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CAT 2024 VARC Questions — Slot 2

The actual Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension section from CAT 2024, Slot 2 — 24 questions in original paper order, each with a full worked solution. Tap an option (or type your answer) to check yourself before reading the solution.

24 questions22 MCQ · 2 TITA40 min section0/24 attempted
Q1Para CompletionMCQ

There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide where (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit. Sentence: Yet each day the flock produced eggs with calcareous shells though they apparently had not ingested any calcium from land which was entirely lacking in limestone. Paragraph: Early in this century a young Breton schoolboy who preparing himself for a scientific career began to notice a strange fact about hens in his father's poultry yard. ___(1) ___. As they scratched the soil they constantly seemed to be pecking at specks of mica, a siliceous material dotting the ground. ___(2)___. No one could explain to Louis Kervran why the chickens selected the mica, or why each time a bird was killed for the family cooking pot no trace of the mica could be found in its gizzard. ___(3) ___. It took Kervran many years to establish that the chickens were transmuting one element into another. ___(4)___.

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Correct answer: B

Place the sentence where it completes the puzzle the paragraph is building — and where its opening "Yet" has a real contrast to push against.

This line supplies the second half of a mystery: hens laying calcium-shelled eggs with no calcium in their diet. It belongs right before the resolution. At blank 3: "...no trace of the mica could be found in its gizzard. Yet each day the flock produced eggs with calcareous shells though they apparently had not ingested any calcium... It took Kervran many years to establish that the chickens were transmuting one element into another." Placed here, both riddles sit side by side — mica vanishes, calcium shells appear from nowhere — and the next line resolves both at once.

Why the others fail:

  • Blank 1: "Yet" has no earlier contrast at the very start of the story.
  • Blank 2: it would break the tight observation-then-puzzle pair ("pecked at mica" ↔ "no one could explain why the chickens selected the mica").
  • Blank 4: it states the mystery after it has already been resolved — backwards.

Answer: Option 3 (position 3)

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Q2Para SummaryMCQ

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage. Recent important scientific findings have emerged from crossing the boundaries of scientific fields. They stem from physicists collaborating with biologists, sociologists and others, to answer questions about our world. But physicists and their potential collaborators often find their cultures out of sync. For one, physicists often discard a lot of information while extracting broad patterns; for other scientists, information is not readily disposed. Further, many non- physicists are uncomfortable with mathematical models. Still, the desire to work on something new and different is real, and there are clear benefits from the collision of views.

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Correct answer: A

The right summary captures the whole arc — the promise, the obstacle, and the payoff.

The passage runs: important recent findings come from crossing scientific fields (physicists working with biologists, sociologists and others); but the cultures clash (physicists discard detail to find broad patterns, others hold on to detail, and many non-physicists distrust mathematical models); still, the "collision of views" brings clear benefits.

Why A. "Despite differences in their research styles, physicists' research collaborations with scholars from other disciplines have yielded important research findings" holds all three beats — the differences, the collaboration, and the important findings.

Why the others fail:

  • B invents "large data sets" and misreads the math point: non-physicists are uncomfortable with mathematical models, not combining them with physicists' methods.
  • C shrinks the collaborators to "social scientists" (the passage names biologists, sociologists and others) and drops the differences-yet-findings core.
  • D overstates "buried their differences" — the passage says the cultures stay "out of sync."

Answer: A

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Q3Para CompletionMCQ

There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide where (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit. Sentence: [T]he Europeans did not invent globalization. Paragraph: The first phase of globalization occurred long before the introduction of either steam or electric power…Chinese consumers at all social levels consumed vast quantities of spices, fragrant woods and unusual plants. The peoples of Southeast Asia who lived in forests gave up their traditional livelihoods and completely reoriented their economies to supply Chinese consumers….___(1)___. These exchanges of the year 1000 opened some of the routes through which goods and peoples continued to travel after Columbus traversed the mid- Atlantic. ___(2)___. Yet the world of 1000 differed from that of 1492 in important ways….the travellers who encountered one another in the year 1000 were much closer technologically. ___(3)___. They changed and augmented what was already there since 1000. ___(4)___. If globalization hadn’t yet begun, Europeans wouldn’t have been able to penetrate the markets in so many places as quickly as they did after 1492.

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Correct answer: D

The inserted sentence has to slot in where the sentence right after it can pick up its subject cleanly.

Look at what follows blank 3: "They changed and augmented what was already there since 1000." That "They" needs an antecedent — and "the Europeans" is exactly it. Read together: "...the travellers who encountered one another in the year 1000 were much closer technologically. The Europeans did not invent globalization. They changed and augmented what was already there since 1000." The logic is airtight: globalization already existed by 1000, so post-1492 Europeans did not invent it — they only built on what was there.

Why the others fail:

  • Blank 1: the nearest subject is the Southeast Asian forest peoples, so a following "They = Europeans" would have no anchor.
  • Blank 2: it breaks the Columbus → 1492 transition running through that spot.
  • Blank 4: it forces "They changed and augmented what was already there since 1000" to refer back to the year-1000 travellers themselves — self-referential and illogical.

Answer: Option 3 (position 3)

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Passage · Science & Technology
The history of any major technological or industrial advance is inevitably shadowed by a less predictable history of unintended consequences and secondary effects — what economists sometimes call “externalities.” Sometimes those consequences are innocuous ones, or even beneficial. Gutenberg invents the printing press, and literacy rates rise, which causes a significant part of the reading public to require spectacles for the first time, which creates a surge of investment in lens-making across Europe, which leads to the invention of the telescope and the microscope. Oftentimes the secondary effects seem to belong to an entirely different sphere of society. When Willis Carrier hit upon the idea of air-conditioning, the technology was primarily intended for industrial use: ensuring cool, dry air for factories that required low-humidity environments. But…it touched off one of the largest migrations in the history of the United States, enabling the rise of metropolitan areas like Phoenix and Las Vegas that barely existed when Carrier first started tinkering with the idea in the early 1900s. Sometimes the unintended consequence comes about when consumers use an invention in a surprising way. Edison famously thought his phonograph, which he sometimes called “the talking machine,” would primarily be used to take dictation….But then later innovators… discovered a much larger audience willing to pay for musical recordings made on descendants of Edison’s original invention. In other cases, the original innovation comes into the world disguised as a plaything…the way the animatronic dolls of the mid-1700s inspired Jacquard to invent the first “programmable” loom and Charles Babbage to invent the first machine that fit the modern definition of a computer, setting the stage for the revolution in programmable technology that would transform the 21st century in countless ways. We live under the gathering storm of modern history’s most momentous unintended consequence….carbon-based climate change. Imagine the vast sweep of inventors whose ideas started the Industrial Revolution, all the entrepreneurs and scientists and hobbyists who had a hand in bringing it about. Line up a thousand of them and ask them all what they had been hoping to do with their work. Not one would say that their intent had been to deposit enough carbon in the atmosphere to create a greenhouse effect that trapped heat at the surface of the planet. And yet here we are. Ethyl (leaded fuel) and Freon belonged to the same general class of secondary effect: innovations whose unintended consequences stem from some kind of waste by-product that they emit. But the potential health threats of Ethyl (unleaded fuel) were visible in the 1920s, unlike, say, the long-term effects of atmospheric carbon build up in the early days of the Industrial Revolution…. Indeed, it is reasonable to see CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) as a forerunner of the kind of threat we will most likely face in the coming decades, as it becomes increasingly possible for individuals or small groups to create new scientific advances — through chemistry or biotechnology or materials science — setting off unintended consequences that reverberate on a global scale.
Q4Reading ComprehensionMCQ

The author lists all of the following examples as “externalities” of major technical advances EXCEPT:

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Correct answer: B

The passage defines an "externality" as an unintended secondary effect of an innovation. This EXCEPT question wants the one item that is not such an effect.

Why B is the exception. "Cooling and de-humidifying of factories through air-conditioning" is precisely what Willis Carrier intended: the passage says the technology "was primarily intended for industrial use: ensuring cool, dry air for factories that required low-humidity environments." That is the planned use, not a side-effect. The real externality of air-conditioning here is something else entirely — the mass migration that built Phoenix and Las Vegas.

Why the others are genuine externalities:

  • A — the atmospheric build-up of CFCs is named as a waste-by-product effect.
  • C — the Jacquard loom leading to programmable technology (and the modern computer) is an unintended downstream effect.
  • D — Edison's phonograph, meant for dictation, becoming the basis for large-scale music recording, is a classic unintended use.

Answer: B

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Q5Reading ComprehensionMCQ

Which of the following best conveys the main point of the first paragraph?

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Correct answer: B

A main-idea answer must capture the whole thrust of the paragraph, not just one true sentence inside it.

The first paragraph's thesis is that every major technological advance is "inevitably shadowed by a less predictable history of unintended consequences and secondary effects." The illustrations (printing press → spectacles → telescope; air-conditioning → migration) all show effects rippling far past the original intent.

Why B. "The full impact of technological advances cannot be estimated in the short run as the ripple effects often extend far beyond the original intent" is a clean paraphrase: "less predictable" ≈ "cannot be estimated in the short run," and "unintended secondary effects" ≈ "ripple effects extend beyond the original intent."

Why the others fail:

  • A overstates: the passage says secondary effects are "sometimes" innocuous or beneficial, not that most turned out beneficial.
  • C adds a "should judge an invention by..." instruction the paragraph never gives — the paragraph describes, it does not prescribe.
  • D narrows the point to effects that spawn further inventions, which is only one of several patterns the passage lists.

Answer: B

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Q6Reading ComprehensionMCQ

Carrier, Babbage, and Edison are mentioned in the passage to illustrate the author’s point that

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Correct answer: B

When a question asks why three examples are grouped, find the single point all three share.

Each inventor set out to do one thing and triggered something they never pictured: Carrier built air-conditioning for factories and set off a mass migration; Babbage's line traces from plaything dolls to the computer; Edison meant the phonograph for dictation, and it became the basis of recorded music.

Why B. "These inventors could not have visualised the eventual impact of their inventions on society" names exactly that gap between intent and outcome. The passage drives the same nail later: line up a thousand Industrial-Revolution inventors, and "not one" would say they meant to warm the planet.

Why the others fail:

  • A overstates ("mostly resulted in new inventions") and does not even fit Carrier, whose side-effect was a migration, not an invention.
  • C claims the effects were "largely beneficial," but the point is unpredictability, not benefit.
  • D says inventions get used for entirely different purposes — but air-conditioning was still used for cooling; the surprise there was a societal side-effect, not a change of use.

Answer: B

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Q7Reading ComprehensionMCQ

We can assume that the author would support all of the following views EXCEPT:

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Correct answer: A

Three options sit comfortably with the author's argument; one clashes with it. Find the clash.

The author's core claim is that the unintended consequences of innovation are unpredictable — and the gravest one, carbon-based climate change, is traced to the past: the Industrial Revolution's inventors, none of whom meant "to deposit enough carbon in the atmosphere to create a greenhouse effect."

Why A is the EXCEPT. Option A splits history neatly — past advances had "innocuous or beneficial outcomes," while only "more recent advances" are globally threatening. That runs against the author, for whom the biggest global threat originates in the past. He would not sign off on "the past was benign; the danger is only recent."

Why the other three are supported:

  • B — the passage says leaded fuel and Freon are "innovations whose unintended consequences stem from some kind of waste by-product that they emit," which is B's point: the emitted by-products, not the intended use, do the damage.
  • C — "increasingly possible for individuals or small groups to create new scientific advances... setting off unintended consequences that reverberate on a global scale" directly supports that it is now easier than before to unleash worldwide harm.
  • D — the passage notes the health threats of leaded fuel "were visible in the 1920s"; something visible that early could reasonably have been addressed sooner.

Answer: A

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Passage · History & Culture
[S]pices were a global commodity centuries before European voyages. There was a complex chain of relations, yet consumers had little knowledge of producers and vice versa. Desire for spices helped fuel European colonial empires to create political, military and commercial networks under a single power. Historians know a fair amount about the supply of spices in Europe during the medieval period - the origins, methods of transportation, the prices - but less about demand. Why go to such extraordinary efforts to procure expensive products from exotic lands? Still, demand was great enough to inspire the voyages of Christopher Columbus and Vasco Da Gama, launching the first fateful wave of European colonialism. . . . So, why were spices so highly prized in Europe in the centuries from about 1000 to 1500? One widely disseminated explanation for medieval demand for spices was that they covered the taste of spoiled meat. . . . Medieval purchasers consumed meat much fresher than what the average city-dweller in the developed world of today has at hand. However, refrigeration was not available, and some hot spices have been shown to serve as an anti-bacterial agent. Salting, smoking or drying meat were other means of preservation. Most spices used in cooking began as medical ingredients, and throughout the Middle Ages spices were used as both medicines and condiments. Above all, medieval recipes involve the combination of medical and culinary lore in order to balance food's humeral properties and prevent disease. Most spices were hot and dry and so appropriate in sauces to counteract the moist and wet properties supposedly possessed by most meat and fish. . . . Where spices came from was known in a vague sense centuries before the voyages of Columbus. Just how vague may be judged by looking at medieval world maps . . . To the medieval European imagination, the East was exotic and alluring. Medieval maps often placed India close to the so-called Earthly Paradise, the Garden of Eden described in the Bible. Geographical knowledge has a lot to do with the perceptions of spices’ relative scarcity and the reasons for their high prices. An example of the varying notions of scarcity is the conflicting information about how pepper is harvested. As far back as the 7th century Europeans thought that pepper in India grew on trees "guarded" by serpents that would bite and poison anyone who attempted to gather the fruit. The only way to harvest pepper was to burn the trees, which would drive the snakes underground. Of course, this bit of lore would explain the shriveled black peppercorns, but not white, pink or other colors. Spices never had the enduring allure or power of gold and silver or the commercial potential of new products such as tobacco, indigo or sugar. But the taste for spices did continue for a while beyond the Middle Ages. As late as the 17th century, the English and the Dutch were struggling for control of the Spice Islands: Dutch New Amsterdam, or New York, was exchanged by the British for one of the Moluccan Islands where nutmeg was grown.
Q8Reading ComprehensionMCQ

It can be inferred that all of the following contributed to a decline in the allure of spices, EXCEPT:

Show solution

Correct answer: B

Work out what the allure of spices actually rested on, then find the option that would not erode it.

The passage roots the allure in medical use (balancing the body's "humoral" properties), culinary use, preservation (some spices act as antibacterial agents in a world without refrigeration), and exotic mystique — not in genuine supply scarcity. So the allure fades when those props fall away: refrigeration (A) makes the preservative role obsolete; changes in medicine (C) retire humoral theory; changes in cuisine (D) reduce culinary reliance.

Why B is the exception. "Increase in the availability of spices" did not drive the decline. The passage shows demand persisting even as trade swelled supply — as late as the 17th century the English and Dutch were still fighting over the Spice Islands. Abundance alone did not end the allure, because the allure was never really supply-driven.

Answer: B

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Q9Reading ComprehensionMCQ

In the context of the passage, the people who heard the story of pepper trees being guarded by snakes would be least likely to arrive at the conclusion that

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Correct answer: A

Read exactly what the pepper-and-serpents story explains, then find the conclusion it gives no basis for.

The story — pepper trees guarded by snakes, harvested only by burning the trees to drive the snakes off — is about the danger and difficulty of getting pepper. That accounts for its high price, its limited supply, and even the shrivelled black look of the peppercorns (a burnt appearance). It says nothing about taste or heat.

Why A. "This is why pepper is so hot" is the conclusion a listener is least likely to reach, because nothing in the story touches pungency or flavour at all.

Why the others follow naturally:

  • B — pepper is costly for good reason (dangerous to gather).
  • C — it is inadvisable to go harvest it yourself (snakes).
  • D — no surprise the supply is limited (hard and risky to collect).

Answer: A

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Q10Reading ComprehensionMCQ

In the context of the passage, which one of the following conclusions CANNOT be reached?

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Correct answer: B

Test each conclusion against what the passage actually states.

  • A — "the spice trade was a driver of colonial expansion": stated directly ("desire for spices helped fuel European colonial empires," and demand "inspire[d] the voyages of Columbus and Vasco Da Gama").
  • C — "tobacco was more marketable than spices": follows from "spices never had... the commercial potential of new products such as tobacco."
  • D — "colonialism was motivated by the demand for spices": the passage's explicit causal claim.
  • B — "India was colonised for its spices and gold": cannot be reached. The passage ties colonial expansion to spice demand; gold appears only to say spices lacked gold's "enduring allure or power" — a comparison, not a colonising motive. Nothing says India was colonised for spices and gold.

Answer: B

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Q11Reading ComprehensionMCQ

If a trader brought white peppercorns from India to medieval Europe, all of the following are unlikely to happen, EXCEPT:

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Correct answer: B

The burning-trees story explains only the shrivelled black peppercorns — the passage says it does not explain "white, pink or other colors." So white peppercorns fall outside its reach. Use that to test each outcome.

Why B is the exception (the outcome that IS likely). White peppercorns that the burning-tree story cannot account for would naturally make Europeans doubt that harvesting story. That is the one outcome here that is not unlikely.

Why the others are unlikely:

  • A — the passage stresses how imaginary and inaccurate medieval maps were, so they would not serve as navigational aids.
  • C — a single cargo would not move spice prices.
  • D — one shipment would not strip away the exotic mystique the passage describes.

Answer: B

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Passage · Environment & Ecology
(. . .) There are three other common drivers for carnivore-human attacks, some of which are more preventable than others. Natural aggression-based conflicts - such as those involving females protecting their young or animals protecting a food source - can often be avoided as long as people stay away from those animals and their food. Carnivores that recognise humans as a means to get food, are a different story. As they become more reliant on human food they might find at campsites or in rubbish bins, they become less avoidant of humans. Losing that instinctive fear response puts them into more situations where they could get into an altercation with a human, which often results in that bear being put down by humans. “A fed bear is a dead bear,” says Servheen, referring to a common saying among biologists and conservationists. Predatory or predation-related attacks are quite rare, only accounting for 17% of attacks in North America since 1955. They occur when a carnivore views a human as prey and hunts it like it would any other animal it uses for food. (. . .) Then there are animal attacks provoked by people taking pictures with them or feeding them in natural settings such as national parks which often end with animals being euthanised out of precaution. “Eventually, that animal becomes habituated to people, and [then] bad things happen to the animal. And the folks who initially wanted to make that connection don’t necessarily realise that,” says Christine Wilkinson, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley, California, who’s been studying coyote-human conflicts. After conducting countless postmortems on all types of carnivore-human attacks spanning 75 years, Penteriani’s team believes 50% could have been avoided if humans reacted differently. A 2017 study co-authored by Penteriani found that engaging in risky behaviour around large carnivores increases the likelihood of an attack. Two of the most common risky behaviours are parents leaving their children to play outside unattended and walking an unleashed dog, according to the study. Wilkinson says 66% of coyote attacks involve a dog. “[People] end up in a situation where their dog is being chased, or their dog chases a coyote, or maybe they’re walking their dog near a den that’s marked, and the coyote wants to escort them away,” says Wilkinson. Experts believe climate change also plays a part in the escalation of human-carnivore conflicts, but the correlation still needs to be ironed out. “As finite resources become scarcer, carnivores and people are coming into more frequent contact, which means that more conflict could occur,” says Jen Miller, international programme specialist for the US Fish & Wildlife Service. For example, she says, there was an uptick in lion attacks in western India during a drought when lions and people were relying on the same water sources. (. . .) The likelihood of human-carnivore conflicts appears to be higher in areas of low-income countries dominated by vast rural landscapes and farmland, according to Penteriani’s research. “There are a lot of working landscapes in the Global South that are really heterogeneous, that are interspersed with carnivore habitats, forests and savannahs, which creates a lot more opportunity for these encounters, just statistically,” says Wilkinson.
Q12Reading ComprehensionMCQ

According to the passage, what is a significant factor that contributes to the habituation of carnivores to human presence?

Show solution

Correct answer: D

Pin down what "habituation" means here, then match it to the cause the passage names.

Habituation is carnivores losing their instinctive fear of humans. The passage ties this straight to reliance on human food: "As they become more reliant on human food they might find at campsites or in rubbish bins, they become less avoidant of humans. Losing that instinctive fear response puts them into more situations where they could get into an altercation" — hence "a fed bear is a dead bear."

Why D. It states exactly this — the drop in a carnivore's instinctive fear that comes from relying on human-provided food.

Why the others fail:

  • A is natural aggression (protecting young or food), a separate driver the passage keeps distinct.
  • B is climate-driven scarcity, which affects how often humans and carnivores meet, not habituation.
  • C is the rare predation category (viewing humans as prey), not habituation.

Answer: D

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Q13Reading ComprehensionMCQ

Given the insights provided by Penteriani’s research and Wilkinson’s statement, which of the following conclusions can be drawn about the relationship between landscape heterogeneity and human-carnivore conflicts?

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Correct answer: D

Read what Penteriani and Wilkinson actually claim about mixed landscapes, then pick the option that restates it without reversing or embellishing.

Their point: conflict is likelier in low-income countries with vast rural/farmland areas that are heterogeneous and interspersed with carnivore habitats — which "creates a lot more opportunity for these encounters, just statistically."

Why D. It restates this precisely — the mix and interspersion of working landscapes with carnivore habitats raises the statistical chance of human-carnivore encounters.

Why the others fail:

  • B reverses the finding, claiming heterogeneity reduces conflict.
  • A and C bring in "contiguous wilderness" and "homogeneous landscapes" — neither is the passage's point, and both lean on reasoning it never supplies.

Answer: D

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Q14Reading ComprehensionMCQ

Which of the following statements, if false, would be inconsistent with the concerns raised in the passage regarding the drivers of carnivore-human conflicts?

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Correct answer: A

The question is really asking which statement clashes with the passage's account of what drives carnivore-human conflict.

The passage explicitly counts climate change as a driver: as resources grow scarce, carnivores and people come into "more frequent contact" — for instance, the uptick in lion attacks in western India during a drought, when lions and people relied on the same water sources.

Why A. "Climate change has had negligible effects on the frequency of carnivore-human interactions" directly contradicts that — the passage treats climate change, through scarcity, as a real contributing driver, not a negligible one.

Why the others do not clash cleanly:

  • B says predatory attacks are common and steadily rising, but the passage calls them "rare" (17%) and simply does not say whether they have risen over the decades — so it is partly out of scope rather than flatly contradicted.
  • C matches the passage: carnivores do lose their fear of humans through reliance on human food.
  • D matches too: avoiding risky behaviour would prevent many conflicts — Penteriani's team believes 50% could have been avoided if humans reacted differently.

Answer: A

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Q15Reading ComprehensionMCQ

According to the passage, which of the following scenarios would MOST likely exacerbate the frequency of carnivore-human conflicts?

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Correct answer: D

The worst scenario stacks the risk factors the passage explicitly warns about onto the highest-risk setting.

The passage names two of the most common risky behaviours — leaving children unattended and walking an unleashed dog — and notes that 66% of coyote attacks involve a dog.

Why D. "Unleashing dogs... in areas with known high concentrations of large carnivores" combines the top risky behaviour with the highest-risk location — exactly the pairing the passage says escalates attacks.

Why the others do not exacerbate:

  • A (managing food waste so animals are not drawn to human food) and B (addressing climate effects) are mitigations, not aggravators.
  • C (photographing from within secured viewing areas) is a controlled, lower-risk activity, unlike the close-up feeding and photography the passage warns against.

Answer: D

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Q16Para CompletionMCQ

There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide where (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit. Sentence: Science has officially crowned us superior to our early-rising brethren. Paragraph: My fellow night owls, grab a strong cup of coffee and gather around: I have great news. ___(1)___. For a long time, our kind has been unfairly maligned. Stereotyped as lazy and undisciplined. Told we ought to be morning larks. Advised to go to bed early so we can wake before 5am and run a marathon before breakfast like all high-flyers seem to do. Now, however, we are having the last laugh. ___(2)___. It may be a tad more complicated than that. A study published last week, which you may have already seen while scrolling at 1am, suggests that staying up late could be good for brain power. ___(3)___. Is this study a thinly veiled PR exercise conducted by a caffeine-pill company? Nope, it’s legit. ___(4)___. Research led by academics at Imperial College London studied data on more than 26,000 people and found that “self-declared ‘night owls’ generally tend to have higher cognitive scores”.

Show solution

Correct answer: D

A missing-sentence question is about fit: the inserted line must follow naturally from what comes before and set up what comes after.

The sentence to place is a triumphant payoff — it declares night owls "superior to our early-rising brethren." For that to land, two things must already be on the page: the night-owl-vs-early-riser contrast, and the "last laugh" mood.

By blank 2, both are in place. The text has just run through how night owls were "unfairly maligned... told we ought to be morning larks... wake before 5am," and then says, "Now, however, we are having the last laugh." Drop the sentence in here and it reads: "...we are having the last laugh. Science has officially crowned us superior to our early-rising brethren. It may be a tad more complicated than that." The crowning line is the last laugh, and "It may be a tad more complicated" then walks it back before the study arrives.

Why the others fail:

  • Blank 1 comes before the "morning lark / wake before 5am" contrast is drawn, so "early-rising brethren" has nothing to point back to — and it blurts the punchline before the backstory.
  • Blank 3 would split the tight link between "staying up late could be good for brain power" and the follow-up "Is this study a PR exercise?"
  • Blank 4 puts the grand conclusion after — and detached from — the "last laugh," and just before the actual evidence (the Imperial College study), which is backwards.

Answer: Option 2 (position 2)

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Q17Odd One OutTITA

Five jumbled up sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5), related to a topic, are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd sentence and key in the number of that sentence as your answer. 1. The UK is a world leader in developing cultivated meat and the approval of a cultivated pet food is an important milestone. 2. If we’re to realise the full potential benefits of cultivated meat the government must invest in research and infrastructure. 3. The first UK applications for cultivated meat produced for humans remain under assessment with the Food Standards Agency. 4. The previous UK government had been looking at fast-tracking the approval of cultivated meat for human consumption. 5. It underscores the potential for new innovation to help reduce the negative impacts of intensive animal agriculture.

Show solution

Correct answer: 4

Locate the thread the sentences share, then the one that does not pull its weight in it.

The unifying idea is the cultivated-meat milestone and what should follow from it. The four cohere as 1 → 5 → 3 → 2:

  • 1: the UK leads in cultivated meat, and approving a cultivated pet food is an important milestone.
  • 5: "It" — that approval — underscores how new innovation can cut the harms of intensive animal agriculture.
  • 3: but the first UK applications for cultivated meat for humans are still under Food Standards Agency assessment.
  • 2: to reap the full benefits, the government must invest in research and infrastructure.

Sentence 4 — "The previous UK government had been looking at fast-tracking the approval of cultivated meat for human consumption" — is a backward-looking political aside about a past government. It breaks the milestone → potential → current-status → call-to-action flow, and "the previous government" has nothing to hook onto in the other four.

Answer: Sentence 4

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Q18Para SummaryMCQ

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage. Different from individuals, states conduct warfare operations using the DIME model— “diplomacy, information, military, and economics.” Most states do everything they can to inflict pain and confusion on their enemies before deploying the military. In fact, attacks on vectors of information are a well-worn tactic of war and usually are the first target when the charge begins. It’s common for telecom data and communications networks to be routinely monitored by governments, which is why the open data policies of the web are so concerning to many advocates of privacy and human rights. With the worldwide adoption of social media, more governments are getting involved in low-grade information warfare through the use of cyber troops. According to a study by the Oxford Internet Institute in 2020, cyber troops are “government or political party actors tasked with manipulating public opinion online.” The Oxford research group was able to identify 81 countries with active cyber troop operations, utilizing many different strategies to spread false information, including spending millions on online advertising.

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Correct answer: D

A summary must carry the passage's main point and its full scope — no missing beats, no added ones.

The passage makes three linked points: states wage warfare through the DIME model, attacking information first; telecom data and communication networks are routinely monitored; and with social media, governments now run low-grade information warfare using "cyber troops" to manipulate public opinion — identified in 81 countries.

Why D. It carries all three faithfully — information warfare under DIME, routine monitoring of telecom/communications, and cyber troops on social media manipulating public opinion — with nothing distorted.

Why the others fail:

  • A claims governments "took advantage of open data policies" to deploy cyber troops. But the passage raises open-data policies only as a privacy worry, not a tool governments exploited; "domestic public opinion" is also unsupported.
  • B makes the DIME model the vehicle for deploying cyber troops and ties their aim to "inflicting pain and confusion on enemies" — language the passage uses for general warfare, not for the cyber-troop goal of shaping opinion.
  • C adds "together with military operations" and "simultaneously" (never stated) and drops the central point about manipulating public opinion.

Answer: D

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Passage · Science & Technology
The job of a peer reviewer is thankless. Collectively, academics spend around 70 million hours every year evaluating each other’s manuscripts on the behalf of scholarly journals — and they usually receive no monetary compensation and little if any recognition for their effort. Some do it as a way to keep abreast with developments in their field; some simply see it as a duty to the discipline. Either way, academic publishing would likely crumble without them. In recent years, some scientists have begun posting their reviews online, mainly to claim credit for their work. Sites like Publons allow researchers to either share entire referee reports or simply list the journals for whom they’ve carried out a review…. The rise of Publons suggests that academics are increasingly placing value on the work of peer review and asking others, such as grant funders, to do the same. While that’s vital in the publish-or-perish culture of academia, there’s also immense value in the data underlying peer review. Sharing peer review data could help journals stamp out fraud, inefficiency, and systemic bias in academic publishing.…. Peer review data could also help root out bias. Last year, a study based on peer review data for nearly 24,000 submissions to the biomedical journal eLife found that women and non- Westerners were vastly underrepresented among peer reviewers. Only around one in every five reviewers was female, and less than two percent of reviewers were based in developing countries…. Openly publishing peer review data could perhaps also help journals address another problem in academic publishing: fraudulent peer reviews. For instance, a minority of authors have been known to use phony email addresses to pose as an outside expert and review their own manuscripts.… Opponents of open peer review commonly argue that confidentiality is vital to the integrity of the review process; referees may be less critical of manuscripts if their reports are published, especially if they are revealing their identities by signing them. Some also hold concerns that open reviewing may deter referees from agreeing to judge manuscripts in the first place, or that they’ll take longer to do so out of fear of scrutiny…. Even when the content of reviews and the identity of reviewers can’t be shared publicly, perhaps journals could share the data with outside researchers for study. Or they could release other figures that wouldn’t compromise the anonymity of reviews but that might answer important questions about how long the reviewing process takes, how many researchers editors have to reach out to on average to find one who will carry out the work, and the geographic distribution of peer reviewers. Of course, opening up data underlying the reviewing process will not fix peer review entirely, and there may be instances in which there are valid reasons to keep the content of peer reviews hidden and the identity of the referees confidential. But the norm should shift from opacity in all cases to opacity only when necessary.
Q19Reading ComprehensionMCQ

According to the passage, which of the following is the only reason NOT given in favour of making peer review data public?

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Correct answer: D

Gather the benefits the passage actually lists for public peer-review data, then spot the one option that is not among them.

The stated benefits: it could help journals "stamp out fraud, inefficiency, and systemic bias"; root out demographic bias (women and non-Westerners are badly underrepresented as reviewers); expose fraudulent reviews (authors using fake emails to review their own work); and answer process questions — how long reviewing takes, how many people editors must contact to find a reviewer, and where reviewers are based.

Why D is the exception. "Selecting appropriately qualified reviewers for academic writing" is never offered. The passage talks about how many reviewers editors must approach and their geographic spread — a matter of quantity and location — not a way to match a reviewer's expertise to a manuscript's subject.

Why the others are stated:

  • A — dealing with fraud such as bogus self-reviews.
  • B — highlighting gender and race bias in who reviews.
  • C — addressing inefficiencies and fraudulent practices in publishing.

Answer: D

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Q20Reading ComprehensionMCQ

All of the following are listed as reasons why academics choose to review other scholars’ work EXCEPT:

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Correct answer: D

List the reasons the passage gives for why academics take on reviewing, then find the one it does not give.

The reasons stated: some do it "to keep abreast with developments in their field"; some see it "as a duty to the discipline"; and lately some post their reviews online "mainly to claim credit for their work."

Why D is the exception. "An opportunity to expand their influence in the academic community" is not given. Claiming credit or recognition for effort is not the same as expanding influence, and the passage never frames reviewing as a way to build clout.

Why the others are given:

  • A — keeping current with developments in the field.
  • B — posting reviews online to claim credit and publicise the work.
  • C — a duty to the discipline, i.e. a form of service.

Answer: D

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Q21Reading ComprehensionMCQ

Based on the passage we can infer that the author would most probably support

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Correct answer: D

An inference about the author's stance should match the position he states most plainly, at the right breadth.

The author's overall stance is spelled out at the close: "the norm should shift from opacity in all cases to opacity only when necessary." That is a clear, general push for openness.

Why D. "Greater transparency across the peer review process in academic publishing" captures that stance directly and at the same broad level.

Why the others fail:

  • A (more careful screening for content-familiar reviewers) is a side detail, not his main proposal.
  • B (preserving anonymity to shield reviewers) is the opponents' position, which the author wants to move away from.
  • C (publish data but not actual reviews) is too narrow — the author welcomes sharing data at a minimum but does not oppose publishing reports; Publons already shares full referee reports.

Answer: D

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Q22Reading ComprehensionMCQ

According to the passage, some are opposed to making peer reviews public for all the following reasons EXCEPT that it

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Correct answer: B

Collect the worries opponents actually raise against open review, then find the option that states the opposite.

Opponents' stated concerns: confidentiality is vital to the integrity of review; referees may be less critical if their reports (especially signed ones) are published; openness may deter referees from agreeing at all; and they may take longer out of fear of scrutiny.

Why B is the exception. B says public reviews would leave reviewers "unexposed to unwarranted... criticism" — i.e. protected from criticism. That is the reverse of the opponents' real fear, which is that reviewers would be exposed to scrutiny. A protective effect is not a reason anyone gives against open review.

Why the others are opponents' reasons:

  • A — reviewers grow reluctant to review, especially critically.
  • C — it deters honest, critical reviews that sound publishing needs.
  • D — it delays the process as reviewers take longer.

Answer: B

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Q23Para SummaryMCQ

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage. John Cleese told Fox News Digital that comedians do not have the freedom to be funny in 2022. “There’s always been limitations on what they’re allowed to say,” Cleese said. “I think it’s particularly worrying at the moment because you can only create in an atmosphere of freedom, where you’re not checking everything you say critically before you move on. What you have to be able to do is to build without knowing where you’re going because you’ve never been there before. That’s what creativity is — you have to be allowed to build. And a lot of comedians now are sitting there and when they think of something, they say something like, ‘Can I get away with it? I don’t think so. So and so got into trouble, and he said that, oh, she said that.’ You see what I mean? And that’s the death of creativity.”

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Correct answer: D

Pick the summary that keeps both the passage's core claim and the reasoning behind it.

Cleese's argument has two halves: creativity needs "an atmosphere of freedom" — the ability to build "without knowing where you're going" — and the current habit of self-censorship ("Can I get away with it?") is "the death of creativity."

Why D. "Freedom and creativity are essential for comedy. Fear about offending people hinders originality" holds both halves: the positive thesis (freedom is essential) and the mechanism of harm (fear of offending kills originality).

Why the others fail:

  • A overstates and garbles it ("must not check what they think and say").
  • B invents a "creativity vs critical thinking, be creative first" sequence the passage never sets out.
  • C is only half the point: it captures "prevented from saying what they want" but swaps "death of creativity" for "death of this art form," losing the freedom → creativity link that is the real core.

Answer: D

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Q24Odd One OutTITA

Five jumbled up sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5), related to a topic, are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd sentence and key in the number of that sentence as your answer. 1. No known real researcher of human behaviour would say that gender is all nature or all nurture. 2. The evidence for a biological basis for gender certainly doesn’t mean we should be complacent in the face of sexism. 3. Many people are uncomfortable with the idea that gender is not purely a social construct. 4. Despite this empirical truth, researchers who study the biological basis of gender often face political pushback. 5. There’s a political preference for gender to be only a reflection of social factors and so entirely malleable.

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Correct answer: 2

Find the single idea four sentences share, then the one that steps outside it.

The shared thread is political resistance to the idea that gender has a biological basis. The four cohere as 1 → 4 → 3 → 5:

  • 1 sets the factual baseline: no serious researcher thinks gender is all nature or all nurture.
  • 4 continues with "Despite this empirical truth" — the truth just stated in 1 — noting that researchers into gender's biology face political pushback.
  • 3 widens that pushback: many people are uncomfortable with gender not being purely a social construct.
  • 5 names its source: a political preference for gender to be purely social, and therefore "entirely malleable."

Sentence 2 — "The evidence for a biological basis for gender certainly doesn't mean we should be complacent in the face of sexism" — turns to a different concern: a moral caveat about not going soft on sexism. That is a caution about how to act, not part of the thread about political resistance to the science, so it is the odd one out.

Answer: Sentence 2

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