After successfully completing the CAT 2016 sprint series and the SNAP 2016 sprint series, we are back with the XAT 2017 sprint preparation series – Verbal 3 to boost your prep. This series will consist of 10 sets of questions from past year XAT papers, leading to XAT 2017 and covered almost all the question types that you needed to know come the 8th of January.
XAT 2017 sprint preparation series – Verbal 3
1. Few sentences are given below continuously. Identify the best sequence of punctuations among the given opt (The rule of capitalization at the beginning of sentences has been ignored in the passage given below).
Note: the arrows in the options indicate text that would be within the punctuations
a persons frames of perception and action are narrow in early stages of development focused on social membership and technical competence the early life of the organizations often is focused on survival and efficiency only later and rarely emphasizing process of learning and development however in later stages both individual and organization become more concerned with the learning process itself the way the perceptions and practices are articulated and revised in interactions and how more people can be engaged in mutual learning and inquiry
A. ‘ -> . -> . -> . -> .
B. ‘ -> . -> , -> . -> , -> , -> .
C. ‘ -> . -> , -> . -> , -> .
D. ‘ -> , -> . -> , -> . -> . -> , -> .
E. ‘ -> , -> . -> , -> . -> : -> .
2. Choose the odd one:
A. Water : : Dirty : : Clean
B. Battery : : Dead : : Music
C. Wood : : Burn : : Food
D. Juice : : Ferment : : Wine
E. Rain : : Thunder : : Hail
3. Choose the odd one:
A. The balloon goes up : Spot fixing scandal
B. In the altogether : Bath tub
C. The halcyon days : Childhood
D. The real McCoy : Darjeeling Tea
E. Throw down the gauntlet : UN peace keeping force
4. Read the following sentences and choose the option that best arranges them in a logical
A.In law a fiduciary individual is someone who is entrusted with the power to act on behalf of and for the benefit of another
B.Following the weight of corporate law and legal precedent, the director primacy model positions directors as autonomous fiduciaries, not agents
C.The term fiduciary derives from the Latin fiducia, or trust, and the fiduciary is expected to act in good faith and honesty for the beneficiary’s interests
D.A person who accepts the role of fiduciary in law must single-mindedly pursue the interests of his or her beneficiary, in this case the corporation, even when the latter cannot monitor or control the fiduciary’s behaviour.
A. 3, 1, 4, 2
B. 3, 4, 1, 2
C. 2, 1, 3, 4
D. 4, 2, 3, 1
E. 2, 1, 4, 3
5. Read the sentences and choose the option that best arranges them in a logical
A. Generally, it is unusual for a new problem in international relations to be considered without at the same time some international organization being developed to deal with it.
B. International society has, in spite of the diversity of culture and political systems, been progressively drawn closer together and become more unified
C. Despite the fears and concerns of some governments that international organizations are increasing too fast and that they are a burden on their exchequers, they are still proliferating at a considerable rate
D. People and their governments now look far beyond national frontiers and feel a common responsibility for the major problems of the world and for lesser problems that may subsist within smaller groups of states
E. More recently in the 1990s the problems of international trade, which was growing increasingly complex, led to the development of the WTO
F. For instance, concern with the instability of commodities markets led to the establishment in the 1980s of the Common Fund for Commodities and the competition for the newly discovered wealth of the international seabed area resulted in the creation of the ISA under the Law of the Sea Convention of 1982, based on the concept of the ‘the common heritage of mankind’.
A. a, b, c, d, f, e
B. b, e, d, c, f, a
C. c, a, f, e, d, b
D. c, a, f, e, b, d
E. d, c, a, b, f, e
6. As the information on air warfare tasks and stressors was being gathered and scenarios were being developed, a parallel effort ensued to identify a test bed simulation for air warfare team To maintain experimental control, it was determined by the designers that choosing a low physical fidelity simulation was acceptable as long as cognitive fidelity in a team simulation was maintained through subjecting soldiers to pressure situations in a simulated combat setting and attempting to ensure that naturalistic decision making of soldiers would not be compromised.
Which of the following statements, if true, weakens the logic of the above passage?
1. A number of studies have shown that high levels of physical stress lead to a weakening of the decision-making capabilities of human beings
2. It has been convincingly demonstrated by various studies that human beings by nature are not designed to adapt to high levels of mental stress
3. Numerous studies have shown that simulated environments can be designed to be good substitutes for real-life combat situations.
4. Studies have shown that simulated exercises for armed forces personnel have tended to induce a systematic type of “correct” and common behaviour among the trainees
5. Officers, when short-listing soldiers for critical operations, pick up battle-hardened soldiers rather than those who have been trained through simulations
A. 1 and 2
B. 2 and 3
C. 1 and 4
D. 1 , 2 , 4 and 5
E. 2 , 3 , 4 and 5
Answer questions 7 and 8 on the basis of the paragraph below.
We are not only afraid of being in the dark; we are also suspicious of being kept in the dark. We often feel that the universe has a hidden order that we cannot quite comprehend. In ancient times, this order was attributed to the gods – omnipotent beings who controlled humans’ fates. Greek myths in particular portrayed humans as pawns in the great games played by the gods. More recently, there are suspicions of global conspiracies. These conspiracies are cited for events that are too important to be random. We no longer describe them as “Acts of God,” so they must be the work of other people – people who are hiding their influence over us, covering up their involvement. They are keeping the rest of us in the dark. Among the events attributed to these people are political assassinations and UFO sightings. Examining these events in minute detail results in a long list of “coincidences” which, in the minds of the conspiracy buffs, are too numerous to be truly random. There must be a central planner who is at the hub of a sinister form of order. No one admits to the conspiracy, so there must be a cover-up. Better to think that we are all being kept in the dark by sinister forces than to admit that there is no order.
7. Which of the following statements, if true, would weaken the underlying logic of the above passage?
1. The human need for order is a highly exaggerated notion. It more often than not leads to creation of theories about the universe. The more sensational the theory, the more prevalent it becomes.
2. The universe is less guided by pure randomness than by well-defined natural processes which are subjected to randomness at varying intervals of time and space.
3. To strengthen their case for a variety of conspiracies the conspiracy buffs are extrapolating from a very small set of observed “coincidences”.
4. The persons propounding the different conspiracy theories are usually novelists who use these theories as a backdrop during the construction of the plots of the novels
5. The human fear of being kept in the dark is much stronger than the fear of lack of order in the working of the universe.
A. 1, 2 and 3
B. 1, 2 and 4
C. 1, 3 and 4
D. 1, 4 and 5
E. 2, 4 and 5
8. Which of the following statements would, if true, strengthen the case for belief in sinister forces and conspiracies being at work in the above paragraph?
1. Though science has progressed a lot in the last two centuries or so, it is still unable to explain/account for more than 80% of the phenomena in the universe.
2. There is now the existence of photographic evidence of presence of UFOs and a growing number of parallel studies showing that the human mind can easily be manipulated to do someone else’s will through various events that manipulate the “perceived reality”
3. The fear of our actions and thoughts being controlled by someone else has intensified with the widespread popularity of the depiction of its gory outcomes by different novelists and movie makers
4. There is a strong movement to reintroduce the teachings of the biblical evolutionary process and the presence of God in schools around the world
5. The Darwinian study of evolution of species, the cornerstone of beliefs in fathomable randomness of the workings of the universe has come under a scathing attack for its inaccurate depiction of the causes and process of evolution
A. 1 and 4
B. 1 and 5
C. 2, 3 and 5
D. 1, 2 and 5
E. 2, 3 and 4
9. The motivation of human beings towards their work is a subject matter that is at once a simple as well as an extremely complicated For a long time, economists, sociologists, as well as psychologists believed that a carrot and stick approach, with monetary incentives playing the role of the carrot, would be sufficient to goad employees towards achieving higher levels of performance. However, a number of recent studies and observations, especially dealing with the open source revolution are placing on the table strong evidence suggesting that monetary incentives are only one part of the entire story of motivation through incentives. In a study conducted by a group of researchers at MIT, it was found that monetary incentives work well only in respect of tasks requiring mechanical skills i.e. those tasks not requiring much use of higher level cognitive abilities (such as memorizing or problem solving). In fact their study showed that setting high monetary incentives for tasks requiring cognitive abilities were more likely than not to produce adverse outcomes. Since this result flew straight in the face of the widely accepted body of knowledge on employee motivation, they conducted multiple experiments in different settings and countries to ensure that it was not a one-off result. The findings were the same in all repetitions of the experiment. These studies appear to suggest that monetary incentives need to be provided only to such an extent as to take the minds of employees off the issue of money and focus on other issues that are necessary to get the job done right. For instance, some experiments have shown that greater autonomy to employees and lowered interference from management (and bosses) is successful in driving the performance of employees working in cognitive skill intensive jobs.
Identify the statement(s) that is (are) logically consistent with the content of the paragraph.
1. The carrot-stick approach essentially requires the use of rewards to get more of a desired behaviour whereas penalties lead to increased undesirable behaviour
2. Expending time and effort on the design of monetary incentives is a wasteful excercise
3. The study by the group of MIT researchers was a flawed exercise from the start
4. There appears to be a need to reorient the existing paradigm prevalent in incentive design
5. During the process of designing incentives, one should clearly delineate activities into those requiring mechanical skills and those requiring higher-level cognitive skills and design with separate sets of incentives and penalties for each
A. 1 and 4
B. 1 and 5
C. 2 and 3
D. 2 and 4
E. 4 and 5
Answer question 10 on the basis of the following conversation between two friends, Paradox (P) and Herodox (H)
P: The human body is but the tomb of the soul and the visible world of matter is appearance that must be overcome if we are to know reality. The former is an integral part of “being”, that which can neither come into existence nor cease to exist for it always is. Being is unmoved and undistributed. Motion and disturbance belong to the realm of “becoming”, the changing world of unreality rather than of “being” in which true reality resides. Further, motion & change by belonging to the realm of “becoming” by having no separate existence of their own are logically inconsistent with reality and hence, unworthy of serious study.
H: All things are in a state of perpetual flux. Permanence, and by extension, the concept of “being” is only an illusion. This change and continual transformation, through an often disorderly process of conflict and survival of the fittest, is the underlying principle at work in the universe. It is from this principle that all things come into existence, and forms the basis for the morals and governance patterns that attempt to preserve the social thread of societies. By extension, the study of human activity through the lens of an idealized state of “being” and as a basis for formulating moral codes of conduct is inappropriate at best.
10. Which of the following statements could be considered as logically consistent with the views of paradox in the above paragraphs?
1. A fly travelling on a flying arrow perceives it to be at rest. Therefore the flying arrow belongs to the realm of being.
2. The activities of the day to day life are concerned with the unreal part of human existence and hence, should not be subject to moral standards
3. Maintaining a balance among the various constituents of society is essential to the well-being and the continuing existence of the soul
4. Conflicts and the coming of spontaneous order do not have any underlying causes that are relevant for study as the notion of perpetual flux itself is erroneus
5. The real is and cannot be non-existent. Further, reality is one and unique
What’s hot at Learningroots?
Crack MBA CET 2017 with CET toppers | TISS Mocks (6 mocks for Rs. 299 only) | 20 MBA CET 2017 mocks
Solutions
1. A person’s frames of perception and action are narrow in early stages of development, focused on social membership and technical competence. The early life of the organizations often is focused on survival and efficiency, only later and rarely emphasizing process of learning and development. However, in later stages both individual and organization become more concerned with the learning process itself: the way the perceptions and practices are articulated and revised in interactions and how more people can be engaged in mutual learning and inquiry. The comma after however was missing in all the options. Option e.
2. Option e. The words are not related as is the case in the other 4 options.
3. Option e.
4. Option c.
5. Option d.
6. Option d. Only statement 3 will support the conclusion. Rest all negate the logic in varying levels.
7. Option b.
8. Option d. This was pretty straightforward.
9. Option e.
10. Option a is the only paradox that can be inferred directly. The rest of the options are either generic statements or opinions without any frame of reference.
What’s hot at Learningroots?
Crack MBA CET 2017 with CET toppers | TISS Mocks (6 mocks for Rs. 299 only) | 20 MBA CET 2017 mocks
You can follow the entire sprint series here: XAT 2017 Sprint Preparation Series by Learningroots
