CMAT 2026 Previous Year Paper

Traditional: Someone or something that follows long-established customs, beliefs, or practices passed down from generation to generation. It simply means adherence to old ways. Example: a traditional wedding ceremony.

Orthodox: Conforming strictly to established doctrines, beliefs, or practices — especially in religion. An orthodox person follows the accepted, standard, or conventional way without deviation. Example: an orthodox interpretation of the scripture.

Bigot: A person who is intolerant of those who hold different opinions, belong to a different group, race, religion, or culture. A bigot is stubbornly and unreasonably attached to their own beliefs while being hostile to others. Example: a bigot who refuses to accept people of other faiths.

Ideologue: A person who follows an ideology — a set of beliefs or ideas — very rigidly and dogmatically, often without being open to reason or evidence.

Hence, bigot is the most appropriate choice here. Because a bigot is not just prejudiced but also intolerant of others’ views.

Past Participle usually ends in -ed, -en, -d, -t, used in perfect tenses or passive voice. Example: He has broken the glass. / The work was finished.

So, the selected paper was published is the past participle.

To distinguish Gerund from Present Participle: Both end in -ing, but the gerund acts as a noun (Reading is fun) while the present participle acts as a verb or adjective (She is reading / a reading lamp).

A compound sentence joins two or more independent clauses (each of which can stand alone as a sentence). These clauses are joined by coordinating conjunctions, semicolons, and adverbs, such as no, but, however, whereas, etc.

Christ was hated by his persecutors; nonetheless, he loved them is a compound sentence because first it has a coordinating conjunction- nonetheless and second, because each of the two clauses (Christ was hated by his persecutors, he loved them) is an independent clause that can be used as a sentence of their own.

All other sentences have clauses that cannot be used as sentences on their own, and therefore, they are not compound sentences.

Positive degree is the base/plain form of an adjective or adverb with no comparison involved. It simply describes a quality without comparing it to anything.

"Kashmir is the most beautiful place in the world" is a Superlative Degree sentence, not a positive degree, because of the word "most beautiful."

Similarly, lead is the heaviest of all metals, is superlative, and Marina is fatter than Clara is comparative. Hence, Kalidasa was a great poet in ancient India, which is the only positive degree sentence among the options.

E starts a sentence idea: In order to talk

C continues the idea introduced in the opening sentence

A introduces a new discussion/ question

D is a follow-up pair of A because A ends with ‘whether’ and D follows with ‘it’

B is conclusive of what is needed to answer the question, introduced by A

The moon was bright, and we could see our way in a compound sentence by definition, since it has two independent clauses that can stand as sentences of their own, connected by the adverb and.

A complex sentence contains a main clause and one or more subordinate clauses, which is also the right definition of a complex clause.

Hence, both sentences are correct.

In indirect speech, " will " is replaced by " would,

After all the parts of the sentence are reported using commas + and, the last part starts with ‘and that’.

Options A and C distort the structure slightly

Option D is wrong because it uses will instead of would

The correct passive form is: “Many meaningful lessons are contained in this book for kids.” Contained of/by/to are incorrect prepositions, correct preposition is contained in, which implies the presence of content inside something.

The word synonymous with 'start' is 'genesis,' which means 'the beginning of something.' The start/ genesis of the universe is hence appropriate. Since the passage also discusses the origin and theory of the universe, Genesis is an appropriate replacement for the start.

Evolution refers to growing or development, so it is not a replacement for the start.

Sentences A and D are correct as indicated by the passage.

Sentence A: The eventual goal of science is to provide a single theory that describes the whole universe. From this extract, statement A is correct.

Sentence B: Scientists have tried to understand metaphysics only. Only is an extreme word, and this deems the sentence incorrect. Also, the passage does not imply that scientists work only on metaphysical laws.

Sentence C: Scientists do not have this opinion. According to the passage, some people have this opinion, not scientists specifically.

Sentence D: As indicated by the last sentence of the passage- Yet it appears … the initial state. This line indicates a pattern in how the universe changes.