problems such as substance abuse.” Implies_____for the future.

Are poor people poor because of inferior genes? This notion is especially popular with members of the ruling elite, who like to think their position is the result of genetic superiority rather than the fact they have privileged backgrounds.
Low intelligence and high rates of mental illness are more common in poor people. Geneticists maintain that genes play a major role in causing both. But if they were right there would be an inexorable logic that suggests inferior DNA caused poor people to sink to the bottom of the gene pool.
In the light of the findings of the human genome project, however, that idea is no longer defensible - as the leading psychologist Ken Richardson recently pointed out in the house magazine of the psychology profession. On the contrary, the implication of the unimportance of genes is that if we changed society in the right ways, we could virtually eradicate not only low academic performance and mental illness but also criminality and problems such as substance abuse. Since the project published its results 16 years ago, genes have been found to have a significant influence on physical traits like height and weight, so you might have expected the same for psychology by now. But Britain’s leading geneticist - Robert Plomin, of King’s College, London - hasn’t found any specific DNA variants that have a significant effect on differences in our psychology.

Scientists call this the missing heritability. But there are strong grounds for supposing the heritability is not actually missing - it’s non-existent.
Of course, even if DNA variants are not found, it does not mean it’s all down to nurture. For instance, we know for sure that what happens in the womb can have a big effect on childhood problems like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It’s also clear that many autistic children are born with brain abnormalities. So if you have children who are terrible at maths, knowing it’s not their genetic destiny increases the likelihood of improvement.

A classic study provided a large sample of children with the lesson that their maths ability was not fixed. Two years later their maths had improved significantly: the more children had initially believed their abilities to be fixed, the greater the improvement. Moreover, if parents and teachers believe children’s abilities are flexible, pupils are more likely to improve. As has been shown in Finland, if it’s assumed that every child has the potential to do well and the right resources are put into your educational system, you can end up doing well in the international league tables. The Finns achieve that without the coercion and hothousing techniques used in Singapore.

Q. “Of course, even if DNA variants are not found, it does not mean it’s all down to nurture.” The assumption from the above is:

Group Question

Answer the questions based on the passage given below.

The evolution of language and speech is perhaps the most fascinating area of research. It was once believed that only humans used language and that animal sounds were nothing more than instinctive responses to behavioural cues, such as cries of pain. Now we know that many species have flexibility in their vocal production, allowing them to choose when to call and what sound to make. Researchers have found that monkeys use different calls for different predators, and that prairie dogs can encode the colour and shape of an approaching predator in their alarm calls. Songbirds display particularly complex rules to the order of their singing notes. The hope is that studying animal calls will shed light on the way human speech developed. It’s a step toward solving the hardest question in science.

Dialects, or regional differences in the form and use of vocalisations, have been observed in birds, bats, chimpanzees and now an increasingly long list of other species. This has been most beautifully heard in whales, where the songs of humpbacks are transmitted across hundreds of miles, telling a listener which part of the ocean the whale lives in, and tracing its family group by the influences on song formations. The bioacousticians Katharine Payne and Roger Payne first listened to the whales on underwater microphone recordings in the 1960s, and used musical notation to explore the changes that occurred in each male’s song, year on year. Whalesong, heard by humans as long ago as Aristotle, became the subject of intense study and public interest. Their research showed that there were geographic differences in humpback whale songs and that we could tell apart populations just by using those songs, which change throughout their lives. So the whales were controlling their singing and subject to cultural influences.

Isolation and geographic distance have meant that human language has diverged multiple times, creating thousands and thousands of dialects, many with words distinct to the environment in which they arose. Yet certain words are so basic that they have barely changed over thousands of years, eg the word mother, which is ‘matar’ in Sanskrit, ‘mater’ in Latin and ‘meter’ in Ancient Greek, and ‘mzaa’ in Swahili. The word shows its original roots in a possibly universal proto-language even today, while the words for more complex ideas are more typically unrelated. By exploring this, we can explore the first steps towards true language. 

Q. Based on the passage, what can be said  about the author’s style of writing? 

The evolution of language and speech is perhaps the most fascinating area of research. It was once believed that only humans used language and that animal sounds were nothing more than instinctive responses to behavioural cues, such as cries of pain. Now we know that many species have flexibility in their vocal production, allowing them to choose when to call and what sound to make. Researchers have found that monkeys use different calls for different predators, and that prairie dogs can encode the colour and shape of an approaching predator in their alarm calls. Songbirds display particularly complex rules to the order of their singing notes. The hope is that studying animal calls will shed light on the way human speech developed. It’s a step toward solving the hardest question in science.

Dialects, or regional differences in the form and use of vocalisations, have been observed in birds, bats, chimpanzees and now an increasingly long list of other species. This has been most beautifully heard in whales, where the songs of humpbacks are transmitted across hundreds of miles, telling a listener which part of the ocean the whale lives in, and tracing its family group by the influences on song formations. The bioacousticians Katharine Payne and Roger Payne first listened to the whales on underwater microphone recordings in the 1960s, and used musical notation to explore the changes that occurred in each male’s song, year on year. Whalesong, heard by humans as long ago as Aristotle, became the subject of intense study and public interest. Their research showed that there were geographic differences in humpback whale songs and that we could tell apart populations just by using those songs, which change throughout their lives. So the whales were controlling their singing and subject to cultural influences.

Isolation and geographic distance have meant that human language has diverged multiple times, creating thousands and thousands of dialects, many with words distinct to the environment in which they arose. Yet certain words are so basic that they have barely changed over thousands of years, eg the word mother, which is ‘matar’ in Sanskrit, ‘mater’ in Latin and ‘meter’ in Ancient Greek, and ‘mzaa’ in Swahili. The word shows its original roots in a possibly universal proto-language even today, while the words for more complex ideas are more typically unrelated. By exploring this, we can explore the first steps towards true language. 

Q. A suitable title for the passage would be:

The evolution of language and speech is perhaps the most fascinating area of research. It was once believed that only humans used language and that animal sounds were nothing more than instinctive responses to behavioural cues, such as cries of pain. Now we know that many species have flexibility in their vocal production, allowing them to choose when to call and what sound to make. Researchers have found that monkeys use different calls for different predators, and that prairie dogs can encode the colour and shape of an approaching predator in their alarm calls. Songbirds display particularly complex rules to the order of their singing notes. The hope is that studying animal calls will shed light on the way human speech developed. It’s a step toward solving the hardest question in science.

Dialects, or regional differences in the form and use of vocalisations, have been observed in birds, bats, chimpanzees and now an increasingly long list of other species. This has been most beautifully heard in whales, where the songs of humpbacks are transmitted across hundreds of miles, telling a listener which part of the ocean the whale lives in, and tracing its family group by the influences on song formations. The bioacousticians Katharine Payne and Roger Payne first listened to the whales on underwater microphone recordings in the 1960s, and used musical notation to explore the changes that occurred in each male’s song, year on year. Whalesong, heard by humans as long ago as Aristotle, became the subject of intense study and public interest. Their research showed that there were geographic differences in humpback whale songs and that we could tell apart populations just by using those songs, which change throughout their lives. So the whales were controlling their singing and subject to cultural influences.

Isolation and geographic distance have meant that human language has diverged multiple times, creating thousands and thousands of dialects, many with words distinct to the environment in which they arose. Yet certain words are so basic that they have barely changed over thousands of years, eg the word mother, which is ‘matar’ in Sanskrit, ‘mater’ in Latin and ‘meter’ in Ancient Greek, and ‘mzaa’ in Swahili. The word shows its original roots in a possibly universal proto-language even today, while the words for more complex ideas are more typically unrelated. By exploring this, we can explore the first steps towards true language. 

Q. Which of the following cannot be said about the “whale’s song” as described in the passage?

The evolution of language and speech is perhaps the most fascinating area of research. It was once believed that only humans used language and that animal sounds were nothing more than instinctive responses to behavioural cues, such as cries of pain. Now we know that many species have flexibility in their vocal production, allowing them to choose when to call and what sound to make. Researchers have found that monkeys use different calls for different predators, and that prairie dogs can encode the colour and shape of an approaching predator in their alarm calls. Songbirds display particularly complex rules to the order of their singing notes. The hope is that studying animal calls will shed light on the way human speech developed. It’s a step toward solving the hardest question in science.

Dialects, or regional differences in the form and use of vocalisations, have been observed in birds, bats, chimpanzees and now an increasingly long list of other species. This has been most beautifully heard in whales, where the songs of humpbacks are transmitted across hundreds of miles, telling a listener which part of the ocean the whale lives in, and tracing its family group by the influences on song formations. The bioacousticians Katharine Payne and Roger Payne first listened to the whales on underwater microphone recordings in the 1960s, and used musical notation to explore the changes that occurred in each male’s song, year on year. Whalesong, heard by humans as long ago as Aristotle, became the subject of intense study and public interest. Their research showed that there were geographic differences in humpback whale songs and that we could tell apart populations just by using those songs, which change throughout their lives. So the whales were controlling their singing and subject to cultural influences.

Isolation and geographic distance have meant that human language has diverged multiple times, creating thousands and thousands of dialects, many with words distinct to the environment in which they arose. Yet certain words are so basic that they have barely changed over thousands of years, eg the word mother, which is ‘matar’ in Sanskrit, ‘mater’ in Latin and ‘meter’ in Ancient Greek, and ‘mzaa’ in Swahili. The word shows its original roots in a possibly universal proto-language even today, while the words for more complex ideas are more typically unrelated. By exploring this, we can explore the first steps towards true language. 

Q. “Isolation and geographic distance have meant that human language has diverged multiple times, creating thousands and thousands of dialects, many with words distinct to the environment in which they arose.” This implies:

The evolution of language and speech is perhaps the most fascinating area of research. It was once believed that only humans used language and that animal sounds were nothing more than instinctive responses to behavioural cues, such as cries of pain. Now we know that many species have flexibility in their vocal production, allowing them to choose when to call and what sound to make. Researchers have found that monkeys use different calls for different predators, and that prairie dogs can encode the colour and shape of an approaching predator in their alarm calls. Songbirds display particularly complex rules to the order of their singing notes. The hope is that studying animal calls will shed light on the way human speech developed. It’s a step toward solving the hardest question in science.

Dialects, or regional differences in the form and use of vocalisations, have been observed in birds, bats, chimpanzees and now an increasingly long list of other species. This has been most beautifully heard in whales, where the songs of humpbacks are transmitted across hundreds of miles, telling a listener which part of the ocean the whale lives in, and tracing its family group by the influences on song formations. The bioacousticians Katharine Payne and Roger Payne first listened to the whales on underwater microphone recordings in the 1960s, and used musical notation to explore the changes that occurred in each male’s song, year on year. Whalesong, heard by humans as long ago as Aristotle, became the subject of intense study and public interest. Their research showed that there were geographic differences in humpback whale songs and that we could tell apart populations just by using those songs, which change throughout their lives. So the whales were controlling their singing and subject to cultural influences.

Isolation and geographic distance have meant that human language has diverged multiple times, creating thousands and thousands of dialects, many with words distinct to the environment in which they arose. Yet certain words are so basic that they have barely changed over thousands of years, eg the word mother, which is ‘matar’ in Sanskrit, ‘mater’ in Latin and ‘meter’ in Ancient Greek, and ‘mzaa’ in Swahili. The word shows its original roots in a possibly universal proto-language even today, while the words for more complex ideas are more typically unrelated. By exploring this, we can explore the first steps towards true language. 

Q. The passage talks about animal sounds as:

A. Instinctive responses of animals

B. Mating responses of animals

The evolution of language and speech is perhaps the most fascinating area of research. It was once believed that only humans used language and that animal sounds were nothing more than instinctive responses to behavioural cues, such as cries of pain. Now we know that many species have flexibility in their vocal production, allowing them to choose when to call and what sound to make. Researchers have found that monkeys use different calls for different predators, and that prairie dogs can encode the colour and shape of an approaching predator in their alarm calls. Songbirds display particularly complex rules to the order of their singing notes. The hope is that studying animal calls will shed light on the way human speech developed. It’s a step toward solving the hardest question in science.

Dialects, or regional differences in the form and use of vocalisations, have been observed in birds, bats, chimpanzees and now an increasingly long list of other species. This has been most beautifully heard in whales, where the songs of humpbacks are transmitted across hundreds of miles, telling a listener which part of the ocean the whale lives in, and tracing its family group by the influences on song formations. The bioacousticians Katharine Payne and Roger Payne first listened to the whales on underwater microphone recordings in the 1960s, and used musical notation to explore the changes that occurred in each male’s song, year on year. Whalesong, heard by humans as long ago as Aristotle, became the subject of intense study and public interest. Their research showed that there were geographic differences in humpback whale songs and that we could tell apart populations just by using those songs, which change throughout their lives. So the whales were controlling their singing and subject to cultural influences.

Isolation and geographic distance have meant that human language has diverged multiple times, creating thousands and thousands of dialects, many with words distinct to the environment in which they arose. Yet certain words are so basic that they have barely changed over thousands of years, eg the word mother, which is ‘matar’ in Sanskrit, ‘mater’ in Latin and ‘meter’ in Ancient Greek, and ‘mzaa’ in Swahili. The word shows its original roots in a possibly universal proto-language even today, while the words for more complex ideas are more typically unrelated. By exploring this, we can explore the first steps towards true language. 

Q. Which of the following statements from the passage are false?

Carefully read the statements in the questions below and arrange them in a logical order.

1. The cocks hovered on the ledges, the crows sat on the roofs; the cows and the sheep lay down in front of the pigs and started chewing the cud.

2. First arrived the two dogs, Jessie and Bluebell, and then the horses who sat in the mud bordering the platform.

3. At one end of the big shed, on a somewhat raised platform, General had already settled on his straw bed, beneath a lantern that hung from a plank.

4. He was thirteen years old and had recently grown rather overweight, but he still had a regal look, with a benevolent and intelligent appearance.

5. Before long the other animals began to arrive and make themselves comfortable after their different fashions.

Carefully read the statements in the questions below and arrange them in a logical order.

1. But although the Industry finds Its biggest fans at home, It finds its best customers abroad.

2. The leading provider of IT services to Indian companies is not a home-grown champion like Wipro or TCS, but IBM.
3. Infosys, the country’s most celebrated IT company, collects only 1.2% of its income from the domestic market.

4. It earns $3.75 in exports for every dollar it earns in India.

5. Indians are rightly proud of their information-technology firms.

Carefully read the statements in the questions below and arrange them in a logical order.

1. With history in mind, one can say that the introduction of new workplace technologies has been more about increasing profits for corporations and less about addressing the problems of workers or rewarding them for their feverish output.

2. Technology, from an Excel spreadsheet to an assembly-line robot, may make aspects of our jobs easier.

3. There's no indication that this pattern is set to change.

4. But that’s at most a collateral aim; the real point of technological improvement in the office has always been to make us more productive.

5. The “Great Speedup,' as this phenomenon has been called, involves us working harder and longer, even when we're not in the office, than we ever have before.

The following question consists of a certain number of sentences. Some sentences are grammatically incorrect or inappropriate. Identify the number of sentences that are grammatically incorrect.

1. The task of a modem educator is not to cut down jungles, nor to irrigate deserts.

2. Colleges and universities must regain the spirit they lost ever since they turned into degree-production units.

3. Learning is much more then what lies within the lines of textbooks and what is learnt in enclosed classrooms.

4. Higher educational institutions today have become more important in shaping one career and much less in shaping one character.

The following question consists of a certain number of sentences. Some sentences are grammatically incorrect or inappropriate. Identify the number of sentences that are grammatically correct and appropriate.

1. From my opinion, human communication is about getting other people to recognise what intentions you have with regard to their own beliefs.

2. The big picture is this, human communication is the family of different means of expression, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

3. Ordinary human communication ranges beyond a continuum between the definite and the indefinite, the precise and the loose.

4. The most common means of human communication is language, and for good reason.

Each of the following questions has a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.

When United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon recently visited Antarctica, he was impressed by the melting ice he saw there. Then he was in Brazil, where he was impressed by the country’s use of bio-fuel to power a quarter of its automotive traffic. Oil pressed from rapeseed can be used as diesel fuel, and maize or sugar beets can yield ethanol to replace gasoline. The UN and many countries officially share the view that bio-fuel is one option in fighting climate change____________