Free Verbal Reasoning - 06 Practice Test - CAT 

Question 1

Which of the following conclusions can most properly be drawn from the information above?

A. Most examinees with inconclusive polygraph test results are in fact untruthful.
B. Polygraph tests should not be used by employers in the consideration of job applicants.
C. An inconclusive polygraph test result is sometimes unfairly held against the examinee.
D. A polygraph test indicating that an examinee is untruthful can sometimes be mistaken.
E. Some employers have refused to consider the results of polygraph tests when evaluating job applicants.

SOLUTION

Solution : C

Option: (c)
The passage indicates that an inconclusive polygraph test tells nothing about the person who has taken the test, and yet employers sometimes refuse to hire someone whose results from such a test are inclusive. Treating lack of information as if it were unfavorable evidence about a person can reasonably be considered unfair. There, C is the best choice. Choice A is not supported, since the passage says that an inconclusive polygraph test is no reflection on the examinee. Neither B nor D is supported, since the information given includes nothing either implicit or explicit about polygraph tests that yield conclusive results. Since the passage is consistent with both E and its denial, E is not supported.

Question 2

Which of the following is an assumption that enables the conclusion above to be properly drawn?

A. Employees at the professional level who do not smoke should keep their enclosed offices.
B. Employees with enclosed offices should not smoke at their desks, even though the new regulations permit them to do so.
C. Employees at the secretarial level should be allowed to smoke at their desks, even if they do not have enclosed offices.
D. The smoking regulations should allow all employees who smoke an equal opportunity to do so, regardless of an employee’s job level.
E. The smoking regulations should provide equal protection from any hazards associated with smoking to all employees who do not smoke

SOLUTION

Solution : D

The regulations allow some employees-those with enclosed offices-but not others the opportunity to smoke at their desks. If it is assumed that the regulations should allow all employees equal opportunity to smoke, those who are currently denied this opportunity should be given it, and so secretaries who smoke should be offered enclosed offices. Therefore, choice D is the best answer. None of the other choices enables the conclusion to be properly drawn. Choice A tends to conflict with the conclusion, unless some enclosed offices are vacant. Choice B supports no conclusion about how secretaries should be treated, and choice C undermines the conclusion. Finally, nonsmokers already have equal protection from hazards, so choice E cannot be used to justify making any changes.

Question 3

Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the conclusion above?

A. The dental researchers could not discover why toothbrush contamination usually occurred only after toothbrushes had been used for four weeks
B. The dental researchers failed to investigate contamination of toothbrushes by viruses, yeasts, and other pathogenic microorganisms.
C. The dental researchers found that among people who used toothbrushes contaminated with bacterial that cause pneumonia and strep throat, the incidence of these diseases was no higher than among people who used uncontaminated toothbrushes.
D. The dental researchers found that people who rinsed their toothbrushes thoroughly in hot water after each use were as likely to have contaminated toothbrushes as were people who only rinsed their toothbrushes hurriedly in cold water after each use.
E. The dental researchers found that, after six weeks of use, greater length of use of a toothbrush did not correlate with a higher number of bacterial being present.

SOLUTION

Solution : C

Option: (c)
According to choice C, using a contaminated toothbrush does not increase the incidence of infection, so the recommendation to replace a toothbrush before it becomes contaminated is greatly undermined. Choice C is therefore the best answer. Since the recommendation is based on the discovery that bacterial contamination occurs after about four weeks, the researchers’ inability to discover why contamination takes that long to appear does not weaken the recommendation (choice A), nor does their failure to investigate other forms of contamination (choice B), nor does the discovery that contamination does not worsen after six weeks (choice E). According to choice D, even thorough washing cannot prevent contamination, so replacing the toothbrush appears more essential, rather than less so.

Question 4

Which of the following can be most properly inferred from the passage about the products whose importation was banned?

A. Those products had been cheaper to import than they were to make within country Z’s fledgling industries.
B. Those products were ones that country Z was hoping to export in its turn, once the fledgling industries matured.
C. Those products used to be imported from just those countries to which country Z’s exports went.
D. Those products had become more and more expensive to import, which resulted in a foreign trade deficit just before the ban.
E. Those products used to be imported in very small quantities, but they were essential to country Z’s economy.

SOLUTION

Solution : A

Option: (a)
In Z, when the government banned imports of certain products the cost of those produces rose, so the products must have been cheaper to import than they were to make in Z. Therefore choice A is the best answer. None of the other choices can be inferred. Country Z need have had no plan to export those products later (choice B), nor need the products have come previously from those countries to which country Z exported goods (choice C). The products need not have become more expensive before the ban (choice D), and they could have been imported in relatively large quantities (choice E).

Question 5

Which of the following conclusions about country Z’s adversely affected export-dependent industries is best supported by the passage?

A. Profit margins in those industries were not high enough to absorb the rise in costs mentioned above.
B. Those industries succeeded in expanding the domestic market for their products.
C. Steps to offset rising materials costs by decreasing labor costs were taken in those industries.
D. Those industries started to move into export markets that they had previously judged unprofitable.

SOLUTION

Solution : A

Option: (a)
It is the only logical conclusion that follows the information in the passage. All the other options are irrelevant.

Question 6

Rearrange the following sentences to form a coherent sequence. Input the order of the sentence in the space below.

A) The ban imposed by the wild life Protection Act banned the export of snake skin and rendered the tribals virtually destitutes.
B) The Irula Extraction Co-operative Society integrated their proficiency in catching snakes with a project to make anti-venom serum.
C) The reptiles are milked for venom, thrice during their weeks of captivity. It is a unique interaction between man and snake since snakes are returned to the ecosystem once they are milked.
D) In order to survive, their inherent expertise in handling snakes had to be gainfully put to use; this made them procure a license for snake venom extraction centre.
E) The Irulas are indigenous forest dwellers who mainly depended on snake skin for their living.
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SOLUTION

Solution :

Sentence A cannot begin the paragraph since it says ‘the tribals’ indicating that they have been referred to. It follows E which introduces the subject ‘the Irulas’. D follows A – A ends with the tribals rendered ‘virtually destitutes’ and D begins with ‘In order to survive’. BC go together as they refer to the extraction of venom from the snake.

Question 7

A. The ITP is a centrally funded program, and the Indian government pays for most of the students as these countries enjoy good bilateral ties with India.
B. India has entered into economic partnership with most of the Asian and African countries in the fields of technology transfer and infrastructure, hence teaching English to professionals from these countries makes sense even though it is a drain on the national exchequer.
C. This new state in demand for English is an off shoot of globalization of trade and commerce that has led to a tremendous increase in the usage of English as an international language.
D. The Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, a premier institute in English bLanguage Teaching, finds itself in a novel bind.
E. The Institute is all set to commence its International Training Program (ITP) for foreign professionals, drawn from a wide range of Asian and African countries.

A. BDEAC
B. DECBA
C. DECAB
D. CBADE

SOLUTION

Solution : C

option C

Solution

D is the first sentence since it introduces the subject. Hence choice (2) or (3) is our answer.

B following A is the right order since A says that the Indian government pays and B why it

does so.

Question 8

A) Impelled by the same spirit of quest, the pilgrim fathers had started from Europe in the Mayflower.
B) The climax in the story of the Moving American came on the day two Americans landed on the moon.
C) The movement of the American colonists to the west of the continent is one of the major episodes of American history.
D) Their children soon left the sea port towns of the East and struck out on their own, and went to conquer the continent.
E) The courage and adventurous spirit of those pioneers is an expression of the American national character.

A. BADCE
B. CADBE
C. CEBAD
D. BEACD

SOLUTION

Solution : A

Option A.

‘B' is the topic sentence. ‘A’ develops by drawing a parallel to what has been started in ‘B’. While E can follow C, D must follow A.

Question 9

Each question below has five sentences which, when properly sequenced, form a coherent Paragraph. Each sentence is labeled with a letter. Choose the most logical order of sentences, from among the four given choices, to construct a paragraph. 

A) They point out that animals too have nervous system like us, and can feel pain.
B) Monkeys, rabbits, mice and other mammals are used in large numbers by scientists and many of them are made to suffer diseases artificially produced in them.
C) Cruelty to animals can be avoided if alternative methods such as tissue culture, gaschromatography and chemical techniques are used.
D) These people, who have formed the anti vivisection Society, have been pleading for a more humane treatment of animals by scientists.
E) Many people believe that it is cruel to make use of animals for laboratory studies.

___

SOLUTION

Solution :

‘These people’ in D and ‘they’ in A refers to the ‘Many people’ in E, and also, DA follows E. C concludes the paragraph.
So the correct order is EDABC.

Question 10

Each question below has five sentences which, when properly sequenced, form a coherent Paragraph. Each sentence is labeled with a letter. Choose the most logical order of sentences, from among the four given choices, to construct a paragraph. 

A) The Children’s Thrift Movement was started in Stockholm, the capital city of Sweden in 1821.
B) The adage “catch them young” has been put into practice by the bankers of Sweden.
C) Sweden has an organisation, exclusively devoted to promote the habit of thrift.
D) Under this scheme local banks present a savings pas book with a certain sum to every newborn baby.
E) The banks also take care to reinforce the savings habit by regularly presenting children with periodicals, money boxes, picture albums and the like. 
___

SOLUTION

Solution :

The words ‘this scheme’ in D refers to the ‘thrift movement’ in A. Further the thrift movement is ‘itself a response to ‘catch them young’ in B. Hence BAD go together. C follows D and is premise to E which concludes the paragraph. So the order is BADCE