XAT 2012 Question Paper - VALR

The phrase "On a wing and a prayer" means to do something without preparation and hoping to succeed. From the sentence it can be inferred that the Indian team was under prepared and hoping to succeed.

Hence, the correct answer is Option D

From the narrative, it is clear that the act of importing tea into Ireland is an event of the past and that perhaps doing so today is not a "big deal". This means that the act of importing tea should be spoken of in the past perfect tense as we are referring to a past event (of importing tea directly) when standing at a point which itself is a point of past from today's perspective (the point when it was considered a coup). Hence, "had dared" is the most apt for the second blank and hence, B should be the answer.

The sequence of events has to be understood like this: daring to import tea ---> being considered as a coup ----> not a big deal today. 

The given sentence implies that 'libero' was introduced as the Italian default due to Milan's success and it was killed a century later due to their success.
Option D implies the opposite of what has been mentioned in the given sentence. All other option can be implied.
Hence, option D is the correct answer.

Antonym of Chaos is Order.

Antonym of Fact is Fiction.

Antonym of Virtue is Vice.

Antonym of Light is Darkness.

Synonym of Study is Analyse.

All pairs other than D are antonyms of each other. 

Option D is the odd one out because study and analyse are synonyms of each other. 

The argument is that India made up for the loss incurred in literacy rate from 1991 to 2001 by improving in the 5 year span from 2001 to 2006. 
This can be refuted if it can be proven that the progress made in 2001 to 2006 was not good enough in amount to cover the losses incurred in the previous 10 year period. So even if India improved in 2001-06, the improvement might have been marginal and hardly substantial.

This is given to us by option D. Hence, the answer. 

'Embezzlement' means theft or misappropriation of funds placed in one's trust or belonging to one's employer. Option B represents the most appropriate meaning of the given sentence.
Hence, option B is the correct answer.

From the given sentence, we can infer easily that sentence C precedes sentences D and B. We place sentence D and then B because sentence C mentions macro factors first and then micro ones. Hence, C-D-B is a mandatory sequence. 
This is available only in options A and C.
Obviously, the sequence cannot start with sentence A and hence, the sequence E-A-C-D-B has to be the answer.

Consider these sentences from the 4th line of given passage:
"This dichotomy is lost in a model of exclusively self- interested motivation, in which a person’s agency must be entirely geared to his or her own well-being. But once that straitjacket of self-interested motivation is removed, it becomes possible to recognize the indisputable fact that the person’s agency can well be geared to considerations not covered - or at least not fully covered - by his or her own well-being."

They make it clear that the author believes it is incorrect to completely align a person's agency to his/her well being. It is very likely that a person's agency might not be related completely with his/her idea of well being. 
This idea is reflected in option A. 
Option B is not true because it says that both the said issues are completely independent which is not the case. The author clearly mentions that there can be a good correlation between the two but not always or in a complete sense. 
Hence, only A can be thought of as the true sentence. 

The key focus of the passage is to let the reader know that the sense of agency in a person and the sense of well being, even though very strongly correlated, are individual and independent factors. While they may heavily influence each other, one should not mistake them to be the same thing or even assume that knowing the value of one can help us easily arrive at the value of another. 

This can be applied to the industrial success in Japan by understanding that helping their country achieve success in industrial world must have given a sense of satisfaction and achievement (i.e. agency) and to the Japanese people, and also improved their sense of own well being, it is not necessarily the only driver behind the success. The agency of people in contributing to industrial success must also have some roots in reasons other than personal well-being. 
This is best reflected in the option D.

The closing lines of the passage act as a good guide here. It says that if we forget the individuality of the sense of agency and sense of well being and end up correlating them all the time, then we might end up drawing incorrect inferences. 

In the last option given to us, we can see that a politician is going on a hunger strike which means he is putting his sense of well being (by depriving his body of necessity of food) on the backburner but ends up fulfilling his sense of agency by achieving a good image in the minds of his voters. If we would have thought that sense of well being and sense of agency are correlated all the time, then we might never have understood the rationale behind the politician's hunger strike (and some might even have deemed such an event as an impossibility). The incident of hunger strike is a proof that sense of agency might well be driven NOT by sense of well being all the time. And this is the point of the entire passage. Hence, it is an apt answer. 

Sentence 1 and 3 can be inferred from the passage. Sentence 2 is incorrect because of these lines form the passage:
"The fact that two variables may be so related that one cannot change without the other, does not imply that they are the same variable, or that they will have the same values, or that the value of one can be obtained from the other on basis of some simple transformation."

This makes it clear that knowing the value of sense of agency doesn't necessarily mean that the value of sense of well being can be easily calculated. The 2 issues might be very closely correlated but they are not the same thing and thus, not linked 100% of the time completely. 

We have been explained sense of agency by these words:
"We can see the person in terms of his or her ‘agency’, recognizing and respecting his or her ability to form goals, commitments, values, etc." 
Option A,B,C,D can be seen as people being driven by their sense of agency. However, E is out of sync with the given sentence as an ascetic is someone who has renounced the world and thus, in terms of understanding of the sense of agency, he must hardly have any interest in world affairs. Hence, for him to be praying for world peace, he must be driven by something other than an immediate sense of agency. Hence, it is the answer. 

'Ability of' is incorrect in option E. The correct usage is 'ability to'. All other options are grammatically correct.
Hence, option E is the correct answer.

Alfredo has a good thought about the past while Diego has a good thought about the present. 
This does not mean that Alfredo would disagree heavily with Diego and be adamant that only the past state of Argentinian football was a bright one and the present is not. Hence, D is incorrect.

'those' is the appropriate pronoun to be used in the given context.

Answer is option D.

The main point of the paragraph is that the behavior of all organisms is an outcome of the interaction between experience and genotypes. Hence, all organisms with identical genotypes and identical experience will always behave in identical manner. This is given in option D.
Hence, option D is the correct answer.

The passage states that even though psychotherapy is expensive, the supportive relationship offered by therapists benefits patients a lot. But in the last line, it has been mentioned that very few therapists continue this relationship after the paid visits are terminated. Hence, we can infer that they are equally concerned with money-making. Option A is the correct answer.
All other options are irrelevant or alien to the passage.

In the given paragraph, it has been mentioned that exports to China from Indonesia has increased significantly. At the same time the trade deficit of Indonesia with China has widened. Trade deficit is exports minus imports. If the trade deficit has widened then the imports should have increased at a higher rate as compared to the exports. 

So, option C which mentions the decrease in exports to Indonesia from china is inconsistent with the information given in the passage.
Hence, option C is the correct answer.

From the venn diagram, we can see that only option D is possible.
Hence, option D is the correct answer.

Before the first blank, 'head' is present. So, 'chief' which has the same meaning as 'head' cannot fill the first blank. Thus, the first blank would be filled by 'chef'.
Housefly is the name of an insect which could fill the second blank.
Hence, option B is the correct answer.

'Hypothesize' means to put forward something as a hypothesis. 'Refute' means to disprove. So, 'refute' is the most appropriate antonym.
Hence, option D is the correct answer.

D-A will be a mandatory pair as we can see that these 2 statements tell us about the negative perception around warehousing. E-C is a good pair which tells us about and the reason for warehousing being a common occupation/function in India. This is available to us only in option B and hence, the answer. 

Concurrence is synonymous with all the given words except 'harmony'.

Harmony which means Orderly combination of elements as a whole.

Hence, option E is the correct answer.

We can see that the (ii)-(i) and (iii)-(iv) are two mandatory pairs. Sentence (v) comes either immediately after (i) or before (ii). 
This makes only A or E feasible. Option A cannot be a desirable sequence because it positions (ii) (which talks about Govt. actions) immediately after (iv) (which talks about business cycles staying the same). This is not a smooth idea flow. 

In comparison, option E makes a good switch from the ideas of (iii)-(iv) to the impact of Govt. actions. Hence, the answer. 

The given situation talks about a benefit getting reaped by a counter-intuitive step. If Govt. wants increased tax revenues then a straightforward suggestion would have been to increase tax rates. Any suggestion to reduce tax rates would be thought of as complete opposite of desired result. But as the situation given in the question explains, it actually helps the Govt. in fulfilling its goal. 

Similarly, if a product is to be advertised, it is expected that the prospective customer be told about it in as much detail as possible. But that would backfire as no one bothers reading long ads. So brief ads with less than 25 words which would initially seem too short to advertise the product well turn out to be the best way to market the product. This is analogous to the income tax rate situation of the Govt. Hence, the answer. 

It is given that the CEO did not want to give an unneeded optimistic picture. This is another way of saying that the CEO wanted to be pragmatic and willing to give a realistic picture. Hence, options like B and C get ruled out. 
Strictly is not relevant to the context.
Pessimistic is not the right word because the CEO was not going to announce bad news or bad forecasts. The CEO simply wanted to abvoid exuberance - this does not mean being overtly negative. 
Hence, E is the correct choice. 

In the last paragraph author mentioned that " SEZ must be of an adequate size to provide opportunities for reaping the benefits of large-scale operations and their number should be few." In the first half of the passage author define SEZ's, EPZ's and their shortcomings as compared to China.  But the main argument of the author was that there is a proliferation of SEZs in India which is not suitable for its economy. 

Option A would have been correct if it mentions SEZ instead of EPZ.

Option B and Option C are mentioned but not the objective of the passage.

Option E is incorrect author mentioned that though India had imitated the Chinese policies but are not successful.

In the last line of third paragraph its given that " While swearing by growth, governments at both the center and the states cite the fiscal responsibility laws to plead their helplessness in making the required investments to improve infrastructure. " 

Option 3 is a misrepresentation of what is given in the paragraph. It states that fiscal responsibility laws limit the investment on infrastructure by the Government of India. But paragraph mentions that it is a reason which is given by the government, actual reason is not mentioned. So Option 3 is incorrect. 

In the 1st paragraph, it is given that "In addition, huge tax benefits are promised to lure investors." Author do not oppose the tax benefits provided in the SEZs. Option C is correct.

Author does oppose SEZ treatment of foreign educational institutes in India as mentioned in the last paragraph "Proposals are now being floated to invite foreign educational institutions to come to India with promises of SEZ treatment! The finance ministry apprehends a loss of nearly 1,75,000 crore in direct taxes, customs duties and excise duties over the next five years." 

Option B is incorrect as given "But even while promising to ease the rigours of controls, Indian policy-makers could not give up their penchant for micromanaging from the center and undoing the promised relaxations with all kinds of qualifications and “guidelines”. " So author disapprove qualifiers which undo relaxation of government controls.

Option D and E are also mentioned in the third paragraph.

It is mentioned in the paragraph "Even after three years of the enactment of the Electricity Act (2003)" So the correct answer is 2006, Option D.

Statement I: Since this is the author's primary concern in the passage, this is a correct statement.

Statement II: This statement can also be understood as the author's contention to put forth a theory of the development of technologies. This should not be confused with the theory of evolution that the author described in the passage. Thus, this statement is also correct.

Statement III: Since this statement is nowhere mentioned and stated in the passage, this is not a correct statement.

Statement IV: Evolution as a 'sense of relatedness' is a very vague description. Thus, this is not a correct statement.

Thus, the correct option is A.

The author has mentioned two processes through which technologies have been born. The unanswered question is about the innovation process, which the author wants to understand.

Options I and II present the cases for the process of evolution.

Options III. IV and V present the cases for the process of innovation.

Thus, the correct option is E.