CAT 50 Day Streak Day 23

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CAT 50 Day Streak – Day 23

30 questions across VARC, DILR & QA · +3 for a correct answer · −1 for a wrong MCQ · no negative marking for TITA

0/30Attempted

0Correct

0Wrong

0Score / 90

VARC · Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension

Q1 – Q10 0/10

Passage · Q1 – Q4

Great apes seem to lack the physical development of the larynx, or the neural capability, to learn human speech. Scientists debate the matter. However, with well-evolved articulating hands and arms, gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, and bonobos can master complex gestures. Researchers have harnessed this capability to teach them various forms of sign language. Occasionally, non-signing forms of communication, like pointing at pictograms, have also been used.

Stories of ape sign language can feel shockingly human. Washoe was the first signing ape. When the chimp’s handler disclosed that her baby had died, Washoe reportedly signed back cry. The bonobo Kanzi learned to point to various symbols that represented about 350 words. The Koko project released a video of the namesake gorilla delivering a message about climate change. The animals appear to form thoughts and express them in one of our languages to meaningfully convey their ideas to us. Among these experiments, the story of one researcher and his chimpanzee stands out.

That researcher is Herbert Terrace, a professor of psychology at Columbia University. Nim Chimpsky — the name is a pun referring to the prominent linguist Noam Chomsky, then known for his groundbreaking research on linguistics — was his personal research study subject. Nim was raised like a human baby in a Manhattan apartment. His foster mother, Terrace’s student Stephanie LaFarge, taught him ASL. She also breastfed the chimp and supposedly taught him to smoke weed. One of Nim’s handlers reported that the animal requested the substance. Nim was also taught more than 100 signs. Terrace rode the results of Project Nim to academic stardom in the 1970s. At the end of the study, he wrote a 1979 article in the prestigious journal Science. This paper became the seminal work in the field — and likely the source of its complete undoing.

Terrace carefully reviewed video footage of human-ape interactions. Specific frames and traced images from them are demonstrated in the paper. He noticed that the researchers prompted the apes by displaying signs to them, in English grammatical order, before recording the same signs repeated back by the ape. The animal was essentially mimicking the human’s behavior. The ape was aping it.

What about the heart-warming stories of human-ape understanding? Human handlers interacted with the apes for thousands of hours, and occasionally the human interpretation of a string of signs would stand out as interesting. But, this makes the interesting sign combinations look more like generous interpretations of anecdotes that were cherry-picked, or fed to the ape by human handlers, and not a conscious thinking pattern.

What’s more, the meaning of the signs was very easy to over-interpret. Is water bird the intellectual combination of two concepts to indicate a waterfowl? Or is it just rote repetition that a lake and a bird are nearby, combined with generous and wishful human interpretation? Studies in the field generally focused on picking unusual instances out of thousands of hours footage, rather than systematically studying whether apes expressed meaningful ideas. When Terrace did this, he found that interesting sentences began to look like drops in the ocean.

Q1MCQ

The primary purpose of the passage is to:

Atrace the evolution of ape sign language research, from its promising anecdotes to a critical re-evaluation that exposed its fundamental flaws.

Bdocument the methodology and results of various ape language experiments, including those with Washoe, Kanzi, and Koko.

Cargue that Herbert Terrace’s 1979 article in Science was the most significant linguistic discovery of the 20th century.

Dcritique the ethics of raising wild animals like human children, as exemplified by the unstructured environment of Project Nim.

Solution Answer: A

The passage moves from “shockingly human” anecdotes (Washoe, Kanzi, Koko) to Terrace’s analysis, which showed mimicry, cherry-picking and over-interpretation. That is the field’s “complete undoing”.

B: the experiments are only examples; their methods aren’t documented. C overstates the article’s importance. D: ethics is never discussed.

Q2MCQ

It can be reasonably inferred from the passage that, prior to Terrace’s 1979 article, the handlers of apes like Washoe and Koko:

Awere aware of the apes’ mimicry but concealed it to secure more research funding.

Bused systematic video analysis to verify the spontaneity of the apes’ responses.

Cwere more interested in the apes’ physical, rather than cognitive, development.

Dwere likely susceptible to wishful thinking and interpreting random gestures as meaningful communication.

Solution Answer: D

The passage speaks of “generous interpretations”, “cherry-picked” anecdotes and “wishful human interpretation”. Handlers were prone to reading meaning into gestures.

A: there is no evidence of deliberate concealment. B is the opposite; systematic review was Terrace’s contribution. C: the focus was clearly cognitive.

Q3MCQ

The “water bird” example is used to illustrate the critical distinction between:

Aa researcher’s prompt and an ape’s unprompted, correct response.

Ba spontaneous, novel combination of concepts and a rote, associative repetition.

Ca gesture that is part of ASL and one that is a unique invention by an ape.

Da consciously expressed thought and an unconscious emotional reaction.

Solution Answer: B

The passage asks whether “water bird” is “the intellectual combination of two concepts” or “just rote repetition that a lake and a bird are nearby.” That is the contrast between a novel combination and associative repetition.

A is the prompting issue from paragraph 4. C and D are not what the example contrasts.

Q4MCQ

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the conclusions drawn by Herbert Terrace as described in the passage?

AA new linguistic analysis shows that apes’ larynxes are physically capable of producing more human-like sounds than previously thought.

BSubsequent studies found that chimpanzees raised in a “human baby” environment were more prone to psychological distress than those raised by their mothers.

CA different research team analyzes the same Project Nim videos and finds thousands of instances where Nim signed before his human handlers did.

DResearchers successfully teach a bonobo to use a 400-word pictogram-based language, exceeding Kanzi’s 350-word vocabulary.

Solution Answer: C

Terrace’s key finding was that apes signed only after being prompted, i.e. mimicry. Thousands of instances of Nim signing first, in the same footage, would directly undercut that.

A concerns speech, not signing. B concerns welfare. D shows vocabulary size, which says nothing about meaningful, unprompted use.

Q5TITA

Five jumbled-up 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 and key in the number of that sentence as your answer.

While most surrenders during the American Civil War met a standard, on a few occasions officers surrendered prematurely or without cause.
Another noted that ‘I have never seen ten thousand men all terribly angry in my life but this once’.
When Union Colonel Dixon Miles surrendered Harpers Ferry to Confederate General Stonewall Jackson in September 1862, many of his soldiers believed that they had not been given adequate opportunity to fight.
When under fire, one could surrender honourably once it became evident that continuing to fight would prove fruitless.
One soldier recalled that the indignation of Union men and officers at the surrender was terrible.

Solution Answer: 4

The coherent paragraph is 1 → 3 → 5 → 2:

1: Some officers surrendered prematurely.
3: The example of Harpers Ferry, where soldiers felt denied a fight.
5: “One soldier” recalled terrible indignation.
2: “Another” noted ten thousand angry men.

Sentence 4 defines when surrender was honourable. Sentence 1 already refers to that standard, and the paragraph is about the anger at one premature surrender, so 4 adds a general rule that isn’t needed.

Q6TITA

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.

But this epic journey is complicated for most salmon today, and especially for California’s Central Valley Chinook, which travel through the nation’s largest water delivery system.
They grow to maturity in the Pacific Ocean and then, as adults, use their sight, smell, and geomagnetic cues to return home.
A salmon’s lifecycle is often described as heroic — their youthful adventure to the sea followed by a fateful return to spawn, and then die, at their place of birth.
Often born in hatcheries or in the shallows below dams, juvenile salmon swim through altered rivers and canals and are trucked around reservoirs and pumping plants on their way to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and then San Francisco Bay.

Solution Answer: 3142

The order runs like this:

3: The salmon’s heroic lifecycle.
1: “But this epic journey” is complicated for Central Valley Chinook.
4: Juveniles travel through altered rivers to San Francisco Bay.
2: “They” then mature in the Pacific and return home.

Q7MCQ

There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide where (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.

Sentence As a writer covering the latest research, however, I have noticed a shift in thinking, and I am now concluding that my mother’s judgment was spot on.

Paragraph ___(1)___. The ever-growing mass of wellness literature would seem to suggest that many others share my view. ___(2)___. Over the past 10 years, numerous studies have shown that our obsession with happiness and high personal confidence may be making us less content with our lives, and less effective at reaching our actual goals. ___(3)___. Indeed, we may often be happier when we stop focusing on happiness altogether. ___(4)___.

AOption 1

BOption 2

COption 3

DOption 4

Solution Answer: B (Option 2)

“However” turns away from the popular view (“many others share my view”) towards the author’s change of mind. The research evidence that follows (“Over the past 10 years, numerous studies…”) backs up that “shift in thinking”.

At 1, “however” has nothing to contrast with. At 3 and 4, the evidence would come before the claim it supports.

Q8TITA

Sentences given in the question below, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. The first and last sentences are A and F, and the four in between are labelled 1, 2, 3, and 4. Choose the most logical order of these four sentences.

In 2017, Parliament passed The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016, which amended the 1968 Act and The Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971.
This amendment significantly expanded the definition of “enemy subject” and “enemy firm” to include legal heirs and successors, regardless of their nationality.
This ensures the property’s status doesn’t change due to a successor being an Indian citizen.
The amended law also stipulated that enemy property would remain vested in the Custodian, even if the original enemy changed nationality or died.
Uttar Pradesh holds the maximum number of such properties, with 4,991, followed by Bengal with 2,735, and Delhi with 487.
These changes aim to solidify the government’s control over these assets.

Solution Answer: 1324

The order runs like this:

A: The 2017 amendment is passed.
1: “This amendment” widened “enemy subject” to include heirs.
3: The law “also” keeps property vested in the Custodian.
2: “This ensures” status doesn’t change because of an Indian successor.
4: Figures on “such properties” by state.
F: “These changes” solidify government control.

Q9TITA

Young people themselves are aware of the limits, if not also the dangers, of A.I.
Hovaghimian, who is 17, felt as though a lot of adults were weighing in on A.I., but she wanted to know what her fellow teens thought about the technology.
We should aggressively discourage parents and children from using smart toys as replacements for human interaction.
“We’re the first generation that’s going to have to actually live with it,” she told me.
After I wrote about what will happen to critical thinking if artificial intelligence is carelessly incorporated in K-12 schools, I heard from a rising high school senior in San Francisco named Fira Hovaghimian.

Solution Answer: 3

The coherent paragraph is 1 → 5 → 2 → 4:

1: Young people know AI’s limits.
5: The author heard from a high-school senior, Fira Hovaghimian.
2: She wanted to know what teens thought.
4: “We’re the first generation…”, she told me.

Sentence 3 is a policy recommendation about smart toys. It shifts away from teens’ views on AI.

Q10MCQ

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

Passage The problem with wisdom is that it tends to come slowly, if it comes at all. As a species, we are not particularly skilled at making time-pressured, closely reasoned decisions about matters of life and death. The sociobiologist E. O. Wilson described the central problem of humanity this way: “We have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology.” The main challenge of the 80 years since the Trinity atomic test has been that we do not possess the cognitive, spiritual, and emotional capabilities necessary to successfully manage nuclear weapons without the risk of catastrophic failure. Khrushchev and Castro both made terrifying mistakes of analysis and interpretation during the missile crisis. So, too, did several of Kennedy’s advisers, including General Curtis LeMay, the Air Force chief of staff, who argued that a naval blockade of Cuba, unaccompanied by the immediate bombing of missile sites, was “almost as bad as the appeasement at Munich.”

AThe Cuban Missile Crisis could have been avoided if Kennedy had followed General LeMay’s advice.

BAdvances in technology have always been matched by equal growth in human wisdom and emotional maturity.

CNuclear weapons have made global politics more stable by discouraging open conflict among major powers.

DHumanity’s emotional and institutional limitations make it dangerously unfit to manage technologies as powerful as nuclear weapons.

Solution Answer: D

“Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology”: we lack the capacity to manage nuclear weapons safely, as the missile-crisis mistakes show. D captures this.

A: LeMay is cited as one of those who made mistakes. B is the opposite of the passage. C is never argued.

DILR · Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning

Q11 – Q20 0/10

Set 1 · Q11 – Q16

Charles, Adam, Robin, David and Shawn played a game of cards that consisted of six rounds. In each round, the first-ranked person got 10 points, the second got 7, the third got 5, the fourth got 2, and the fifth-ranked person got no points.

The table below gives the rank of the players based on the overall points scored in all the rounds till that round. It also gives the final score of the players. If two participants had the same total, both would get the same rank, with no one getting the next rank. For example, David and Shawn had the highest number of points at the end of the 5th round and were both ranked 1, and no one was ranked 2.

Player	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Points after 6th round
Charles	2	1	1	2	3	2	30
Adam	4	3	2	5	3	4	28
Robin	1	2	3	3	5	5	20
David	5	5	4	1	1	3	29
Shawn	3	4	5	4	1	1	37

Q11TITA

How many points did Adam get in the third round?

Solution Answer: 7

R1. The ranks give the points directly: Robin 10, Charles 7, Shawn 5, Adam 2, David 0.
R2. Matching the order C > R > A > S > D leaves three options, all with Charles 10 and Adam 7.
R3 and R4. David must jump from 4th to 1st in R4. Only the option R2 = (C10, A7, R5, D2, S0) followed by R3 = (C2, A7, R0, D10, S5) brings David close enough to Charles. Then R4 = (D10, C2, R5, S7, A0).
R5 and R6. The ties in R5 (D = S, C = A) force S10, D5, A7, C2, R0. R6 then follows from the final totals.

Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Total
Charles	7	10	2	2	2	7	30
Adam	2	7	7	0	7	5	28
Robin	10	5	0	5	0	0	20
David	0	2	10	10	5	2	29
Shawn	5	0	5	7	10	10	37

Adam scored 7 in Round 3.

Q12MCQ

Which person did not win any of the rounds?

ACharles

BAdam

CDavid

DShawn

Solution Answer: B

From the table in Q11, Adam never scored 10 in a round (his best was 7).

Q13TITA

In how many rounds did Robin come 5th?

Solution Answer: 3

Robin scored 0 in R3, R5 and R6, so he came 5th in 3 rounds.

Q14MCQ

Who scored 7 points in the 3rd round?

AAdam

BCharles

CDavid

DRobin

Solution Answer: A

In Round 3, Adam scored 7.

Q15MCQ

What was David’s total after 4 rounds?

A19

B20

C21

D22

Solution Answer: D

0 + 2 + 10 + 10 = 22.

Q16MCQ

Who among the following did not come 5^th in any round?

AAdam

BShawn

CDavid

DCharles

Solution Answer: D

Adam scored 0 in R4, Shawn in R2 and David in R1. Charles never scored 0.

Set 2 · Q17 – Q20

A coaching institute has 6 batches of students: A through F. The bar graph below shows the percentage of girls among the students during the years 2017 and 2018.

Bar graph of percentage of girls by batch, 2017 vs 2018: A 40/50, B 60/70, C 50/60, D 40/50, E 60/40, F 40/30

Q17MCQ

The number of students in batch D increased by 50% from 2017 to 2018. The number of boys in batch D was what per cent of the number of students in the batch in the years 2017 and 2018 together?

A54%

B52%

C50%

D55%

Solution Answer: A

From the graph, girls in batch D were 40% (2017) and 50% (2018).

Batch	A	B	C	D	E	F
Girls % 2017	40	60	50	40	60	40
Girls % 2018	50	70	60	50	40	30

Take 100 students in 2017 and 150 in 2018. Boys = 60 + 75 = 135 out of 250 = 54%.

Q18MCQ

If the number of students in each of the batches in 2018 was 180, which of the following statements is correct?

AThe average number of girls in the six batches was 89

BThe percentage of boys in 2018 was 50.56%

CThere were more girls than boys in 2018

DThe maximum difference between the number of boys and girls in any of the batches was 72.

Solution Answer: D

Girls in 2018 (180 per batch): A 90, B 126, C 108, D 90, E 72, F 54. Total 540, so the average is 90 and boys are exactly 50%.

A: the average is 90, not 89 ✗
B: boys are 50% ✗
C: boys and girls are equal ✗
D: B (126 vs 54) and F (54 vs 126) both differ by 72, the maximum ✓

Q19MCQ

If in 2017 the number of girls in each of the batches was equal, the number of boys in 2017 was what percent more than the number of girls in 2017?

A12.22%

B13.89%

C14.33%

D15.67%

Solution Answer: B

Take 60 girls per batch. Totals: A, D, F (40% girls) = 150 each; B, E (60%) = 100 each; C (50%) = 120. Total = 770.

Girls = 360, boys = 410. Boys exceed girls by 50/360 = 13.89%.

Q20MCQ

In 2018, the number of students in batch E was 40% more than the number of students in batch F. Which of the following can be the difference between the total number of boys and girls in the two batches together in 2018?

A51

B85

C102

D132

Solution Answer: C

Let F = 5k and E = 7k. E has 40% girls (2.8k girls, 4.2k boys) and F has 30% girls (1.5k girls, 3.5k boys). Boys − girls = 7.7k − 4.3k = 3.4k.

For whole numbers of students, F must be a multiple of 50 (k a multiple of 10), so the difference is a multiple of 34. Of the options, only 102 works (F = 150, E = 210).

QA · Quantitative Ability

Q21 – Q30 0/10

Q21MCQ

Kunal has a clothing store. He offers a discount of 20% on MRP. During the festive season, he introduced another discount scheme, ‘Buy 6 and get 2 free’ (of the same price). A customer purchased 16 shirts of the same price and availed the discount through the new scheme. If Kunal could make a profit of 25% in this transaction, then find the percentage markup.

A91.66%

B100%

C108.33%

D112.5%

Solution Answer: C

For 16 shirts, the customer pays for 12, each at 80% of MRP: 12 × 0.8M = 9.6M.

Cost of 16 shirts = 16C. A 25% profit means 9.6M = 20C, so M = 2.0833C, a markup of 108.33%.

Q22MCQ

Find the number of ordered pairs of positive integers (x, y) that satisfy the equation x + y + xy = 329.

A14

B16

Solution Answer: A

(x + 1)(y + 1) = 330 = 2 × 3 × 5 × 11, which has 16 divisors.

Both factors must be at least 2, so exclude (1, 330) and (330, 1). That leaves 14 ordered pairs.

Q23TITA

Ramdeep and Sukhwinder are driving on a road. Their speeds are in the ratio of 6:7, respectively. If Ramdeep increases his speed by 50%, then he will need one hour less to cover a distance of 108 km. Find the time (in minutes) required by Sukhwinder to cover a distance of 84 km.

Solution Answer: 120

Let Ramdeep’s speed be 6k: 108/(6k) − 108/(9k) = 1, so 6/k = 1 and k = 6. That makes Ramdeep 36 km/h and Sukhwinder 42 km/h.

84/42 = 2 hours = 120 minutes.

Q24MCQ

ABCD is a cyclic quadrilateral with ∠BCD = 90˚. E is a point on CD such that AB = BE. If CE = 3 cm and DE = 2 cm. Find the length of AD.

A3 cm

B4 cm

C5 cm

D6 cm

Solution Answer: B

∠BCD = 90° makes BD a diameter, so ∠BAD = 90° as well. With CD = 5 and BC = b:

BD² = 25 + b² and AB² = BE² = 9 + b².

AD² = BD² − AB² = 16, so AD = 4 cm.

Q25MCQ

Vasooli Bhai lent the same amount of money to Arjun and Bhavin at the same rate of interest for the same period of time. To Arjun, he lent money on which compound interest is calculated half-yearly for the first 2 years and then simple interest is calculated for the remaining period. However, to Bhavin, he lent money on which simple interest is calculated, and the amount gets tripled in 5 years. Find the total amount (in Rs.) lent to Arjun and Bhavin if the difference between the total interest earned from Arjun and Bhavin is Rs. 156192.

A250000

B180000

C240000

D200000

Solution Answer: D

Bhavin’s money triples in 5 years, so the rate is 40% p.a. and his interest is 2P over 5 years.

Arjun: half-yearly CI at 20% for 4 periods gives 1.2⁴P = 2.0736P. SI at 40% for the remaining 3 years then gives 2.0736P × 2.2 = 4.56192P, so his interest is 3.56192P.

Difference = 1.56192P = 156192, so P = 100000. Total lent to both = Rs. 200000.

Q26TITA

How many three-digit numbers with distinct digits are possible such that the digit at the hundreds place is less than the digit at the tens place, which is more than the digit at the units place?

Solution Answer: 204

Fix the tens digit t. The hundreds digit can be 1 to t − 1 (t − 1 choices). The units digit can be 0 to t − 1, excluding the hundreds digit (t − 1 choices). That gives (t − 1)² numbers.

Sum for t = 2 to 9: 1² + 2² + … + 8² = 204.

Q27MCQ

On the occasion of Dhanteras, Tejasvita bought a pair of copper plates and some pairs of steel plates. The cost of a copper plate is twice that of the steel plate. When paying at the counter for the plates, she found that the shopkeeper had interchanged the copper and steel pairs by mistake while making the bill, which increased the bill by 75%. Find the ratio of the number of pairs of copper plates to that of steel plates initially.

A1:5

B2:7

C3:8

D1:10

Solution Answer: D

Let there be c copper pairs and s steel pairs. With prices in the ratio 2 : 1, the correct bill ∝ 2c + s and the swapped bill ∝ 2s + c.

2s + c = 1.75(2c + s), so 0.25s = 2.5c and s = 10c. The ratio is 1 : 10.

Q28TITA

Find the value of log₃ 4 × log₄ 5 × log₅ 8 × log₂ 9 × log₉ 11 × log₁₁ 81.

Solution Answer: 12

Chain rule: log₃4 × log₄5 × log₅8 = log₃8, and log₂9 × log₉11 × log₁₁81 = log₂81.

log₃8 × log₂81 = 3 log₃2 × 4 log₂3 = 12.

Q29MCQ

Find the remainder when 7¹²³ is divided by 143.

B94

C57

D49

Solution Answer: C

143 = 11 × 13. Mod 11: 7¹⁰ ≡ 1, so 7¹²³ ≡ 7³ = 343 ≡ 2. Mod 13: 7¹² ≡ 1, so 7¹²³ ≡ 7³ ≡ 5.

The number that is ≡ 2 (mod 11) and ≡ 5 (mod 13) is 57.

Q30MCQ

Meghna walks completely around the boundary of a square whose sides are each 5 km long. From any point on her path, she can see exactly 1 km horizontally in all directions. What is the area of the region consisting of all points Meghna can see during her walk, expressed in square kilometres and rounded to the nearest whole number?

A28

B39

C42

D48

Solution Answer: B

Inside the square: everything except the central 3 × 3 square, i.e. 25 − 9 = 16.

Outside: four 5 × 1 strips (20) plus four quarter-circles of radius 1 at the corners (π).

Total = 36 + π ≈ 39.14 ≈ 39 sq km.

Day 23 complete! 🔥

0 / 90

Correct: 0 · Wrong: 0 · Accuracy: 0%

Keep the streak alive. See you tomorrow for Day 24.