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Previous Year Questions
The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.
The claims advanced here may be condensed into two assertions: [first, that visual] culture is what images, acts of seeing, and attendant intellectual, emotional, and perceptual sensibilities do to build, maintain, or transform the worlds in which people live. [And second, that the] study of visual culture is the analysis and interpretation of images and the ways of seeing (or gazes) that configure the agents, practices, conceptualities, and institutions that put images to work. . . .
Accordingly, the study of visual culture should be characterized by several concerns. First, scholars of visual culture need to examine any and all imagery – high and low, art and nonart. . . . They must not restrict themselves to objects of a particular beauty or aesthetic value. Indeed, any kind of imagery may be found to offer up evidence of the visual construction of reality. . . .
Second, the study of visual culture must scrutinize visual practice as much as images themselves, asking what images do when they are put to use. If scholars engaged in this enterprise inquire what makes an image beautiful or why this image or that constitutes a masterpiece or a work of genius, they should do so with the purpose of investigating an artist’s or a work’s contribution to the experience of beauty, taste, value, or genius. No amount of social analysis can account fully for the existence of Michelangelo or Leonardo. They were unique creators of images that changed the way their contemporaries thought and felt and have continued to shape the history of art, artists, museums, feeling, and aesthetic value. But study of the critical, artistic, and popular reception of works by such artists as Michelangelo and Leonardo can shed important light on the meaning of these artists and their works for many different people. And the history of meaning-making has a great deal to do with how scholars as well as lay audiences today understand these artists and their achievements.
Third, scholars studying visual culture might properly focus their interpretative work on lifeworlds by examining images, practices, visual technologies, taste, and artistic style as constitutive of social relations. The task is to understand how artifacts contribute to the construction of a world. . . . Important methodological implications follow: ethnography and reception studies become productive forms of gathering information, since these move beyond the image as a closed and fixed meaning-event. . . .
Fourth, scholars may learn a great deal when they scrutinize the constituents of vision, that is, the structures of perception as a physiological process as well as the epistemological frameworks informing a system of visual representation. Vision is a socially and a biologically constructed operation, depending on the design of the human body and how it engages the interpretive devices developed by a culture in order to see intelligibly. . . . Seeing . . . operates on the foundation of covenants with images that establish the conditions for meaningful visual experience.
Finally, the scholar of visual culture seeks to regard images as evidence for explanation, not as epiphenomena.
Which one of the following best describes the word “epiphenomena” in the last sentence of the passage?
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
Note the context in which the word is used: "the scholar of visual culture seeks to regard images as evidence for explanation, not as epiphenomena". Substituting each of the answer options instead of 'epiphenomena' in this sentence, we see that only option B makes sense. Epiphenomena are phenomena supplemental to the evidence.
All of the following statements may be considered valid inferences from the passage, EXCEPT:
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The passage does not mention 'institutional structures' or talk about these being essential to the study of visual culture.
From the line, "...task is to understand how artifacts contribute to the construction of a world", we understand A is true. C is true, based on the line "..scholars may learn a great deal when they scrutinize the constituents of vision, that is, the structures of perception as a physiological process as well as the epistemological frameworks informing a system of visual representation". D is also true, based on the first paragraph.
“No amount of social analysis can account fully for the existence of Michelangelo or Leonardo.” In light of the passage, which one of the following interpretations of this sentence is the most accurate?
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
Note the line that follows the given line in the passage: "They were unique creators of images that changed the way their contemporaries thought and felt and have continued to shape the history of art, artists, museums, feeling, and aesthetic value."In other words, social analysis cannot fully account for the existence of Michelangelo or Leonardo as it cannot explain their genius.
“Seeing . . . operates on the foundation of covenants with images that establish the conditions for meaningful visual experience.” In light of the passage, which one of the following statements best conveys the meaning of this sentence?
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The given sentence implies sight works on the basis of covenants with images we see. These help establish a meaningful visual experience. Option A captures the meaning of the line best.
Which set of keywords below most closely captures the arguments of the passage?
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
All words in option C relate to key ideas in the passage.
Option A mentions 'lay audience' which is not a key idea. In the same way, options B and D mention 'Michelangelo and Leonardo' and 'work of genius' respectively. The passage mentions Michelangelo and Leonardo but that is to make a point about meaning-making.
Which one of the following best describes the word “epiphenomena” in the last sentence of the passage?
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
Note the context in which the word is used: "the scholar of visual culture seeks to regard images as evidence for explanation, not as epiphenomena". Substituting each of the answer options instead of 'epiphenomena' in this sentence, we see that only option B makes sense. Epiphenomena are phenomena supplemental to the evidence.
All of the following statements may be considered valid inferences from the passage, EXCEPT:
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The passage does not mention 'institutional structures' or talk about these being essential to the study of visual culture.
From the line, "...task is to understand how artifacts contribute to the construction of a world", we understand A is true. C is true, based on the line "..scholars may learn a great deal when they scrutinize the constituents of vision, that is, the structures of perception as a physiological process as well as the epistemological frameworks informing a system of visual representation". D is also true, based on the first paragraph.
The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.
As software improves, the people using it become less likely to sharpen their own know-how. Applications that offer lots of prompts and tips are often to blame; simpler, less solicitous programs push people harder to think, act and learn.
Ten years ago, information scientists at Utrecht University in the Netherlands had a group of people carry out complicated analytical and planning tasks using either rudimentary software that provided no assistance or sophisticated software that offered a great deal of aid. The researchers found that the people using the simple software developed better strategies, made fewer mistakes and developed a deeper aptitude for the work. The people using the more advanced software, meanwhile, would often "aimlessly click around" when confronted with a tricky problem. The supposedly helpful software actually short-circuited their thinking and learning.
[According to] philosopher Hubert Dreyfus . . . . our skills get sharper only through practice, when we use them regularly to overcome different sorts of difficult challenges. The goal of modern software, by contrast, is to ease our way through such challenges. Arduous, painstaking work is exactly what programmers are most eager to automate-after all, that is where the immediate efficiency gains tend to lie. In other words, a fundamental tension ripples between the interests of the people doing the automation and the interests of the people doing the work.
Nevertheless, automation's scope continues to widen. With the rise of electronic health records, physicians increasingly rely on software templates to guide them through patient exams. The programs incorporate valuable checklists and alerts, but they also make medicine more routinized and formulaic-and distance doctors from their patients. . . . Harvard Medical School professor Beth Lown, in a 2012 journal article . . . warned that when doctors become "screen-driven," following a computer's prompts rather than "the patient's narrative thread," their thinking can become constricted. In the worst cases, they may miss important diagnostic signals. . . .
In a recent paper published in the journal Diagnosis, three medical researchers . . . examined the misdiagnosis of Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to die of Ebola in the U.S., at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. They argue that the digital templates used by the hospital's clinicians to record patient information probably helped to induce a kind of tunnel vision. "These highly constrained tools," the researchers write, "are optimized for data capture but at the expense of sacrificing their utility for appropriate triage and diagnosis, leading users to miss the forest for the trees." Medical software, they write, is no "replacement for basic history-taking, examination skills, and critical thinking." . . .
There is an alternative. In "human-centered automation," the talents of people take precedence. . . . In this model, software plays an essential but secondary role. It takes over routine functions that a human operator has already mastered, issues alerts when unexpected situations arise, provides fresh information that expands the operator's perspective and counters the biases that often distort human thinking. The technology becomes the expert's partner, not the expert's replacement.
From the passage, we can infer that the author is apprehensive about the use of sophisticated automation for all of the following reasons EXCEPT that:
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
Nowhere in the passage does the author express the fear that computers could replace humans.
The author says that with the use of sophisticated automation, "the people using it become less likely to sharpen their own know-how”, "their thinking can become constricted" and that "in the worst cases, they may miss important diagnostic signals". So, all other options are inferred.
In the Ebola misdiagnosis case, we can infer that doctors probably missed the forest for the trees because:
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
According to the passage, researchers in the Ebola misdiagnosis case believe that the digital templates used by the hospital's clinicians to record patient information “probably helped to induce a kind of tunnel vision". So, the doctors were led by the data processed by digital templates.
Note that option B is incorrect as it says the templates "forced" doctors to acquire tunnel vision. This is too extreme.
In the context of the passage, all of the following can be considered examples of human-centered automation EXCEPT:
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
In the fourth paragraph, the passage warns that software prompts that guide patient exams can constrict doctors' thinking. Auto-completion of text is also prompt by software. This is the kind of automation the passage speaks out against.
In the last paragraph, the passage explains how human-centered automation works: "It takes over routine functions that a human operator has already mastered, issues alerts when unexpected situations arise, provides fresh information that expands the operator's perspective and counters the biases that often distort human thinking." Options A, C and D relate to such functions.
It can be inferred that in the Utrecht University experiment, one group of people was "aimlessly clicking around" because
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
Easy question. According to the passage, the people using the more advanced software would often aimlessly click around when confronted with a tricky problem as "the supposedly helpful software actually short-circuited their thinking and learning". They were, in effect, hoping that the software would help carry out the tasks.
From the passage, we can infer that the author is apprehensive about the use of sophisticated automation for all of the following reasons EXCEPT that:
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
Nowhere in the passage does the author express the fear that computers could replace humans.
The author says that with the use of sophisticated automation, "the people using it become less likely to sharpen their own know-how”, "their thinking can become constricted" and that "in the worst cases, they may miss important diagnostic signals". So, all other options are inferred.
In the Ebola misdiagnosis case, we can infer that doctors probably missed the forest for the trees because:
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
According to the passage, researchers in the Ebola misdiagnosis case believe that the digital templates used by the hospital's clinicians to record patient information “probably helped to induce a kind of tunnel vision". So, the doctors were led by the data processed by digital templates.
Note that option B is incorrect as it says the templates "forced" doctors to acquire tunnel vision. This is too extreme.
In the context of the passage, all of the following can be considered examples of human-centered automation EXCEPT:
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
In the fourth paragraph, the passage warns that software prompts that guide patient exams can constrict doctors' thinking. Auto-completion of text is also prompt by software. This is the kind of automation the passage speaks out against.
In the last paragraph, the passage explains how human-centered automation works: "It takes over routine functions that a human operator has already mastered, issues alerts when unexpected situations arise, provides fresh information that expands the operator's perspective and counters the biases that often distort human thinking." Options A, C and D relate to such functions.
It can be inferred that in the Utrecht University experiment, one group of people was "aimlessly clicking around" because
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
Easy question. According to the passage, the people using the more advanced software would often aimlessly click around when confronted with a tricky problem as "the supposedly helpful software actually short-circuited their thinking and learning". They were, in effect, hoping that the software would help carry out the tasks.
The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer:
1. Women may prioritize cooking because they feel they alone are responsible for mediating a toxic and unhealthy food system.
2. Food is commonly framed through the lens of individual choice: you can choose to eat healthily.
3. This is particularly so in a neoliberal context where the state has transferred the responsibility for food onto individual consumers.
4. The individualized framing of choice appeals to a popular desire to experience agency, but draws away from the structural obstacles that stratify individual food choices.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
2 is the best opening sentence. 24 is a link: 2 states that food is framed through the lens of individual choice; 4 begins with 'the individualized framing of choice' and explains what this leads to. Now, 4 talks about the focus on individual choice drawing away from the 'structural obstacles' that stratify food choices.
3 adds to 4 stating that this is particularly the case in neoliberal societies where the state has transferred responsibility for food to individuals. 3 leads on to 1: the responsibility is shifted away from the system and onto women.
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
There's a common idea that museum artworks are somehow timeless objects available to admire for generations to come. But many are objects of decay. Even the most venerable Old Master paintings don't escape: pigments discolour, varnishes crack, canvases warp. This challenging fact of art-world life is down to something that sounds more like a thread from a morality tale: inherent vice. Damien Hirst's iconic shark floating in a tank - entitled The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living - is a work that put a spotlight on inherent vice. When he made it in 1991, Hirst got himself in a pickle by not using the right kind of pickle to preserve the giant fish. The result was that the shark began to decompose quite quickly - its preserving liquid clouding, the skin wrinkling, and an unpleasant smell wafting from the tank.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The main idea of the paragraph given is that museum artworks are not timeless but subject to 'inherent vice': they decay, discolour or crack over time. Option B captures this idea and is the best of the given summaries.
All other options are about the role or responsibility of museums. The paragraph does not focus upon this. Option D is incorrect as the paragraph clearly says artworks are not timeless.
There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide in which blank (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.
Sentence: This was years in the making but fast-tracked during the pandemic, when "people started being more mindful about their food", he explained.
Paragraph: For millennia, ghee has been a venerated staple of the subcontinental diet, but it fell out of favour a few decades ago when saturated fats were largely considered to be unhealthy. ___(1)___ But more recently, as the thinking around saturated fats is shifting globally, Indians are finding their own way back to this ingredient that is so integral to their cuisine. ___(2)___ For Karmakar, a renewed interest in ghee is emblematic of a return-to-basics movement in India. ___(3)___ This movement is also part of an overall trend towards "slow food". In keeping with the movement's philosophy, ghee can be produced locally (even at home) and has inextricable cultural ties. ___(4)___ At a basic level, ghee is a type of clarified butter believed to have originated in India as a way to preserve butter from going rancid in the hot climate.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
It is easy to place this missing sentence in the paragraph, as it is part of a quote. The only place where the given sentence can fit in is option 3. The sentence before blank 3 names the person being quoted (Karmakar).
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Today, many of the debates about behavioural control in the age of big data echo Cold War-era anxieties about brainwashing, insidious manipulation and repression in the 'technological society'. In his book Psychopolitics, Han warns of the sophisticated use of targeted online content, enabling 'influence to take place on a pre-reflexive level'. On our current trajectory, "freedom will prove to have been merely an interlude." The fear is that the digital age has not liberated us but exposed us, by offering up our private lives to machine-learning algorithms that can process masses of personal and behavioural data. In a world of influencers and digital entrepreneurs, it's not easy to imagine the resurgence of a culture engendered through disconnect and disaffiliation, but concerns over the threat of online targeting, polarisation and big data have inspired recent polemics about the need to rediscover solitude and disconnect.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The paragraph given observes that the concerns about online targeting and polarisation due to the misuse of personal data by machine-learning algorithms today seem to echo Cold War-era anxieties. These concerns have inspired recent polemics about the need to rediscover solitude and disconnect.
Option B touches upon all key ideas and is the best summary among the given options.
The paragraph is about the resurfacing of debates about behaviour manipulation and privacy. Neither option A nor option C touches upon this. Further, both these options use terms that are not used in the given paragraph: option A states that digital data is 'enslaving' us and option C refers to 'artificial intelligence'. So, we rule out options A and C.
Option D implies behaviour was manipulated during the Cold War. The paragraph given does not explicitly say so. Also, this option does not touch upon ideas such as ‘freedom’ and ‘privacy’ mentioned in the paragraph.
The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer:
1. From chemical pollutants in the environment to the damming of rivers to invasive species transported through global trade and travel, every environmental issue is different and there is no single tech solution that can solve this crisis.
2. Discourse on the threat of environmental collapse revolves around cutting down emissions, but biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse are caused by myriad and diverse reasons.
3. This would require legislation that recognises the rights of future generations and other species that allows the judiciary to uphold a much higher standard of environmental protection than currently possible.
4. Clearly, our environmental crisis requires large political solutions, not minor technological ones, so, instead of focusing on infinite growth, we could consider a path of stable-state economies, while preserving markets and healthy competition.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
21 is a clear link: 2 states that biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse are caused by myriad and diverse reasons; 1 expands on this idea. 21 leads on to the conclusion in 4 that our environmental crisis requires large political solutions, not minor technological ones. 4 leads on to 3, which describes what should be done as the next step. So, 2143 is the correct order.
There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide in which blank (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.
Sentence: Most were first-time users of a tablet and a digital app.
Paragraph: Aage Badhein's USP lies in the ethnographic research that constituted the foundation of its development process. Customizations based on learning directly from potential users were critical to making this self-paced app suitable for both a literate and non-literate audience. ___(1)___ The user interface caters to a Hindi-speaking audience who have minimal to no experience with digital services and devices. ___(2)___ The content and functionality of the app are suitable for a wide audience. This includes youth preparing for an independent role in life or a student ready to create a strong foundation of financial management early in her life. ___(3)___ Household members desirous of improving their family's financial strength to reach their aspirations can also benefit. We piloted Aage Badhein in early 2021 with over 400 women from rural areas. ___(4)___ The digital solution generated a large amount of interest in the communities.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
Note that the missing line is in the past tense. So, we cannot fit it in in options 2 or 3 as the sentences before and after the blank in both these options are in present tense. Between options 1 and 4, placing the missing line in option 4 works better. The subject of the missing line is 'most'. The use of this pronoun makes sense when it is used in blank 4, as 'most' in this case would refer to women from rural areas. If the missing sentence were to be placed in blank 1, there would be a pronoun antecedent error.
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Several of the world's earliest cities were organised along egalitarian lines. In some regions, urban populations governed themselves for centuries without any indication of the temples and palaces that would later emerge; in others, temples and palaces never emerged at all, and there is simply no evidence of a class of administrators or any other sort of ruling stratum. It would seem that the mere fact of urban life does not, necessarily, imply any particular form of political organization, and never did. Far from resigning us to inequality, the picture that is now emerging of humanity's past may open our eyes to egalitarian possibilities we otherwise would have never considered.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
Options B and D can be ruled out right away. The paragraph does not talk about how hierarchical civic organizations of today emerged. It only says that several of the world's earliest cities were egalitarian. Option D focuses on one idea of the paragraph and is not a good summary.
Both A and C, however, look compelling. But between the two, A is better. This is because option C overgeneralises, stating that ancient cities were "not organized" on hierarchical political and administrative lines. The paragraph only says several ancient cities were egalitarian and urban life does not necessarily imply a particular form of political organization. Also, 'egalitarian urban life' is a key idea in the paragraph: C does not mention this while A does. So, option A is a better summary.
The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer:
1. The trajectory of cheerfulness through the self is linked to the history of the word 'cheer' which comes from an Old French meaning 'face'.
2. Translations of the Bible into vernacular languages, expanded the noun 'cheer' into the more abstract 'cheerful-ness', something that circulates as an emotional and social quality defining the self and a moral community.
3. When you take on a cheerful expression, no matter what the state of your soul, your cheerfulness moves into the self: the interior of the self is changed by the power of cheer.
4. People in the medieval 'Canterbury Tales' have a 'piteous' or a 'sober' cheer; 'cheer' is an expression and a body part, lying at the intersection of emotions and physiognomy.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
142 is a link: Sentence 1 talks about the history of the word 'cheer'; 4 follows this up with different interpretations of 'cheer' in the medieval times and finally 2 talks about how the noun 'cheer' expanded into 'cheerfulness'. So, we have two possibilities 3142 and 1423. Between the two, 3142 is better as 3 links with the idea of cheerfulness moving into the self in 1. So, 3142 is the correct order.
Which one of the following statements, if true, would weaken the author's claim that humans are musicking creatures?
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
According to the passage, the history of music’s emergence was “at once sociocultural and biological” and because musicking arises from innate dispositions, it is a primary, shared trait of modern humans. Option A states that musical capabilities are “primarily” socio-cultural, which is why there are diverse forms of music. If option A were true it would weaken the author's claim about the emergence of music.
The passage does not make any claims that musicking is key to human survival. So, option B, even if true, does not affect the author's claim. Same is the case with option C. The author does not talk about the order in which music, language or symbol-making capabilities emerged. The passage says that "capacities involved in musicking are many and take shape in complicated ways, arising from innate dispositions...". So, option D, if true, supports the author's arguments.
The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.
Humans today make music. Think beyond all the qualifications that might trail after this bald statement: that only certain humans make music, that extensive training is involved, that many societies distinguish musical specialists from nonmusicians, that in today's societies most listen to music rather than making it, and so forth. These qualifications, whatever their local merit, are moot in the face of the overarching truth that making music, considered from a cognitive and psychological vantage, is the province of all those who perceive and experience what is made. We are, almost all of us, musicians - everyone who can entrain (not necessarily dance) to a beat, who can recognize a repeated tune (not necessarily sing it), who can distinguish one instrument or one singing voice from another. I will often use an antique word, recently revived, to name this broader musical experience. Humans are musicking creatures. . . .
The set of capacities that enables musicking is a principal marker of modern humanity. There is nothing polemical in this assertion except a certain insistence, which will figure often in what follows, that musicking be included in our thinking about fundamental human commonalities. Capacities involved in musicking are many and take shape in complicated ways, arising from innate dispositions . . . Most of these capacities overlap with nonmusical ones, though a few may be distinct and dedicated to musical perception and production. In the area of overlap, linguistic capacities seem to be particularly important, and humans are (in principle) language-makers in addition to music-makers - speaking creatures as well as musicking ones.
Humans are symbol-makers too, a feature tightly bound up with language, not so tightly with music. The species Cassirer dubbed Homo symbolicus cannot help but tangle musicking in webs of symbolic thought and expression, habitually making it a component of behavioral complexes that form such expression. But in fundamental features musicking is neither language-like nor symbol-like, and from these differences come many clues to its ancient emergence.
If musicking is a primary, shared trait of modern humans, then to describe its emergence must be to detail the coalescing of that modernity. This took place, archaeologists are clear, over a very long durée: at least 50,000 years or so, more likely something closer to 200,000, depending in part on what that coalescence is taken to comprise. If we look back 20,000 years, a small portion of this long period, we reach the lives of humans whose musical capacities were probably little different from our own. As we look farther back we reach horizons where this similarity can no longer hold - perhaps 40,000 years ago, perhaps 70,000, perhaps 100,000. But we never cross a line before which all the cognitive capacities recruited in modern musicking abruptly disappear. Unless we embrace the incredible notion that music sprang forth in full-blown glory, its emergence will have to be tracked in gradualist terms across a long period.
This is one general feature of a history of music's emergence . . . The history was at once sociocultural and biological . . . The capacities recruited in musicking are many, so describing its emergence involves following several or many separate strands.
Which one of the following sets of terms best serves as keywords to the passage?
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
Musicking is the main keyword. This is absent from option C, so we rule out C right away. 'Antique' and 'Cassirer' are not key ideas. So, options A and B are out. Option D is the best choice.
Based on the passage, which one of the following statements is a valid argument about the emergence of music/musicking?
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The passage says that "If we look back 20,000 years, a small portion of this long period, we reach the lives of humans whose musical capacities were probably little different from our own". So, 20,000 years ago, human musical capacities were not very different from what they are today. (Note that ‘little’ means ‘not much’ and is a quantifier with a negative connotation whereas ‘a little’ means ‘a small amount’ and is a quantifier with a positive connotation).
Option A is not an argument about the emergence of music/musicking.
According to the passage, "...in fundamental features musicking is neither language-like nor symbol-like, and from these differences come many clues to its ancient emergence." So,option B is not a valid argument about the emergence of music/musicking.
Option D is incorrect. Refer to the line, "Most of these capacities overlap with nonmusical ones, though a few may be distinct and dedicated to musical perception and production."
"Think beyond all the qualifications that might trail after this bald statement . . ." In the context of the passage, what is the author trying to communicate in this quoted extract?
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
A bald statement is a simple statement in plain language with no extra information or qualifications. In the given sentence, the author is urging readers to look beyond the extra information, caveats and other considerations that may follow the bald statement to see the overarching truth.
Which one of the following statements, if true, would weaken the author's claim that humans are musicking creatures?
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
According to the passage, the history of music’s emergence was “at once sociocultural and biological” and because musicking arises from innate dispositions, it is a primary, shared trait of modern humans. Option A states that musical capabilities are “primarily” socio-cultural, which is why there are diverse forms of music. If option A were true it would weaken the author's claim about the emergence of music.
The passage does not make any claims that musicking is key to human survival. So, option B, even if true, does not affect the author's claim. Same is the case with option C. The author does not talk about the order in which music, language or symbol-making capabilities emerged. The passage says that "capacities involved in musicking are many and take shape in complicated ways, arising from innate dispositions...". So, option D, if true, supports the author's arguments.
Which one of the following sets of terms best serves as keywords to the passage?
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
Musicking is the main keyword. This is absent from option C, so we rule out C right away. 'Antique' and 'Cassirer' are not key ideas. So, options A and B are out. Option D is the best choice.
Based on the passage, which one of the following statements is a valid argument about the emergence of music/musicking?
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The passage says that "If we look back 20,000 years, a small portion of this long period, we reach the lives of humans whose musical capacities were probably little different from our own". So, 20,000 years ago, human musical capacities were not very different from what they are today. (Note that ‘little’ means ‘not much’ and is a quantifier with a negative connotation whereas ‘a little’ means ‘a small amount’ and is a quantifier with a positive connotation).
Option A is not an argument about the emergence of music/musicking.
According to the passage, "...in fundamental features musicking is neither language-like nor symbol-like, and from these differences come many clues to its ancient emergence." So,option B is not a valid argument about the emergence of music/musicking.
Option D is incorrect. Refer to the line, "Most of these capacities overlap with nonmusical ones, though a few may be distinct and dedicated to musical perception and production."
"Think beyond all the qualifications that might trail after this bald statement . . ." In the context of the passage, what is the author trying to communicate in this quoted extract?
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
A bald statement is a simple statement in plain language with no extra information or qualifications. In the given sentence, the author is urging readers to look beyond the extra information, caveats and other considerations that may follow the bald statement to see the overarching truth.
We can infer that the author would approve of a more evolved engineering pedagogy that includes all of the following EXCEPT:
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The author calls for moving away from technical-social dualism. Option A states the opposite.
Other options relate to parameters such as environmental sustainability, local community needs and priorities and a responsible approach to technical design, all of which the author believes must be included in engineering pedagogy.
The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.
When we teach engineering problems now, we ask students to come to a single "best" solution defined by technical ideals like low cost, speed to build, and ability to scale. This way of teaching primes students to believe that their decision-making is purely objective, as it is grounded in math and science. This is known as technical-social dualism, the idea that the technical and social dimensions of engineering problems are readily separable and remain distinct throughout the problem-definition and solution process.
Nontechnical parameters such as access to a technology, cultural relevancy or potential harms are deemed political and invalid in this way of learning. But those technical ideals are at their core social and political choices determined by a dominant culture focused on economic growth for the most privileged segments of society. By choosing to downplay public welfare as a critical parameter for engineering design, we risk creating a culture of disengagement from societal concerns amongst engineers that is antithetical to the ethical code of engineering.
In my field of medical devices, ignoring social dimensions has real consequences. . . . Most FDA-approved drugs are incorrectly dosed for people assigned female at birth, leading to unexpected adverse reactions. This is because they have been inadequately represented in clinical trials.
Beyond physical failings, subjective beliefs treated as facts by those in decision-making roles can encode social inequities. For example, spirometers, routinely used devices that measure lung capacity, still have correction factors that automatically assume smaller lung capacity in Black and Asian individuals. These racially based adjustments are derived from research done by eugenicists who thought these racial differences were biologically determined and who considered nonwhite people as inferior. These machines ignore the influence of social and environmental factors on lung capacity.
Many technologies for systemically marginalized people have not been built because they were not deemed important such as better early diagnostics and treatment for diseases like endometriosis, a disease that afflicts 10 percent of people with uteruses. And we hardly question whether devices are built sustainably, which has led to a crisis of medical waste and health care accounting for 10 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
Social justice must be made core to the way engineers are trained. Some universities are working on this. . . . Engineers taught this way will be prepared to think critically about what problems we choose to solve, how we do so responsibly and how we build teams that challenge our ways of thinking.
Individual engineering professors are also working to embed societal needs in their pedagogy. Darshan Karwat at the University of Arizona developed activist engineering to challenge engineers to acknowledge their full moral and social responsibility through practical self-reflection. Khalid Kadir at the University of California, Berkeley, created the popular course Engineering, Environment, and Society that teaches engineers how to engage in place-based knowledge, an understanding of the people, context and history, to design better technical approaches in collaboration with communities. When we design and build with equity and justice in mind, we craft better solutions that respond to the complexities of entrenched systemic problems.
In this passage, the author is making the claim that:
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The main idea of the passage is that engineering is taught today ignoring important social and political nontechnical parameters and this, in turn, has adverse consequences for society. Option D is the correct choice.
Option A states the exact opposite of what the passage says. The passage says technical-social dualism separates technical problem solving from social considerations.
According to option B, the objective of best solutions in engineering has shifted the focus of pedagogy from humanism and social obligations to technological perfection. The passage does not talk about any such shift in objective from earlier times to now. It only says that today engineering is taught independent of social dimensions.
Option C is again the opposite of what the passage says. The author's point is that non-subjective reasoning hinders the development of solutions that respond to the complexities of entrenched systemic problems.
The author gives all of the following reasons for why marginalised people are systematically discriminated against in technology-related interventions EXCEPT:
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
All options except A relate to why marginalised people are systematically discriminated against in technology-related interventions: racially-based adjustments are derived from research done by eugenicists, subjective beliefs treated as facts encodes social inequities and the supposed technical 'ideals' are determined by a culture focused on the privileged.
Option A, on the other hand, is about devices not being built sustainably. This is not relevant to discrimination of the marginalised.
All of the following are examples of the negative outcomes of focusing on technical ideals in the medical sphere EXCEPT the:
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The incorrect assignment of people as female at birth, that is, making an error in determining the gender at birth, is a human error and not a negative outcome of focusing on technical ideas in medicine.
All other examples relate to negative outcomes of focusing on technical ideals in the medical sphere.
We can infer that the author would approve of a more evolved engineering pedagogy that includes all of the following EXCEPT:
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Explanatory Answer
The author calls for moving away from technical-social dualism. Option A states the opposite.
Other options relate to parameters such as environmental sustainability, local community needs and priorities and a responsible approach to technical design, all of which the author believes must be included in engineering pedagogy.
In this passage, the author is making the claim that:
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The main idea of the passage is that engineering is taught today ignoring important social and political nontechnical parameters and this, in turn, has adverse consequences for society. Option D is the correct choice.
Option A states the exact opposite of what the passage says. The passage says technical-social dualism separates technical problem solving from social considerations.
According to option B, the objective of best solutions in engineering has shifted the focus of pedagogy from humanism and social obligations to technological perfection. The passage does not talk about any such shift in objective from earlier times to now. It only says that today engineering is taught independent of social dimensions.
Option C is again the opposite of what the passage says. The author's point is that non-subjective reasoning hinders the development of solutions that respond to the complexities of entrenched systemic problems.
The author gives all of the following reasons for why marginalised people are systematically discriminated against in technology-related interventions EXCEPT:
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
All options except A relate to why marginalised people are systematically discriminated against in technology-related interventions: racially-based adjustments are derived from research done by eugenicists, subjective beliefs treated as facts encodes social inequities and the supposed technical 'ideals' are determined by a culture focused on the privileged.
Option A, on the other hand, is about devices not being built sustainably. This is not relevant to discrimination of the marginalised.
All of the following are examples of the negative outcomes of focusing on technical ideals in the medical sphere EXCEPT the:
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The incorrect assignment of people as female at birth, that is, making an error in determining the gender at birth, is a human error and not a negative outcome of focusing on technical ideas in medicine.
All other examples relate to negative outcomes of focusing on technical ideals in the medical sphere.
All of the following inferences from the passage are false, EXCEPT:
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The given question can be rephrased as, "Which one of the following inferences from the passage is true?"
Consider what the passage says about natural languages:"Natural languages are typical examples of what Ferguson called 'the result of human action, but not the execution of any human design". In other words, there is no conscious human intent in this stage of language development. So, option A can be inferred to be true based on the passage.
All other options given are false.
Based on the lines, "Consider further that there are many features of the work of the stock exchange that rely on informal, noncodifiable agreements, not least the language used for communication. To be precise, mixtures are the norm..", we can infer that option B is false.
From the line, "Culture and tradition are sub-sets of institutions analytically isolated for explanatory or expository purposes”, we know that option C is false.
In the first paragraph, the passage says that universal institutions such as the family, rituals, governance, economy and the military, "in their present incarnations" are "very much the product of conscious attempts to mould and plan them". So, option D is also false.
Which of the following statements best represents the essence of the passage?
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Explanatory Answer
In the first paragraph, the author presents his view that "institutions are all those social entities that organise action: they link acting individuals into social structures". The author then goes on to explain this idea in detail, touching upon kinds of institutions, culture and tradition as sub-sets of institutions and language as an institution. Option A is hence the correct answer choice.
Options B, C and D touch upon specific aspects of the passage. None of these represents the essence of the passage.
In the first paragraph of the passage, what are the two "characterisations" that are seen as overlapping but not congruent?
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The passage says, "We begin with the emergence of the philosophy of the social sciences as an arena of thought and as a set of social institutions. The two characterisations overlap but are not congruent." The two characterisations seen here as overlapping but not congruent are social sciences as an arena of thought (or academic discipline) and social sciences as a set of social institutions. So, option B is the correct answer.
The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.
We begin with the emergence of the philosophy of the social sciences as an arena of thought and as a set of social institutions. The two characterisations overlap but are not congruent. Academic disciplines are social institutions. . . . My view is that institutions are all those social entities that organise action: they link acting individuals into social structures. There are various kinds of institutions. Hegelians and Marxists emphasise universal institutions such as the family, rituals, governance, economy and the military. These are mostly institutions that just grew. Perhaps in some imaginary beginning of time they spontaneously appeared. In their present incarnations, however, they are very much the product of conscious attempts to mould and plan them. We have family law, established and disestablished churches, constitutions and laws, including those governing the economy and the military. Institutions deriving from statute, like joint-stock companies are formal by contrast with informal ones such as friendships. There are some institutions that come in both informal and formal variants, as well as in mixed ones. Consider the fact that the stock exchange and the black market are both market institutions, one formal one not. Consider further that there are many features of the work of the stock exchange that rely on informal, noncodifiable agreements, not least the language used for communication. To be precise, mixtures are the norm . . . From constitutions at the top to by-laws near the bottom we are always adding to, or tinkering with, earlier institutions, the grown and the designed are intertwined.
It is usual in social thought to treat culture and tradition as different from, although alongside, institutions. The view taken here is different. Culture and tradition are sub-sets of institutions analytically isolated for explanatory or expository purposes. Some social scientists have taken all institutions, even purely local ones, to be entities that satisfy basic human needs - under local conditions . . . Others differed and declared any structure of reciprocal roles and norms an institution. Most of these differences are differences of emphasis rather than disagreements. Let us straddle all these versions and present institutions very generally . . . as structures that serve to coordinate the actions of individuals. . . . Institutions themselves then have no aims or purpose other than those given to them by actors or used by actors to explain them . . .
Language is the formative institution for social life and for science . . . Both formal and informal language is involved, naturally grown or designed. (Language is all of these to varying degrees.) Languages are paradigms of institutions or, from another perspective, nested sets of institutions. Syntax, semantics, lexicon and alphabet/character-set are all institutions within the larger institutional framework of a written language. Natural languages are typical examples of what Ferguson called 'the result of human action, but not the execution of any human design'[;] reformed natural languages and artificial languages introduce design into their modifications or refinements of natural language. Above all, languages are paradigms of institutional tools that function to coordinate.
"Consider the fact that the stock exchange and the black market are both market institutions, one formal one not." Which one of the following statements best explains this quote, in the context of the passage?
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
Consider the line before the given line in the passage:"There are some institutions that come in both informal and formal variants, as well as in mixed ones". The stock market and black market are examples given to substantiate the point in the previous line. The idea is that both the stock exchange and the black market are examples of how, even within the same domain (market institutions), different kinds of institutions can co-exist.
All of the following inferences from the passage are false, EXCEPT:
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The given question can be rephrased as, "Which one of the following inferences from the passage is true?"
Consider what the passage says about natural languages:"Natural languages are typical examples of what Ferguson called 'the result of human action, but not the execution of any human design". In other words, there is no conscious human intent in this stage of language development. So, option A can be inferred to be true based on the passage.
All other options given are false.
Based on the lines, "Consider further that there are many features of the work of the stock exchange that rely on informal, noncodifiable agreements, not least the language used for communication. To be precise, mixtures are the norm..", we can infer that option B is false.
From the line, "Culture and tradition are sub-sets of institutions analytically isolated for explanatory or expository purposes”, we know that option C is false.
In the first paragraph, the passage says that universal institutions such as the family, rituals, governance, economy and the military, "in their present incarnations" are "very much the product of conscious attempts to mould and plan them". So, option D is also false.
Which of the following statements best represents the essence of the passage?
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
In the first paragraph, the author presents his view that "institutions are all those social entities that organise action: they link acting individuals into social structures". The author then goes on to explain this idea in detail, touching upon kinds of institutions, culture and tradition as sub-sets of institutions and language as an institution. Option A is hence the correct answer choice.
Options B, C and D touch upon specific aspects of the passage. None of these represents the essence of the passage.
In the first paragraph of the passage, what are the two "characterisations" that are seen as overlapping but not congruent?
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The passage says, "We begin with the emergence of the philosophy of the social sciences as an arena of thought and as a set of social institutions. The two characterisations overlap but are not congruent." The two characterisations seen here as overlapping but not congruent are social sciences as an arena of thought (or academic discipline) and social sciences as a set of social institutions. So, option B is the correct answer.
"Consider the fact that the stock exchange and the black market are both market institutions, one formal one not." Which one of the following statements best explains this quote, in the context of the passage?
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
Consider the line before the given line in the passage:"There are some institutions that come in both informal and formal variants, as well as in mixed ones". The stock market and black market are examples given to substantiate the point in the previous line. The idea is that both the stock exchange and the black market are examples of how, even within the same domain (market institutions), different kinds of institutions can co-exist.
The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.
[Octopuses are] misfits in their own extended families . . . They belong to the Mollusca class Cephalopoda. But they don't look like their cousins at all. Other molluscs include sea snails, sea slugs, bivalves - most are shelled invertebrates with a dorsal foot. Cephalopods are all arms, and can be as tiny as 1 centimetre and as large at 30 feet. Some of them have brains the size of a walnut, which is large for an invertebrate. . . .
It makes sense for these molluscs to have added protection in the form of a higher cognition; they don't have a shell covering them, and pretty much everything feeds on cephalopods, including humans. But how did cephalopods manage to secure their own invisibility cloak? Cephalopods fire from multiple cylinders to achieve this in varying degrees from species to species. There are four main catalysts - chromatophores, iridophores, papillae and leucophores. . . .
[Chromatophores] are organs on their bodies that contain pigment sacs, which have red, yellow and brown pigment granules. These sacs have a network of radial muscles, meaning muscles arranged in a circle radiating outwards. These are connected to the brain by a nerve. When the cephalopod wants to change colour, the brain carries an electrical impulse through the nerve to the muscles that expand outwards, pulling open the sacs to display the colours on the skin. Why these three colours? Because these are the colours the light reflects at the depths they live in (the rest is absorbed before it reaches those depths). . . .
Well, what about other colours? Cue the iridophores. Think of a second level of skin that has thin stacks of cells. These can reflect light back at different wavelengths. . . . It's using the same properties that we've seen in hologram stickers, or rainbows on puddles of oil. You move your head and you see a different colour. The sticker isn't doing anything but reflecting light - it's your movement that's changing the appearance of the colour. This property of holograms, oil and other such surfaces is called "iridescence". . . .
Papillae are sections of the skin that can be deformed to make a texture bumpy. Even humans possess them (goosebumps) but cannot use them in the manner that cephalopods can. For instance, the use of these cells is how an octopus can wrap itself over a rock and appear jagged or how a squid or cuttlefish can imitate the look of a coral reef by growing miniature towers on its skin. It actually matches the texture of the substrate it chooses.
Finally, the leucophores: According to a paper, published in Nature, cuttlefish and octopuses possess an additional type of reflector cell called a leucophore. They are cells that scatter full spectrum light so that they appear white in a similar way that a polar bear's fur appears white. Leucophores will also reflect any filtered light shown on them . . . If the water appears blue at a certain depth, the octopuses and cuttlefish can appear blue; if the water appears green, they appear green, and so on and so forth.
All of the following are reasons for octopuses being "misfits" EXCEPT that they:
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The first paragraph says why octopuses are misfits amongst other molluscs- they are not shelled, are "all arms" and have large brains for an invertebrate. So, option B is the correct choice.
Based on the passage, we can infer that all of the following statements, if true, would weaken the camouflaging adeptness of Cephalopods EXCEPT:
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
According to the passage, when the cephalopod wants to change colour, the brain carries an electrical impulse through the nerve to the radial muscles on their pigment sacs, thereby pulling open the sacs to display red, yellow and brown colours on their skin. So, if the radial muscle movement is hindered (option A), or if the transmission of neural signals is affected (option B) the camouflaging adeptness of cephalopods will be weakened. So too, if light reflects a different set of colours - red, green, and yellow, instead of red, yellow and brown- at the depths in which cephalopods reside, then they will not be able to camouflage effectively. So, option C also weakens the camouflaging adeptness of cephalopods.
The passage does not talk about the number of chromatophores, iridophores and leucophores cephalopods have. So, it is not possible to say, based on the contents of the passage, whether option D, if true, weakens the camouflaging adeptness of cephalopods. So, this is the answer choice we are looking for.
Based on the passage, it can be inferred that camouflaging techniques in an octopus are most dissimilar to those in:
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The passage does not say cephalopods can take on the colour of their predator.
Based on the last paragraph, we know that cephalopods can blend into the colour of their surroundings. The paragraph about chromatophores explains how octopuses can change their skin colour while the paragraph about papillae explains how they can change their skin texture.
Which one of the following statements is not true about the camouflaging ability of Cephalopods?
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The passage does not say cephalopods can take on the colour of their predator.
Based on the last paragraph, we know that cephalopods can blend into the colour of their surroundings. The paragraph about chromatophores explains how octopuses can change their skin colour while the paragraph about papillae explains how they can change their skin texture.
All of the following are reasons for octopuses being "misfits" EXCEPT that they:
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The first paragraph says why octopuses are misfits amongst other molluscs- they are not shelled, are "all arms" and have large brains for an invertebrate. So, option B is the correct choice.
Based on the passage, we can infer that all of the following statements, if true, would weaken the camouflaging adeptness of Cephalopods EXCEPT:
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
According to the passage, when the cephalopod wants to change colour, the brain carries an electrical impulse through the nerve to the radial muscles on their pigment sacs, thereby pulling open the sacs to display red, yellow and brown colours on their skin. So, if the radial muscle movement is hindered (option A), or if the transmission of neural signals is affected (option B) the camouflaging adeptness of cephalopods will be weakened. So too, if light reflects a different set of colours - red, green, and yellow, instead of red, yellow and brown- at the depths in which cephalopods reside, then they will not be able to camouflage effectively. So, option C also weakens the camouflaging adeptness of cephalopods.
The passage does not talk about the number of chromatophores, iridophores and leucophores cephalopods have. So, it is not possible to say, based on the contents of the passage, whether option D, if true, weakens the camouflaging adeptness of cephalopods. So, this is the answer choice we are looking for.
Based on the passage, it can be inferred that camouflaging techniques in an octopus are most dissimilar to those in:
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The passage does not say cephalopods can take on the colour of their predator.
Based on the last paragraph, we know that cephalopods can blend into the colour of their surroundings. The paragraph about chromatophores explains how octopuses can change their skin colour while the paragraph about papillae explains how they can change their skin texture.
Which one of the following statements is not true about the camouflaging ability of Cephalopods?
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The passage does not say cephalopods can take on the colour of their predator.
Based on the last paragraph, we know that cephalopods can blend into the colour of their surroundings. The paragraph about chromatophores explains how octopuses can change their skin colour while the paragraph about papillae explains how they can change their skin texture.
Five sentences related to a topic are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a meaningful and coherent short paragraph. Identify the odd one out. Choose its number as your answer and key it in.
1. A particularly interesting example of inference occurs in many single panel comics.
2. It’s the creator’s participation and imagination that makes the single-panel comic so engaging and so rewarding.
3. Often, the humor requires you to imagine what happened in the instant immediately before or immediately after the panel you’re being shown.
4. To get the joke, you actually have to figure out what some of these missing panels must be.
5. It is as though the cartoonist devised a series of panels to tell the story and has chosen to show you only one – and typically not even the funniest.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
While sentences 1, 3, 4 and 5 relate to the reader of the single panel comic and the importance of the reader's ability to infer what happened before and after, sentence 2 is about the creator of the comics. So, 2 is the odd one out.
1. Socrates told us that ‘the unexamined life is not worth living’ and that to ‘know thyself’ is the path to true wisdom
2. It suggests that you should adopt an ancient rhetorical method favored by the likes of Julius Caesar and known as ‘illeism’ – or speaking about yourself in the third person.
3. Research has shown that people who are prone to rumination also often suffer from impaired decision making under pressure and are at a substantially increased risk of depression.
4. Simple rumination – the process of churning your concerns around in your head – is not the way to achieve self-realization.
5. The idea is that this small change in perspective can clear your emotional fog, allowing you to see past your biases.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
Option 1 is about the importance of self-examination and rumination. All other sentences argue against rumination. The sentence order 4325 makes a coherent paragraph about illeism or speaking about oneself in the third person.
1. Ocean plastic is problematic for a number of reasons, but primarily because marine animals eat it.
2. The largest numerical proportion of ocean plastic falls in small size fractions.
3. Aside from clogging up the digestive tracts of marine life, plastic also tends to adsorb pollutants from the water column.
4. Plastic in the oceans is arguably one of the most important and pervasive environmental problems today.
5. Eating plastic has a number of negative consequences such as the retention of plastic particles in the gut for longer periods than normal food particles.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
Sentences 1, 3, 4 and 5 relate to plastic in oceans affecting marine life, producing pervasive environmental problems. On the other hand, option 2 talks of the 'largest numerical proportion' of ocean plastic ‘falling in small size fractions’ – an unrelated idea.
1. A particularly interesting example of inference occurs in many single panel comics.
2. It’s the creator’s participation and imagination that makes the single-panel comic so engaging and so rewarding.
3. Often, the humor requires you to imagine what happened in the instant immediately before or immediately after the panel you’re being shown.
4. To get the joke, you actually have to figure out what some of these missing panels must be.
5. It is as though the cartoonist devised a series of panels to tell the story and has chosen to show you only one – and typically not even the funniest.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
While sentences 1, 3, 4 and 5 relate to the reader of the single panel comic and the importance of the reader's ability to infer what happened before and after, sentence 2 is about the creator of the comics. So, 2 is the odd one out.
1. Socrates told us that ‘the unexamined life is not worth living’ and that to ‘know thyself’ is the path to true wisdom
2. It suggests that you should adopt an ancient rhetorical method favored by the likes of Julius Caesar and known as ‘illeism’ – or speaking about yourself in the third person.
3. Research has shown that people who are prone to rumination also often suffer from impaired decision making under pressure and are at a substantially increased risk of depression.
4. Simple rumination – the process of churning your concerns around in your head – is not the way to achieve self-realization.
5. The idea is that this small change in perspective can clear your emotional fog, allowing you to see past your biases.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
Option 1 is about the importance of self-examination and rumination. All other sentences argue against rumination. The sentence order 4325 makes a coherent paragraph about illeism or speaking about oneself in the third person.
1. Ocean plastic is problematic for a number of reasons, but primarily because marine animals eat it.
2. The largest numerical proportion of ocean plastic falls in small size fractions.
3. Aside from clogging up the digestive tracts of marine life, plastic also tends to adsorb pollutants from the water column.
4. Plastic in the oceans is arguably one of the most important and pervasive environmental problems today.
5. Eating plastic has a number of negative consequences such as the retention of plastic particles in the gut for longer periods than normal food particles.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
Sentences 1, 3, 4 and 5 relate to plastic in oceans affecting marine life, producing pervasive environmental problems. On the other hand, option 2 talks of the 'largest numerical proportion' of ocean plastic ‘falling in small size fractions’ – an unrelated idea.
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Language is an autapomorphy found only in our lineage, and not shared with other branches of our group such as primates. We also have no definitive evidence that any species other than Homo sapiens ever had language. However, it must be noted straightaway that ‘language’ is not a monolithic entity, but rather a complex bundle of traits that must have evolved over a significant time frame.... Moreover, language crucially draws on aspects of cognition that are long established in the primate lineage, such as memory: the language faculty as a whole comprises more than just the uniquely linguistic features.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The key idea of the passage is that language, which is unique to humans, is more than just linguistic features. It is a complex bundle of traits evolved over time that crucially draws on important cognitive aspects such as memory.
Option 3 is the only option that mentions the idea of language drawing upon aspects of cognition, such as memory. This is mentioned as a crucial feature in the paragraph and must hence feature in the summary.
Social movement organizations often struggle to mobilize supporters from allied movements in their efforts to achieve critical mass. Organizations with hybrid identities—those whose organizational identities span the boundaries of two or more social movements, issues, or identities—are vital to mobilizing these constituencies. Studies of the post-9/11 U.S. antiwar movement show that individuals with past involvement in non-anti-war movements are more likely to join hybrid organizations than are individuals without involvement in non-anti-war movements. In addition, they show that organizations with hybrid identities occupy relatively more central positions in inter-organizational contact networks within the antiwar movement and thus recruit significantly more participants in demonstrations than do nonhybrid organizations.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The main idea of the paragraph is that hybrid organizations are more powerful and have higher ability to achieve critical mass as individuals with past involvement in other movements are more likely to join hybrid organizations. Option 4 captures the key ideas of the paragraph best.
Note here that though the paragraph cities the example of studies of the post-9/11 U.S. anti-war movement, this is not the focus of the passage. The example simply illustrates the idea that individuals with different points of view are more likely to join hybrid organisations.
Privacy-challenged office workers may find it hard to believe, but open-plan offices and cubicles were invented by architects and designers who thought that to break down the social walls that divide people, you had to break down the real walls, too. Modernist architects saw walls and rooms as downright fascist. The spaciousness and flexibility of an open plan would liberate homeowners and office dwellers from the confines of boxes. But companies took up their idea less out of a democratic ideology than a desire to pack in as many workers as they could. The typical open-plan office of the first half of the 20th century was a white-collar assembly line. Cubicles were interior designers’ attempt to put some soul back in.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The paragraph given explains that while open-plan offices were created with the idea of liberating workers, things did not work to plan, as companies used these spaces to cram in as many workers as they could, in a soul-less "white-collar assembly line".
Option 3 states that wall-free spaces 'could have worked out' had companies cared for workers' satisfaction. But the paragraph given merely talks of why the idea of wall-free office spaces failed: 3 is hence not a satisfactory summary of the paragraph.
Option 4 is incorrect as it goes too far. The paragraph says companies took up the idea of wall-free spaces less out of a democratic ideology than a desire to pack in workers. This does not imply that companies don't believe in democratic ideology.
Options 1 and 2 are close, but 2 is a better option than 1 as it brings in the points about the ‘utopian’ (idealistic) intentions of the inventors of wall-free offices and the way cramming of workers became a means of invading their privacy and exploiting them.
Language is an autapomorphy found only in our lineage, and not shared with other branches of our group such as primates. We also have no definitive evidence that any species other than Homo sapiens ever had language. However, it must be noted straightaway that ‘language’ is not a monolithic entity, but rather a complex bundle of traits that must have evolved over a significant time frame.... Moreover, language crucially draws on aspects of cognition that are long established in the primate lineage, such as memory: the language faculty as a whole comprises more than just the uniquely linguistic features.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The key idea of the passage is that language, which is unique to humans, is more than just linguistic features. It is a complex bundle of traits evolved over time that crucially draws on important cognitive aspects such as memory.
Option 3 is the only option that mentions the idea of language drawing upon aspects of cognition, such as memory. This is mentioned as a crucial feature in the paragraph and must hence feature in the summary.
Social movement organizations often struggle to mobilize supporters from allied movements in their efforts to achieve critical mass. Organizations with hybrid identities—those whose organizational identities span the boundaries of two or more social movements, issues, or identities—are vital to mobilizing these constituencies. Studies of the post-9/11 U.S. antiwar movement show that individuals with past involvement in non-anti-war movements are more likely to join hybrid organizations than are individuals without involvement in non-anti-war movements. In addition, they show that organizations with hybrid identities occupy relatively more central positions in inter-organizational contact networks within the antiwar movement and thus recruit significantly more participants in demonstrations than do nonhybrid organizations.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The main idea of the paragraph is that hybrid organizations are more powerful and have higher ability to achieve critical mass as individuals with past involvement in other movements are more likely to join hybrid organizations. Option 4 captures the key ideas of the paragraph best.
Note here that though the paragraph cities the example of studies of the post-9/11 U.S. anti-war movement, this is not the focus of the passage. The example simply illustrates the idea that individuals with different points of view are more likely to join hybrid organisations.
Privacy-challenged office workers may find it hard to believe, but open-plan offices and cubicles were invented by architects and designers who thought that to break down the social walls that divide people, you had to break down the real walls, too. Modernist architects saw walls and rooms as downright fascist. The spaciousness and flexibility of an open plan would liberate homeowners and office dwellers from the confines of boxes. But companies took up their idea less out of a democratic ideology than a desire to pack in as many workers as they could. The typical open-plan office of the first half of the 20th century was a white-collar assembly line. Cubicles were interior designers’ attempt to put some soul back in.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The paragraph given explains that while open-plan offices were created with the idea of liberating workers, things did not work to plan, as companies used these spaces to cram in as many workers as they could, in a soul-less "white-collar assembly line".
Option 3 states that wall-free spaces 'could have worked out' had companies cared for workers' satisfaction. But the paragraph given merely talks of why the idea of wall-free office spaces failed: 3 is hence not a satisfactory summary of the paragraph.
Option 4 is incorrect as it goes too far. The paragraph says companies took up the idea of wall-free spaces less out of a democratic ideology than a desire to pack in workers. This does not imply that companies don't believe in democratic ideology.
Options 1 and 2 are close, but 2 is a better option than 1 as it brings in the points about the ‘utopian’ (idealistic) intentions of the inventors of wall-free offices and the way cramming of workers became a means of invading their privacy and exploiting them.
The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4) given below, when properly sequenced would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequence of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer.
1. Conceptualisations of ‘women’s time’ as contrary to clock-time and clock-time as synonymous with economic rationalism are two of the deleterious results of this representation.
2. While dichotomies of ‘men’s time’, ‘women’s time’, clock-time, and caring time can be analytically useful, this article argues that everyday caring practices incorporate a multiplicity of times; and both men and women can engage in these multiple-times
3. When the everyday practices of working sole fathers and working sole mothers are carefully examined to explore conceptualisations of gendered time, it is found that caring time is often more focused on the clock than generally theorised.
4. Clock-time has been consistently represented in feminist literature as a masculine artefact representative of a ‘time is money’ perspective.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
Tricky question.
Sentence 1 says that conceptualisations of 'women's time' as contrary to clock-time and clock-time as synonymous with economic rationalism are two results of "this representation". The representation referred to here can only be the representation of clock-time in feminist literature as a masculine 'time is money' artefact—mentioned in sentence 4. Feminist literature representing clock-time as masculine implies the conceptualisation of 'women's time' as contrary to clock-time. The idea that time is money relates to economic rationalism. So, sentence 1 follows sentence 4.
Sentence 3 introduces the idea of 'caring time'. Sentence 2 mentions all 4 conceptualisations of time referred to in sentences 4, 1 and 3. It is best placed at the end of the paragraph as it lays down the main premise of 'this article' that everyday caring practices incorporate a multiplicity of times. So, 4132 is the right order.
1. Living things—animals and plants—typically exhibit correlational structure.
2. Adaptive behaviour depends on cognitive economy, treating objects as equivalent.
3. The information we receive from our senses, from the world, typically has structure and order, and is not arbitrary.
4. To categorize an object means to consider it equivalent to other things in that category, and different—along some salient dimension—from things that are not.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The sentences given relate to adaptive behaviour, so sentence 2 offers the best start to the paragraph. Sentence 2 states that adaptive behaviour depends on cognitive economy—that is, minimising thinking and information processing effort—by treating objects as equivalent. Sentence 4 elaborates what 'treating objects as equivalent' involves. So, 4 follows 2. Of the remaining sentences, 3 logically follows 2, as it explains that the information we receive from the world has both structure and order. This introduces the idea of ‘structure’ in the living world. Sentence 1 adds to 3. So, 2431 is the correct order.
1. To the uninitiated listener, atonal music can sound like chaotic, random noise.
2. Atonality is a condition of music in which the constructs of the music do not ‘live’ within the confines of a particular key signature, scale, or mode.
3. After you realize the amount of knowledge, skill, and technical expertise required to compose or perform it, your tune may change, so to speak.
4. However, atonality is one of the most important movements in 20th century music.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
Sentence 2 introduces the idea of 'atonality' in music. So, it is the best sentence to start the paragraph. Sentence 1 adds to 2, explaining that atonal music may seem like noise to the uninitiated listener. 2 leads to 4, which states that atonality is one of the most important movements in 20th century music. 3 adds to 4, explaining that a lot of knowledge, skill, and technical expertise required to compose or perform atonal music. 2143 is the logical order.
1. Such a belief in the harmony of nature requires a purpose presumably imposed by the goodness and wisdom of a deity.
2. These parts, all fit together into an integrated, well-ordered system that was created by design.
3. Historically, the notion of a balance of nature is part observational, part metaphysical, and not scientific in any way.
4. It is an example of an ancient belief system called teleology, the notion that what we call nature has a predetermined destiny associated with its component parts.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
Of the given sentences, sentence 3 is the best opening statement. 3 leads on to 4, which defines teleology and the idea of nature as having a predetermined destiny with component parts. 2, which starts off with "these parts" clearly follows 4. 1 sums up the paragraph. So, 3421 is the correct order.
1. Conceptualisations of ‘women’s time’ as contrary to clock-time and clock-time as synonymous with economic rationalism are two of the deleterious results of this representation.
2. While dichotomies of ‘men’s time’, ‘women’s time’, clock-time, and caring time can be analytically useful, this article argues that everyday caring practices incorporate a multiplicity of times; and both men and women can engage in these multiple-times
3. When the everyday practices of working sole fathers and working sole mothers are carefully examined to explore conceptualisations of gendered time, it is found that caring time is often more focused on the clock than generally theorised.
4. Clock-time has been consistently represented in feminist literature as a masculine artefact representative of a ‘time is money’ perspective.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
Tricky question.
Sentence 1 says that conceptualisations of 'women's time' as contrary to clock-time and clock-time as synonymous with economic rationalism are two results of "this representation". The representation referred to here can only be the representation of clock-time in feminist literature as a masculine 'time is money' artefact—mentioned in sentence 4. Feminist literature representing clock-time as masculine implies the conceptualisation of 'women's time' as contrary to clock-time. The idea that time is money relates to economic rationalism. So, sentence 1 follows sentence 4.
Sentence 3 introduces the idea of 'caring time'. Sentence 2 mentions all 4 conceptualisations of time referred to in sentences 4, 1 and 3. It is best placed at the end of the paragraph as it lays down the main premise of 'this article' that everyday caring practices incorporate a multiplicity of times. So, 4132 is the right order.
1. Living things—animals and plants—typically exhibit correlational structure.
2. Adaptive behaviour depends on cognitive economy, treating objects as equivalent.
3. The information we receive from our senses, from the world, typically has structure and order, and is not arbitrary.
4. To categorize an object means to consider it equivalent to other things in that category, and different—along some salient dimension—from things that are not.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
The sentences given relate to adaptive behaviour, so sentence 2 offers the best start to the paragraph. Sentence 2 states that adaptive behaviour depends on cognitive economy—that is, minimising thinking and information processing effort—by treating objects as equivalent. Sentence 4 elaborates what 'treating objects as equivalent' involves. So, 4 follows 2. Of the remaining sentences, 3 logically follows 2, as it explains that the information we receive from the world has both structure and order. This introduces the idea of ‘structure’ in the living world. Sentence 1 adds to 3. So, 2431 is the correct order.
1. To the uninitiated listener, atonal music can sound like chaotic, random noise.
2. Atonality is a condition of music in which the constructs of the music do not ‘live’ within the confines of a particular key signature, scale, or mode.
3. After you realize the amount of knowledge, skill, and technical expertise required to compose or perform it, your tune may change, so to speak.
4. However, atonality is one of the most important movements in 20th century music.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
Sentence 2 introduces the idea of 'atonality' in music. So, it is the best sentence to start the paragraph. Sentence 1 adds to 2, explaining that atonal music may seem like noise to the uninitiated listener. 2 leads to 4, which states that atonality is one of the most important movements in 20th century music. 3 adds to 4, explaining that a lot of knowledge, skill, and technical expertise required to compose or perform atonal music. 2143 is the logical order.
1. Such a belief in the harmony of nature requires a purpose presumably imposed by the goodness and wisdom of a deity.
2. These parts, all fit together into an integrated, well-ordered system that was created by design.
3. Historically, the notion of a balance of nature is part observational, part metaphysical, and not scientific in any way.
4. It is an example of an ancient belief system called teleology, the notion that what we call nature has a predetermined destiny associated with its component parts.
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
Of the given sentences, sentence 3 is the best opening statement. 3 leads on to 4, which defines teleology and the idea of nature as having a predetermined destiny with component parts. 2, which starts off with "these parts" clearly follows 4. 1 sums up the paragraph. So, 3421 is the correct order.
Which of the following observations is a valid conclusion to draw from the author’s statement that “the logical structure of endogenous change does not apply here. Here transformation agendas attack as an external force”?
Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer
‘Endogenous change’ means change from within. The first line means that the transformation of the Indian society did not proceed due to changes within the system. ‘Transformation agendas attack as an external force’ means the agenda to transform the society was imposed upon by external forces. Here, the external force is the colonial agenda. Option 4 sums this up best.