CAT (VARC) PYQs

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DILR QA VARC

Q1:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q1:

helped in safeguarding the identity of Indian nationalism.

was not as ideologically powerful as the inner/outer dichotomy

represented a continuation of age-old oppositions in Indian culture

constituted the premise of the ghar/bāhir dichotomy

Correct Answer

Option 3

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q2:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q2:

Despite its spiritual superiority, Indian nationalism had to fight against colonial domination.

Despite its scientific and technological inferiority, Indian nationalism had to fight against colonial domination.

Despite its fight against colonial domination, Indian nationalism had to borrow from the coloniser in the spiritual sphere.

Despite its fight against colonial domination, Indian nationalism had to borrow from the coloniser in the material sphere

Correct Answer

Option 4

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q3:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q3:

The colonial period saw the hybridisation of Indian culture in all realms as it came in contact with British/European culture.

Forces of colonial modernity played an important role in shaping anti-colonial Indian nationalism.

The Industrial Revolution played a crucial role in shaping the economic prowess of Britain in the eighteenth century.

Indian nationalists rejected the cause of English education for women during the colonial period.

Correct Answer

Option 1

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q4:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q4:

Indian nationalist discourses provided an ideological principle of selection.

Indian nationalism's sophistication resided in its distinction of the material from the spiritual spheres.

Indian nationalist discourses reaffirmed traditional gender roles for Indian women.

Indian nationalism embraced the changes brought about by colonialism in Indian women's traditional gender roles.

Correct Answer

Option 3

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q5:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q5:

The scandal of philosophy is that we might not know anything at all about reality if we think of reality as independent of our perceptions, ideas or descriptions.

The confidence with which we maintain something to be true is usually independent of the source of the alleged truth.

For the sceptic, if we think of reality as independent of our perceptions, ideas or descriptions, we should aim to know that reality independently too.

The actions taken on the basis of presumed knowledge are rational and justifiable if we are confident that that knowledge is widely held.

Correct Answer

Option 1

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q6:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q6:

Our knowledge of reality cannot be merged with our process of conceiving it.

Our knowledge of reality floats above our subjective perception of it.

If the reality of things is independent of our perception, logically we cannot perceive that reality.

If the reality of things is independent of our eyesight, logically we cannot perceive our perception

Correct Answer

Option 3

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q7:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Easy

Q7:

All of the options listed here.

How much of a stake we have in them; what resources there are to support them

Remaining outside the academy; ignoring epistemic anxieties

How we come to hold them; how widely they are held in our social circles

Correct Answer

Option 4

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q8:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q8:

sceptics believe that we can never fully know anything, if by "knowing" we mean knowledge of a reality that is independent of the knower.

if we cannot distinguish knowledge from opinion or delusion, we will not be able to justify our actions

philosophers maintain that the scandal of philosophy should be of concern to everyone

the best way to deal with scepticism about the veracity of knowledge is to ignore it

Correct Answer

Option 4

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q9:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Easy

Q9:

while often pilloried, globalisation can, in fact, support linguistic revival.

efforts to integrate Welsh speakers in the English-speaking fold have been fruitless.

vulnerable languages can rebound with state effort.

languages can revive even after their speakers have gone through a “language shift”

Correct Answer

Option 4

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q10:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q10:

an expanded state role in the preservation of languages

cultural homogenisation

greater multilingualism

"language shifts" across languages

Correct Answer

Option 3

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q11:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q11:

they are repositories of traditional knowledge about the environment and culture

people are increasingly working on documenting these languages.

their vocabulary and grammatical constructs have been challenging to document.

they are in danger of being wiped out as most can only be transmitted orally

Correct Answer

Option 3

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q12:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Easy

Q12:

governments promoting certain languages over others

the focus on only a few languages as a result of widespread internet use

a catastrophic event that entirely eliminates a people and their culture.

people shifting away from their own language to study or work in another language

Correct Answer

Option 2

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q13:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q13:

today know how to create social cohesion better than in the past.

know how to balance truth and social unity

use myths to attain the first type of power.

need to leverage both types of power to remain in office

Correct Answer

Option 2

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q14:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q14:

truth and power

stories that unite people and those that distinguish groups from each other

attaining social cohesion and propagating objective truth

leaders who unknowingly spread fictions and those who intentionally do so

Correct Answer

Option 3

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q15:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q15:

scholars often had to decide whether they served the truth or social harmony. Should they aim to unite people by making sure everyone believes in the same fiction, or should they let people know the truth?

"Hence sticking with the truth is the best strategy for gaining power. Unfortunately, this is just a comforting myth."

"In fact, truth and power have a far more complicated relationship, because in human society, power me two very different things."

On the one hand, power me having the ability to manipulate objective realities: to hunt animals, to construct bridges, to cure diseases, to build atom bombs.*

Correct Answer

Option 1

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q16:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q16:

people cannot handle the unvarnished truth, so leaders retain power by deviating from it.

while unalloyed truth is not recommended, leaders should stay as close as possible to it.

there are definite advantages to promoting fiction, but there needs to be some limit to a pervasive belief in myths.

manipulating people’s beliefs is politically advantageous, but a leader who propagates only myths is likely to lose power.

Correct Answer

Option 1

Correct Answer

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Q17:

CAT

Medium

Q17:

Entered answer:

Correct Answer

3214

Correct Answer

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Q18:

CAT

Medium

Q18:

An unlikely alliance of the industrialist and the unemployed happens during an economic downturn in which they come together to unite politically and capture the political agenda.

In an economic downturn, the capitalists use the anxieties of the unemployed and their political organisation to set the political agenda to suit their economic interests.

The purpose of an unlikely alliance between the industrialist and the unemployed during an economic downturn is to stifle competition in free markets.

An economic downturn creates competition because of which the capitalists capture the political agenda created by the political organisation provided by the unemployed.

Correct Answer

Option 2

Correct Answer

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Q19:

CAT

Medium

Q19:

Entered answer:

Correct Answer

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Q20:

CAT

Medium

Q20:

The industry that has built up around researching what comprises and encourages creativity has destroyed the creative process itself.

Creativity has proliferated to the extent that is no longer a stable process, and its mutating identity has stifled the creative process.

The value assigned to creativity today has assumed such proportions that the concept itself has lost its real meaning and this is hampering the engendering of real creativity.

The obsession with original thought, how it can be promoted and researched, has made it impossible for people and organizations to define the concept anymore.

Correct Answer

Option 3

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q21:

CAT

Medium

Q21:

While digital publication of research is gaining popularity in many scientific disciplines, almost all peer-reviewed journals are reluctant to accept papers that have been published before.

Compared to biologists, physicists are less conservative in their acceptance of digital pre-publication of research papers, which allows for faster dissemination of knowledge.

One of the advantages of digital preprints of research is they hasten the dissemination process, but these are not accepted by most scientific communities.

Preprints of research are frowned on by some scientific fields as they do not undergo a rigourous reviewing process but are accepted among biologists as a quick way to disseminate information.

Correct Answer

Option 2

Correct Answer

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Q22:

CAT

Medium

Q22:

Entered answer:

Correct Answer

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Q23:

CAT

Medium

Q23:

Entered answer:

Correct Answer

2413

Correct Answer

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Q24:

CAT

Medium

Q24:

Entered answer:

Correct Answer

2143

Correct Answer

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CAT VARC - Past Year Questions

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