Directions for questions 1 to 5: read each of the short passages and answer the questions that follow. 1.

The Middle Ages were an era of mysticism, ruled by blind faith and blind obedience to the dogma that faith is superior to reason. The Renaissance was specifically the rebirth of reason, the liberation of man s mind, the triumph of rationality over mysticism- a faltering, incomplete, but impassioned triumph that led to the birth of science, of individualism, of freedom. Which of the following statements can be inferred from the passage? 1) Reason did not exist prior to the Renaissance. 2) The Middle Ages were a period steeped in superstition. 3) Men changed after the Renaissance. 4) None of the above Although each of us is motivated by money in different ways, the fact of the matter is that few of us are repelled by money. All of us may not hunger for it, but only a tiny minority of us find money positively distasteful. Therefore, the simple truth is that it will be much easier for managers to redirect employees towards alternative career paths, if some of those paths involve a pay raise. Which one of the following statements, if true, would most support the above argument? 1) Perquisites are another way of compensating for the redirection in career paths. 2) The concept of flexi-hours has attracted talent because payment is more. 3) New research suggests that job satisfaction is the number one motivator for people with industry experience. 4) The pay offered to any employee is in direct proportion to the importance of the profile being considered. Time seems to change its nature in prison. The present hardly exists, for there is an absence of feeling and sensation which might separate it from the dead past. Even news of the active, living and dying world outside has a certain dream-like unreality, an immobility and an unchangeableness as of the past. The outer objective time ceases to be, the inner and subjective sense remains, but at a lower level, except when thought pulls it out of the present and experiences a kind of reality in the past or the future. We live dead m ens lives, encased in our pasts, but this is especially so in the prison where we try to find some sustenance for our starved and locked-up emotions in memory of the past or fancies of the future. According to the passage: 1) There is no difference between life and death in confinement. 2) Time is fickle and man is bound. 3) Confinement intensifies the usual state of living in the past. 4) 1 and 2. It is becoming more obvious that environment and genes have different degrees of influence, depending on the trait. Some traits, such as eye colour appear to depend on only a genetic component with little or no environmental input. However, others such as muscle strength or musical achievements seem to require contributions from both genes and the environment. Current research indicates that expression of alleles in certain individuals may also depend on their unique internal environment-their nervous system, hormone balance, or other aspects of their biochemistry. Which of the following examples illustrate an idea put forth in the passage? 1) If a person is born with the genes for musical potential, his or her talents will not develop without practice. 2) A child may be born with the genes for potentially high academic intelligence, but if his or her parents cannot afford to send him or her to school, it may keep the child from realizing that potential. 3) Lack of nutrition during childhood can turn a person with the genetic potential to be six feet tall into someone who barely clears five feet. 4) All of the above The programme to control the entry of illegal cocaine into the country was a failure in 1947, though the government had tried its best to make people realize the ramifications of cocaine consumption. If the programme had been successful, the wholesale price of most illegal cocaine would not have dropped substantially in 1947. The argument in the passage depends on which of the following assumptions? 1) The price paid for most illegal cocaine by the average consumer did not drop substantially in 1947. 2) Domestic production of illegal cocaine increased at a higher rate than did the entry of such drugs into the country. 3) The wholesale price of illegal cocaine increased substantially in 1947. 4) Supply and price of illegal cocaine are related to each other in an inversely proportional manner.

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Directions for questions 6 to 20: read each of the short passages and answer the questions that follow. Scottish academics claim to have found scientific proof of a sixth sense after completing radical experiments that seek to establish how spiritual mediums obtain information supposedly transmitted from beyond the grave. The controversial research, led by a University of Glasgow professor, appears to discount the common assumption that mediums are merely picking up signals from body language, or relying on guesswork and prior knowledge. The findings come as experts have noted a resurgence of interest in s ances nationally, with an increase in spiritualist church attendances and meetings and a spate of television programmes involving alleged psychics. Which statement strengthens the argument stated above? 1) Many academics from other nations have seconded the research conducted on mediums. 2) Spiritual mediums are in demand to provide answers to tricky questions. 3) The presence of the sixth sense was successfully photographed in laboratories across the country. 4) Mediums had rarely relied on body language to gauge signals. 7. When Apple introduced the world to desktop publishing nearly twenty years ago, suddenly anyone with a Macintosh, a Laser Writer printer, and a copy of Aldus PageMaker could create professional-quality printed documents, complete with fancy fonts and graphics. Of course, powerful creative tools in the hands of people with no formal training in graphic design often resulted in hideous, pie-chart-infested reports, and business letters that resembled ransom notes, but thats besides the point: Apple had unleashed the creativity of mil lions of amateur publishers. What does the given argument assert? 1) Professionally trained people with artistic inclination are the only ones who can design a good report. 2) Once a person possesses the correct tools, it takes very little time to learn how to use them. 3) In the past twenty years, not much progress has been made with regards to desktop publishing. 4) There were no rivals to Apples software and hardware. 8. The Feminine Mystique (1963) by Betty Friedan challenged several long-established American attitudes, especially the notion that women could find fulfillment only as wives and mothers. Friedans phrase feminine mystique refers to the idealization of the traditional female role of wife and mother; Friedan contended tha t this idealization constituted a conspiracy to prevent women from competing with men. What is Friedans basic assumption in her book regarding the role of women? 1) The role and behaviours believed to be acceptable and appropriate for women had also entrapped them and limited their opportunities. 2) As mothers and wives, it is difficult to complete with men because it would mean taking on a double burden. 3) Competing with men implies shaking off the traditional feminine mystique and becoming man -like. 4) If women were to compete with men, they would stop finding fulfillment in their traditional roles as wives and mothers, thereby upsetting the balance in society. 9. At the end of the day, we all know that theres no such thing as a free lunch. Unless a bu siness is expressly altruistic, there is no such thing as a free business model. The free aspect of a business will pay for itself only when it is used in the right spirit. And that is the job of the business as well as the consumer. As a businessperson, one needs to put in plenty of thought before offering something free along with the actual breadand butter business, so that its fillip to the business and not a dead weight! And as consumers, we need to be more sensitive to a business that offers anything free, especially services such as Internet access, web storage or e-mail. Which of the following best summarizes the argument given above? 1) We as consumers should learn to take bad with the good. 2) Most business models cannot cope with consumers using their services for free and end up exceeding their resources. 3) It is essential for any business to break even first, and then give out freebies. 4) To use the free aspect of business to good account, the businessman and the consumer have to exer cise prudence and sensitivity, respectively. 10. According to a recent analysis, there is a surplus of doctors in our country. Hence, access to the medical schools must be restricted so that high quality medical care can be maintained. However, this study overlooks the fact that there is a shortage of doctors in villages and that there is a surplus of medical professionals only in cities 6.

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where there are patients who can afford to pay high fees. In the passage, the recent analysis is criticized by: 1) Challenging the claim that restricted access to medical schools will result in a general reduction in the number of practicing physicians. 2) Highlighting that the analysis does not give proper importance to other reasons for poor medical care in the country. 3) Introducing evidence which puts the claims made by the study in a new perspective. 4) Showing that the assumptions made by the study contradict the conclusions. The auto rickshaw association of Maharashtra announced last March that digital meters should be fitted into all autos under a new rule. After six months, no driver has been fined under the new rule. Evidently, auto drivers have chosen to comply with the rule of fitting digital meters in their autos. Which of the following, if true would most weaken the argument above? 1) Prior to the announcement of the new rule, only a few auto drivers were fined for various violations of the Associations rules. 2) Inspectors routinely stop autos drivers to inspect licenses, safety and cleanliness of the vehicle and the drivers record of fares. 3) City prosecutors have refused to prosecute drivers cited under the new rule because they believe that the law is unconstitutional. 4) During the early months of the year, the number of auto drivers available for work is less than that during the other months of the year. Think about how much time is used to take to buy, say, a new TV. Chances are, the process went a lot like this: You found out how much it cost, you visited the bank to get the right amount, and then you went back to the store to buy it. Now you seem that 48-inch plasma screen at Best Buy, briefly yearn for it, even more briefly wonder whether you can really afford it, and then throw caution to the wind and buy it on the spot with your credit card. Indeed, stores count on our making impulse buys. And a massive, intricate, transglobal, technological and financial infrastructure is waiting all day, every day, to make that impulse buy as easy as, well, an impulse buy. What is the inference that can be drawn from the above paragraph? 1) The changing buyer trends depend on newer products with better features. 2) More and more people are giving in to their yearnings and buying things they cannot afford. 3) Technology has minimized deliberation in purchase decisions. 4) Transglobal technological and financial infrastructure depends solely on impulse buys. To become a global colossus, eBay, and auction site, is pursuing a fairly simple, three-pronged strategy. Its evangelizing the wonders of eBay around the world. Its starting to get non -U.S. auctiongoers used to the idea of paying over its PayPal electronic payment system, as well as peddling PayPal t o merchants who dont sell on eBay. And its doing all this as it is beefing up the U.S. site -still 45% of the companys sales-by adding new categories and big partners. Which of the following, if true, would cast most doubt on the argument above? 1) Even though PayPal is a convenient payment system, the process is time-consuming. 2) eBay is a way for merchants across the globe to have a platform to bid for goods, but is yet to catch on outside the U.S. 3) Bidders outside the U.S. prefer the conventional model rather than bidding on a site and are not open to the idea of PayPal. 4) The new categories added will hardly affect sales. It has been observed that the percentage of family income spent on entertainment has remained almost the same over the past 20 years. When new forms of entertainment become popular, they do not expand this percentage. Therefore, filmmakers have observed the video boom with concern, fearing that every rupee than an average Indian spends on rental of videos could mean a rupee less spent on movie theatre admissions. Which of the following, if true, most forcefully undermines the argument of the passage above? 1) The cost of renting a video is generally less than the price of a movie theatre admission. 2) Some movie that had failed when shown in theatres became successful when released in the video form. 3) Some filmmakers receive a portion of the income form from the sale of video rights to their movies. 4) Since the start of the video boom, money spent on forms of entertainment other than videos and movies has dropped.

15. Fascist movements usually try to retain some supposedly healthy parts of the nations existing political and social life, but they place more emphasis on creating a new society. In this way, fascism is directly opposed to conservatism- the idea that it is best to avoid dramatic social and political change. Instead, fascist movements set out to create a new type of total culture in which values, politics, art, social norms and economic activity are all parts of a single organic national community. On the basis of this passage, which of the following acts would be termed fascist? 1) In Nazi Germany, Hitler claimed that unemployment had been caused by the policies of the erstwhile government to support Jewish businesses and decreed that these policies be revoked. 2) In Nazi Germany, Hitler tried to create a new peoples community built around a concept of racial purity that celebrated the ideal of the so-called superior Aryan race. 3) All traits of perceived source of national weakness in Nazi Germany were to be purged so that the past glory of Germany could be restored. 4) All of the above. 16. W e live in a very violent society, in that images of violence are port rayed to our children at all times, says Maurice J. Elias, Ph.D., professor of psychology. Even many situational comedies use verbal aggression and put-downs as a source of laughs. So, I think parents need to take a hard line about violence and aggressive behaviour. Elias provides parents with a Trouble Tracker so they can keep track of the situations that lead their children towards aggressive behaviour. Its a matter of looking for patterns, says Elias. With the Trouble Tracker, parents can see the patterns more clearly and develop strategies to help their children handle the situation more effectively. The Trouble Tracker also helps parents see when their own reactions to their children are unproductive and need to be changed. Which of the following options would most weaken the argument? 1) The tracker is exclusive to Maurice Elias and has to be bought from him/her. 2) Meditation has helped reduce aggression in many people. 3) Parents perceive the aggression problem as a temporary one with a span of only a few years. 4) After observing the patterns of aggression, parents cannot formulate adequate. 17. According to Rushdie and others, its no accident that the ruling alliance lost heavily in Andhra Pradesh and in Tamil Nadu, precisely the states that wooed information technology giants such as Microsoft to set up shop, turning sleepy second cities such as Madras, Bangalore and Hyderabad into new-tech boomtowns. Thats because while the rich got richer, the fortunes of the poor, such as the farmers of Andhra, declined year by year. If Rushdie and others are right in their twin contentions that the reforms have made the rich richer and the poor poorer and that the recent vote represents a rejection of the reform policies of the BJP-led government, the newly elected government owes it to the nation to radically alter those policies. But if these commentators are wrong, their insistence on a change in course threatens to further impoverish the very poor whose cause they espouse. With which of the following statement/s is Rushdie most likely to agree? 1) The recent boom has touched both rural as well as urban India but has left the agricultural sector untouched. 2) It is IT giants like Microsoft which have transformed sleepy cities like Hyderabad into economic giants. 3) The debate about Indias future is, to some degree, a battle between the city and the village. 4) Bothe 2 and 3 above. 18. Keynes believed that the interest rate was largely a monetary phenomenon; its chief function was to balance the unpredictable supply and demand for money, not savings and investment. This view explained why the amount of savings was not always correlated with the amount of investment or the interest rate. Keynesians and monetarists also disagree about how changes in the money supply affect employment and output. Some economists argue that an increase in the supply of money will tend to reduce interest rates, which in turn, will stimulate investment and total demand. Therefore, an alternative way of reducing unemployment would be to expand the money supply. Keynesians and monetarists disagree on how successful this method of raising output would be. Keynesians believe that under conditions of underemployment, the increased spending will lead to greater output and employment. Which of the following would have been the pre-Keynesian view? 1) The interest rate led to a balance between savings and investment, which in turn, would cause equilibrium in the goods market. 2) The amount of savings do not always correlate with the amount of investments or interest rates. 3) An increase in the money supply will lead to inflation in the long run.

4) An increase in the money supply would tend to increase interest rates. 19. In a sense, all constitutions can be said to be texts without authors- or at any rate, texts with many authors, such that no singular authorial voice can be attributed to them. Constitutions are written, or one may say, they write themselves, normally in the course of major upheavals and transformations in the lives of societies. Be it the American Civil War or the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution or the Chinese, the Indian nationalist struggle or the innumerable other national liberation struggles around the world, constitution-making represents, in some sense, a crystallization and codification of the aspirations that have dominated these movements. Yet, constitutions are rarely about change; they are codes that are meant to legitimize the new dispensation that emerges from the historical conflicts and struggles that bring them forth. They seek to provide a quasi-permanent shape to the new regime ushered in by these struggles. Which of the following is a conclusion that emerges from this passage? 1) Against the old power, constitutions establish and institute the power of the new. 2) Constitutions are not about change, but merely about old wine in new bottles, the change is merely cosmetic. 3) Since constitutions reflect the aspirations of many as they are co-written, there is often a great deal of conflict in crystallizing aims and objectives for the new regime. 4) Constitutions emerge from and are reflective of the struggles that give birth to them. 20. Quite apart from customer identification, the phrase proper direction to take in educational reform makes little sense if it implies a policy that the state forces down the throats of a non-coalition of the unwilling. Policies seem to get formulated and implemented through a process whereby our best institutions develop models that the state then tells their less excellent sisters to copy. However, it must be remembered that institutions cannot copy each others practices when resources, demography, goals and options differ grotesquely. We need to fashion nuanced approach to the diversity of the public space within which places and institutions learn from each other without creating unhealthy and asymmetric long-term dependencies. In this sense, I am against iconizing the practices at any specific place. Which of the following are inferences that can be drawn on the basis of this passage? I. There is a strong current of elitism underwriting this approach where the best gives its ideas to the less privileged. II. Each institutions academic community must keep debating and evol ving its own strategies and conceptualizations. III. Copies are failure because they deal with diversity in a manner that defies iconization. IV. There is danger o f creating unhealthy competition between the best and the lesser ones when policies from the former are passed down to the latter in a hand-me-down fashion. 1) Both III and IV 2) Only II 3) Both I and II 4) Both I and IV