XAT 2010

Directions for Questions 1-3: These are based on a set of conditions. In answering some of the questions, it may be useful to draw a rough diagram. Choose the response that most accurately and completely answers each question.

In a local pet store, seven puppies wait to be introduced to their new owners. The puppies, named Ashlen, Blakely, Custard, Daffy, Earl, Fala and Gabino, are all kept in two available pens. Pen 1 holds three puppies, and pen 2 holds four puppies.

If Gabino is kept in pen 1, then Daffy is not kept in pen 2.

IfDaffy is not kept in pen 2, then Gabino is kept in pen 1.

If Ashlen is kept in pen 2, then Blakely is not kept in pen 2.

IfBlakely is kept in pen 1, then Ashlen is not kept in pen 1.

1. Which of the following groups of puppies could be in pen 2?

(a) Gabino, Daffy, Custard, Earl.

(b) Blakely, Gabino, Ashlen, Daffy.

(c) Ashlen, Gabino, Earl, Custard.

(d) Blakely, Custard, Earl, Fala.

(e) Gabino, Ashlen, Fala, Earl.

2. IfEarl shares a pen with Fala, then which of the following MUST be true?

(a) Gabino is in pen 1 with Daffy.

(b) Custard is in pen 2.

(c) Blakely is in pen 2 and Fala is in pen 1.

(d) Earl is in pen 1.

(e) Gabino shares a pen with Blakely.

3. IfEarl and Fala are in different pens, then which of the following must NOT be true?

(a) Fala shares a pen with Custard.

(b) Gabino shares a pen with Ashlen.

(c) Earl is in a higher-numbered pen than Blakely.

(d) Blakely shares pen 2 with Earl and Daffy.

(e) Custard is in a higher-numbered pen than Fala.

Directions for Questions 4-6: Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.

In calendar year 2008, there was turbulence in the air as Jet Airways’ Chairman pondered what course of action the airline should take. Air India was also struggling with the same dilemma. Two of India’s largest airlines, Air India and Jet Airways, had sounded caution on their fiscal health due to mounting operational costs.

The situation was equally grave for other national carriers. Driven by mounting losses of almost' 10 crore a day, Air India, in its merged avatar, was considering severe cost­cutting measures like slashing employee allowances, reducing in-flight catering expenses on short-haul flights and restructuring functional arms. The airline also considered other options like cutting maintenance costs by stationing officers at hubs, instead of allowing them to travel at regular intervals. Jet Airways, Air India and other domestic airlines had reasons to get worried, as 24 airlines across the world had gone bankrupt in the year on account of rising fuel costs. In India, operating costs had gone up by 3CM10%. Fuel prices had doubled in the past one year to ' 70,000 per kilolitre, forcing airlines to increase fares. Consequently, passenger load had fallen to an average 55-60% per flight Ifomprevious year’s peak of 70-75%. Other airlines faced a similar situation; some were even looking for buyers. Domestic carriers had lost about' 4,000 crore in 2007-08 with Air India leading the pack. ‘As against 27% wage bill globally, our wage bill is 22% of total input costs. Even then we are at a loss’, an Air India official said. Civil aviation ministry, however, had a different take. ‘Air India engineers go to Dubai every fortnight to work for 15 days and stay in five-star hotels. If they are stationed there, the airline would save ' 8 crore a year. This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are several things we can do to reduce operational inefficiency’.

4. Which of the followings are the reasons for Jet Airways not doing well?

1. RisingATFprices

2. Reduced passenger load

3. Declining service quality

4. Staff travelling to Dubai

(a) 1 and 2 (b) 2 and 3

(c) 1, 2 and 3 (d) 1, 2 and 4

(e) 1,2, 3 and 4

5. The total loss for the airline industry was likely to be ' 10,000 crore. Jet Airlines lost' 3,000 crore, Air India lost' ‘X’ crore and ‘rest of the airlines’ lost' Ύ’ crore. What was the loss for the ‘rest of the airlines’, in 2008?

(a) Cannot be determined

(b) ' 3,350 crore

(c) ' 3,690 crore

(d) ',340 crore

(e) None of the above

6. Suppose fuel constitutes 30% of the revenues, do you think airlines would be in a better situation by reducing prices?

(a) Yes

(b) Data insufficient to reach decision

(c) No

(d) It would not matter

(e) None of the above

Directions for Questions 7-11: These questions are based on a set of conditions. In answering some of the questions, it may be useful to draw a rough diagram. Choose the response that most accurately and completely answers each question.

Five colleagues pooled their efforts during the office lunch-hour to solve the crossword in the daily paper. Colleagues: Mr. Bineet, Mr. Easwar, Ms. Elsie, Ms. Sheela, Ms. Titli. Answers: Burden, Barely, Baadshah, Rosebud, Silence. Numbers: 4 down, 8 across, 15 across, 15 down, 21 across. Order: First, second, third, fourth, fifth.

1. Titli produced the answer to 8 across, which had the same number of letters as the previous answer to be inserted, and one more than the subsequent answer which was produced by one of the men.

2. It was not Bineet who solved the clue to ‘Burden’, and Easwar did not solve 4 down.

3. The answers to 15 across and 15 down did not have the same number of letters.

4. ‘Silence’, which was not the third word to be inserted, was the answer to an across clue.

5. ‘Barely’ was the first word to be entered in the grid, but ‘Baadshah⁵ was not the second answer to be found.

6. Elsie’s word was longer than Bineet’s; Sheela was neither the first nor the last to come up with an answer.

7. The Fifth word to be worked out was an answer to an across clue.

7. Whatwas Sheela’s word?

(a) Baadshah (b) Silence

(c) Rosebud (d) Barely

(e) Burden

8. What could be Titli ^,s answer?

(a) Baadshah (b) Silence

(c) Rosebud (d) Barely

(e) Burden

9. WhatwasTitli⁵Sorder?

(a) First (b) Second

(c) Third (d) Fourth

(e) Fifth

10. WhatwasEaswar⁵Snumber?

(a) 4 down (b) 21 across

(c) 8 across (d) 15 down

(e) 15 across

11. What was Bineet⁵ s word?

(a) Barely (b) Burden

(c) Silence (d) Rosebud

(e) Baadshah

Directions for Questions 12 and 13: Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.

An audit unearthed a financial scam in NWC Corporation. One or more among the 9 financial accountants of NWC Corporation are suspected to have fudged the accounts. Following are the statements made by the nine suspects.

Shrinivas: Nagraj fudged the accounts.

Datta: Shrinivas did not fudge the accounts.

Nagraj: Datta is lying and I did not fudge accounts.

Jose: Shrinivas is telling the truth.

Samuel: Exactly three of the suspects are telling the truth.

Ejaz: Datta is lying and Shrinivas fudged the accounts.

Chaudhary: Datta fudged the accounts.

Ganeshan: Datta is lying and Shrinivas is telling the truth.

Panda: Samuel is lying.

7. If Samuel is telling the truth, which of the following statements is true?

(a) Chaudhury and Datta are telling the truth.

(b) Nagraj fudged the accounts.

(c) Chaudhury and Jose are telling the truth.

(d) Shrinivas and Datta are telling the truth.

(e) Shrinivas fudged the account.

8. IfPanda is lying, which of the following statements cannot be true?

(a) Nagraj, Ganeshan and Ejaz are all lying.

(b) Datta fudged the accounts.

(c) Shrinivas did not fudge the accounts.

(d) Jose and Shrinivas are telling the truth.

(e) Nagraj fudged the accounts.

Directions for Questions 14-16: These questions are based on a set of conditions. In answering some of the questions, it may be useful to draw a rough diagram. Choose the response that most accurately and completely answers each question.

Seven bands were scheduled to perform during the weeklong music festival at XLRI. The festival began on a Monday evening and ended on the Sunday evening. Each day only one band performed.

Each band performed only once. The organising committee had the task of scheduling the performances of the seven bands—Cactus, Axis, Enigma, Boom, Fish, Dhoom and Bodhi Tree. The festival schedule followed the following conditions: the performance of Bodhi Tree, the home band of XLRI, did not precede the performance of any other band.

Among the visiting bands three were rock bands and the other three were fusion bands. All three bands of the same genre were not allowed to perform consecutively. Boom, which was a rock band, refused to perform immediately before or after Fish. Meet, who was a lead vocalist with a rock band, refused to perform after Angelina. Angelina, the only female lead vocalist in the music fest besides Bony, was with the band Enigma. Angelina refused to perform after Thursday citing personal reasons. Ali, who was the lead vocalist of a rock band, was not with the band Dhoom, and did not perform on Saturday. Sid, the lead vocalist of the rock band Cactus, could perform only on Monday. Rupam, the only male among the lead vocalists of the fusion bands, was with Fish and performed on Wednesday. None of the bands performed in the absence of their lead vocalist.

9. All of the following statements can be true except:

(a) If Meet was the lead vocalist of Axis then Ali was the lead vocalist of Boom

(b) IfMeet was the lead vocalist of Dhoom then Bony was the lead vocalist of Axis.

(c) IfBony was the lead vocalist of Dhoom then Meet was the lead vocalist of Axis.

(d) If Ali was the lead vocalist of Boom then Meet was the lead vocalist of Dhoom.

(e) If Bony was the lead vocalist of Axis then Meet was the lead vocalist of Boom

10. Which of the following must be true?

(a) Ali performed on Saturday and Enigma performed on Thursday.

(b) Dhoom performed on Thursday and Angelina performed on Tuesday.

(c) Boom performed on Friday and Meet performed on Tuesday.

(d) Ali performed on Friday and Enigma performed on Tuesday.

(e) Bony performed on Saturday and Axis performed on Thursday.

11. Which of the following is a plausible performance sequence?

(a) Cactus, Enigma, Fish, Dhoom, Boom, Axis

(b) Cactus, Dhoom, Fish, Boom, Enigma, Axis

(c) Cactus, Axis, Fish, Boom, Enigma, Dhoom

(d) Cactus, Axis, Fish, Enigma, Boom, Dhoom

(e) Cactus, Boom, Fish, Axis, Enigma, Dhoom

Directions for Questions 17-21: These questions are based on a set of conditions. In answering some of the questions, it may be useful to draw a rough diagram. Choose the response that most accurately and completely answers each question.

A BPO has assigned duty to nine operators—Abdulla, Ballal, Chandan, Dogra, Eshita, Falguni, Ganguli, Henri and Indra, on Monday, January 05, 2009 from 00:00 hours. Each operator commences duty at any of the following hours: 00:00 hrs, 04:00 hrs, 08:00 hrs, 12:00 hrs, 16:00 hrs and 20:00 hrs. At any point in time, at least one operator is required to take clients’ calls. Each operator works continuously for eight hours. All operators located at any single location start work simultaneously. The operators took training in five different colleges—Abhiman College, Sutanama College, Gutakal College, Barala College and Khatanama College. These colleges are located in the cities Jamshedpur, Pune, Noida, Hyderabad and Mangalore, not necessarily in that order. The operators operate from the cities where their respective colleges are located. Indra operates alone from a city other than Mangalore and Jamshedpur. Operator(s) trained in Abhiman College will start working at 12:00 hrs. Only Dogra and Falguni operate from Pune, but they are not trained in Gutakal College. Three of the operators took training from Sutanama College, and they operate from Noida. The operator(s) IfomJamshedpur will start working at 00:00 hrs. Abdulla and Henri operate together as a two member team from a single location. They do not operate from Mangalore. No operator(s) will join at 20:00 hrs. Ballal, who operates alone Ifomhis location, was not trained in Barala College, and will commence his duty four hours after the operator(s) trained in Gutakal College. The operator(s) trained in Barala College operate from Hyderabad. The number of operator(s) trained in Khatanama College is same as the number of operator(s) trained in Barala College.

12. Which of the following statements must be true?

(a) Dogra and Henri took training from Khatanama College.

(b) Indra took training from Barala College.

(c) Dogra and Falguni took training from Barala College.

(d) Indra took training from Abhiman College.

(e) Ballal took training from Abhiman College.

13. Which of the following can be true for the operators operating from 20:00 hrs (of January 05, 2009) to 00:00 hrs (of January 06, 2009)?

(a) Operators took training from Khatanama College and operate from Mangalore.

(b) Operators took training from Barala College and operate from Pune.

(c) Operators took training from Sutanama College and operate from Noida.

(d) Operators took training from Gutakal College and operate from Mangalore.

(e) Operators took training from Abhiman College and operate from Pune.

14. Which of the following statements must be true for the operator(s) trained in Gutakal College?

(a) They are Abdulla and Henri, and work from Jamshedpur.

(b) They are Dogra and Falguni, and work from Pune.

(c) She is Eshita, and works from Mangalore.

(d) She is Indra, and works from Pune.

(e) They are Chandan and Ganguli, and work from Jamshedpur.

15. Which of the following is not definitely true?

(a) At least three operators will be working between 04:00 hrs to 08:00 hrs.

(b) At most five operators will be working between 04:00 hrs to 08:00 hrs.

(c) At most five operators will be working between 12:00 hrs to 16:00 hrs.

(d) At most six operators will be working between 16:00 hrs to 20:00 hrs.

(e) At least three operators will be working between 16:00 hrs to 20:00 hrs.

16. If five operators are working between 16:00 hrs and 20:00 hrs, which of the following must be true?

(a) The only operator working between 8:00 hrs and 12:00 hrs is Ballal.

(b) The operators working between 12:00 hrs and 16:00 hrs are Ballal, Dogra and Falguni.

(c) The operators working between 12:00 hrs and 16:00 hrs are Dogra, Henri and Falguni.

(d) The operators working between 16:00 hrs and 20:00 hrs are Indra, Dogra, Falguni, Chandan and Ganguli.

(e) The operators working between 20:00 hrs and 0:00 hrs are Chandan Ganguli and Eshita.

17. Dr. Puneet is worried about the test results of his patient, Ms. Benita. Ms. Benita was an old rich widow with no dependents. The results indicate that Ms. Benita has the potentially fatal Lymphanigioleiomyomatosis (LAM) disease. LAM is rare and difficult to diagnose. People with LAM often need oxygen and lung transplants as the disease continues its course. According to the test results, Ms. Benita might have got it.

Dr. Puneet explained the situation to Ms. Benita carefully. Without naming the disease, he explained that the disease was progressive and would need treatment using drugs which were still at the experimental stage. Even then, the chance of success was not too bright. If the treatment was unsuccessful, then they would have to get ready for a lung transplant. The lung transplant itself was a risky course of treatment. Even if successful, she would require constant medical support and treatment.

Ms. Benita looked blank. She asks Dr. Puneet for his advice about the course of action. He nods gravely, ‘I’m afraid, Ms. Benita, I think there is only one course we can take’.

What should be Dr. Pimeefs advice?

(a) Tell Ms. Benita the details of the disease.

(b) Conduct another test to confirm the diagnosis.

(c) Leave the matter; anyway the outcome cannot be changed.

(d) Treat Ms. Benita without telling her about the disease.

(e) Propose that Ms. Benita go ahead with the experimental drugs.

Readthe following case and choose the best alternative (QuestionNo. 23-26): Guruji’s guidance

Bhola, an avid nature lover, wanted to be an entrepreneur. He dreamt of establishing a chain of huts in Chatpur region to cater to tourists, who came attracted by the beauty and splendour of the Himalayas.

However, he was appalled the current degradation of the Himalayan environment. He remembered the early times when everything was so green, clean and peaceful. Now, greenery was replaced by buildings, peace was shattered by honking of vehicles and flocking of tourists, and cleanliness was replaced by heaps of plastics.

Bhola had a strong sense of right and wrong. On speaking to a few locals about the issue, he realised that the locals were aware of these issues. However, they pointed out the benefits of development: pucca houses for locals, higher disposable income and with that, ability to send their children to better schools and colleges, better road connectivity, and access to latest technology in agriculture. Most locals wanted the development to continue.

Saddened by the lack of support from the locals, Bhola took up the issue with the government. He met the chief minister of the state to find out if government could regulate the developmental activities to prevent environmental degradation. However, the chief minister told Bhola that such an action would slow down the economic progress. That also meant loss of substantial tax revenues for the government.

Bhola needed to resolve the dilemma. Bhola always wanted to be an entrepreneur, who could contribute to the society and earn money as well. However, his business would also be responsible for destroying environment. If he did not set up us business, he would not be able to earn money and contribute to the society.

After mulling over the issues, he went to his mentor ‘Guruji’. Guruji realised that it was really a difficult puzzle—if one saves the environment, there seems to be no development and if the people and the government sought development, the environment and hence future of this planet and human beings was at stake. After careful thought, he felt that dilemma could be resolved. He fixed up a meeting with Bhola to answer Bhola’s queries.

18. Should Bhola still think of doing business?

(a) Yes, where there is a will, there is a way.

(b) No, saving the Earth for our children is more important than earning money.

(c) Yes, Bhola should do business while ensuring no environmental damage is done.

(d) Yes, but only if the government puts strict environment regulations in place.

(e) Bhola should stop thinking about such a dilemma.

19. Bhola wanted to advise the government about the new tourism policy. Bhola had developed a few alternatives as given below. Choose the best alternative.

(a) Stop environmental degradation by stopping the developmental activities.

(b) Forget about the environment: think about the people as they are the vote banks for politician to come back to power.

(c) Suggest that the government should try to promote eco-tourism, which would be controlled and regulated by the government, as the government could think about the welfare of the majority of the stakeholders.

(d) Suggest that the government should promote eco-tourism with public private partnership with the involvement of NGO’s, so that there are checks and balances for inefficiencies and promotion for synergetic efforts between government and private entrepreneurs.

(e) Involvement of impartial entities like NGO’s who would provide a fair assessment of the policies.

20. Bhola wished he was heading the government. He listed five concrete measures he would take if he were to head the government. Choose the best alternative.

(a) Charge environmental cess from all businesses operating out of the

Himalayas.

(b) Charge cess from anyone who pollutes the environment, be it the citizens or industries and reward those who have contributed to afforestation the most.

(c) All profit making organisations have to take responsibility for afforestation proportionate to their profitability.

(d) Think about maximising the revenues and forget about the environment.

(e) Institute a Green Valley Reward, which would be given to businesses highly active in afforestation efforts.

21. Visualising he was heading the state government, Bhola thought of a likely problematic situation. Five years have passed. In these five years, Bhola has initiated a lot of pro-environment steps, including making people aware of the fact that it was this pristine environment which brought in tourists in the first place. Now he faced state elections. The opposition accused him of stopping development and causing unemployment under the guise of environment protection. If Bhola were to consider this accusation as a short-term battle, which option would Guruji suggest to Bhola to score a quick win?

(a) Accuse the opposition of having vested interests as the opposition leaders were denied licences for opening new hotels.

(b) Point out the improvement in environment since the implementation of pro­environment policies.

(c) Compare the unemployment levels since the implementation of the pro­environment policies and if they are less, accuse the opposition of making baseless charges.

(d) Point out that this government had initiated a regular cleaning-up drive and the opposition did not consider the data regarding the people who were employed in that drive.

(e) Call the charges as baseless accusations being used to malign the good work he had done.

22. Some environmentalists tired of waiting for ‘green economics’ to catch up with the society at large, have adopted their own strategies for tipping the financial calculation in favour of the land. In the forest surrounding Vancouver, where trees are being felled for paper to print philosophy books (well, maybe one or two, but it’s worth it), groups have used metal spikes hidden in trees to prevent the chainsaws from operating safely, pushing up the price Ofharvesting the trees. In Phoenix, Arizona, where mountain nature reserves have been encroached on by new houses, hooded vigilantes have burnt down the new residences.The arsonists, according to the local paper, pray before they burn down a house that no one will get hurt, thinking primarily of the fire-fighters, the new houses are burned while still empty. ‘We don’t pray for ourselves not to get caught, that’s God’s will.’ one is quoted as saying.

As per the activists, all aforementioned activities seem clearly very principled. But is it ethical?

(a) Yes, arsonists are right.

(b) No, they have no justification for damaging other people’s Property.

(c) No, as it is not taken up in a peaceful manner.

(d) No, as the activities are not carried out in a legal manner.

(e) Stop thinking about ethics altogether as ethical issues are difficult to resolve.

Readthe following case and choose the best alternative (QuestionNo. 28-30):

Ranjan Tuglak, the youngest cabinet minister of the newly elected coalition, glanced through the notes prepared by his secretary regarding the recent controversies on racket, the most popular game of the country. While International Racket Association (IRC) has agreed to implement Drug Testing Code (DTC) promoted by World Athletic and Gamer Federation, Racket Club which controls the entire racket related activities (unlike any other sports and games of the country) had some reservations regarding the initiative. Majority of the citizens waited for the international competitions eagerly and were fanatical about their country’s participation in them. As a result of the popularity of the game 70% of the total revenue associated with the game originates from the country. Hence Racket Club has high bargaining power with IRC and can change any decision that is not aligned with its interests. Three most popular and senior players, including the captain, are against the application of DTC citing security reasons. A decision against the interests of these players may result in law and order problems throughout the country. Other players support the decision of their senior colleagues and if Racket Club refuses to agree, players may support Counter Racket Club, a new national level initiative. Counter Racket Club may threaten the monopoly of Racket Club, if it succeeds to attract some popular racket players.

Ranjan’s father had been forced to resign from politics due to alleged corruption charges. Ranjan had completed his entire education from abroad before returning to join politics. He is a great soccer player and has major reservations against racket. According to him, racket has negative influence on the country’s youth and diverts their attention from productive work. He also considers drug testing as an essential feature for any sports and games across the world. As the new cabinet minister for Youth and Sports he needs to take some important decisions on this controversial issue.

23. If the objective of Ranjan is to (i) create a good image of himself as a politician

and (ii) create a long lasting positive impact, the best decision he should take is

(a) Force Racket Club to accept all modifications related to drug testing.

(b) Provide adequate security protection to the satisfaction of players nominated by Racket Club before enforcing drug testing.

(c) Align with Counter Racket Club.

(d) Popularise soccer in the country through endorsements by the popular racket players.

(e) Ban racket.

24. Identify the best rationale that may force Ranjan as a politician to take a decision in favour of IRC.

(a) President of Racket Club and Ranjan belong to different political coalitions and he can use Counter Racket Club against the opponent.

(b) The next World cup is scheduled to be held in a country which has adopted DTC as the guiding principle.

(c) Ranjan is interested in reducing the popularity of racket in the country.

(d) As the cabinet minister, Ranjan has the power to take such a decision.

(e) Top three international teams (and respective national clubs) are keen to implement DTC.

25. According to DTC, each athlete/sportsperson needs to submit a schedule for three months (in advance) that specifies an hour each day when they can be randomly tested for drugs. DTC also assured the confidentiality of the submitted schedule by

(i) limiting the access of player-supplied information to two senior officers,

(ii) these officers will have internet-based access only to the schedule of those sports persons who are randomly selected for testing (and not of everyone) and

(iii) introducing similar security features for DTC database as in case of financial institutions. Top three popular players realise that no reason other than security can help them to get a favourable decision from Ranjan. Hence during discussions they should focus on all options except'.

(a) Any clue related to their private schedules may also result in huge public gathering and it will make the job of security agencies very difficult.

(b) Popular racket players are included in the hit list of terrorist organisations.

(c) Recent report by World Bank rate their country among the top five nations with maximum amount of internet-based data stealing.

(d) It is difficult to provide adequate security coverage in large stadiums where racket is played.

(e) DTC is not willing to share the details of two senior officers involved in drug testing with the security agencies of the country for background study.

Analyse the following transcript (from the movie Matrix) and provide an appropriate answer for Questions 31 and 32 that follow.

Neo: Morpheus, what’s happened to me? What is this place?

Morpheus: More important than what is when.

Neo: When?

Morpheus: You believe it’s the year 1999 when in fact it’s closer to 2199. I can’t tell you exactly what year it is because we honestly don’t know. There’s nothing I can say that will explain it for you, Neo. Come with me. See for yourself. This is my ship, the Nebuchadnezzar. It’s a hovercraft. This is the main deck. This is the core where we broadcast our pirate signal and hack into the Matrix. Most of my crew you already know.

(Next Scene: Construct)

Morpheus: This is the construct. It’s our loading programme. We can load anything from clothing, to equipment, weapons, training simulations, anything we need.

Neo: Right now we’re inside a computer programme?

Morpheus: Is it really so hard to believe? Your clothes are different. The plugs in your arms and head are gone. Your hair is changed. Your appearance now is what we call residual self image. It is the mental projection of your digital self.

Neo: This...this isn’t real?

Morpheus: What is real? How do you define real? If you’re talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain....This is the world that you know. The world as it was at the end of the twentieth century. It exists now only as part of a neural-interactive simulation that we call the Matrix. You’ve been living in a dreamworld, Neo.

This is the world as it exists today. Welcome to the Desert of the Real. We have only bits and pieces of information but what we know for certain is that at some point in the early twenty-first century all of mankind was united in celebration. We marvelled at our own magnificence as we gave birth to Al.

Neo: Al? Youmeanartificial intelligence?

Morpheus: A singular consciousness that spawned an entire race of machines. We don’t know who struck first, us or them. But we know that it was us that scorched the sky. At the time they were dependent on solar power and it was believed that they would be unable to survive without an energy source as abundant as the sun. Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate it seems is not without a sense of irony. The human body generates more bio-electricity than a 120-volt battery and over 25,000 BTU’s of body heat. Combined with a form of fusion the machines have found all the energy they would ever need. There are fields, endless fields, where human beings are no longer born, we are grown. For the longest time I wouldn’t believe it, and then I saw the fields with my own eyes. Watch them liquefy the dead so they could be fed intravenously to the living. And standing there, facing the pure horrifying precision, I came to realise the obviousness of the truth. What is the Matrix? Control. The Matrix is a computer generated dreamworld built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into this

Neo: No. I don’t believe it. It’s not possible.

Morpheus: I didn’t say it would be easy, Neo. Ijust said it would be the truth.

Neo: Stop. Let me out. Let me out. I want out.

26. The innate factor responsible for the status of human beings in the later part of 22nd century is

(a) due to human beings living in a dream world and being happy about it.

(b) the ability of human body to generate bio-electricity.

(c) the decision to scorch the sky.

(d) the development of artificial intelligence by human beings.

(e) due to human beings developing the ability to hack into the matrix.

27. Choose the option that cannot be inferred from the idea discussed in the transcript:

(a) Morpheus and his crew have developed an ability to hack into the matrix.

(b) A war between human beings and machines has been going on for some decades.

(c) The sources of power for human beings and machines were different.

(d) Machines require human beings for their survival now.

(e) Morpheus and his crew are not entirely controlled by the matrix.

28. The widespread use of lectures in class-rooms in business schools leads to severe negative consequences. The first consequence is theoretically knowledgeable graduates who cannot apply theory to solve real world problems. The more serious consequence is that lectures encourage a feeling of total omniscience among them which persists for quite some time after graduating. This feeling prevents ‘them from learning from their subordinates

and colleagues.’

WMch of the following can best help to reduce these negative consequences among the students in a business school?

(a) Use illustrations of real life problems in classrooms.

(b) Send the students to find business problems so that it can be discussed in classrooms.

(c) Business education to be given to students, who have work experience.

(d) Modify the pedagogy to have knowledge of theory and application in parallel.

(e) Removing theoretical inputs from the curriculum altogether; only practical problems to be discussed in class rooms.

Analyse the following passage and provide an appropriate answer for Questions 34 and 35 that follow.

Silver is especially and repetitively savage about what he sees as the extravagant claims made for particle physics, arguing that once the proton, neutron, and electron were found and their properties experimentally confirmed, the very expensive searches for ever more exotic particles, such as the Higgs Boson, were increasingly harder to justify other than by their importance to particle physicists. Most of the particles resemble ecstatic happiness: They are very short-lived and have nothing to do with everyday life. His repeated assault goes to the level of sarcasm: ‘Finding the Higgs Boson will be a magnificent technical and theoretical triumph. Like a great Bobby Fisher game’. Of course, this is a tad unfair, even if some of the claims of its practitioners invite such assaults on their field.

29. Which of the following, if true, will weaken the argument described in the passage?

(a) All streams of new science need to go through a period of uncertainty and we should not criticize research in particle physics alone.

(b) Necessity is the mother of every invention.

(c) Knowledge has preceded application in all spheres of science.

(d) Funding agencies supporting research on Higgs Boson do not mind wasting their money.

(e) Do not expect everyone to appreciate everything.

30. Identify the statements) that is(are) logically consistent with the content of the paragraph.

I. Silver is an ardent critic of Higgs Boson theory.

II. Everyday life has nothing to do with experimental confirmation of the properties of proton, neutron and electron.

III. Identifying more information about Higgs Boson is a significant contribution to particle physics.

IV.Research on exotic particles in particle physics is an expensive proposition.

(a) Only I (b) Only II

(c) Only II and IV (d) Only IV

(e) Only I and IV

Analyse the following passage and provide an appropriate answer for questions 36- 38 that follow.

When we speak of the ‘probability of death’, the exact meaning of the experience can be defined in the following way only. We must not think of an individual, but of a certain class as a whole, eg., ‘all insured men forty-one years old living in a given country and not engaged in certain dangerous occupations.’ A probability of death is attached to the class of men or to another class that can be defined in a similar way. We can say nothing about the probability of death of an individual even if we know his condition of life and health in detail. The phrase ‘probability of death’, when it refers to a single person, has no meaning at all.

31. Which of the following conclusions can be drawn from the passage?

1. Singular, non replicable events can be assigned numerical probability value.

2. Probability calculation requires data of the class of people or of events.

3. The data about a class of events can be used to predict the future of any specific event.

(a) 1 only (b) 2 only

(c) 1 and 2 (d) 2 and 3

(e) 1 and 3

32. Which of the following statements would the author(s) disagree to the most?

The outcome of a boxing match to be held in Los Angeles between two boxers, Joe and Mark, belonging to two different boxing clubs can be analysed and an outcome can be assigned a numerical value:

(a) if assessment of the boxers’ current fitness levels and their strengths is done by experts.

(b) by analysis of outcomes of the fights between the boxers belonging to the two clubs.

(c) by analysis of the outcomes of the fights between the two boxers at different venues.

(d) by comparing of the outcomes of the fights between the two boxers against same opponents.

(e) by analysis of outcomes of fights between the two boxers at the same venue in Los Angeles.

33. Which of the following statements would the author(s) agree to the most?

The outcome of a boxing match to be held in Los Angeles between two boxers, Joe and Mark, belonging to two different boxing clubs can be analysed and an outcome can be assigned a numerical value:

(a) if assessment the boxers’ current fitness levels and their strengths is done by experts.

(b) by analysis of outcomes of fights between the boxers belonging to the two clubs.

(c) by analysis of outcomes of the fights between the two boxers at different venues.

(d) by comparing the outcomes of the fights between the two boxers against same opponents.

(e) by analysis of outcomes of fights between the two boxers at the same venue in Los Angeles.

34. ‘The sum of behaviour is to retain a man’s dignity without intruding upon the liberty of others’, stated Sir Francis Bacon. If this is the case, then not intruding upon another’s liberty is impossible.

The conclusion strongly implied by the author of the passage is:

(a) Retaining one’s dignity is impossible without introducing upon another’s liberty.

(b) Retaining dignity does not necessarily involve robbing other’s liberty.

(c) Dignity and liberty are mutually exclusive.

(d) There is a ways the possibility of a ‘dignified intrusion’.

(e) Retaining dignity never involves intrusion into other’s liberty.

35. Gourmet is to gourmand as

(a) aquatic is to aqueduct

(b) foliage is to fodder

(c) ecclesiastic is to earthy

(d) election is to elector

(e) epitaph is to epilogue

36. ‘Indigestion? Acidity? Unable to sleep?...Don’t spend the time tossing and turning! Take Magix for a sound, restful sleep... you’ll soon fall asleep, and wake up refreshed and energised. Remember... Magix when you are suffering from acidity and need that sleep!’

All of the following are claims of Magix except:

(a) A good night’s sleep

(b) Added energy

(c) A cure to indigestion

(d) Quickly falling asleep

(e) A restful slumber

37. Filmmakers tend to highlight their emotional points with visuals, rather than dialogue. Words tend to be the tools of playwrights. Images are the stuff that films are made of. Nevertheless, many successful films have been made from stage plays and contain little else than one location or one stage set.

The option most opposite to the idea in the paragraph:

(a) Films are not necessarily a filmmaker’s medium.

(b) Films are not limited to any one particular style.

(c) Films are solely built upon visual and eye- catching scenes.

(d) Films are better made by playwrights and novelists.

(e) Films perhaps are better understood by literary critics.

38. Unlike other retail outlets, where items are purchased in any number of units the customer wants, in super-markets items are grouped in bulk packages. This bulk buying offers savings to the customer. The option to buy at wholesale prices by buying in bulk makes super-markets a practical choice for budget-conscious consumers.

Which of the following is an assumption necessary to the author’s argument?

(a) Super-markets often have great buying power and lower overhead costs, so they can offer a greater variety of products than regular retail outlets.

(b) Super-markets are often more conveniently located and have better parking facilities.

(c) The emergence of super-markets has caused many small retail stores to close down and thus eliminate competition.

(d) It is economically wise to buy single items since bulk passages seldom offer significant savings.

(e) The financial savings from purchasing bulk packages may outweigh the inconvenience of being unable to purchase in any number of units that suits the customer needs.

Answer Key

Solutions:

Solutions for Questions 1 to 3: The first two clues about Gabino and Dafify can be read as follows and they lead to the conclusions as listed below:

CLUE 1: If Gabino is kept in Pen 1, Dafify is also kept in Pen 1.

CLUE 2: IfDaffy is kept in Pen 1, Gabino is kept in Pen 1.

While interpreting these two clues together, you should realise that together they mean that if you were to keep one of the two in Pen 1, you would essentially need to put both in Pen 1.

Thus, if you keep one of them in Pen 2, the other would also be in Pen 2 (because if you were to put the second person in Pen 1, then the first person cannot remain in Pen 2).

In the same fashion we can try to interpret the clues about Ashlen and Blakeley:

The third clue can be read as:

CLUE 3: If Ashlen is kept in Pen 2, then Blakeley has to be put in the other Pen (i.e. Pen 1)

CLUE 4: IfBlakely is kept in Pen 1, then Ashlen is kept in Pen 2.

The way you need to think from this point is: What if you put Blakeley in Pen 2? Where would Ashlen go? By clue 3, Ashlen would necessarily need to go into Pen 1 (because if you were to put Ashlen in Pen 2 too, then clue 3 ^,s basic condition kicks in and Blakeley would have to be put into Pen 1, but he has been placed in Pen 2; hence you are not really allowed to put Ashlen in Pen 2, if Blakeley is in Pen 2).

Thus, what both these clues together are telling us is that Ashlen and Blakeley have to be put into different Pens.

Armed with these two realisations we are now ready to look into the individual questions of the set.

1. Before we look at the options for who can be feasibly placed in Pen 2, you should remember the two conclusions we have drawn above and how they work in the given situation.

(i) Gabino and Dafify have to be in the same Pen. This means that either we put both of them in Pen 2 or we put neither of them in Pen 2.

(ii) Ashlen and Blakeley have to be put in different Pens. This means that one of Ashlen and Blakely have to be put in Pen 2.

Now let us move into the individual options in order to check the feasibility of each option and check for a possible arrangement of 4 puppies in Pen 2.

Option (a): Rejected because neither Ashlen nor Blakeley is part of Pen 2.

Option (b): Rejected because both Ashlen and Blakely are part of Pen 2.

Option (c): Rejected because we have only Gabino and Daffy is not in the same Pen as Gabino.

Option (d): Possible as we have kept Ashlen and Blakeley in different Pens, while at the same time both Gabino and Daffy are in Pen 1. Hence, this arrangement is correct.

Option (e): Rejected as Gabino and Daffy are being kept in different Pens in this arrangement.

Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

2. IfEarl and Fala are sharing a pen, they could either be sharing Pen 1 or Pen 2. This should be recognised as a multiple possibility situation and while considering what ‘MUST BE TRUE’ in such case, you have to look at what is consistently true in both the possibilities.

Hence, in order to move forward in this case, you need to first look at the allocations of the 7 puppies in both possibilities and then see what is consistently true.

POSSIBILITY 1: If Earl and Fala share Pen 1, the allocations would be:

Pen 1

Pen 2

POSSIBILITY 2: If Earl and Fala share Pen 2, the allocations would be:

Pen 2

Pen 1

From the above two possible allocations and looking at the options we can select option (b) i.e., Custard is in Pen 2 as we can see clearly that in both allocations Custard is in Pen 2.

If you look at the other options, the following thought chains should result:

Option (a): Can be true but not necessarily true as this is not occurring in Possibility 1.

Option (c): Need not be true as can be seen under Possibility 2.

Option (d): Need not be true as Earl is in Pen 2 in Possibility 2.

Option (e): Not necessary as we can put even Ashlen with Gabino Hence, Option (b) is correct.

3. Earl and Fala being in different Pens is also leading to a multiple possibility situation as follows:

Possibility 1: Earl is in Pen 1, Fala is in Pen 2;

Possibility 2: Earl is in Pen 2, Fala is in Pen 1.

Let us explore each of the possibilities further:

Possibility 1: Earl is in Pen 1, Fala is in Pen 2;

Pen 1

Pen 2

Earl

Custard

Ashlen/Blakely (any one of them)

Possibility 2: Earl is in Pen 2, Fala is in Pen 1;

Pen 1

Pen 2

Now for this question, we are trying to look for what ‘MUST NOT BE TRUE’ which in essence means that we are looking for what cannot happen under both possibilities. Thus, if something can be seen to occur in one of the two possibilities also, it would be rejected as an answer to this question.

Checking the options Ifomthis point of time:

Option (a): Canbe true under possibility 2. Hence, this Optionis rejected. Option (b): Canbe true under both possibilities. Hence, this option is rejected. Option (c): can be true under possibility 2. Hence, this option is rejected. Option (d): Canbe true under possibility 2. Hence, this Optionis rejected.

Option (e): Cannot be true under either possibility as we can see clearly that in both the possibilities, Custard is always in Pen 1. Hence, we cannot put Custard in a higher numbered pen than Fala.

Hence, option (e) is the correct answer.

Solutions for Questions 4-6:

4. It is clearly mentioned in the situation description that reduced passenger load (as a result of increased prices) and rising ATF prices (forcing airlines to raise prices) are both responsible for Jet Airways not doing well. Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

5. The losses of Jet Airways (as mentioned in the paragraph) are in the range of' 3000 Crore. Also, the losses of Air India are in the range of Rs. 10 crore per day, which means an annual loss of approximately ' 3650 crore. Consequently, the losses of other airlines would be 10000 - 3000 - 3650 = ' 3350 crore.

Hence, option (b) is correct.

6. Reducing prices would definitely increase passenger load factors, but whether it would put the airlines in a better situation would depend on so many factors, not the least of which are: The amount by which the prices are reduced; The effect on the profitability per passenger mile if the prices are reduced; The actual elasticity of demand which would determine how much of an effect the reduction in prices would create on the passenger load factors etc. From the information given in the passage, we are not in a position to estimate these variables and hence, we really cannot say whether reducing prices would put the airlines in a worse or a better situation.

Hence, the correct answer to this question would be that we do not have enough information to reach a decision.

Option (b) is the correct answer.

Solutions for Questions 7-11:

Like in all reasoning questions, the first thing we do is to make a grid which would help us encapsulate all the information in one consolidated grid.

The given information tells us about: i) The order of finding the correct word; ii) The person who found the word; iii) The exact words found and iv) The position of the word in the grid.

Hence, the ideal grid structure would look as follows:

With this grid structure, you can try to start fitting in the clues into the grid. In this case, a quick reading shows us clearly that most of the clues in this question set are extremely indirect. Hence, in such a question the standard approach to solve has to be to go through multiple rounds of visiting the clues in the order they are given and continuously trying to add more and more information into the solution grid we have.

FIRST PASS THROUGH THE CLUES:

When you read the first clue, you realise that you need to look at the number of letters in the words. There are two words with 6 letters each, two words with 7 letters each and 1 word with 8 letters. Also there are 3 across clues and 2 Down clues in the crossword.

Clues 2 to 4: Not usable at this point.

Clue 5: Barely was the first word to be inserted & Clue 7: Fifth one to be worked out is an across clue gives us the following grid:

At this point clue 1 become usable in the following fashion:

If Titli has produced an answer which has the same number of letters as the previous answer and one more than the next answer, it could only mean that Titli produced a 7 letter word as only a 7 letter word can feasibly have the same number of letters in the previous word and have 1 letter more than the next word given the current situation— i.e. there are 2 words with 6 letters each, 2 with 7 letters each and 1 with 8 letters.

Thus, there is a sequence of words with 7 letters, 7 letters and 6 letters in that order somewhere in the above grid.

This principally means that Titli ^,s word can either be placed third or fourth in which case the alternate grids can be imagined as follows:

Titli ’ s word: third

OR Titli’s word: fourth

However, the second of the situations above can be rejected as it means necessarily putting the 8 letter word ‘ Baadshah⁵ in the second place—something that is a contradiction of clue # 5. Hence, we can reject the possibility of Titli’s word being 4th and can conclude that Titli ^,s word is the third one. We can also now determine the exact position of the word ‘SILENCE’ using clue # 4.

Thus, the grid would now look as below:

The next part of the thought process would involve the following deductions:

(i) We already know the exact position of BARELY, thus the second 6 letter word BURDEN, would move into the 4th position;

(ii) The only 7 letter word left is ROSEBUD and it would get fixed in the third place.

(iii) From Clue 2 we know that Mr. Bineet did not solve ‘BURDEN’. Since a man has solved BURDEN, we can conclude that it must have been Easwar.

At this point in our solution, we know the order in which each of the words were solved. Our solution grid looks as below.

Our concentration now should obviously be to move onto the remaining clues and fill in the WHO row and also the position of each word in the crossword. The following deductions help you move on in the solution:

(i) Clue # 6 gives us that Sheela has to be second, and since Elsie’s word was longer than Bineefs it can only mean that Elsie deduced BAADSHAH and Bineet got BARELY.

The WHO row of the grid gets completed and we reach the following situation.

Now our focus shifts to the Downs and Across positions of the words. The following deductions get you to the final grid.

(i) Easwar did not solve 4 Down; hence he solved 15 down and 4 down has to be the first word BARELY;

We do not have further information to determine which word is 15 Across and which is 21 across between SILENCE and BAADSHAH

The answers can be read off from the above table:

7. Sheela’s word was SILENCE. Option (b) is correct.

8. Titli’s answer is ROSEBUD. Option (c) is correct.

9. Titli ’ s order was third. Option (c) is correct.

10. Easwar’ s number was 15 down. Option (d) is correct.

11. Bineefs word was BARELY. Option (a) is correct.

Solutions for Questions 12 and 13:

The pivotal statement amongst the given 9 statements is Samuel’s statement. If his statement is true, it is clear that in such a case ‘exactly three statements amongst the nine would be true’ and consequently the other six would be false.

With this basic understanding of the situation, we can have a look at the individual questions in the set.

12. Given that Samuel is telling the truth. In such a case, 3 out of the nine statements have to be true. One of the three obviously has to be of Samuel himself (as he is one of the 9 suspects). We need to think about how the other two true statements can be identified in this case. While doing so we can also take the help of the options to check which of the options fits the given situation.

Checking for option (a): If Chaudhary and Datta are telling the truth: it means that the following conditions would be inserted as true into the problem situation.

i. The accounts were fudged by Datta (according to Chaudhary^,s statement);

ii. Shrinivas did not fudge the accounts, (according to Datta’s statement being true).

Thus, for false statements we are looking for any of the following conditions:

(a) Anybody who says ‘Samuel is lying’; ⁱChaudhary is lying’ or ‘Datta is lying’ would be lying himself in this case.

(b) Anybody saying ‘Datta did not fudge the accounts’ is lying.

(c) Anybody saying ⁱShrinivas fudged the accounts’ is also lying.

(d) Anybody saying ⁱX is telling the truth’ where X is neither Samuel, nor Chaudhary nor Datta would also be lying.

(e) Anybody saying ⁱX fudged the accounts’ where X is not Datta would also be lying.

With this basic understanding if we were to look at the individual statements we need to see if we can prove that 6 statements are false in this case. Let us evaluate each of the statements in this case:

Shrinivas: Has to be false based on condition (e) above;

Nagraj: Has to be false based on condition (a) above;

Jose: Has to be false based on condition (d) above;

Ejaz: Has to be false based on condition (a) above;

Ganeshan: Has to be false based on condtion (a) above;

Panda: Has to be false based on condition (a) above.

Thus, in this situation we are able to find 6 false statements and this option has to be correct.

Just for your understanding we can take another option and test it to see (and to illustrate to you) how an option would get rejected under this situation.

Let us say we are testing for option (b): Nagraj fudged the accounts. Let us see what chain of thought this leads to if we take this option to be true.

Thus, for false statements we are looking for any of the following conditions:

(a) Anybody who says ⁱSamuel is lying’ would be lying himself in this case.

(b) Anybody saying ⁱNagraj did not fudge the accounts’ is lying.

(c) Anybody saying ⁱX is telling the truth’ where X is not Samuel or anybody else who is proven to be true based on the above situation would also be lying.

(d) Anybody saying ⁱX fudged the accounts’ where X is not Nagraj would also be lying.

At the same time anyone saying ⁱNagraj fudged the accounts’ has to be true.

Also, anybody saying ‘X did not fudge the accounts’ where X is not Nagraj is also true.

With this basic understanding if we were to look at the individual statements we need to see if we can prove that 6 statements are false in this case. Let us evaluate each of the statements in this case:

Shrinivas: Has to be true;

Datta: Saying that Shrinivas did not fudge the accounts would be true in this case;

Nagraj: Has to be false since Datta is true;

Jose: Has to be true because we can see that Shrinivas is actually true in this case.

Also, since Samuel is already known to be telling the truth, we can see that there is an internal contradiction that the situation is throwing up for us. This contradiction is that in this chain of thought we already have 4 people telling the truth which makes Samuel’s statement false- which cannot happen because we are told that Samuel is telling the truth.

If you check the other options (c), (d) and (e) based on a similar logic string you would realise that each of these options leads to a similar situation where there would be an internal contradiction like the one shown above. Option (a) would be the only one which does not show an internal contradiction.

The following thought processes would show you why options (c), (d) and (e) have internal contradictions:

Checking option (c): Chaudhary and Jose are telling the truth, it means that the following conditions would be inserted as true into the problem situation.

(i) The accounts were fudged by Datta (according to Chaudhary^,s statement);

(ii) Shrinivas is telling the truth, (according to Jose’s statement).

However, if Jose’s statement is true, so will be Shrinivas ^,s statement and we get an internal contradiction as 4 people are telling the truth, viz: Shrinivas, Jose, Chaudhary and Samuel.

Hence, option (c) gets rejected.

Checking option (d): Shrinivas ad Datta are telling the truth; it means that the following conditions would be inserted as true into the problem situation.

(i) The accounts were fudged by Nagraj (according to Shrinivas^,s statement);

(ii) Shrinivas did not fudge the accounts, (according to Datta’s statement).

Then checking each of the other statements we get:

Nagraj: false as he says that Datta is lying;

Jose: True as he is saying that Shrinivas is true.

This again leads to an internal contradiction as Samuel’s statement says that there are 3 people who are telling the truth but in this situation we already have 4 people who are coming out to be true (viz: Shrinivas, Datta, Jose and Samuel). Hence, option (d) gets rejected.

Checking option (e): Shrinivas fudged the account /E Datta is IyingTE Nagraj is true, Ejaz is true and Ganeshan is true as they are all saying that Datta is lying TE Internal contradiction as we again have 4 people telling the truth (Nagraj, Ejaz, Ganeshan and Samuel).

Hence, option (e) is also rejected.

Thus, option (a) is the correct answer.

13. IfPanda is lying it means that Samuel is telling the truth which again gets us back to the situation as described in question 7. We have already solved that situation and seen that in such a case Samuel, Datta and Chaudhary are telling the truth. In such a case: Datta has fudged the accounts.

Testing each of the options, option (a), (b), (c) and (e) can all be true and in fact are all true.

The statement in option (d) which states ‘Jose and Shrinivas are telling the truth’ cannot be true since we already know the three people who are telling the truth as Chaudhary, Datta and Samuel.

Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

Solutions for Questions 14-16:

From a first reading of the question we get the following grid structure to connect: (i) Day; (ii) Band name; (iii) Lead vocalist name

Sunday

Once we have the above grid, we can read through the information provided in the clues to see which ones fit in at this point of time.

A quick glance at the information and the way it is presented clearly hints at the following which can be fitted directly:

(i) The performance of Bodhi Tree, the home band of XLRI did not precede the performance of any band—Means Bodhi Tree should be on Sunday;

(ii) Sid, the lead vocalist of the rock band Cactus could only perform on Monday √^zE Rock Band Cactus and Sid should be on Monday;

(iii) Rupam, the only male among the lead vocalists of the fusion bands, was with Fish and performed on Wednesday /E Rupam, Fusion band Fish, Wednesday

Inserting this information into the grid would give us the following picture:

The other bands are Axis, Enigma, Dhoom, Boom and the other lead vocalists are Angelina, Bony, Ali and Meet.

Fromthis point we can make further deductions:

(i) Since, Rupam is the only male lead vocalist for a fusion band, the two women lead vocalists (viz: Angelina and Bony) should be leading fusion bands. Thus, Angelina’s Enigma is a fusion band. Thus, Ali and Meet would be leading rock bands.

(ii) Rock Band Boom is either on Friday or Saturday as it refuses to perform Immediatelybefore or after Fish;

(iii) Angelina’s Enigma cannot be after Thursday— means she is either on Tuesday or Thursday;

Based on the possibilities of placing Enigma on Tuesday/ Thursday and Boom on Friday/ Saturday the following four possibilities emerge. Keep in mind that we cannot have three consecutive days of either fusion bands or of rock bands while making these possibility grids.

Possibility 1:

Possibility 2: Not possible as it gives 3 consecutive days of Fusion.

Possibility 3:

Possibility 4:

From these solutions, as we have already seen possibility 2 is rejected because it creates 3 days consecutive for fusion bands. Possibilities 3 and 4 are also rejected since Meet refuses to perfom after Angelina and in both possibilities 3 and 4, Meet is necessarily performing after Angelina. This leaves us with only possibility 1, with the further evolution that Meet cannot be after Angelina, hence he cannot be on Friday. So the solution gird becomes as below:

From this table, we can solve the questions in the set:

14. Option (e) cannot be true because Meet cannot be the lead vocalist of Boom Hence, option (e) is the correct answer.

15. From the table above we know that Boom performed on Friday and Meet performed on Tuesday. Option (c) must be true and is the correct answer.

16. The only unknowns in the above solution grid is/are when Axis and Dhoom are performing (between Tuesday and Friday). The other four bands are already fixed in terms of the day on which they perform. Option (d) places Axis on Tuesday and Dhoom and is a plausible sequence of performances.

Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

Solutions for Questions 17-21:

Based on an initial reading of the situation, you realize that the variables in the question is/are:

(i) Operator name;

(ii) Starting Time;

(iii) CollegeName;

(iv) College location;

Based on this identification of the variables, the starting grid would be:

If we use the direct clues given in the question, we have the following given directly to us:

(i) Operator(s) from Jamshedpur start at 00:00 hours;

(ii) Operator(s) IromAbhiman College start at 12:00 hours;

(iii) No operator(s) will start at 20:00 hours

With the use of these clues, the grid changes to:

After this point, there is no clue that can go directly into the above table at this stage. Hence, we can first concentrate on collating the clues linking College-city-operator(s) names

Given that Indra does not come from Mangalore and Jamshedpur; Also, since she works alone she cannot be one of the operators from Noida; and she is not part of the Pune team as given (that of Dogra and Falguni). Hence, she must necessarily be from Hyderabad. Also, it is given that the operator(s) trained in Barala College are from Hyderabad /E Indra-Hyderabad-Barala College;

Also, Dogra and Falguni-Pune (given)-Not Gutakal College;

Abdullah and Henri—cannot be Pune and Hyderabad as these are already allocated; cannot be part of the 3 member team IfomNoida and they are not from Mangalore. Thus, they are from Jamshedpur.

Further we know that the number of operators from Barala = number of operators from Khatanama College √^zE which in essence means that since there is only 1 person from Barala, there would be only 1 person from Khatanama College.

We also now know that one group from Noida has 3 operators; the groups from Pune and Jamshedpur have 2 operators each, hence the groups from Hyderabad and Mangalore would be the only two groups having exactly 1 person.

Besides, we know that Ballal is alone from his location. Since we already know that Indra is alone from Hyderabad, Ballal must be from Mangalore and he must be from Khatanama college. Thus, we know for sure that: Ballal-Mangalore-Khatanama should be one row in the grid.

You can also deduce at this point that the three member team from Noida would be Abdulla, Ganguli and Chandan and also that they are from Sutanama College.

If you look at the grid with the above deductions you would realise that since Barala- Hyderabad-Indra and Khatanama-Mangalore-Ballal & Sutanama-Noida-Eshita, Ganguli and Chandan have to fill the three blank rows (blank in terms of College name, City and Operators), Gutakal College would be at Jamshedpur and Abhiman college would be at Pune

If you put all this information into the grid, the grid becomes:

The only thing which is not certain at this point of time is where to place Sutanama- Noida-Eshita, Ganguli and Chandan & where to place Barala-Hyderabad-Indra between 08:00 start and 16:00 start.

The answers can be read off the table:

17. We have already identified that Indra is from Barala College. Hence, Option (b) is correct

18. Since nobody starts at 20:00 hours, the only operator(s) operating at 20:00 hours would be the one who started at 16:00 hours. We know that it could be either Indra or the group IfomNoida.

Option (c) is the correct answer.

19. The Gutakal College operators are Abdullah and Henri, and they operate from Jamshedpur. Option (a) is correct.

20. If Chandan, Eshita and Ganguli all started at 04:00 there would be 6 people working between 04:00 to 08:00. Note, if you do not take this interpretation then none of the options in this questions match. Thus, with this interpretation it is not necessary that the number of people working between 04:00 to 08:00 would be at most five.

Option (b) is the correct answer.

21. If there are exactly five operators working between 16:00 to 20:00 it means that the Noida group started working at 16:00 hours. Hence, between 20:00 to 00:00, the Noida group would be working alone, i.e. Chandan, Eshita and Ganguli would be working alone between 20:00 to 00:00.

Option (e) is the correct answer.

22. In the first paragraph it is clearly stated that Ms. Benita ‘might have got’ LAM. Clearly, the first thing the doctor should do is to confirm the diagnosis by conducting another test. Option (b) is the correct answer.

23. The most logical solution to the dilemma in this case is that Bhola should do his business, without damaging the environment. In case there is damage to the environment in the course of dong his business, he should make sure that he minimises his impact and compensates for the damage by taking pro- environmental steps (as is the norm). This is called sustainable development, worldwide people do not stop doing business, neither do they stop thinking about the environment.

The closest option to the ideal course of action in this case is is the third option. Hence, option (c) is correct.

24. Promotion of eco-tourism for improving the tourism in the region would be an attractive step to generate business revenues as well as ensuring the well being of the people involved.

Hence, we have to choose between options (c) and (d). Between these two, option (d) is better because, it talks about the involvement of all stakeholders (including NGO’s etc) to create the right checks and balances in the system Hence, option (d) is correct.

25. Option (b) is the most logical step to take in this situation as it rewards the people who are doing good for the environment and penalises those who are harming it. Hence, it creates an incentive for people to take care of the environmental concerns. At the policy level, that is the main role the government should take.

Hence, option (b) is correct.

26. The attack the opposition is making on Bhola’s governance is centered on his ‘anti-developmental’ stance leading to ‘unemployment’ which causes hardships to people. The most appropriate response against this attack would be obviously to show that unemployment rates have not actually gone up due to the implementation of the pro-environmental policies. In fact, if unemployment can be shown to have dropped down under the pro-environmental policies of his government, it would be a much better rebuttal of the attack on the policies. Option (c) talks about this exact logic and hence is the correct answer.

27. The activities of the arsonists are clearly not ethical. Hence, the correct answer has to be amongst options (b), (c) or (d). Options (a) and (e) can be rejected because (a) agrees that the actions are ethical, while (e) does not answer the question at all. (The question asks whether the arsonists’ activities are ethical which elicits a yes or no response; option (e) does not answer the question either through yes or no).

Amongst Option (b), (c) and (d), option (b) is the strongest because damaging other prople’s property can never be ethical and can never have any justification. Hence, option (b) is correct.

28. Since Ranjan has two objectives, his course of action should meet both the objectives for him. If we now consider each of the options as his course of action:

Option (a) would present him as a dictatorial politician and hence would not be good for his image; Option (c) and (e) would not be popular decisions for him as the country is passionate about racket and anybody going against the sport in general and the top stars of the sports in particular would not be creating a good image for himself. Option (d) sidesteps the main issue at hand and hence is not the correct way to go if he wants to create a lasting impact.

Option (b) would ensure that he gets the sympathy of the top racket playing stars, thus creating a good image for himself and also create a lasting positive impact as it solves the issue at hand.

Hence, option (b) is the correct answer.

29. If the next world cup is in a country that has adopted the DTC, there might be a danger that a country not adopting the DTC would not be allowed to participate in the world cup. This would lead to various negative ramifications in the country as the fanatical fans might not take it too well. Hence, in such an event, Ranjan would be forced to take a decision in favour of IRC.

30. Looking at the options you should be able to reason out that the issue of ‘security in large stadiums’ should be left out of the purview of the discussions from the players’ perspective as that would be an irrelevant issue in the current discussion. The core discussion is centered around the sharing of the movements of the players during their personal time. If they are in a large stadium playing a match, it would be natural to expect that their whereabouts would be known at that point of time. Hence, raising the point of security at large stadiums is an irrelevant issue to be brought up in this case.

Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

31. The status of the human beings at the point mentioned in the question is clearly stated in the conversation, is due to their loss of control over the machines they built. These machines had AI which became superior to the human mind and these machines started controlling human lives. Hence, the development of AI by human beings is the key reason responsible for their status in the latter part of the 22nd century.

Thus option (d) is correct.

32. Option (a) can be inferred from Morpheus’s starting statements (where he says —this is the core where we broadcast our pirate signal and hack into the matrix).

Similarly, option (c) can be inferred—as the machines clearly get their power from the human body, while the source of power of the human body is naturally going to be different.

Options (d) and (e) are also inferable.

Only option (b) cannot be inferred as the period of conflict is likely to be a couple of centuries, while option (b) states it to be a few decades, which is not something that one would agree to if one reads and infers the time frame from the passage.

Hence, option (b) is correct.

33. The right mix of theory and practical application is the need of the day and this, needs to be implemented in the curriculum of the Business Schools to reduce the lop-sided teaching and hence improve the overall scenario. Option (d) is the correct answer as other options offer either incorrect or partial answers. For instance, option (a) talks only about the use of illustrations of real life problems in classrooms. It does not clearly show the way about what one needs to do with the theory that is being taught currently in Â-Schools. Similarly, option (b) is a shooting in the dark approach, as ‘sending students to find business problems’ is a very vague step and one does not know what kind of problems the students would be able to find on their own. Giving business education only to those with work experience (option c) or removing theoretical inputs altogether from the classroom (option e) are also impractical steps and hence should be rejected as the solution.

Option (d) is hence the correct answer.

34. The argument here is that it is unnecessary to try and find exotic particles because there is no direct use of these things. To weaken this argument we need to show that all the things that eventually are useful need to be discovered first and consequently they are used to find some practical application. So criticizing something at the stage of discovery is not correct. Thus, if we can show that ‘Knowledge has preceded application in all spheres of science’ we would be able to best weaken the argument.

Thus option (c) is the best choice to weaken the argument.

35. It is clear from the passage that Silver is a critic of the new theories and that these new researches are very expensive. Option (e) has both these statements included in it.

Thus, option (e) is correct.

36. The passage has specifically informed us that a probability of an event can be attached to a class/category of individuals but we cannot predict the probability of a specific event based on the estimation of probability of that event occurring for a class/category of people.

Thus, we can attach a numerical value to ‘the probability of death’ for a 40-year old adult with general health condition but we cannot attach a numerical value to the ‘probability of death’ of a particular individual.

Statement (1) is therefore false, as it says that we can attach a probability to a singular non-replicable event—which in effect means to say that we can attach a probability to a particular event. On the basis of this judgement, we can remove options (a), (c) and (e) as they include statement 1 as true.

Statement (3) is also clearly false, because it says that the data about a class of events can be used to predict the future of any ‘specific event’. This in effect is saying that we can use the data for the probability of death of 40 year old people to predict the exact probability of death of a particular 40-year old individual. The whole passage is talking against this logic.

Statement (2) is true as probability calculations are indeed based on the data of a class of people/events.

Hence, option (b) is the correct answer.

37. The author is clearly arguing that the probability of an individual specific event cannot be assigned a numerical value based on the numerical value for the probability of the ‘class of events’.

In the case, that we try to assign the probability of an individual boxer winning a specific fight between two boxers, based on the analysis of outcomes of fights between the boxers of two clubs, we are doing exactly what the author says we cannot do. In other words, we are assigning a numerical probability to the outcome of a specific event (in this case the specific event is the outcome of the fight between Joe and Mark), based on the numerical probability of the class of

events (the class of events being the fights between boxers of that club).

Hence, the author would disagree if we analyse the outcome of a boxing match based on the analysis of fights between boxers of two clubs.

Option (b) is correct.

38. Current fitness levels and strengths of the individual boxers would be a better way to predict the outcome of a boxing match than by trying to assess it based on a series of previous events.

Hence, the author is most likely to agree to the statement in option (a).

Option (a) is correct.

39. Option 1.[[[[please correct the language of the option !...replace “author’s liberty” by “another’s liberty”]]]]

Here the conclusion of the author is that one cannot maintain one’s dignity without encroaching upon the liberty of another. Thus option (a) is correct.

40. Option (b) is correct.

41. The claims made are about a restful sleep, being refreshed and energised.

No claims are made about curing indigestion. Thus option (c) is correct.

42. The paragraph starts with an idea about the importance of visuals in a film, but changes by the example about the films being made on stage plays and being successful. Now to oppose the idea we have to find an idea which focuses on the visual aspect. Thus option (c) is correct.

43. The assumption here must be that the advantage due to saving done by buying in the super market is much more than the inconvenience being caused by not being able to buy single units.

Thus, option (e) is correct.