AMCAT PASSAGE
Rohit brushed quickly past an elderly woman waiting on the platform ahead of him to get onto the metro. He wanted to be sure to get a seat to read his Economic Times. As the train rolled out of the station, he lifted his head from the newspaper
and stared at the man directly across from him.
A tsunami - of antipathy came over him. Rohit knew this man, knew him all too well.
Their eyes locked.
As the train reached full speed, the ruckus of speeding wheels against the winding
rails and a wildly gyrating subway car filled Rohit's ears. To this frenetic beat, Rohit
effortlessly listed in his head all the reasons this man, whose eyes he stared coldly
into, was an anathema to him.
He had climbed the upper echelons of his firm using an imperious manner with his
subordinates, always making sure everyone knew he was the boss.
Despite his impoverished upbringing, he had become ostentatious. Flush with cash
from the lucrative deals he had made, he had purchased a yacht and a home in
Mumbai. He used neither. But, oh, how he liked to say he had them. Meanwhile,
Rohit knew, this man's parents were on the verge of being evicted from their rundown
tenement apartment in Allahabad.
What bothered Rohit most about this man was that he never even attempted to make amends for his evil ways.
Could this man change? Rohit did not know. He could try though.
The train screeched to Rohit's stop. He gave the man one last hard look. "See you
around," he mumbled to himself. And he knew he would, because Rohit had been
glaring at his own reflection in the glass in the metro.
It would take years of hard work and therapy, but Rohit would one day notice this
man again on the train and marvel at what a kinder person he had become.
I) Why did a tsunami of antipathy come over Rohit?
a) Because he was angry at himself and unable to stand looking at himself
b) Because the man sitting across him was his former boss who treated him badly
c) Because he wanted to read his newspaper and not be disturbed, especially by someone he disliked d) Because the guy sitting across him was financially better off than Rohit
II)What does it mean to have an imperious manner with underlings?
opt.
1.To ignore them
2.To be stoic around them
3.To openly humiliate them
4.To not be affected by them
5.To be domineering towards them
II)What does it mean to have an imperious manner with underlings?
opt.
1.To ignore them
2.To be stoic around them
3.To openly humiliate them
4.To not be affected by them
5.To be domineering towards them
III)Which statement makes most sense from what is said in the paragraph?
a) Rohit has few friends b) Rohit knows himself well
c) Rohit has had a difficult life d) Rohit is incapable of change
IV) What was the biggest reason (stated or implied) for Rohit disliking the man in the metro?
a) The man was known to be extremely rude and domineering especially with his subordinates
b) The man was remorseless and had not made any effort to reform himself for the better
c) The man did not bother to take care of his parents who were on the verge of being evicted from their humble dwelling
d) The man did not have respect for things or money and while people did not have a place to stay, he had bought a flat which he did not even use
Iv) What does it mean to have an imperious manner with underlings?
a)To ignore them b)To be stoic around them
c)To openly humiliate them d)To not be affected by them
e)To be domineering towards them
e)To be domineering towards them
Questions with our passage: remembers questions and answers
1. What of the following is true about Christensen and Mead?
Option 1 : They are in complete disagreement Option 2 : They are in partial agreement
Option 3 : They are in complete agreement Option 4 : None of these
2. What best describes the statement: "Build a worse mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door." ?
Option 1 : Factual Option 2 : Celebratory Option 3 : Satirical Option 4 : Cynical
3. Which of the statements is the author of the passage most likely to agree to?
Option 1 : Internet is a successful instance of Christensen's innovation model.
Option 2 : Internet is an instance of Christensen's model of innovation, but unsuccessful.
Option 3 : Internet is an instance of Mead's type I innovation, but unsuccessful.
Option 4 : Internet is an successful instance of Mead's type I innovation.
4. According to the author, what is the problem companies had with the internet?
Option 1 : It's quality never improved. Option 2 : It helped the consumers.
Option 3 : The companies could not make money with it.
Option 4 : It was an instance of Mead's Type II innovation.
5. What does the author imply by the phrase thanks mainly to "The Innovator's Dilemma," in the first paragraph?
Option 1 : The author wants to thank Christenson for writing the book.
Option 2 : The author is obliged to Christenson for writing the book.
3 : The author implies that the phrase "Build a worse…" comes from Christenson's book
Option 4 : The author is being sarcastic towards Christenson's book.
6. Which segment of society are initial users to Christensen's "disruptive technology" and Type One innovation of Mead?
1 : Economically high and low respectively 2 : Economically low and high respectively
3 : Both economically low 4 : Both economically high
7. What does 'giddy' mean in context of it's usage in the third paragraph of the passage?
Option 1 : Those suffering of vertigo Option 2 : Unhealthy
Option 3 : Light-hearted Option 4 : Nervous
8. What does the statement of Schumpeter imply?
Option 1 : One should make mail coaches instead of rail roads.
Option 2 : One should make rail roads instead of mail coaches.
Option 3 : Incremental changes cannot lead to an innovation
Option 4 : Innovations are irreversible changes.
AMCAT PASSAGE
The great event of the New York cultural season of 1882 was the visit of the sixty-twoyear-old English philosopher and social commentator Herbert Spencer. Nowhere did Spencer have a larger or more enthusiastic following than in the United States, where such works as ―Social Statics and ―The Data of Ethics were celebrated as powerful justifications for laissezfaire capitalism. Competition was preordained; its result was progress; and any institution that stood in the way of individual liberties was violating the natural order. ―Survival of the fittest —a phrase that Charles Darwin took from Spencer—made free competition a social as well as a natural law. Spencer was, arguably, the single most influential systematic thinker of the nineteenth century, but his influence, compared with that of Darwin, Marx, or Mill, was short-lived. In 1937, the Harvard sociologist Talcott Parsons asked, ―Who now reads Spencer? Seventy years later, the question remains pertinent, even if no one now reads Talcott Parsons, either. In his day, Spencer was the greatest of philosophical hedgehogs: his popularity stemmed from the Page 54 fact that he had one big, easily grasped idea and a mass of more particular ideas that supposedly flowed from the big one. The big idea was evolution, but, while Darwin applied it to species change, speculating about society and culture only with reluctance, Spencer saw evolution working everywhere. ―This law of organic progress is the law of all progress, he wrote, ―whether it be in the development of the Earth, in the development of Life upon its surface, in the development of Society, of Government, of Manufactures, of Commerce, of Language, Literature, Science, [or] Art. Spencer has been tagged as a social Darwinist, but it would be more correct to think of Darwin as a biological Spencerian. Spencer was very well known as an evolutionist long before Darwin‘s ―On the Origin of Species was published, in 1859, and people who had limited interest in the finches of the Galápagos had a great interest in whether the state should provide for the poor or whether it was right to colonize India.
1. Why did Spencer have a large enthusiastic following in the United States?
Option 1 : Because he believed in Darwin's theory of evolution
Option 2 : Because his work was perceived to justify capitalism
Option 3 : Because he was a English philosopher Option 4 : None of these
2. Which of the following will the author agree to?
Option 1 : Mill, Marx and Darwin are more famous than Spencer as of today.
Option 2 : Spencer is more famous than Mill, Marx and Darwin as of today.
Option 3 : Mill, Darwin, Marx and Spencer are equally famous
Option 4 : Mill, Darwin, Marx and Parsons are very famous today today.
3. What does Talcott Parson's statement, "Who now reads Spencer?" imply?
Option 1 : No one read Spencer in 1937
Option 2 : He is asking a question to his students.
Option 3 : Everyone should read Spencer Option 4 : None of these
4. What could possibly "laissez-faire" mean as inferred from the context in which it has been used in the passage?
Option 1 : Restricted Option 2 : Not interfered by the government
Option 3 : Unprincipled Option 4 : Uncompetitive
5. According to the author, why was Spencer so popular in the 19th Century?
Option 1 : He supported capitalism
Option 2 : He extended Darwin's theory of evolution to a lot of things.
Option 3 : He had one broad and simple idea and many specific ideas flowed from it.
Option 4 : He was a friend of Parson's.
6. What is the author most likely to agree to in the following?
Option 1 : Darwin's idea of evolution preceded that of Spencer
Option 2 : Both Darwin and Spencer got the idea of the evolution at the same time
Option 3 : Spencer's idea of evolution preceded that of Darwin
Option 4 : Darwin and Spencer worked on totally different models of evolution
7. What must have been the most-likely response/reaction of the New York audience to Spencer's talk in 1882?
Option 1 : Vindication Option 2 : Surprise Option 3 : Happiness 4 : Depression
8. Which people is the author referring to in the statement: "people who had limited interest in the finches of the Galápagos"?
Option 1 : People who were not interested in the bird finch
Option 2 : People who were not interested in finches in particular from Galapagos.
Option 3 : People who were not interested in animal species or natural evolution
Option 4 : People who did not have interest in birds.
AMCAT PASSAGE
The Indian government‘s intention of introducing caste based quotas for the ―Other Backward Classes in centrally funded institutions of higher learning and the prime minister‘s suggestion to the private sector to ‗voluntarily go in for reservation‘, has once again sparked off a debate on the merits and demerits of caste-based reservations. Unfortunately, the predictable divide between the votaries of ―social justice on one hand and those advocating ―merit on the other seems to have once again camouflaged the real issues. It is necessary to take a holistic and non-partisan view of the issues involved. The hue and cry about ―sacrificing merit is untenable simply because merit is after all a social construct and it cannot be determined objectively in a historically unjust and unequal context. The idea of competitive merit will be worthy of serious attention only in a broadly egalitarian context. But then, caste is not the only obstacle in the way of an egalitarian order. After all, economic conditions, educational opportunities and discrimination on the basis of gender also contribute to the denial of opportunity to express one‘s true merit and worth. It is interesting to note that in the ongoing debate, one side refuses to see the socially constructed nature of the notion of merit, while the other side refuses to recognise the multiplicity of the mechanisms of exclusion with equal vehemence. The idea of caste-based reservations is justified by the logic of social justice. This implies the conscious attempt to restructure a given social order in such a way that individuals belonging to the traditionally and structurally marginalised social groups get adequate opportunities to actualise their potential and realise their due share in the resources available. In any society, particularly in one as diverse and complex as the Indian society, this is going to be a gigantic exercise and must not be reduced to just one aspect of state policy. Seen in this light, caste-based reservation has to work in tandem with other policies ensuring the elimination of the structures of social marginalisation and denial of access. It has to be seen as a means of achieving social justice and not an end in itself. By the same logic it must be assessed and audited from time to time like any other social policy and economic strategy.
1. What is the phrase 'Sacrificing merit' referring to?
A : Killing merit. b : Selection on basis of merit. c : Encouraging reservation 4 : None
2. What do you mean by the word 'Egalitarian'?
Option 1 : Characterized by belief in the equality of all people.
Option 2 : Characterized by belief in the inequality of all people.
Option 3 : Another word for reservations. Option 4 : Growth
3. What does the statement- and not to convert it into a fetish of ‘political correctness’ in the passage imply?
Option 1 : Reservation issue should not be converted into a political propaganda.
Option 2 : Reservation issue should not be based on caste alone.
Option 3 : Reservation issue should be left to the ruling government. 4 : None of these.
4. What is the author most likely to agree with?
Option 1 : Caste-based reservation is the answer to India's problems.
Option 2 : Gender-based reservation is the answer to India's problems.
Option 3 : There is no solution to bridge the gap between privileged and under-privileged.
Option 4 : None of these.
5. What do you mean by the word 'Votaries'?
Option 1 : Advocates Option 2 : Types Option 3 : Demerits Option 4 : People
6. What do you infer from the sentence ' The idea of caste-based reservations is justified by the logic of social justice' ?
Option 1 : Caste-based reservation will help in providing opportunities to the socially backward classes.
Option 2 : Caste-based reservation will lead to social equality amongst all classes.
Option 3 : Caste-based reservation will help backward classes actualise their potential.
Option 4 : All of these
7. Why does caste-bases reservation system needs to be assessed and audited from time to time?
Option 1 : To measure its economic advantage to the Nation.
Option 2 : To make sure that it achieves social justice for all.
Option 3 : To do a cost analysis. Option 4 : None of these.
8. What is the tone of the passage?
Option 1 : Neutral Option 2 : Biased Option 3 : Celebratory Option 4 : Critical
Amcat Verbal Reading Comprehension
Directions (1-8): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it.
Directions (1-8): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it.
SINCE the late 1970s when the technology for sex determination first came into being, sex selective abortion has unleashed a saga of horror. Experts are calling it "sanitised barbarism". Demographic trends indicate the country is fast heading towards a million female foetuses aborted each year.Although foetal sex determination and sex selection is a criminal offence in India, the practice is rampant. Private clinics with ultrasound machines are doing brisk business. Everywhere, people are paying to know the sex of an unborn child. And paying more to abort the female child. The technology has even reached remote areas through mobile clinics. Dr. Puneet Bedi, obstetrician and specialist in foetal medicine, says these days he hardly sees a family with two daughters. People are getting sex determination done even for the first child, he says.
A recent media workshop on the issue of sex selection and female foeticide brought home the extent of the problem. Held in Agra in February, the workshop was organised by UNICEF, Business Community Foundation, and the Centre for Advocacy and Research. Doctors, social scientists, researchers, activists, bureaucrats, journalists told their stories of what they were doing to fight the problem. If the 1991 Census showed that two districts had a child sex ratio (number of girls per thousand boys) less than 850; by 2001 it was 51 districts. Child rights activist Dr. Sabu George says foeticide is the most extreme form of violence against women. "Today a girl is several times more likely to be eliminated before birth than die of various causes in the first year. Nature intended the womb to be a safe space. Today, doctors have made it the most unsafe space for the female child," he says. He believes that doctors must be held responsible "They have aggressively promoted the misuse of technology and legitimised foeticide." Researchers and scholars use hard-hitting analogy to emphasise the extent of the problem. Dr. Satish Agnihotri, senior IAS officer and scholar who has done extensive research on the issue, calls the technology "a weapon of mass destruction". Dr. Bedi refers to it as genocide: "More than 6 million killed in 20 years. That's the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust."
Foeticide is also one of the most common causes of maternal mortality. The sex of the foetus can be determined only around 14-16 weeks. This means most sex selective abortions are late. Abortion after 20 weeks is illegal in India. Donna Fernandes, Vimochana, a Bangalore-based NGO, says foeticide is related to a host of other social problems as varied as privatisation of medical education and dowry. Karnataka has the highest number of private medical colleges. Healthcare turning commodity has led to terrifying consequences. Adds Fernandes, "Wherever green revolution has happened foeticide has increased. With more landholdings and wealth inheritance dowry has increased. Daughters are considered an economic liability. Today, people don't want their daughters to study higher a more well-educated groom will demand more dowry."Ironically, as income levels increase, sex determination and sex selection is increasing. The most influential pockets have the worst sex ratios. Take Punjab for instance 793 girls for every 1,000 boys against the national figure of 927. Or South Delhi one of the most affluent localities of the Capital 760. According to Satara-based advocate Varsha Deshpande, small families have come at the cost of the girl child. In patriarchal States like Rajasthan where infanticide has existed for centuries, this new technology has many takers. Meena Sharma, 27, television journalist from Rajasthan, who did a series of sting operations across four States last year, says, "Today, people want to pretend they are modern and that they do not discriminate between a girl and a boy. Yet, they will not hesitate to quietly go to the next village and get an ultrasound done." Sharma was determined to expose the widespread malpractice. She travelled with pregnant women as "decoys" across four States and more than 13,000 km to do a series of sting operations. She says more than 100 doctors of the 140 they met were ready to do a sex selective abortion, some as late as the seventh month. "We were shocked at the greed we saw doctors did not even ask why we wanted to abort, far from dissuading us from doing so," she says. What's the solution? Varsha Deshpande says the PCPNDT Act (Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) is very well conceived and easy to use. "We have done 17 sting operations across Maharashtra and got action taken against more than 25 doctors," says Varsha. She adds that other laws for violence against women such as dowry, domestic violence, rape, put the control in the hands of the police which is biased. Therefore, even though the law exists, offenders get away. This law preventing sex determination and sex selection is much easier to use, she says.
Akhila Sivadas, Centre for Advocacy and Research, Delhi, agrees that the law is very well conceived and the need of the hour is legal literacy to ensure the law is implemented. "The demand and supply debate has been going on for some time. Doctors say there is a social demand and they are only fulfilling it. They argue that social attitudes must change. However, in this case supply fuels demand. Technology will have to be regulated. Technology in the hands of greedy, vested interests, cannot be neutral. There is a law to prevent misuse and we must be able to use it," she says. CFAR is currently partnering with local NGOs in six districts of Rajasthan to help ensure implementation of the law.On the "demand" side, experts such as Dr. Agnihotri argue that women's participation in workforce, having disposable incomes and making a contribution to larger society will make a difference to how women are seen. Youth icons and role models such as Sania Mirza are making an impact, he says. Others feel there needs to be widespread visible contempt and anger in society against this "genocide" "the kind we saw against the Nithari killings," says Dr. Bedi. "Today nobody can say female foeticide is not their problem." Time we all did our bit to help save the girl child. Time's running out.
1. Which of the following will Dr. George agree to?
1 : The girl child is as safe in the mother's womb as after birth.
2 : The girl child is more safe in the mother's womb in comparison to after birth.
3 : The girl child is more safe after birth as compared to the mother's womb.
4 : None of these
2. What is the solution to the problem of female foeticide as envisioned by Dr. Bedi?
1. Effective use of law. 2. Mass public outrage.
3. Comparison with Nithari killing. 4. Contempt towards doctors.
3. What is the tone of the passage?
1 : Factual 2 : Biased
3 : Aggressive 4 : Sad
3 : Aggressive 4 : Sad
4. What is Akhila Sivadas's opinion on the PCPNDT act?
1 : The act is inconsistent. 2 : The act needs reform.
3 : The act encourages demand for foeticide. 4 The act is sound, but needs enforcement.
5. What does the word sanitised imply in the first paragraph of the passage?
1 : Unforgivable 2 : Legitimate
3. Free from dirt 4 : None of these
3. Free from dirt 4 : None of these
6. What is the doctors' explanation for foeticide?
1 : They think it is legitimate. 2 : They do it because people demand it.
3 : The technology is available and there is no harm using it. Option 4 : None of these
7. Which of the two people mentioned in the passage suggest similar solution to the problem?
1 : Dr. Agnihotri and Dr. George 2 : Dr. Bedi and Dr. Agnihotri
3 : Dr. George and Dr. Bedi 4 : Dr. George and Miss Sivadas
8. Which "demand" does the author refer to, in paragraph 5?
1 : Demand for principled doctors. 2 : Demand for high income jobs for women.
3 : Demand for youth icons. 4 : Demand for sex determination and abortion.AMCAT PASSAGE
The economic transformation of India is one of the great business stories of our time. As stifling government regulations have been lifted, entrepreneurship has flourished, and the country has become a high-powered center for information technology and pharmaceuticals. Indian companies like Infosys and Wipro are powerful global players, while Western firms like G.E. and I.B.M. now have major research facilities in India employing thousands. India’s seemingly endless flow of young, motivated engineers, scientists, and managers offering developed-world skills at developing-world wages is held to be putting American jobs at risk, and the country is frequently heralded as “the next economic superpower.”
But India has run into a surprising hitch on its way to superpower status: its inexhaustible supply of workers is becoming exhausted. Although India has one of the youngest workforces on the planet, the head of Infosys said recently that there was an “acute shortage of skilled manpower,” and a study by Hewitt Associates projects that this year salaries for skilled workers will rise fourteen and a half per cent, a sure sign that demand for skilled labor is outstripping supply.
How is this possible in a country that every year produces two and a half million college graduates and four hundred thousand engineers? Start with the fact that just ten per cent of Indians get any kind of post-secondary education, compared with some fifty per cent who do in the U.S. Moreover, of that ten per cent, the vast majority go to one of India’s seventeen thousand colleges, many of which are closer to community colleges than to four-year institutions. India does have more than three hundred universities, but a recent survey by the London Times Higher Education Supplement put only two of them among the top hundred in the world. Many Indian graduates therefore enter the workforce with a low level of skills. A current study led by Vivek Wadhwa, of Duke University, has found that if you define “engineer” by U.S. standards, India produces just a hundred and seventy thousand engineers a year, not four hundred thousand. Infosys says that, of 1.3 million applicants for jobs last year, it found only two per cent acceptable.
There was a time when many economists believed that post-secondary education didn’t have much impact on economic growth. The really important educational gains, they thought, came from giving rudimentary skills to large numbers of people (which India still needs to do—at least thirty per cent of the population is illiterate). They believed that, in economic terms, society got a very low rate of return on its investment in higher education. But lately that assumption has been overturned, and the social rate of return on investment in university education in India has been calculated at an impressive nine or ten per cent. In other words, every dollar India puts into higher education creates value for the economy as a whole. Yet India spends roughly three and a half per cent of its G.D.P. on education, significantly below the percentage spent by the U.S., even though India’s population is much younger, and spending on education should be proportionately higher.
The irony of the current situation is that India was once considered to be overeducated. In the seventies, as its economy languished, it seemed to be a country with too many engineers and Ph.D.s working as clerks in government offices. Once the Indian business climate loosened up, though, that meant companies could tap a backlog of hundreds of thousands of eager, skilled workers at their disposal. Unfortunately, the educational system did not adjust to the new realities. Between 1985 and 1997, the number of teachers in India actually fell, while the percentage of students enrolled in high school or college rose more slowly than it did in the rest of the world. Even as the need for skilled workers was increasing, India was devoting relatively fewer resources to producing them.
Since the Second World War, the countries that have made successful leaps from developing to developed status have all poured money, public and private, into education. South Korea now spends a higher percentage of its national income on education than nearly any other country in the world. Taiwan had a system of universal primary education before its phase of hypergrowth began. And, more recently, Ireland’s economic boom was spurred, in part, by an opening up and expansion of primary and secondary schools and increased funding for universities. Education will be all the more important for India’s well-being; the earlier generation of so-called Asian Tigers depended heavily on manufacturing, but India’s focus on services and technology will require a more skilled and educated workforce.
India has taken tentative steps to remedy its skills famine—the current government has made noises about doubling spending on education, and a host of new colleges and universities have sprung up since the mid-nineties. But India’s impressive economic performance has made the problem seem less urgent than it actually is, and allowed the government to defer difficult choices. (In a country where more than three hundred million people live on a dollar a day, producing college graduates can seem like a low priority.) Ultimately, the Indian government has to pull off a very tough trick, making serious changes at a time when things seem to be going very well. It needs, in other words, a clear sense of everything that can still go wrong. The paradox of the Indian economy today is that the more certain its glowing future seems to be, the less likely that future becomes
1. Which of these could you infer according to the passage?
Option 1 : Wages in the Developing countries are less as compared to wages in the developed countries
Option 2 : Wages in the Developing countries are more as compared to wages in the developed countries
Option 3 : Wages in the Developing countries are same as wages in the developed countries
Option 4 : None of these
2. What does "American jobs" in the last line of the first paragraph of the passage imply?
Option 1 : Jobs provided by American companies
Option 2 : Jobs held (or to be held) by American people
Option 3 : Jobs open to only American citizens
Option 4 : Jobs provided by the American government
3. According to the passage, why India does not have enough skilled labour?
Option 1 : The total amount of young population is low
Option 2 : The total number of colleges are insufficient
Option 3 : Students do not want to study
Option 4 : Maximum universities and colleges do not match global standards.
4. What can you infer as the meaning of 'stifling' from the passage?
Option 1 : Democratic Option 2 : Liberal Option 3 : Impeding Option 4 : Undemocratic
5. What is an appropriate title to the passage?
Option 1 : Growing Indian Economy Option 2 : Higher education in India
Option 3 : India's Skill Shortage Option 4 : Entrepreneurship in India
6. In the third sentence of the third paragraph of the passage, the phrase "closer to community colleges " is used. What does it imply?
Option 1 : Near to community colleges Option 2 : Like community colleges
Option 3 : Close association to community colleges Option 4 : None of these
7. According to the passage, what is the paradox of the Indian economy today?
a. The economic progress is impressive, but the poor (earning one dollar per day) are not benefited.
b. The economic progress is impressive disallowing the government to take tough decisions.
c. There is not enough skilled workforce and the government does not realize this.
d. Government is not ready to invest in setting up new universities.
8. Why are salaries for skilled workers rising?
Option 1 : Companies are paying hire to lure skilled people to jobs.
Option 2 : American companies are ready to pay higher to skilled workers.
Option 3 : Entrepreneurship is growing in India.
Option 4 : There is not enough skilled workers, while the demand for them is high.