XAT 2020 Question Paper

Instructions

For the following questions answer them individually

Question 1

Carefully read the paragraph below:

A map is a useful metaphor for our brain when talking about _______ because at its most basic level our brain __________to be our atlas of sorts, a system of routes _______to navigate us toward just one destination: staying alive!

From the options below, choose the set that MOST appropriately fills up the blanks.

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Question 2

Carefully read the paragraph below:

__________, medicine has been operated by trial and error, in other words, __________. We know by now that there can be entirely_________ connections between symptoms and treatment, and some medications succeed in medical trials for mere random reasons.

From the options below, choose the one that MOST appropriately fills up the blanks.

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Question 3

Read the following sentences and answer the question that follows:
1. I have good knowledge of German.
2. Except for Rajiv, everybody was there.
3. Whole Delhi was celebrating Independence Day.
4. Neither the dog, nor is the cat responsible for this mess.
5. He knows to swim.
6. I look forward to seeing you.

Which of the above are grammatically INCORRECT?

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Question 4

Which of the following is a grammatically CORRECT sentence?

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Instructions

Read the passage below and answer the 3 associated questions:

Once, during a concert of cathedral organ music, as I sat getting gooseflesh amid that tsunami of sound, I was struck with a thought: for a medieval peasant, this must have been the loudest human-made sound they ever experienced, awe-inspiring in now-unimaginable ways. No wonder they signed up for the religion being proffered. And now we are constantly pummeled with sounds that dwarf quaint organs. Once, hunter-gatherers might chance upon honey from a beehive and thus briefly satisfy a hardwired food craving. And now we have hundreds of carefully designed commercial foods that supply a burst of sensation unmatched by some lowly natural food. Once, we had lives that, amid considerable privation, also offered numerous subtle, hard-won pleasures. And now we have drugs that cause spasms of pleasure and dopamine release a thousandfold higher than anything stimulated in our old drug-free world.
An emptiness comes from this combination of over-the-top nonnatural sources of reward and the inevitability of habituation; this is because unnaturally strong explosions of synthetic experience and sensation and pleasure evoke unnaturally strong degrees of habituation. This has two consequences. First, soon we barely notice the fleeting whispers of pleasure caused by leaves in autumn, or by the lingering glance of the right person, or by the promise of reward following a difficult, worthy task. And the other consequence is that we eventually habituate to even those artificial deluges of intensity. If we were designed by engineers, as we consumed more, we’d desire less. But our frequent human tragedy is that the more we consume, the hungrier we get. More and faster and stronger. What was an unexpected pleasure yesterday is what we feel entitled to today, and what won’t be enough tomorrow.

Question 5

Which of the following options BEST reflects the author’s understanding of human perception of pleasure?

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Question 6

Going by the author, which of the following options BEST answers the question “how can one sustain the pleasure derived from any experience?"

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Question 7

Which of the following options BEST describes “emptiness” as described in the passage?

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Instructions

For the following questions answer them individually

Question 8

Read the following paragraph and answer the question that follows:

“People who work in law, hotel and food services, and technology were found the most likely to skip breakfast daily, according to a recent study. As for people who do eat breakfast and prefer a savoury type (like an egg), the study found they tend to make more money, be night owls and prefer cats over dogs. If you prefer a sweet breakfast like a donut you tend to be a morning person, like romcoms and are a dog person”.

Which of the following can be BEST inferred based on the above paragraph?

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Instructions

Read the poem below and answer the 2 associated questions:

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But, if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Question 9

Which of the following statements will the poet agree with the MOST?

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Question 10

Which is the MOST UNSUITABLE title of the poem?

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