Official verbal ability thread for CAT 2014

MBA CAT 2022
821

Source : RC99

The rate at which pollen settles is dictated principally by the size and density of the grain. The slower the settlement rate, the greater the dispersal range. Numerous species reduce the density of their pollen grains through air cavities in their walls. The grains of many species quickly dehydrate after release. There is a limit, however, to the lower range of pollen size. The smaller a particle becomes, the more difficult its capture, because as airflow carrying particles sweeps past surfaces, inertia represents a principal component of the mechanism for capture. Usually considered a ―primitive‖ feature in textbooks, wind-pollination has, in fact, reappeared independently in many plant groups relatively recently in geological time. General textbooks still often give the impression that the anemophilous syndrome is rather uninteresting, often defining it mainly as a combination of negatives: a lack of nectar, scent, petals, etc. Wind pollination has traditionally been viewed as a reproductive process dominated by random events—the vagaries of the wind and weather. This view seems justified by the potential hazards a pollen grain is subject to when transported over long distances. Pollen loss through happenstance is compensated for in wind-pollinated plants to a large degree by pollen-to-ovule ratios that greatly exceed those of insect-pollinated species. And unlike the sticky pollen grains of plants pollinated by insects, the pollen grains of wind-pollinated plants are smooth and dry, to avoid clumping and precipitating, and the stigma of the female is huge, sticky, and feathery, the better to catch any floating pollen grains. Similarly, wind-pollinated plants typically evolved to grow in stands, such as pine forests, corn fields and grasslands. Indeed the wind vector is only useful in large, near-monoculture populations. However, recent research has shown that several remarkably sophisticated mechanisms for dispersal and capture are characteristic of wind-pollinated plants. Pollen release is often tied to the recognition of unambiguous environmental clues. The devices that operate to prevent self-pollination are also sometimes extremely intricate. Many species take advantage of the physics of pollen motion by generating aerodynamic environments within the immediate vicinity of their reproductive organs. Two biological features appear to be critical in this process: the density and size of the pollen grain and the morphology of the ovulate organ. The shape of the female organ creates patterns of airflow disturbances through which pollen grains travel. The obstructing organ causes airflow to separate around windward surfaces and creates turbulence along leeward surfaces as ambient wind speeds increase. Because the geometry of female organs is often species-specific, airflow disturbance patterns that are also species-specific can be generated. The speed and direction of this pattern combines with the physical properties of a species' pollen to produce a highly synergistic pattern of pollen collision on windward surfaces and sedimentation on leeward surfaces of reproductive organs. The aerodynamic consequences of this synergism can significantly increase the pollen-capture efficiency of an ovulate organ.


1. In general, according to the author of the passage, pollen grains that would have the greatest dispersal range would have which of the following characteristics? I. Small size II. Dryness III. Low-density A. I only B. I and II only C. I and III only D. I, II and III E. II and III only


2. Which of the following is the tone of the passage, in the most part? A. Critical B. Descriptive C. Laudatory D. Humorous E. Condescending


3. Based on the information set forth in the passage, all the following mechanisms serve to reduce pollen loss in wind-pollinated plants EXCEPT: A. retention of pollen within the male organ when weather conditions are not conducive to dispersal. B. growth of plants in large populations with few species. C. creation of species-specific air-flow disturbance patterns by the morphology of the ovulate organ. D. development of intricate mechanisms to prevent self-pollination. E. high pollen-to-ovule ratios


4. Based on passage information, it is reasonable to conclude that windpollinated plants are LEAST likely to be found: A. in tropical rain forests of South America. B. in the taiga and other northern European coniferous forests. C. in the valleys of California. D. along river banks in temperate climates E. on the windy slopes of the Himalayas

822



The fourteen-hour day not only has been reduced to one of ten hours but also, in some lines of work, to one of eight or even six.

A)

The fourteen-hour day not only has been reduced

B)

Not only the fourteen-hour day has been reduced

C)

Not the fourteen-hour day only has been reduced

D)

The fourteen-hour day has been reduced not only

823

Time and again it has been shown that students who attend colleges with low faculty/student ratios get the most well-rounded education. As a result, when my children are ready to attend college, I'll be sure they attend a school with a very small student population. Which of the following, if true, identifies the greatest flaw in the reasoning above ?

A)

A low faculty/student ratio is the effect of a well-rounded education, not its source

B)

Intelligence should be considered the result of childhood environment, not advanced education

C)

A very small student population does not by itself; ensure a low faculty/student ratio

D)

Parental desires and preferences rarely determine a child's choice of a college or university

824


Bill earns more commission than does Sandra. But since Andrew earns mote commission than does Lisa, it follows that Bill earns more commission than does Lisa. Any of the following, if introduced into the argument as an additional premise, makes the argument above logically correct EXCEPT:

A)

Andrew earns more commission than Bill

B)

Sandra earns more commission than Lisa

C)

Sandra earns more commission than Andrew

D)

Sandra and Andrew earn the same amount of commission

825

Identify the right sentence 

1.The Mumbai rains is here 

2.The Mumbai rains are here . 

826

Hi puys my accuracy in rc is 0%.Please suggest some actionable tips to improve accuracy..??? plzzzzzzzzzzz need them badly

827

#RC

American public opinion takes for granted that men strive to prove their manhood through compensatory consumption, using whatever symbolic props are available. No man riding a Harley, hunting wild game, or brandishing a body-by-Soloflex physique is above suspicion that he is on a quest to compensate for insecurities about his masculinity. When public intellectuals and gender theorists analyze how men pursue masculine identities through consumption, their explanations often parallel these popular understandings. We refer to these arguments as the compensatory consumption thesis. 


According to this thesis, major socioeconomic changes have threatened the masculine identities of many men. Jobs in certain industry sectors have become more routinized and less secure, while, at the same time, women have gained more independence as they have entered the work force. Men who have suffered pangs of emasculation in this new environment have sought to symbolically reaffirm their status as real men through compensatory consumption. According to Ehrenreich, these men turned to consumption for relief from the pressured bureaucratic conformity of the breadwinner role. By using commodities to act out their emancipatory fantasies, men could symbolically rebel against identities tied to work and to family. 


Elaborating on this view, leading men's studies scholar Michael Kimmel (1996) contends that American ideologies of masculinity throughout the twentieth century have been highly conflicted, leading many men to experience pervasive anxieties over their manhood. Kimmel traces this conflict to a historical incompatibility between the American ideal of the self-made man and the more dependent conditions of wage earning fostered by industrialization and bureaucracies. In his version of compensatory consumption, Kimmel highlights that the romanticization of the American West and the glorification of the American cowboy arose during the fin de siecle, in close conjunction with growing cultural anxieties about a loss of vitality, independence, and virile manliness among middle-class men. 


Lee Mitchell advances a similar argument in his comprehensive history of the Western in literature and film: "a growing middle class veneration of efficiency, bureaucracy, and professionalization could have only contributed to the enthusiasm with which Wister's The Virginian and Potter's The Great Train Robbery were received. Frederick Taylor's efficiency experts were introducing more elaborate techniques of working supervision just as the cowboy appeared to show that work need not be closely monitored. In stark contrast to the situation most Americans knew, the cowboy represented a throwback to the idea of precorporate capitalist structure." 


From this perspective, the mythologized cowboy (along with other historically contemporaneous masculine icons) exemplified masculine ideals that appeared to be under threat as middle-class men assumed the mantle of a more domesticated breadwinner: rugged individualism, an adventurous spirit, risk-taking, displays of physical prowess, and most of all, a high degree of personal autonomy. Accordingly, Kimmel and Mitchell both hypothesize that the gap between this atavistic ideal masculinity and the modern breadwinner role produces an identity crisis that men have tried to resolve through consumption. Men whose work lives are structured by conditions of hierarchy and organizational dependence now compensate for their resulting masculine anxieties and unfulfilled yearnings through consumption and leisure.


Similarly, the Harley Davidson motorcycle stands for liberation from confinement. The Harley is the antithesis of all sources of confinement (including cars, offices, schedules, authority and relationships). When riding these domineering machines, men live for the autonomy of the open road. In their study of the mountain man rendezvous, Belk and Costa (1998) suggest that the men who participate in these retreats are taking flight from the alienating circumstances of their jobs. They report that "the dominant mythology" in these fantasy retreats "is that of ragged, rebellious, raucous, masculine individualism among a community of kindred spirits". In these patriarchal pageants, men reenact the life of these rebellious men and their romanticized ideals of personal autonomy, self-reliance, and freedom from the constraints of civilization, domesticity, and the modern breadwinner role. Men use the plasticity of consumer identity construction to forge atavistic masculine identities based upon an imagined life of self-reliant, premodern men who lived outside the confines of cities, families, and work bureaucracies. 


As we interviewed men in their homes and studied the representations of masculinity advanced in mass culture, we came to believe that the compensatory consumption thesis fails to capture some of the most powerful masculine identifications that men forge through their consumption. The model portrays men as trapped in a self-perpetuating cycle between the emasculating constraints of the breadwinner role and a fantasy of autonomy that is experienced through consumption. Rather than an identity crisis driving a constant quest for autonomous rebellion, we find that men use these two masculine ideals to produce pleasurable dramatic tensions. Further, we find that the resolution of their internal tensions, via the ideal of the man-of-action hero, is highly lauded in American culture. These three masculinity models - breadwinner, rebel, and man-of-action hero - together form what we call the American ideology of heroic masculinity. 


1.Which of the following arguments has not been advanced as part of the compensatory consumption thesis?

a)Men turn to consumption for relief from the pressured bureaucratic conformity of the breadwinner role.

b)It is the myth of liberation that makes the reality of confinement so seductive for rebellious men.

c)Men seek consumption and leisure to experience a sense of liberation from the constraints of society's hierarchy and organizational dependence.

d)Men seek possibilities that allow them occasional escape from the responsibilities of the breadwinner.


2.The phrase "atavistic masculine identity" in the context of the passage most closely means

a)a more satisfying precorporate masculine ideal.

b)a reversion to the identity of the primitive man.

c)masculine identities based on modern roles.

d)the notion of a masculine breadwinner at work

3.The author's research, as described in the passage, indicates the necessity of which of the following regarding the compensatory consumption thesis?

a)The construction of masculine identity depends upon the social positions of the consumer.

b)Men have more degrees of freedom to shroud themselves in the symbolic cloaks of autonomy.

c)We must study the consumption practices of men to understand how they actually relate to prevalent theories of masculine behaviour.

d)We must develop an alternative account of consumer research by analyzing masculine identity construction as it moves through mass culture discourse.

4.Which of the following best represents the three masculinity models as depicted in the passage?

a)Breadwinner - The Capitalist. Rebel - Big game hunter. Man-of-action hero - Men brandishing a body-by-Soloflex physique. b)Breadwinner - Self-made man. Rebel - The adventurer. Man-of-action hero - The Harley Davidson steed rider.

c)Breadwinner - The Bureaucrat. Rebel - The American Cowboy. Man-of-action hero - Men re-enacting the life of 19th century mountain men.

d)Breadwinner - The Bureaucrat. Rebel - The Harley Davidson rider. Man-of-action hero - The American Cowboy.


828

#RC

The fact that superior service can generate a competitive advantage for a company does not mean that every attempt at improving service will create such an advantage. Investments in service, like those in production and distribution, must be balanced against other types of investments on the basis of direct, tangible benefits such as cost reduction and increased revenues. If a company is already effectively on a par with its competitors because it provides service that avoids a damaging reputation and keeps customers from leaving at an unacceptable rate, then investment in higher service levels may be wasted, since service is a deciding factor for customers only in extreme situations. 
This truth was not apparent to managers of one regional bank, which failed to improve its competitive position despite its investment in reducing the time a customer had to wait for a teller. The bank managers did not recognize the level of customer inertia in the consumer banking industry that arises from the inconvenience of switching banks. Nor did they analyze their service improvement to determine whether it would attract new customers by producing a new standard of service that would excite customers or by proving difficult for competitors to copy. The only merit of the improvement was that it could easily be described to customers. 

1. The primary purpose of the passage is to 
(A) contrast possible outcomes of a type of business investment 
(B) suggest more careful evaluation of a type of business investment 
(C) illustrate various ways in which a type of business investment could fail to enhance revenues 
(D) trace the general problems of a company to a certain type of business investment 
(E) criticize the way in which managers tend to analyze the costs and benefits of business investments 

2. According to the passage, investments in service are comparable to investments in production and distribution in terms of the 
(A) tangibility of the benefits that they tend to confer 
(B) increased revenues that they ultimately produce 
(C) basis on which they need to be weighed 
(D) insufficient analysis that managers devote to them 
(E) degree of competitive advantage that they are likely to provide 

3. The passage suggests which of the following about service provided by the regional bank prior to its investment in enhancing that service? 
(A) It enabled the bank to retain customers at an acceptable rate. 
(B) It threatened to weaken the bank's competitive position with respect to other regional banks. 
(C) It had already been improved after having caused damage to the bank's reputation in the past. 
(D) It was slightly superior to that of the bank's regional competitors. 
(E) It needed to be improved to attain parity with the service provided by competing banks. 

4. The passage suggests that bank managers failed to consider whether or not the service improvement mentioned in line 19 
(A) was too complicated to be easily described to prospective customers 
(B) made a measurable change in the experiences of customers in the bank's offices 
(C) could be sustained if the number of customers increased significantly 
(D) was an innovation that competing banks could have imitated 
(E) was adequate to bring the bank's general level of service to a level that was comparable with that of its competitors 

5. The discussion of the regional bank (line 13-24) serves which of the following functions within the passage as a whole? 
(A) It describes an exceptional case in which investment in service actually failed to produce a competitive advantage. 
(B) It illustrates the pitfalls of choosing to invest in service at a time when investment is needed more urgently in another area. 
(C) It demonstrates the kind of analysis that managers apply when they choose one kind of service investment over another. 
(D) It supports the argument that investments in certain aspects of service are more advantageous than investments in other aspects of service. 
(E) It provides an example of the point about investment in service made in the first paragraph. 

6. The author uses the word "only" in line 23 most likely in order to 
(A) highlight the oddity of the service improvement 
(B) emphasize the relatively low value of the investment in service improvement 
(C) distinguish the primary attribute of the service improvement from secondary attributes 
(D) single out a certain merit of the service improvement from other merits 
(E) point out the limited duration of the actual service improvement 


829


does anyone have the PDF version of " A key to wren and martin grammar book"...i have the book but not the key. it would be useful.

830

She said U.S. would like to create a business climate in India that was more open for global investment.

Which tense is used in this sentence? Past perfect?

831

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832

how to post question through links?? Pls.suggest?

833

#RC

Social scientists, in general, have argued vigorously for the autonomy of their field of study and have mostly looked askance at the attempts that have tended to show the social phenomena to be entirely determined by non - sociological factors. In their own turn, however they have been extremely antagonistic to the idea that there may be other phenomena which stand in the same relation to sociological phenomena as these do themselves to biological and physical phenomena. Sociologists, like most other scientists, seem to think that all that occurs in the field of human affairs is completely determined by factors which pertain to their own field of study. They are extremely averse to the admission of immanent causality within the field of supra- sociological phenomena.

There seems, however, no reason to believe that the emergence of autonomous realms with their immanent causality ceases at the sociological level. It would be as much a piece of blindness on the part of the sociologists to deny this as it would be in the case of those biologists or physicists who would deny autonomy and immanent causality to social phenomena. The mistake in the case of the latter is clearly visible to every sociologist, yet he immediately seems to develop a psychic scotoma when he himself commits it.

The supra-sociological phenomena are indeed dependent on sociological phenomena for their very existence, but this should in no way lead to the conclusion drawn by most sociologists that they are "determined" by them. If the logic of the argument were true in such a case, then we would inevitably be pushed further to the conclusion that the real determinants of any phenomenon are physical and not biological or sociological or supra-sociological in nature. The sociological phenomena, in fact, permit the existence of supra-sociological phenomena but do not determine them, in any way, in their specific nature. The large numbers of studies that have delineated the "determination" of cultural phenomena by sociological factors are vitiated, therefore, at their very core by this central fallacy.

Q1.Sociologists turn a blind eye towards:

a.    Biologists and Physicists, who deny autonomy and immanent causality to social phenomena. 

b.    Studies that determine any cultural phenomena through sociological factors.

c.    Reasons that define the determination of human affairs through factors limited to their respective field of study.

d.    The misconception that the real determinants of any phenomena are only physical.

e.    None of the above.


Q2.According to the passage all of the following are true, EXCEPT:

a.    Sociologists tend to disapprove of the possibilities that determine social phenomena as a result of physical and biological factors.

b.    The presence of supra-sociological phenomena is not entirely ascertained by sociological phenomena.

c.    The idea of "autonomy" and "immanent causality" only pertains to physical and biological phenomena.

d.    Autonomy, in the field of social science, has been a major demand of social scientists.

e.    None of the above.


Q3.Which of the following is the most suitable title for the passage?a.    Sociological versus supra-sociological phenomena.

b.    Social Sciences in a different light.

c.    Social Scientists' central dilemma.

d.    A central fallacy of Social scientists.          

e.    Scientific belief and attitude towards sociological phenomena.

834

#RC

In his 1992 book A History of the Mind, Humphrey argued that consciousness is grounded in bodily sensation rather than thought, and proposed a speculative evolutionary account of the emergence of sentience.. Sensation is "on the production side of the mind rather than the reception side." Imagine an "amoeba-like" creature floating in the ancient seas. Like all other organisms, it has a structural boundary, which is the frontier between "self" and "other." It must have the ability to respond appropriately-as Humphrey puts it, "reacting to this stimulus with an ouch! To that with a whoopee!" At first the responses are localised to the site of stimulation, but evolution endows more specialised sensory zones, this for chemicals, that for light-and a central control system, a proto-brain, which allows for co-ordinated responses to specific stimuli: "Thus, when, say, salt arrives at its skin, the animal detects it and makes a characteristic wriggle of activity-it wriggles 'saltily. These are the prototypes of human sensation. With the march of evolutionary history, life gets more complex for the animal and it becomes advantageous for it to have an inner representation of events happening at the surface of its body. One way of accomplishing this is to plug into those systems already in place for identifying and reacting to stimulation. The animal's representation of "what's going on?" (and what it "feels" about it) is achieved by monitoring what it is doing about it. "Thus... to sense the presence of salt at a certain location the animal monitors its own command signals for wriggling saltily... to sense the presence of red light, it monitors its signals for wriggling redly." Such self-monitoring by the subject is the prototype of "feeling sensation."

Evolution then takes the animal to another level at which it comes to care about the world just beyond its body, so that, for example, it becomes sensitive to the chemical and air pressure signals of the proximity of predator or prey. This requires quite another style of information processing. "When the question is 'What is happening to me?' the answer that is wanted is qualitative, present-tense, transient, and subjective. When the question is 'What is happening out there in the world?' the answer that is wanted is quantitative, analytical, permanent, and objective." The old sensory channels continue to provide a body-centred picture of what the stimulation is doing to the animal, but a second system is set up "to provide a more neutral, abstract, body-independent representation of the outside world." This is the prototype of perception. At this stage the animal is still responding to stimulation with overt bodily activity, but eventually it achieves a degree of independence and is no longer bound by rigid stimulus-response rules. It still needs to know what's going on in the world, so the old sensory systems stay in service, and it still learns about what is happening to it by monitoring the command signals for its own responses. But now it can issue virtual commands, which don't result in overt action. In other words, it no longer wriggles. Rather than going all the way out to the surface of the body, the commands are short-circuited, reaching only to a point on the incoming sensory pathway. Over evolutionary time the target of the command retreats further from the periphery until "the whole process becomes closed off from the outside world in an internal loop within the brain." Sensory activity has become "privatised."


Q1.Which of the following would have been true if the prototype of perception preceded sensation?

a.    The goal of the authority would have moved away additionally from the fringe.

b.    The body would not have been bound by a stiff stimulus-response system.

c.    The evolution of consciousness would have been ultimately doomed.

d.    The reconciling of brain function and consciousness would have been faster.

e.    None of these.


Q2. Which is the thematic highlight of this passage?

a.    That all perception is unconscious.

b.    That sensation and perception are separable.

c.    That the sensory systems underlie conscious awareness.

d.    That the perceptual awareness underlies conscious awareness.

e.    None of these.


Q3.According to the passage, the term "privatised" refers to:

a.    The target-command process getting perceptive and recognizing emotions.

b.    The target-command process gaining evidence through varied actions.

c.    The target-command process receiving recognition by the brain.

d.    The target-command process getting individualized.

e.    None of these.

835

PARAJUMBLE

1. The fragile Yugoslav state has uncertain future.

(A) Thus there will surely be chaos and uncertainty if people fail to settle their differences.

(B) Sharp ideological differences already exist in the country.

(C) Ethnic, regional, linguistic and material disparities are profound.

(D) The country will also loose the excellent reputation it enjoyed in international arena. 6. at worst, it will once more become vulnerable to international conspiracy and intrigue.

  • 2.ADCB
  • 4.DBCA
  • 3.ACBD
  • 1.BCAD

0 voters

836

Hi Folks 

Need suggestions.

I am preparing for CAT-2014 

Here is my profile

Category - GEN

X -89 CBSE

XII - 80 CBSE

GPA 6.7 ( NIT )

Work Exp: 1 Year in one of the BIG four Consulting MNC

How well do I need to do in CAT-2014 to get through IIMS/SPJ/FMS

PS:  To what extent my BAD GPA will affect the chances. :(

Thanks in advance

837

Is it me or anybody else having doubts on the answers of RC questions in rcprep.com??



838

Do any one have a compiled list of phrasal verbs with their meanings in relevance to cat.

If yes, then please mail me at [email protected]

Thanks in advance

839

Hi guys !!!

I'm here after a long time, stuck in the office all these days !!!!!

Gave CAT last time and scored 81%

Yet to start with my preps this time , Guys please help me out how to go with my preparations 😁


840

CAT 2014: Important dates

MBA aspirants will have to take the Common Admission Test (CAT) for the session 2014 on either of the two days - November 16 and November 22.

The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) - Indore will conduct the exam this year. The registration process will start August 06 onwards.

Important Dates
Date of commencement of online registration:  August 6, 2014 (Wednesday)
Last date of registration: September 30, 2014 (Tuesday)
Download of Admit Card: October 16, 2014 (Thursday)
CAT exam dates (forenoon and afternoon sessions): November 16, 2014 (Sunday) and November 22, 2014 (Saturday)
Tentative dates for Results: Third week of December 2014

for know about various b school notification and examination for 2015-17,2015-16 please follow here

http://www.pagalguy.com/cat/b-school-exam-notification-for-the-batch-of-2015-17-2015-16-28634562