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Q1
Missing Sentence MULTIPLE CHOICE
The given sentence is missing in the paragraph below. Decide where it best fits among the options 1, 2, 3, or 4 indicated in the paragraph.
Sentence: While taste is related to judgment, with thinkers at the time often writing, for example, about "judgments of taste" or using the two terms interchangeably, taste retains a vital link to pleasure, embodiment, and personal specificity that is too often elided in post-Kantian ideas about judgment—a link that Arendt herself was working to restore.
Paragraph: ____(1) ____. Denneny focused on taste rather than judgment in order to highlight what he believed was a crucial but neglected historical change. ____(2) ____. Over the course of the seventeenth century and early eighteenth century, across Western Europe, the word taste took on a new extension of meaning, no longer referring specifically to gustatory sensation and the delights of the palate but becoming, for a time, one of the central categories for aesthetic—and ethical—thinking. ____(3) ____. Tracing the history of taste in Spanish, French, and British aesthetic theory, as Denneny did, also provides a means to recover the compelling and relevant writing of a set of thinkers who have been largely neglected by professional philosophy. ____(4) ____.
The sentence speaks of thinkers "at the time", so it must come after a specific period has been named. The only period in the paragraph is "the seventeenth century and early eighteenth century", given in the sentence just before blank 3. The sentence also explains why taste is worth studying in place of judgment (its link to pleasure, embodiment and personal specificity), and the next sentence then adds a second benefit with the word "also": tracing the history of taste "also provides a means to recover" neglected thinkers. So blank 3 sits between the historical shift and the "also" sentence.
Blank 1: "at the time" would have nothing to refer to, since no period has been mentioned yet.
Blank 2: the historical change is still unexplained here; "the time" has not yet been named.
Blank 4: placed after the "also" sentence, it leaves "also" without the first benefit it builds on and ends the paragraph on a step backwards.
Blank 3 is listed as option (A).
Hence, the answer is (A).
The passage below is accompanied by four questions. Based on the passage, choose the best answer for each question.
This book takes the position that setting in literature is more than just backdrop, that important insight into literary texts can be made by paying close attention to how authors craft place, as well as to how place functions in a narrative. The authors included in this reference work engage deeply with either real or imagined geographies. They care about how human decisions have shaped landscapes and how landscapes have shaped human practices and values. Some of the best writing is highly vivid, employing the language of the senses because this is the primary means through which humans know physical space.
Literature can offer valuable perspectives on physical and cultural geography. Unlike scientific reports, a literary narrative can provide the emotional component missing from the scientific record. In human experience, geographical places have a spiritual or emotional component in addition to and as part of a physical layout and topography. This emotional component, although subjective, is no less "real" than a surveyor's map. Human consciousness of place is experienced in a multi-modal manner. Histories of places live on in many forms, one of which is the human memory or imagination.
Both real and imaginary landscapes provide insight into the human experience of place. The pursuit of such a topic speaks to the valuable knowledge produced from bridging disciplines and combining material from both the arts and the sciences to better understand the human condition. The perspectives that most concern cultural geographers are often those regarding movement and migration, cultivation of natural resources, and organization of space. The latter two reflect concerns of the built environment, a topic shared with the field of architectural study. Many of these concerns are also reflected in work sociologists do. Scholars from literary studies can contribute an aesthetic dimension to what might otherwise be a purely ideological approach.
Literature can bring together material that spans different branches of science. For example, a literary description of place may involve not only the environment and geography but the noises and quality of light, or how people from different races or classes can experience the same place in different ways linked to those racial or class disparities. Literary texts can also account for the way in which absence—of other people, animals, and so on—affects a human observer or inhabitant. Both literary and scientific approaches to place are necessary, working in unison, to achieve a complete record of an environment. It is important to note that the interdisciplinary nature of this work teaches us that landscapes are not static, that they are not unchanged by human culture. At least part of their identity derives from the people who inhabit them and from the way space can alter and inspire human perspective. The intersection of scientific and literary expression that happens in the study of literary geography is of prime importance due to the complexity of the personal and political ways that humans experience place.
Q2
Reading Comprehension MULTIPLE CHOICE
All of the following statements, if false, would contradict the arguments in the passage, EXCEPT that:
A statement that would "contradict the arguments, if false" is one the passage supports. We need the statement whose falsity would actually agree with the passage, i.e. a statement the passage itself rejects.
Option D says humans do not relate to places emotionally because places are only physical topography. Paragraph 2 says the opposite: places have "a spiritual or emotional component" that is "no less 'real' than a surveyor's map". If D is false, that fits the passage, so D is the exception.
Option A is supported by paragraph 1 (the language of the senses is how humans know space) and paragraph 2 (place is experienced "in a multi-modal manner"); its falsity would contradict the passage.
Option B matches the claim that literary, emotional accounts of a place are as "real" as a map; denying it goes against the passage.
Option C fits the passage's view that literature informs cultural geography, whose concerns include "movement and migration"; denying it cuts against the argument.
Hence, the answer is (D).
Q3
Reading Comprehension MULTIPLE CHOICE
Which one of the following is a valid conclusion to draw from the author's statement that, "The pursuit of such a topic speaks to the valuable knowledge produced from bridging disciplines and combining material from both the arts and the sciences to better understand the human condition."?
The quoted sentence says that studying place through both real and imagined landscapes shows the value of "bridging disciplines" and "combining material from both the arts and the sciences" in order to "better understand the human condition". The conclusion that follows is that combining arts and sciences gives the fullest understanding of the human condition, which is option D. Paragraph 4 says the same thing: "Both literary and scientific approaches to place are necessary... to achieve a complete record."
Option A reverses the relation: the human condition is what we want to understand, not the means of understanding the disciplines.
Option B makes the arts and sciences the thing understood, when they are the tools the passage uses.
Option C is muddled: one does not "bridge" the human condition, and it drops the arts and sciences altogether.
Hence, the answer is (D).
Q4
Reading Comprehension MULTIPLE CHOICE
Which one of the following is not true of the argument in the second paragraph?
Paragraph 2 claims that a place's emotional component, though subjective, "is no less 'real' than a surveyor's map". That puts the two on an equal footing. It does not say the emotional experience can replace the map, and paragraph 4 says outright that literary and scientific approaches must work "in unison". So option D is not true of the argument.
Option A matches "Histories of places live on in many forms, one of which is the human memory or imagination."
Option B restates "This emotional component, although subjective, is no less 'real'."
Option C fits the paragraph's point that literary narrative supplies "the emotional component missing from the scientific record".
Hence, the answer is (D).
Q5
Reading Comprehension MULTIPLE CHOICE
The author uses the example of the literary description of place to illustrate that:
Paragraph 4 opens by saying that literature "can bring together material that spans different branches of science". The example follows: a literary description of place covers environment and geography, but also noise, quality of light, and "how people from different races or classes can experience the same place in different ways". The point the example builds to is that literature can show how different people experience the same place differently, which is option A.
Option B brings in architects and "calibrating" noise and light, which the passage never does.
Option C comes from the next sentence ("Literary texts can also account for... absence"), which is a separate point introduced by "also", not part of this example.
Option D goes against the passage, which says both approaches are needed and does not rank science above literature.
Hence, the answer is (A).
Q6
Odd one out TYPE IN THE ANSWER
Five jumbled sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5), related to a topic, are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd sentence out and key in the number of that sentence as your answer.
1. Sporting a copper-coloured pixie cut and a pair of pink feather antlers, Torres himself resembles a child's doodle. 2. His casual millennial delivery, peppered with "um"s and "ah"s, makes surreal concepts sound like items on a brunch menu. 3. Though he may have failed so far in his colour-scouting mission (he hasn't yet found a new one, he admits), this hour leaves you tickled pink. 4. Like his previous show, My Favourite Shapes, this is an hour of sit-down comedy aided by an overhead camera which relays Torres's theories – illustrated with crayon squiggles – on to a screen behind him. 5. His inquisitive mind produces interconnected ideas about Catholicism, the blandness of Pixar and what orange sounds like, while his insights train us to spot "highly purple behaviour".
Sentences 4, 1, 2 and 5 together make a review that describes a comedian's show. Sentence 4 sets out the format: sit-down comedy with an overhead camera showing Torres's crayon-drawn theories. Sentence 1 follows with "Torres himself resembles a child's doodle", which plays on the crayon squiggles. Sentence 2 describes his delivery, and sentence 5 his ideas (Catholicism, Pixar, "what orange sounds like").
Sentence 3 refers to "his colour-scouting mission" and says "he hasn't yet found a new one". None of the other sentences says the show is about a quest for a new colour, so "the mission" and "one" have nothing to refer to. It is also a final verdict ("this hour leaves you tickled pink"), when the other four only describe. It belongs to a part of the review that is not given here.
Hence, the answer is 3.
The passage below is accompanied by four questions. Based on the passage, choose the best answer for each question.
Time and again, whenever a population [of Mexican tetra fish] was swept into a cave and survived long enough for natural selection to have its way, the eyes disappeared. "But it's not that everything has been lost in cavefish . . . Many enhancements have also happened." . . . Studies have found that cave-dwelling fish can detect lower levels of amino acids than surface fish can. They also have more tastebuds and a higher density of sensitive cells alongside their bodies that let them sense water pressure and flow. . . .
Killing the processes that support the formation of the eye is quite literally what happens. Just like non-cave-dwelling members of the species, all cavefish embryos start making eyes. But after a few hours, cells in the developing eye start dying, until the entire structure has disappeared. [Developmental biologist Misty] Riddle thinks this apparent inefficiency may be unavoidable. "The early development of the brain and the eye are completely intertwined—they happen together," she says. That means the least disruptive way for eyelessness to evolve may be to start making an eye and then get rid of it. . . .
It's easy to see why cavefish would be at a disadvantage if they were to maintain expensive tissues they aren't using. Since relatively little lives or grows in their caves, the fish are likely surviving on a meager diet of mostly bat feces and organic waste that washes in during the rainy season. Researchers keeping cavefish in labs have discovered that, genetically, the creatures are exquisitely adapted to absorbing and storing nutrients. . . .
Fats can be toxic for tissues, [evolutionary physiologist Nicolas] Rohner explains, so they are stored in fat cells. "But when these cells get too big, they can burst, which is why we often see chronic inflammation in humans and other animals that have stored a lot of fat in their tissues." Yet a 2020 study by Rohner, Krishnan and their colleagues revealed that even very well-fed cavefish had fewer signs of inflammation in their fat tissues than surface fish do. Even in their sparse cave conditions, wild cavefish can sometimes get very fat, says Riddle. This is presumably because, whenever food ends up in the cave, the fish eat as much of it as possible, since there may be nothing else for a long time to come. Intriguingly, Riddle says, their fat is usually bright yellow, because of high levels of carotenoids, the substance in the carrots that your grandmother used to tell you were good for your…eyes.
"The first thing that came to our mind, of course, was that they were accumulating these because they don't have eyes," says Riddle. In this species, such ideas can be tested: Scientists can cross surface fish (with eyes) and cavefish (without eyes) and look at what their offspring are like. When that's done, Riddle says, researchers see no link between eye presence or size and the accumulation of carotenoids. Some eyeless cavefish had fat that was practically white, indicating lower carotenoid levels. Instead, Riddle thinks these carotenoids may be another adaptation to suppress inflammation, which might be important in the wild, as cavefish are likely overeating whenever food arrives.
Q7
Reading Comprehension MULTIPLE CHOICE
All of the following statements from the passage describe adaptation in Mexican tetra cavefish EXCEPT:
The passage is about how cavefish have adapted to cave life. Option D is Rohner's general remark about fat cells in "humans and other animals": stored fat can burst cells and cause chronic inflammation. It is background explaining why inflammation is a risk. It says nothing about any trait the cavefish have evolved. The adaptation (fewer signs of inflammation, carotenoids) comes in the sentences after it.
Option A describes the meagre diet these fish have adapted to survive on, so it belongs to the adaptation story.
Option B explains the selective pressure behind losing costly unused tissue such as eyes, which is an adaptation.
Option C describes the fish getting very fat by gorging when food arrives, the nutrient-storing behaviour the passage calls "exquisitely adapted".
Hence, the answer is (D).
Q8
Reading Comprehension MULTIPLE CHOICE
Which one of the following best explains why the "apparent inefficiency" is "unavoidable"?
The "apparent inefficiency" is that cavefish embryos start to build eyes and then destroy them. Riddle calls it unavoidable because "the early development of the brain and the eye are completely intertwined". The developmental program is the same one their eyed relatives use, so the least disruptive route is to begin an eye and then lose it. The passage says that "just like non-cave-dwelling members of the species, all cavefish embryos start making eyes". Option A captures this shared early development, which is why the step cannot be skipped.
Option B is about compensating enhancements, which do not explain why the eye must first form.
Option C invents a cause: the passage never says darkness kills the eye cells.
Option D explains why keeping eyes would be costly, not why building them first is unavoidable.
Hence, the answer is (A).
Q9
Reading Comprehension MULTIPLE CHOICE
Which one of the following results for the cross between surface fish (with eyes) and cavefish (without eyes) would invalidate Riddle's inference from the experiment?
From the cross, Riddle infers that there is no link between having eyes (or their size) and carotenoid build-up. To invalidate this, a result would have to show such a link. If only eyeless offspring had yellow (carotenoid-rich) fat, carotenoid build-up would track eyelessness exactly, which directly supports the "because they don't have eyes" idea she rejected. That is option A.
Option B (some eyed offspring with white fat) fits a no-link finding.
Option C (some eyeless offspring with white fat) is the very evidence the passage cites for no link.
Option D (some eyed offspring with yellow fat) also shows carotenoids appearing regardless of eyes, so it supports her inference.
Hence, the answer is (A).
Q10
Reading Comprehension MULTIPLE CHOICE
On the basis of the information in the passage, what is the most likely function of carotenoids in Mexican tetra cavefish?
The last paragraph rules out the idea that carotenoids build up because the fish lack eyes. Riddle instead suggests they "may be another adaptation to suppress inflammation", which matters because cavefish overeat whenever food arrives. The previous paragraph links inflammation to over-full fat cells that "burst". So carotenoids most likely work to control inflammation from bursting fat cells, which is option C.
Option A: nutrient storage is described as a genetic adaptation, but the passage never gives carotenoids this role.
Option B confuses a side effect (yellow fat) with a function.
Option D is the hypothesis the crossing experiment disproved.
Hence, the answer is (C).
Q11
Para Jumbles TYPE IN THE ANSWER
The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, and 4) given below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer.
1. As books age, the cellulose and lignin in the paper begin to break down, releasing a mix of volatile organic compounds into the air. 2. Old books carry a scent that many people instantly recognize—and even love. 3. These compounds are benzaldehyde, which gives off an almond-like scent, vanillin, which smells like vanilla, ethyl hexanol (floral scent), toluene (sweet), and furfural (which has a slightly bready scent). 4. This familiar aroma isn't just dust or mildew; it's actually a result of slow chemical changes happening inside the paper and ink.
Sentence 2 opens the topic: old books have a scent people recognise and love. Sentence 4 picks it up with "This familiar aroma" and says it comes from slow chemical changes in the paper and ink. Sentence 1 explains those changes: as books age, cellulose and lignin break down and release "a mix of volatile organic compounds". Sentence 3 begins "These compounds" and names them (benzaldehyde, vanillin and the rest), so it must follow 1.
Mandatory pairs: 2-4 ("This familiar aroma") and 1-3 ("These compounds"). Going from general (the scent) to the cause (chemical change) to specifics (the compounds) gives 2-4-1-3.
Hence, the answer is 2413.
Q12
Missing Sentence MULTIPLE CHOICE
The given sentence is missing in the paragraph below. Decide where it best fits among the options 1, 2, 3, or 4 indicated in the paragraph.
Sentence- The region's Western customers found it hard to believe that Dhaka muslin could possibly have been made by human hands – there were rumour that it was woven by mermaids, fairies and even ghosts.
Once upon the silty banks of the Meghna River, a miracle was spun — a fabric so light it was called "baft-hawa", or woven air. This was Dhaka Muslin — the world's most coveted cloth. ____(1)____. Handspun from a rare cotton called Phuti Karpas, found nowhere else on Earth, and woven with a 16-step sacred ritual — beginning with cleaning the cotton using the teeth of a river catfish! ____(2)____. Every spring, the maple-like leaves pushed up through the grey, silty soil to produce a single daffodil-yellow flower twice a year, which gave way to a snowy floret of cotton fibres. ____(3)____. Spun at dawn on boats by sharp-eyed young women, its threads were so fine the elderly could barely see them. Motifs of wildflowers, river breeze, and soul were etched into each piece — some so light, a 91-metre bolt could pass through a ring, or a 60' length fit inside a snuffbox. It draped Greek goddesses, Roman nobles, Mughal emperors, and European aristocrats. Marie Antoinette, Empress Joséphine — even Jane Austen adored its floating grace. ____(4)____.
The sentence says Western buyers could not believe the cloth was made "by human hands" and imagined mermaids, fairies or ghosts. At blank 1 it follows "This was Dhaka Muslin, the world's most coveted cloth" and leads into "Handspun from a rare cotton called Phuti Karpas...". The next line answers the myth directly: the cloth was in fact made by hand, through a 16-step human ritual. The paragraph then goes on to the plant, the spinning and the famous wearers.
Blank 2 would break the link between Phuti Karpas and the description of that plant's leaves and flowers in the next sentence.
Blank 3 would split the cotton floret from the spinning sentence that continues the making process.
Blank 4 would end the paragraph on a myth that is never answered, and "Handspun" would lose the claim it pushes back against.
Blank 1 is listed as option (C).
Hence, the answer is (C).
Q13
Para Summary MULTIPLE CHOICE
The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
For millennia, in the process of opening up land for agriculture, gardens, grazing and hunting, humans have created ecological "mosaics", or "patchworks": landscapes holding a mixture of habitats, like meadows, gardens and forests. These were not designed as nature reserves, but often catered to hugely diverse animal life. Research indicates that European hay meadows cultivated for animal feed were actually more successful at preserving a vast array of species than meadows explicitly cultivated for biodiversity. Studying the early Holocene, researchers have found that human presence was about as likely to increase biodiversity as reduce it. Of course, not all human-created landscapes have the same value. A paved subdivision with astroturfed lawns is very different to a village with diverse vegetable and flower gardens. But scientists continue to find evidence that the old idea of humans as antithetical to nature is also wrong-headed, and that rosy visions of thriving, human-free environments are more imaginary than real.
The passage argues three things. Humans have long created mixed habitats ("mosaics") that support diverse species. Human presence "was about as likely to increase biodiversity as reduce it". So the idea of humans as opposed to nature, and visions of thriving human-free environments, are wrong. Option D covers all of this: it rejects both the "humans hurt nature" view and the human-free ideal, gives the even odds, and mentions varied landscapes supporting many species.
Option A takes the single hay-meadow finding and turns it into a general claim that human landscapes beat purpose-built reserves, and it leaves out the main argument against the humans-versus-nature view.
Option B says human action "assists the preservation of meadows", a distortion, and drops the even-odds and human-free points.
Option C credits everything to Holocene studies and overstates the conclusion, ignoring the caveat that not all human landscapes have equal value.
Hence, the answer is (D).
Q14
Para Summary MULTIPLE CHOICE
The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
In 1903, left-wing feminist Elizabeth Magie invented The Landlord's Game, the original version of what became Monopoly. It was designed as a powerful teaching tool to illustrate the dangers of monopolies and how wealth could concentrate in the hands of a few. The game featured a circular path, properties, and a "Go to Jail" space. Magie created two rule sets: one "monopolist" version where players crushed opponents through accumulation, and another, more radical "Prosperity" version, where everyone shared in the wealth, promoting fairness and equity. Years later, unemployed Charles Darrow sold a simplified version to Parker Brothers. They paid Magie only $500 for her patent—without royalties—and credited Darrow as the sole inventor. For decades, his tale of inventing the game in his basement remained the official story, while Magie's name and her original, anti-capitalist message were left in the shadows.
The core of the passage: Magie, a left-wing feminist, designed a game with two rule sets to teach the dangers of monopoly. Darrow sold a simplified version, Parker Brothers credited him as sole inventor and paid her only $500 with no royalties, and her name and anti-capitalist message were lost. Option C keeps these essentials: her identity, the two versions ("twin game"), only one version sold to Parker Brothers, the meagre money and lack of royalties, and the loss of credit. It also brings out the irony at the centre of the passage.
Option A adds what the passage does not say ("capitalist intent", "widespread commercial success") and leaves out Magie's anti-monopoly purpose and the false credit given to Darrow.
Option D repeats Darrow's basement story as fact, when the passage calls it a story that overshadowed the real inventor.
Note: C's wording loosely links the "meagre sum" to Darrow's sale, when the $500 was actually paid to Magie for her patent. Even so, it is the only option that keeps the passage's main point.
Hence, the answer is (C).
Q15
Odd one out TYPE IN THE ANSWER
Five jumbled sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5), related to a topic, are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd sentence out and key in the number of that sentence as your answer.
1. Pfas are a class of about 15,000 compounds most frequently used to make products water-, stain- and grease-resistant. 2. New research suggests exposure to some common perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (Pfas) cause changes to gene activity and that these changes are linked to health problems including multiple cancers, neurological disorders and autoimmune disease. 3. These Pfas compounds are dubbed "forever chemicals" because they do not naturally break down in the environment. 4. The research may also point toward other diseases potentially caused by Pfas that have not yet been identified. 5. The findings are a major step toward determining the mechanism by which the chemicals cause disease and could help doctors identify, detect and treat health problems for those exposed to Pfas before the issues advance.
The paragraph reports new research on how Pfas exposure harms human health. Sentence 2 introduces the finding (exposure changes gene activity, which is linked to cancers and other diseases). Sentence 1 explains what Pfas are and where people meet them (water-, stain- and grease-resistant products), which is the context for "exposure". Sentence 5 ("The findings...") gives what the research means for understanding the mechanism and for treatment, and sentence 4 ("The research may also...") adds a further possibility. Order: 2-1-5-4.
Sentence 3 is about the environment: Pfas are "forever chemicals" because they do not break down in nature. That fact is true, but the paragraph is about exposure, gene activity and disease, not persistence in the environment. Placed anywhere in 2-1-5-4 it breaks the flow from findings to implications.
Hence, the answer is 3.
The passage below is accompanied by four questions. Based on the passage, choose the best answer for each question.
In [my book "Searches"], I chronicle how big technology companies have exploited human language for their gain. We let this happen, I argue, because we also benefit somewhat from using the products. It's a dynamic that makes us complicit in big tech's accumulation of wealth and power: we're both victims and beneficiaries. I describe this complicity, but I also enact it, through my own internet archives: my Google searches, my Amazon product reviews and, yes, my ChatGPT dialogues. . . .
People often describe chatbots' textual output as "bland" or "generic" – the linguistic equivalent of a beige office building. OpenAI's products are built to "sound like a colleague", as OpenAI puts it, using language that, coming from a person, would sound "polite", "empathetic", "kind", "rationally optimistic" and "engaging", among other qualities. OpenAI describes these strategies as helping its products seem "professional" and "approachable". This appears to be bound up with making us feel safe . . .
Trust is a challenge for artificial intelligence (AI) companies, partly because their products regularly produce falsehoods and reify sexist, racist, US-centric cultural norms. While the companies are working on these problems, they persist: OpenAI found that its latest systems generate errors at a higher rate than its previous system. In the book, I wrote about the inaccuracies and biases and also demonstrated them with the products. When I prompted Microsoft's Bing Image Creator to produce a picture of engineers and space explorers, it gave me an entirely male cast of characters; when my father asked ChatGPT to edit his writing, it transmuted his perfectly correct Indian English into American English. Those weren't flukes. Research suggests that both tendencies are widespread.
In my own ChatGPT dialogues, I wanted to enact how the product's veneer of collegial neutrality could lull us into absorbing false or biased responses without much critical engagement. Over time, ChatGPT seemed to be guiding me to write a more positive book about big tech – including editing my description of OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, to call him "a visionary and a pragmatist". I'm not aware of research on whether ChatGPT tends to favor big tech, OpenAI or Altman, and I can only guess why it seemed that way in our conversation. OpenAI explicitly states that its products shouldn't attempt to influence users' thinking. When I asked ChatGPT about some of the issues, it blamed biases in its training data – though I suspect my arguably leading questions played a role too. When I queried ChatGPT about its rhetoric, it responded: "The way I communicate is designed to foster trust and confidence in my responses, which can be both helpful and potentially misleading.". . .
OpenAI has its own goals, of course. Among them, it emphasizes wanting to build AI that "benefits all of humanity". But while the company is controlled by a non-profit with that mission, its funders still seek a return on their investment. That will presumably require getting people using products such as ChatGPT even more than they already are – a goal that is easier to accomplish if people see those products as trustworthy collaborators.
Q16
Reading Comprehension MULTIPLE CHOICE
All of the following statements from the passage affirm the disjunct between the claims about AI made by tech companies and what AI actually does EXCEPT:
The disjunct is the gap between how tech companies present AI (neutral, collegial, trustworthy, not trying to influence) and what it actually does (produces falsehoods and bias, nudges users). Option D only says the author does not know of any research and "can only guess" why ChatGPT seemed to favour big tech. It is a hedge that holds back from claiming a gap, so it does not affirm the disjunct.
Option A states the gap directly: a "veneer of collegial neutrality" hides "false or biased responses".
Option B gives concrete evidence of bias behind the companies' claim that the problem is being addressed.
Option C describes the two-sided relationship in which products presented as useful also exploit users, who end up "both victims and beneficiaries". That is a gap between the promised benefit and the actual effect.
Hence, the answer is (D).
Q17
Reading Comprehension MULTIPLE CHOICE
The author compares AI-generated texts with "a beige office building" for all of the following reasons EXCEPT:
A beige office building is bland, generic and designed to offend no one. The passage links this to chatbot language built to "sound like a colleague": polite, empathetic, engaging, "professional" and "approachable", all to make users "feel safe" and trust the product.
Option A (warm, polite, collegial tone) is part of the comparison.
Option B (fostering trust) is the purpose behind the bland style ("bound up with making us feel safe").
Option C (generic, unspecific responses) is what "bland" and "generic" mean.
Option D comes from a later, unrelated point: when questioned about bias, ChatGPT "blamed biases in its training data". That concerns how it deflects criticism, not its beige style.
Hence, the answer is (D).
Q18
Reading Comprehension MULTIPLE CHOICE
On the basis of the purpose of the examples in the passage, pick the odd one out from the following AI-generated responses mentioned in the passage:
Options A, B and C are all examples of AI output showing bias or distortion. ChatGPT nudges the book towards a flattering view of big tech and Altman. It turns correct Indian English into American English. Bing produces an all-male cast of engineers and explorers. Each shows the "inaccuracies and biases" the author sets out to demonstrate.
Option D serves a different purpose. ChatGPT's reply about its own rhetoric is not an example of bias. It is the AI admitting that its communication is "designed to foster trust", and the author uses it to support her claim about the trust-building veneer. So D is the odd one out.
Hence, the answer is (D).
Q19
Reading Comprehension MULTIPLE CHOICE
The author of the passage is least likely to agree with which one of the following claims?
The author argues that AI's "veneer of collegial neutrality could lull us into absorbing false or biased responses without much critical engagement". So she would reject the claim that this neutrality encourages critical thinking, which is option D.
Option A: she reports that ChatGPT seemed to steer her towards a positive view of big tech and Altman. She admits she cannot prove it, but she leans towards the claim.
Option B: the last paragraph ties the trustworthy image to funders wanting returns and more product use.
Option C: she calls users "complicit", "both victims and beneficiaries".
Hence, the answer is (D).
The passage below is accompanied by four questions. Based on the passage, choose the best answer for each question.
Different sciences exhibit different science cultures and practices. For example, in astronomy, observation – until what is today called the new astronomy – had always been limited to what could be seen within the limits of optical light. Indeed, until early modernity the limits to optical light were also limits of what humans could themselves see within their limited and relative perceptual spectrum of human vision. With early modernity and the invention of lensed optical instruments – telescopes – astronomers could begin to observe phenomena never seen before. Magnification and resolution began to allow what was previously imperceptible to be perceived – but within the familiar limits of optical vision. Galileo, having learned of the Dutch invention of a telescope by Hans Lippershey, went on to build some hundred of his own, improving from the Dutch 3x to nearly 30x telescopes – which turn out to be the limit of magnificational power without chromatic distortion. And it was with his own telescopes that he made the observations launching early modern astronomy (phases of Venus, satellites of Jupiter, etc.). Isaac Newton's later improvement with reflecting telescopes expanded upon the magnificational-resolution capacity of optical observation; and, from Newton to the twentieth century, improvement continued on to the later very large array of light telescopes today – following the usual technological trajectory of "more-is-better" but still remaining within the limits of the light spectrum. Today's astronomy has now had the benefit of some four centuries of optical telescopy. The "new astronomy," however, opens the full known electromagnetic spectrum to observation, beginning with the accidental discovery of radio astronomy early in the twentieth century, and leading today to the diverse variety of EMS telescopes which can explore the range from gamma to radio waves. Thus, astronomy, now outfitted with new instruments, "smart" adaptive optics, very large arrays, etc., illustrates one style of instrumentally embodied science – a technoscience. Of course astronomy, with the very recent exceptions of probes to solar system bodies (Moon, Mars, Venus, asteroids), remains largely a "receptive" science, dependent upon instrumentation which can detect and receive emissions.
Contemporary biology displays a quite different instrument array and, according to Evelyn Fox-Keller, also a different scientific culture. She cites her own experience, coming from mathematical physics into microbiology, and takes account of the distinctive instrumental culture in her Making Sense of Life (2002). Here, particularly with the development of biotechnology, instrumentation is far more interventional than in the astronomy case. Microscopic instrumentation can be and often is interventional in style: "gene-splicing" and other techniques of biotechnology, while still in their infancy, are clearly part of the interventional trajectory of biological instrumentation. Yet, in both disciplines, the sciences involved are today highly instrumentalized and could not progress successfully without constant improvements upon the respective instrumental trajectories. So, minimalistically, one may conclude that the sciences are technologically, instrumentally embodied. But the styles of embodiment differ, and perhaps the last of the scientific disciplines to move into such technical embodiment is mathematics, which only contemporarily has come to rely more and more upon the computational machinery now in common use.
Q20
Reading Comprehension MULTIPLE CHOICE
None of the following statements, if true, contradicts the arguments in the passage EXCEPT:
We need the one statement that, if true, contradicts the passage. The passage opens by saying that "different sciences exhibit different science cultures and practices". It treats culture and instrumental embodiment as separate, and calls mathematics merely "the last of the scientific disciplines to move into such technical embodiment". Option B says mathematics is only now beginning to develop a scientific culture because computers have arrived. That makes culture depend on instruments and denies mathematics a culture before, which contradicts the passage.
Option A: the passage discusses Newton's telescopes, not gravity, and its claim about instruments is about today's sciences, so there is no conflict.
Option C: the passage says nothing about the spectral range of microscopes, so this cannot contradict it.
Option D: the passage contrasts styles but already allows exceptions (astronomy's probes), so dual-function instruments fit.
Hence, the answer is (B).
Q21
Reading Comprehension MULTIPLE CHOICE
All of the following statements may be rejected as valid inferences from the passage EXCEPT:
Only one option is a valid inference. The author contrasts astronomy, "largely a 'receptive' science, dependent upon instrumentation which can detect and receive emissions", with biology, where instrumentation is "far more interventional". Option C matches this exactly.
Option A is false: the "new astronomy" begins with radio astronomy in the twentieth century, and Newton's work stayed "within the limits of the light spectrum".
Option B invents a distinction: interventional and receptive instruments are both styles of embodiment, not things opposed to "embodied instruments".
Option D is false: Galileo saw the phases of Venus and Jupiter's satellites through his own telescopes, before Newton.
Hence, the answer is (C).
Q22
Reading Comprehension MULTIPLE CHOICE
Which one of the following observations is a valid conclusion to draw from the statement that "the sciences involved are today highly instrumentalised and could not progress successfully without constant improvements upon the respective instrumental trajectories"?
"The sciences involved" are the two the author has just compared, astronomy and (micro)biology. The statement says both are highly instrumentalised and need constant improvement in their instruments to progress. The direct conclusion is that progress in both fields has depended on, and followed from, better instruments, which is option B. The passage illustrates this with the history of telescopes and with biotechnology tools.
Option A changes "improvement" into "respect" for the use of instruments, which is not what is claimed.
Option C is vague wordplay ("embodiment of progress in the trajectories") that does not follow from the statement.
Option D brings in "scientific constants", which the passage never mentions.
Hence, the answer is (B).
Q23
Reading Comprehension MULTIPLE CHOICE
To which one of the following instruments would the characterisations of instruments in the passage be least applicable?
The passage describes instruments in two ways. They are receptive (detecting and receiving emissions, extending perception, like telescopes) or interventional (acting on and changing their object, like gene-splicing tools). Either way, the instrument is actively used and extends what a human body can do.
A scalpel cuts into its object, which is clearly interventional.
A kitchen oven acts on and transforms what is put in it, which is interventional.
A saxophone is played: it actively shapes breath into sound and extends what the body can produce.
A milestone neither receives anything nor acts on anything. It is a fixed marker that just sits by the road, so neither description applies to it.
Hence, the answer is (A).
Q24
Para Jumbles TYPE IN THE ANSWER
The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, and 4) given below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer.
1. 'Literature on screen' suggests something more capacious and defining than citation: the possibility that literary adaptations are at once cinema and literature. 2. Even though a growing number of films eligible for Academy Awards for Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium borrow that material from print journalism, franchise characters, television series, comic books, video games and toys, academic studies of adaptation remain stubbornly attached to literature as cinema's natural progenitor. 3. It is as if adaptation studies, by borrowing the cultural cachet of literature, sought to claim its institutional respectability and gravitas even while insuring adaptation's enduring aesthetic and methodological subordination to literature proper. 4. Beneath this contradictory notion of film adaptations as not merely hybrid texts but texts holding dual citizenship in two modes of presentation is an even more pervasive legacy that haunts adaptation studies: the assumption that the primary context within which adaptations are to be studied is literature.
Sentence 1 introduces the idea of "literature on screen": adaptations are "at once cinema and literature". Sentence 4 refers back to it with "Beneath this contradictory notion of film adaptations as... texts holding dual citizenship", which restates sentence 1, so 1-4 is a fixed pair. Sentence 4 ends by naming the deeper assumption that literature is the primary context for studying adaptations. Sentence 2 backs this up: although many films now adapt journalism, comics, games and so on, academic studies "remain stubbornly attached to literature as cinema's natural progenitor". Sentence 3 ("It is as if adaptation studies...") then explains why, saying literature is borrowed for its prestige while adaptation is kept subordinate to it.
Mandatory pairs: 1-4 and 2-3. The flow from notion to assumption to evidence to explanation gives 1-4-2-3.
