XAT 2016 preparation
XAT 2016 Preparation series
Considered as one of the toughest entrance exams for MBA students , we are running a series under XAT 2016 preparation. With the new pattern changes that have taken place this year, it would be beneficial for you to go through these past year XAT actual questions.We have segregated questions and solutions section wise so that you get a fair idea of the difficulty level of the papers over the previous years, as well as the differential marking scheme for each question. The articles will contain 360+ actual XAT questions. You can browse through the posts here.
Analyse the following passage and provide appropriate answers for the questions 1 through 4 that follow.
“Whatever actions are done by an individual in different embodiments, [s]he reaps the fruit of those actions in those very bodies or embodiments (in future existences)“.
A belief in karma entails, among other things, a focus on long run consequences, i.e., a long term orientation. Such an orientation implies that people who believe in karma may be more honest with themselves in general and in setting expectations in particular – a hypothesis we examine here. This research is based on three simple premises. First, because lower expectations often lead to greater satisfaction, individuals in general, and especially those who are sensitive to the gap between performance and expectations, have the incentive to and actually do “strategically” lower their expectations. Second, individuals with a long term orientation are likely to be less inclined to lower expectations in the hope of temporarily feeling better. Third, long term orientation and the tendency to lower expectations are at least partially driven by cultural factors. In India, belief in karma, with its emphasis on a longer term orientation, will therefore to some extent counter-act the tendency to lower expectations. The empirical results support our logic; those who believe more strongly in karma are less influenced by disconfirmation sensitivity and therefore have higher expectations.
Consumers make choices based on expectations of how alternative options will perform (i.e., expected utility). Expectations about the quality of a product also play a central role in subsequent satisfaction. These expectations may be based on a number of factors including the quality of a typical brand in a category, advertised quality, and disconfirmation sensitivity. Recent evidence suggests that consumers, who are more disconfirmation sensitive (i.e., consumers who are more satisfied when products perform better than expected or more dissatisfied when products perform worse than expected) have lower expectations. However, there is little research concerning the role of culture-specific variables in expectation formation, particularly how they relate to the impact of disconfirmation sensitivity on consumer expectations.
1.”Future existences” in the paragraph can refer to:
1.Human life, 5 years afterwards
2.Next birth in human form
3.Next birth in any embodiment
Which of the following statement(s) is correct?
A. 1, 2
B.2, 3
C.1, 3
D.2 only
E. None of the three
2.Consider the following assertion and conclusion:
Assertion: The meaning of karma in the above passage (refer to first two lines of the paragraph in italics.)
Conclusion: Belief that long term consequences are important. Now read the following statements carefully.
1.The conclusion will always follow the assertion
2.The conclusion may follow the assertion
3.The conclusion may follow the assertion only if an individual lives long enough
4.The conclusion cannot follow the assertion
Which of the following statement(s) is correct?
A.1 only
B.1 and 2 only
C.2 only
D.3 only
E.4 only
3.Which of the following statements, if true, would contradict the first of the three premises mentioned in the first paragraph?
A.Higher satisfaction leads to lower expectation
B.Lower expectation leads to long term consequences
C.Satisfaction depends on achievement and not on expectation
D.Karma affects our immediate feelings
E.Lower expectation would lead to lower efforts
4. Read the following statements carefully:
1.Temporary feelings and law of karma are independent
2.As per theory of karma, temporary feelings would not lower the expectation
3.Temporary feelings and law of karma are contradictory
Which of the following combination of statements is consistent with the second premise?
A.1 only
B.1 and 2 only
C.1 and 3 only
D.3 only
E.1, 2 and 3 only
5.A manager went out to have dinner in a restaurant and found the food to be good.When asked to provide feedback on the quality of food, the manager rated the quality as “excellent”.
Which of the following can be concluded from this?
A.The manager does not believe in karma
B.The manager definitely has disconfirmation sensitivity
C.It is not possible to comment on the disconfirmation sensitivity of the manager
D.The manager does not have disconfirmation sensitivity
E.None of the above
Analyse the following passage and provide appropriate answers for the questions 6 through 9 that follow.
An example of scientist who could measure without instruments is Enrico Fermi (1901-1954), a physicist who won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1938. He had a well-developed knack for intuitive, even casual-sounding measurements. One renowned example of his measurement skills was demonstrated at the first detonation of the atom bomb, the Trinity Test site, on July 16, 1945, where he was one of the atomic scientists observing the blast from base camp. While final adjustments were being made to instruments used to measure the yield of the blast, Fermi was making confetti out of a page of notebook paper. As the wind from the initial blast wave began to blow through the camp, he slowly dribbled the confetti into the air, observing how far back it was scattered by the blast (taking the farthest scattered pieces as being the peak of the pressure wave), Fermi concluded that the yield must be greater than 10 kilotons. This would have been news, since other initial observers of the blast did not know that lower limit. After much analysis of the instrument readings, the final yield estimate was determined to be 18.6 kilotons. Like Eratosthenes, Fermi was aware of a rule relating one simple observation – the scattering of confetti in the wind – to a quantity he wanted to measure.
The value of quick estimates was something Fermi was familiar with throughout his career. He was famous for teaching his students skills at approximation of fanciful-sounding quantities that, at first glance, they might presume they knew nothing about. The best-known example of such a “Fermi question” was Fermi asking his students to estimate the number of piano tuners in Chicago, when no one knows the answer. His students – science and engineering majors – would begin by saying that they could not possibly know anything about such a quantity. Of course, some solutions would be to simply do a count of every piano tuner perhaps by looking up advertisements, checking with a licensing agency of some sort, and so on. But Fermi was trying to teach his students how to solve problems where the ability to confirm the results would not be so easy. He wanted them to figure out that they knew something about the quantity in question.
6.Suppose you apply the same logic as Fermi applied to confetti, which of the following statements would be the most appropriate?
A.You can calculate the minimum pressure inside the cooker by calculating the maximum distance travelled by any of its parts after it explodes
B.You can calculate the average potency of a fire cracker by calculating the distance covered by one of its bigger fragments
C.You can easily find out the average policy of an earthquake by measuring the length of a crack it makes on the surface of the earth
D.You can calculate the exact volume of water stored in a tank by measuring the distance covered by the stream of water coming out of the tap fixed on the lower corner of the tank
E.All the above conclusions can be drawn
7.Quick estimate, as per Fermi, is most useful in:
A.In finding an approximate that is more useful than existing value
B.In finding out the exact minimum value of an estimate
C.In finding out the exact maximum value of an estimate
D.In finding out the range of values of an estimate
E.In finding out the average value of an estimate
8.Given below are some statements that attempt to capture the central idea of the passage:
1.It is useful to estimate; even when the exact answer is known
2.It is possible to estimate any physical quantity
3.It is possible to estimate the number of units of a newly launched car that can be sold in a city
4.Fermi was a genius
Which of the following statements(s) best captures the central idea?
A.1, 2 and 4
B. 2, 3 and 4
C.2 and 3
D. 2 only
E. 1, 2 and 3
9.Read the statements given below:
1.Atomic bomb detonation was a result of Fermi’s Nobel Prize contribution
2.Fermi’s students respected him as a scientist
3.Yield of atomic bomb can only be measured in Kilotons
Which of the following statement(s) can be inferred from the passage?
A.1,2
B. 2, 3
C.1, 3
D.2 only
E.None of the three statements is correct
10.In many cases in physics, one has to deal simultaneously with collective and single-particle excitations of the system. The collective excitations are usually bosonic in nature while the single-particle excitations are often ferm One is therefore led to consider a system which includes bosons and fermions. Hence, ______________
Which of the following options is most likely to follow the paragraph given above?
A.in this book, we discuss application of bosonic particles and their consequences on physics
B.in this book, we discuss applications of a general algebraic theory of mixed Bose-Fermi systems to atomic nuclei.
C in this book, we discuss excitations of collective and single particles separately.
D.in this book, we prove how collective excitations are bosonic and singular excitation are fermionic
E.in this book, we prove that collective and singular excitation cannot exist together
Answers –
1.B
2.A
3.C
4.D
5.C
6.A
7.D
8.D
9.E
10.B
