CAT (VARC) PYQs

No login required. No pop-ups. We have all previous-year questions with solutions for free!

Q1:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q1:

male northern elephant seals might not have exhibited dialects had they not become nearly extinct in the nineteenth century.

the average call pulse rate of male northern elephant seals at Año Nuevo Island increased from the early 1970s till the disappearance of dialects.

changes in population and migration had no effect on the call pulse rate of individual male northern elephant seals.

the influx of new northern elephant seals into Año Nuevo Island would have soon made the call pulse rate of its male seals exceed that of those at Isla Guadalupe..

Correct Answer

Option 4

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q2:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q2:

Besides Isla Guadalupe, there was one more surviving colony with the same average male call tempo from which no migration took place.

The call tempo of individual immigrant male seals changed to match the average tempo of resident male seals in the host colony.

Besides Isla Guadalupe, there was one more founder colony with the same average male call tempo from which male seals migrated to various other colonies.

The call tempo of individual male seals in host colonies changed to match the average call tempo of immigrant male seals.

Correct Answer

Option 2

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q3:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q3:

The calls have transformed from exhibiting simple composition, less individual variety, and great regional variety to complex composition, great individual variety, and less regional variety.

Owing to migrations in the aftermath of near species extinction, the calls have transformed from exhibiting complex composition, less individual variety, and great regional variety to simple composition, less individual variety, and great regional variety.

The calls have transformed from exhibiting simple composition, less individual variety, and great regional variety to complex composition, less individual variety, and great regional variety.

Owing to migrations in the aftermath of near species extinction, the average call pulse rates in the recolonised breeding locations exhibited a gradual increase until they matched the tempo at the founding colony.

Correct Answer

Option 1

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q4:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Easy

Q4:

a large number of male northern elephant seals migrated from the southern rookeries to Año Nuevo Island in the early

1970s

a large number of male northern elephant seals from Año Nuevo Island might have migrated to the southern rookeries to recolonise them.

the male northern elephant seals of Isla Guadalupe with faster call pulse rates might have been the original settlers of the southern rookeries.

the calls of male northern elephant seals in the southern rookeries have more sophisticated structures, containing doublets and triplets.

Correct Answer

Option 3

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q5:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q5:

An understanding of grammar helps a writer decide if she/he is writing well or not.

Regarding grammar, women writers tend to be more attentive to method and accuracy.

It has been observed that writers sometimes disregard the rules of rhetoric.

Perish the thought that complete sentences necessarily need nouns and verbs!

Correct Answer

Option 4

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q6:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Easy

Q6:

A collection of people with the same sports equipment is a sports team.

Take any vegetable, put some spices in it, and you have a dish.

A group of nouns arranged in a row becomes a sentence.

Take an apple tree, plant it in a field, and you have an orchard

Correct Answer

Option 2

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q7:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q7:

The availability of language software that will standardise the rules of grammar as an aid to writers

A campaign demanding that a writer's creative license should allow the breaking of grammatical rules.

A Creative Writing course that focuses on how to avoid the use of rhetoric.

The critique of standardised rules of punctuation and capitalisation.

Correct Answer

Option 1

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q8:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q8:

“Grammar Police” is a metaphor for critics who focus on linguistic rules.

sentences do not always have to be complete.

the subject–predicate relation is the same as the noun–verb relation

the primary purpose of grammar is to ensure that sentences remain simple.

Correct Answer

Option 4

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q9:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q9:

"Nouns and verbs are the two indispensable parts of writing. Without one of each, no group of words can be a sentence."

"Strunk and White caution against too many simple sentences in a row, but simple sentences provide a path you can follow when you fear getting lost in the tangles of rhetoric."

"Bad grammar produces bad sentences."

"The telling clause here is Unless he is certain of doing well."

Correct Answer

Option 3

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q10:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q10:

They all focus on the primacy of the power of the individual.

They all derive from the work of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon.

There is no idea common to all forms of anarchism; that is why it is anarchic.

They are all opposed to the centralisation of power in the state.

Correct Answer

Option 4

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q11:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q11:

Revolution, State, Protection, Liberals.

Anarchism, Betrayal, Power, State.

Revolution, State, Strike, Egoism.

Anarchism, State, Individual, Freedom.

Correct Answer

Option 4

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q12:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q12:

Both prioritise individual autonomy; but the former also emphasise mutual dependence, while the latter do not do so.

Both reject the regulatory power of the state; but the former favour a people's state, while the latter favour state intervention in markets.

Both are sophisticated arguments for capitalism; but the former argue for a morally upright capitalism, while the latter argue that the market is the only morality.

Both are founded on the moral principles of altruism; but the latter conceive of the market as a force too mystical for the former to comprehend.

Correct Answer

Option 1

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q13:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q13:

The failure of the French Revolution was because of its betrayal by the new class of politicians who emerged from it.

Individualist anarchism is actually constituted of many streams, all of which focus on the autonomy of the individual.

The popular perception of anarchism as espousing lawlessness and violence comes from a mainstream mistrust of collectivism.

For anarchists, the state is the enemy because all states apply violence and terror to maintain their control.

Correct Answer

Option 3

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q14:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q14:

The new ruling class struck a deal with the old ruling class to share power between them.

The new ruling class rode to power on the strength of the workers' revolutionary anger, but then turned to oppress that very class.

The new ruling class was constituted mainly of anarchists who were against the destructive impact of the Revolution on the market.

The anarchists did not want a new ruling class, but were not politically strong enough to stop them.

Correct Answer

Option 2

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q15:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q15:

it uses different materials as currency

it is undergoing transformation

its currencies fluctuate in value over time

it uses different currencies for different situations

Correct Answer

Option 2

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q16:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q16:

reliable quality

B) reliable supply

reliable transportation

reliable measurements

Correct Answer

Option 3

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q17:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q17:

Cutting one-eighth of the fabric from a new bolt to pay the amount.

Using coins issued by the government to make the payment.

Making the payment with the appropriate weight of grain.

Paying with a faded bolt of cloth that has approximately the same value.

Correct Answer

Option 1

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q18:

CAT

Reading Comprehension

Medium

Q18:

Copper coins were more valuable and durable than textiles.

Currency that deteriorated easily was not used for official work.

Grains were the most used currency because of government requirements.

Currency usage was similar to that of modern times.

Correct Answer

Option 4

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q19:

CAT

Medium

Q19:

Entered answer:

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q20:

CAT

Medium

Q20:

Movies and televisions have led to the belief that the use of forensic phonetics in legal investigations is robust and fool proof.

Voice recognition as used in many movies to identify criminals has been used to identify criminals in real life also.

Voice recognition has started to feature prominently in crime-scene intelligence investigations because of movies and television series.

Although voice recognition is often presented as evidence in legal cases, its scientific basis can be shaky.

Correct Answer

Option 1

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q21:

CAT

Medium

Q21:

Entered answer:

Correct Answer

3124

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q22:

CAT

Medium

Q22:

Entered answer:

Correct Answer

1432

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q23:

CAT

Medium

Q23:

Biologists have criticised that conventional wisdom that individuals are born with more or less intelligence potential.

Biologists have started questioning psychologists' view of 'intelligence' as a measurable immutable characteristic of an individual.

Biologists have questioned the long-standing view that 'intelligence' is a single entity and the attempts to estimate it's heritability.

Biologists have questioned the view that 'intelligence' is a single entity and the ways in which what is inherited.

Correct Answer

Option 3

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q24:

CAT

Medium

Q24:

Europe has chosen to lower political and economic heterogeneity, in order to adapt itself to an emerging multi-polar world.

The establishment of a formal political structure in Europe was hastened by the unification of Germany and the emergence of a multipolar world.

Europe has consistently changed its internal structure to successfully adapt to the changing world order.

Europe has consistently changed in keeping with the changing world order and that has culminated in a united Europe.

Correct Answer

Option 1

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q25:

CAT

Medium

Q25:

Entered answer:

Correct Answer

Explanation →

Q26:

CAT

Medium

Q26:

Entered answer:

Correct Answer

1324

Correct Answer

Explanation →

CAT VARC - Past Year Questions

Practice with our comprehensive collection of CAT VARC Past Year Questions (PYQs) with detailed solutions.