CAT 2024 VARC Questions — Slot 1

A para-summary: the winning option states the main point and the cause the paragraph gives for it.

Main point. Cartographers used to not worry much about who read their maps. That has changed: "due to all kinds of societal and technological developments," readers are now more demanding — largely because of the tools they use — so cartographers now care whether their maps are efficient, effective and appreciated (i.e. usable).

Why A is right. "Today, cartographers also need to look into the usability of maps because of the new technological developments" states both the shift (usability now matters) and its cause (technological developments).

Why the others fail.

• B adds "through a series of experiments" — the passage never says cartographers run experiments; that detail is unsupported.
• C keeps only the readers-are-more-demanding half and drops the cartographers' usability response and the technological cause.
• D reframes the change as cartographers "experimenting with innovations," but the point is reader usability, not playing with new technology.

Answer: A

A para-summary: the best summary carries the paragraph's main point together with its cause — not just one true-sounding detail.

Main point. The paragraph lists striking animal abilities (dogs detecting disease, elephants and whales communicating over miles) but its real payoff is the last line: animals share many emotions with us because we share brain structures in the limbic system, "the seat of our emotions." Shared brain structure (cause) explains shared emotions (effect).

Why B is right. "The similarity in brain structure explains why animals show emotions typically associated with humans" captures precisely that cause-to-effect link.

Why the others fail.

• A pins the emotions on "sensory and motor abilities" — the wrong cause; the passage gives brain structure.
• C states a true sub-point (animals show human-like emotions) but drops the why — it misses the brain-structure explanation that is the paragraph's whole point.
• D narrows everything to intelligence and disease-detection and omits the emotion-and-brain core entirely.

Answer: B

A sentence-insertion question: look for the slot where the inserted sentence gives the next sentence's pronoun something to refer to, and where its wording is echoed straight after.

Missing sentence: "Understanding central Asia's role helps developments make more sense not only across Asia but in Europe, the Americas and Africa."

Try slot 4: "The Silk Roads are the world's central nervous system… [insert] It allows us to see patterns and links, causes and effects that remain invisible if one looks only at Europe, or North America."

Two signals lock it in. First, "It" in the following sentence now has a clean referent — understanding central Asia's role. Second, the continents named in the inserted sentence (Europe, the Americas, Africa) are immediately echoed by "Europe, or North America." No other slot offers both a pronoun match and this geographic echo.

Answer: Option 4 (D)

A sentence-insertion question: the missing sentence belongs where the sentence right after it develops the very idea it introduces.

Missing sentence: "Comprehending a wide range of emotions, Renaissance music nevertheless portrayed all emotions in a balanced and moderate fashion."

Try slot 3: "Renaissance music was mostly polyphonic in texture. [insert] Extreme use of and contrasts in dynamics, rhythm, and tone colour do not occur. The rhythms… tend to have a smooth, soft flow…"

The inserted sentence supplies the theme — balanced and moderate — and the sentence immediately after ("Extreme use… do not occur") is its direct elaboration: no extremes is what balanced and moderate means. No other slot gives "balanced and moderate" anything to attach to; slots 1, 2 and 4 sit among ideas about the music boom and polyphony, which the inserted line does not continue.

Answer: Option 3 (B)

A main-argument question: trace the passage's spine end to end and pick the option that names the mechanism it keeps returning to.

Why B is right. The passage's central claim is that as art is created, stored and distributed digitally, access to it becomes paradoxically more fragile — threatened by two forces. First, "the rapid churn in technology": changing file formats, data decay, and the "sisyphean" need to keep migrating files. Second, "the whims of host platforms": HBO Max's quiet removals, geo-blocked rights, Apple's DRM lock-in. B names both forces precisely.

Why the others fail.

• A gestures at the theme but stays vague and never states the mechanism (tech churn plus platform whim) the whole passage builds toward.
• C turns the editing example into a claim about creators getting lazy — not the argument; the Stranger Things edit is offered as evidence of untrustworthy custody, not of reduced effort.
• D ("must remain available in perpetuity") is the critics' position, which the author raises as something to be tested — "whether… the right one" — not the passage's own thesis.

Answer: B

To invalidate an argument you must dissolve its central worry, not just one sub-example — so first name the core claim.

The main argument: digital art access is precarious because platforms control it (removals, DRM, geo-blocking) and technology churns (formats, data decay). The strongest counter removes the platform-control half at its root.

Why B is right. If studios and streaming services "commit to giving customers perpetual and platform-independent access" to content they have paid for, then the central fears — quiet removals, Apple lock-in, losing a film when you move countries — vanish at the source. B strikes the root of the argument.

Why the others fail.

• A only proves Blu-ray durability — it settles one physical-media sub-point and leaves the digital-access argument untouched.
• C (VPNs to dodge geo-blocking) fixes only the geography problem, not removals or DRM.
• D (cloud storage ending file migration) fixes only the data-decay half; platform removals would still stand.

Answer: B

The key is the phrase "Back then, at least…," which is built to set up a contrast with today — so read for the implication about the present.

Why B is right. "At least" signals that ephemerality was the accepted norm then: a film was "as good as gone once it left your local cinema." The unstated contrast is that today films are expected to remain available long after their cinema run — the very reason audiences are surprised when studios remove them. B spells out that implication: today films are expected to be available for a long time, no longer tied solely to the cinema.

Why the others fail.

• A is plausible but stays on the past side and never draws the contrast the "at least" is designed to make.
• C attributes the change to "improved technology," which the passage does not — the contrast is about expectations and back-catalogues, not preservation tech.
• D is a normative overreach ("no reason studios should…"); the sentence implies an expectation, not a rule.

Answer: B

Ask what role the Stranger Things example plays in its own sentence — it is grouped with the HBO Max removals as "vindication" for a particular warning.

Why C is right. The sentence reads: "The news seemed like vindication to those who had long warned that streaming was… controlling access to the cultural commons…, as did reports… that Netflix had begun editing old episodes of Stranger Things." The editing example is cited to justify the fears of people who distrust streaming services as custodians of cultural artefacts — quietly altering old episodes is exactly the kind of tampering a poor custodian does. C matches that vindication role.

Why the others fail.

• A ("controlling access… rather than expanding it") fits the HBO removal half; editing content is about altering the artefact, not access, so A does not fit this example.
• B hinges on the reports being "unsubstantiated," but the "(since denied)" is a parenthetical aside, not the example's purpose.
• D makes a sweeping claim that art is "no longer sacrosanct"; the example's local job is to vindicate specific distrust, not to argue a general thesis about changing tastes.

Answer: C

"Homo economicus" is the textbook model-person of economics — so find what the passage attributes to that figure specifically.

Why C is right. The passage lays out the model: people have "preferences" that "get revealed in the course of peoples' choices," and "interests come before actions and determine them" — you spend scarce resources to best satisfy those interests. It calls this figure the "textbook maximizer." That is someone who makes rational decisions based on their own preferences.

Why the others fail.

• A ("not influenced by the preferences and choices of others") is never discussed — the passage says nothing about others' influence.
• B ("borrowing and collaborating with other disciplines") describes the discipline of economics and its recent openness, not the model-person.
• D tacks on "nonmarket choices," but that was Becker's application of the model to nonmarket life — not part of what homo economicus itself means.

Answer: C

This is a tone question: read "Times have changed for the once almighty discipline" together with the paragraph around it.

Why A is right. The author is wryly marking a reversal of fortune. Economists were once "imperial" — projecting their methods outward (Becker on crime and marriage) while refusing to let other fields into their own realm. Now they "reach out, import, borrow, and collaborate," becoming "less imperial, more open." The phrase "once almighty" carries clear irony at their earlier pretension. A captures exactly that: economists who earlier shunned other disciplines are now incorporating them.

Why the others fail.

• B blames "inability to precisely predict market behaviour" — the passage never gives prediction failure as the reason for the shift; that is invented.
• C speaks of "crises" and the "downfall of this lofty science," but economics is described as opening up, not collapsing.
• D says the author is critical of the borrowing — the opposite; the author approves of the new openness, praising Piketty and behavioural economics.

Answer: A

Pin down exactly what the author faults in Shiller — the criticism is stated in one precise line.

Why C is right. The passage says: "Yet institutions have been stripped from Shiller's account, to reveal a bare dynamic of emotions and economics, without the intermediating place of politics." Shiller connects perceptions and narratives to behaviour and social outcomes, but he leaves out the social institutions (parties, lobby groups, media) that the author insists must mediate that cycle. C states this precisely: he links emotions and behaviour without the mediation of social institutions.

Why the others fail.

• A calls the role of media and politics "marginal," but the passage stresses institutions played a "vital" role — A reverses the emphasis.
• B says Shiller "denigrated" institutions; he merely omitted (stripped) them. Actively attacking is not the same as leaving out.
• D faults Shiller for excess storytelling, yet the author credits him with usefully bringing storytelling in — the only fault is the missing institutions.

Answer: C

The question asks what the first paragraph says economists like Becker actually did — so read the paragraph's own description of his practice.

Why C is right. Becker "projected economics outward" — applying market methods to nonmarket life such as crime and domesticity — "but did not let other ways of thinking enter his own economic realm… he did not borrow from anthropology or history." In short, he used economics to analyse non-market behaviour, without incorporating perspectives from other disciplines. C.

Why the others fail.

• A ("benefitted") reads approval into a paragraph the author frames critically — "the imperial economist… bravura."
• B reverses the facts: Becker did not borrow from other disciplines.
• D ("guarding their discipline from poaching") would mean stopping others from applying economics to their turf; Becker's one-way street was the opposite — he wouldn't let other disciplines' thinking into economics.

Answer: C

This asks for the one trait shared by two things the passage treats as opposites — medieval craft guilds and mass production — so hunt for the property the text attaches to both.

Why A is right. Near the end the author states that "the link between crafts and creativity is not automatic," and shows the medieval guilds "knocked" the innovative spirit out of long-serving apprentices — so guilds did not necessarily promote creativity. Mass production, the guilds' opposite in the passage, is likewise about efficiency and standardised parts, "let the machines automate dull and repetitive tasks" — creativity is plainly not its aim either. So, despite being opposites, both share the feature of not necessarily fostering creativity. The qualifier "not necessarily" matters: the claim is that creativity wasn't guaranteed, not that it never happened.

Why the others fail.

• B ("restricting entry through strict rules") fits guilds, which "resisted new entrants," but not mass production — so the "both" requirement breaks.
• C notes guilds were hierarchical, but the passage never makes hierarchy the shared feature with mass production; it is a tangent.
• D ("focused excessively on product quality") suits neither — mass production trades handcraft quality for standardisation.

Answer: A

"NOT inconsistent" is a double negative that simply means "consistent with the passage" — so pick the statement the author would actually endorse.

Why B is right. The passage's closing line is explicit: "Craft workers can thrive in the modern era, but only if they don't get too organised." That is exactly B — if the market for artisan goods becomes too organised, creativity gets stifled. The whole medieval-guild example exists to make this very point: over-organisation kills innovation.

Why the others fail.

• A calls creativity "intrinsic" to craft production, but the passage insists the crafts-creativity link is "not automatic" — A reverses the author's stance.
• C gets the history backwards: the Arts and Crafts movement was a reaction against the "American system" of mass production, not inspired by it.
• D ties the agile movement to medieval guilds, but agile is praised for prioritising "individuals and interactions over processes and tools" — the opposite of the hierarchical, monopolistic guilds.

Answer: B

The question wants the specific present-day reason the author gives for doubting that crafts can create large-scale employment — so find the sentence that states it.

Why B is right. The author writes: "In a world where products and services often have to pass through regulatory hoops, large companies will usually have the advantage." That is precisely B — regulatory requirements make it hard for small crafts outfits to compete, so they cannot scale up and hire in large numbers.

Why the others fail.

• A ("low scale of crafts production") is never claimed; the author does not argue that crafts are inherently small-scale.
• C distorts the retraining point. The author asks whether it will be "easy to retrain" displaced workers such as truck drivers — a question of feasibility — whereas C reframes it as workers being "unlikely to opt for" crafts work, a matter of willingness.
• D reaches for the historical guild example, but the author's present-tense worry is retraining plus regulation, not guilds resisting entry.

Answer: B

An EXCEPT question: list the real drivers of the most recent crafts revival that the passage names, then pick the option that is not one of them.

The passage attributes the recent (third) crafts movement to: environmental concern — "a third crafts movement is emerging as people become aware of the environmental impact of conventional industry"; a premium market of buyers "willing to pay a premium price for goods… of extra quality"; and a market of consumers who "support local workers" or reduce their environmental impact by mending and recycling.

• B (environmental concern), C (the quality-premium niche) and D (buying locally) are all named drivers.
• A — "support for individual creations as opposed to mass-produced objects" — describes the general, timeless ethos of craft (the "human touch and individual judgment") that has always defined it. It is not a newly emergent cause of the most recent revival, so it is the EXCEPT.

Answer: A

A sentence-insertion question: the missing sentence should state a thesis that the next line immediately spells out — and it should not clash with imagery used later.

Missing sentence: "The brain isn't organized the way you might set up your home office or bathroom medicine cabinet."

Try slot 1: "[insert] You can't just put things anywhere you want to. The evolved architecture of the brain is haphazard and disjointed…"

The inserted sentence states the thesis — the brain is not a neatly organised space — and "You can't just put things anywhere you want to" is its immediate consequence, a natural opening. Crucially, the paragraph later closes with a different metaphor, "a big, old house with piecemeal renovations," so dropping the home-office image at slot 3 or 4 would collide with that closing house picture. Slot 1 is the clean fit.

Answer: Option 1 (B)

This is an odd-one-out: find the single idea that unites four of the sentences into a paragraph, then spot the one that does not join the chain.

The unifying thread is the puzzle of falling public-transport use and its explanation:

• 5 opens with the puzzle: a "puzzling decline" in urban public-transport use across the West, despite growing populations and rising employment.
• 3 follows — "this trend" loops straight back to 5, listing the usual scapegoats: worsening service, metro attacks, higher fares.
• 4 gives the author's preferred, deeper reason: "It seems more likely" that transport is being squeezed structurally because people simply need to travel less (smartphones, videoconferencing, online shopping).
• 1 adds a second structural pressure: "Urbanites also have more and better options" — Uber, dockless bikes, scooters.

So 5 → 3 → 4 → 1 reads cleanly. Sentence 2 — "When more people use buses or trains the service usually improves" — is a general truism about ridership lifting service quality. It has nothing to do with why ridership is falling here; it neither follows 5 nor leads anywhere. It is the odd one out.

Answer: 2

In an odd-one-out, four sentences share one tight thread and the fifth wanders off it. Find the thread, then the stray.

The four that belong all revolve around Peter Singer and his case for animal rights:

• Sentence 4 opens the paragraph: it names the event — Singer's Animal Liberation (1975) — that first made animal rights a serious philosophical topic. A true opener introduces its subject with no back-reference, and 4 does exactly that.
• Sentence 2 says what his theory is: Singer saw himself as a utilitarian offering a direct moral theory, unlike indirect (welfarist) views.
• Sentence 3 gives his reason: "He argued for extending moral consideration to animals because... animals have certain significant interests." The "He" points straight back to Singer.
• Sentence 5 draws the conclusion: "As such, we ought to view their interests... equal to human interests." "As such" ties back to 3, and "their" = animals.

So 4 → 2 → 3 → 5 runs smoothly: who started it → what the theory is → why → what follows.

Sentence 1 — "Animals have an interest in fulfilling their basic needs... and thus we ought to extend moral consideration" — never mentions Singer and simply restates the idea already carried by sentence 3 (animals have interests, so extend moral consideration). It neither advances the chain nor connects to it, so it is the odd one out.

Answer: 1

The flattering new name is "ecosystem engineers" — so find the behaviour that earned it.

Why A is right. The nickname comes from the bandicoots' "constant digging": they "trap moisture and allow for seed germination so the cattle-damaged desert can restore itself." That is literally altering an arid environment — turning damaged desert into land that can recover. A.

Why the others fail.

• B — reviving the species is the conservation program's goal, but "ecosystem engineers" refers to transforming the landscape, not saving the bandicoot itself.
• C — the population did grow to about 100, but population size is not what earned the name.
• D — reverses cause and effect: the rainfall caused the joey boom; the bandicoots did not cause the rainfall.

Answer: A

A NOT-a-characteristic question: match each option against the passage's actual description and find the one with a misstated detail.

The passage's facts: small-bodied and slender-snouted; nicknamed "zebra rat" for its black-striped rump; the smallest bandicoot; carries babies in a backward-facing pouch; digs shallow, camouflaged shelters; has a long muzzle.

• A (shallow diggers with an elongated muzzle) — accurate.
• C (rat-like, with a baby pouch and slender snout) — accurate.
• D (long thin nose, black-striped back, pouch for joeys) — accurate.
• B calls it the "smallest… marsupial," but the passage says the smallest bandicoot. Broadening "bandicoot" to "marsupial" overstates the claim, so B is the option that does not correctly represent the species.

Answer: B

An "exclosure" is a fence built to keep something out — so ask what Wild Deserts is keeping out.

Why D is right. The two fenced "exclosures" were "cleared of invasive rabbits (courtesy of Pedler's sheepdog) and of feral cats." The fences exist to bar invasive species from the protected area. D.

Why the others fail.

• A — restoring the desert to green is a result of the bandicoots' digging; it is not what the word "exclosure" denotes.
• B — bilbies are kept inside a separate Wild Training Zone, not excluded; and the exclosures are about rabbits and cats, not bilbies.
• C — the islands were already predator-free; the exclosures are on the mainland preserve. Wrong setting.

Answer: D

A gist question: the passage has a clear two-part arc — near-extinction, then a rescue using island survivors — so pick the option that captures both halves.

Why D is right. "A type of bandicoots was nearly wiped out by invasive species" covers the decline (cattle, rabbits, feral cats), and "rescuers now pin hopes on a remnant island population" covers Wild Deserts using the Shark Bay island survivors to seed a mainland revival. D captures the whole arc.

Why the others fail.

• A says the bandicoot went extinct — but it survived on two islands — and it captures only the decline half.
• B blames the colonists' "negligent attitude" and the names for the "annihilation," but the nicknames did not cause the decline; invasive predators did.
• C generalises to all marsupials and drops the rescue-and-revival half entirely.

Answer: D

A para-summary: capture the paragraph's central claim together with its consequence, without overstating.

Main point. Language and visual signs are codes. Some codes are so widespread, and learned so early, that they appear natural — but they are really naturalised codes, and this naturalisation has the effect of hiding the coding mechanism behind the signs.

Why C is right. "Language and visual signs are codes. However, some of the codes are so widespread that they not only seem naturally given but also hide the mechanism of coding behind the signs" captures both halves — codes that appear natural and conceal the coding.

Why the others fail.

• A says "all such codes appear natural," but the passage limits this to "certain codes"; it also misstates the ideological point.
• B says "ideology aims to hide," treating ideology as a deliberate agent — the passage calls the concealing an effect, not a goal.
• D claims "all codes have a natural origin," which reverses the passage: codes are constructed, only later made to seem natural.

Answer: C