CAT 2014 VARC Slot 2 Question Paper(Available):Download Solutions with Answer Key

CAT Questions

• 1.

  Para-Jumble Arrange the sentences in a coherent order: 

  1. Knowledge acquired early in life is often treated as fixed. 
  2. Yet, true mastery requires continuously learning, unlearning, and relearning. 
  3. In rapidly changing environments, old frameworks become obsolete. 
  4. People often cling to outdated assumptions even when proven wrong.

  • A--D--C--B
  • A--C--D--B
  • C--A--D--B
  • D--A--C--B
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• 2.

  Five jumbled 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 out and key in the number of that sentence as your answer.

  • About half of all the oxygen we breathe is made near the surface of the ocean by phytoplankton that photosynthesize just like land-dwelling plants.
  • A team of scientists that includes Boston University experts has discovered they also produce oxygen on the seafloor.
  • The research team used deep-sea chambers that land on the seafloor and enclose the seawater, sediment, polymetallic nodules, and living organisms.
  • The discovery is a surprise considering oxygen is typically created by plants and organisms with help from the sun—not by rocks on the ocean floor.
  • The deep-sea rocks, called polymetallic nodules, don’t only host a surprising number of sea critters.
    
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• 3.

  The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, and 4) given 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. As books age, the cellulose and lignin in the paper begin to break down, releasing a mix of volatile organic compounds into the air.
  2. Old books carry a scent that many people instantly recognize—and even love.
  3. These compounds are benzaldehyde, which gives off an almond-like scent, vanillin, which smells like vanilla, ethyl hexanol (floral scent), toluene (sweet), and furfural (which has a slightly bready scent).
  4. This familiar aroma isn’t just dust or mildew; it’s actually a result of slow chemical changes happening inside the paper and ink.

  • Option 2
  • Option 4
  • Option 1
  • Option 3
    
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• 4.

  The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
  In the dynamic realm of creativity, artists often find themselves at the crossroads between drawing inspiration from diverse cultures and inadvertently crossing into the territory of cultural appropriation. Inspiration is the lifeblood of creativity, driving artists to create works that resonate across borders. In a globalized era of the modern world, artists draw from a vast array of cultural influences. When approached respectfully, inspiration becomes a bridge, fostering understanding and appreciation of cultural diversity. However, the line between inspiration and cultural appropriation can be thin and easily blurred.
  Cultural appropriation occurs when elements from a particular culture are borrowed without proper understanding, respect, or acknowledgment. This leads to the commodification of sacred symbols, the reinforcement of stereotypes, and the erasure of the cultural context from which these elements originated. It is essential to recognize that the impact of cultural appropriation extends beyond the realm of artistic expression, influencing societal perceptions and perpetuating power imbalances.

  • Artists in a globalised world must navigate between drawing inspiration from diverse cultures respectfully and cultural appropriation that involves borrowing without proper acknowledgement which has broader societal impacts including perpetuating power imbalances.
  • In today’s world of creativity, artists have to decide between respectfully acknowledging works that are inspired by diverse cultures and appropriating elements without respect for their contexts.
  • In a globalised world, artists must draw from diverse cultural influences to create works that appeal to all, and this results in instances of both inspiration and cultural appropriation.
  • Artists must navigate the thin line between inspiration and cultural appropriation, where respectful inspiration fosters cultural understanding whereas appropriation involves borrowing without acknowledgement leading to commodification and reinforcement of stereotypes.
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• 5.

  The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage. 
  In investigating memory-beliefs, there are certain points which must be borne in mind. In the first place, everything constituting a memory-belief is happening now, not in that past time to which the belief is said to refer. It is not logically necessary to the existence of a memory-belief that the event remembered should have occurred, or even that the past should have existed at all. There is no logical impossibility in the hypothesis that the world sprang into being five minutes ago, exactly as it then was, with a population that "remembered" a wholly unreal past. There is no logically necessary connection between events at different times; therefore nothing that is happening now or will happen in the future can disprove the hypothesis that the world began five minutes ago. Hence the occurrences which are CALLED knowledge of the past are logically independent of the past; they are wholly analysable into present contents, which might, theoretically, be just what they are even if no past had existed.

  • When we discuss the concept of memory-beliefs, we must understand that it is not logically impossible for the event remembered to have never happened at all; it could just be a figment of our imagination.
  • Memory-beliefs depend wholly on what is remembered in the present, and not on anything else; just as it is not logically impossible that the world came into being five minutes ago, and that everyone now just remembers a wholly imaginary past for it.
  • When investigating memory beliefs, we must keep in mind that an actual past event is not a prerequisite for a memory-belief to exist, and that what we know of the past could theoretically need a past at all.
  • That which we call "knowledge of the past" is logically independent of the past, since the act of remembering which forms memory-beliefs happens in the present, and does not need to be based in real past occurrences, or even need a past at all.
    
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• 6.

  The given sentence is missing in the paragraph below. Decide where it best fits among the options 1, 2, 3, or 4 indicated in the paragraph. 
   

  Sentence: Productivity gains, once expected to feed through to broader living standards, now primarily serve to enhance returns to wealth. 

  Paragraph: Economists now argue that inequality is no longer a by-product of growth but a condition of it. ____ (1)____. Unlike wages, wealth reflects not just income but also access to assets, favourable institutional conditions—such as low interest rates—and public policies like low taxes and housing shortages. ____ (2)____. In other words, wealth depends on political choices in ways that income currently does not. It’s not just the inequality itself that is the issue but the erosion of mechanisms that once constrained it. ____ (3)____. Wealth and income inequality are linked, but where wages have stagnated and collective bargaining has weakened, capital income—derived from profits, rents and interest—has been boosted by design. ____ (4)____.

  • Option 1
  • Option 2
  • Option 3
  • Option 4
    
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