Prepare for Civil Services Aptitude Test (Paper-II) with step-by-step solutions for Quantitative Aptitude, Logical Reasoning, Analytical Ability, Data Interpretation, and Reading Comprehension.
Marking pattern: +2.50 positive, -0.83 negative (Official UPSC CSAT Pattern).
Directions for the following item: Read the following passage and answer the item that follows. Your answer to this item should be based on the passage only.
Passage - 1
One of the dismal realities of the agricultural sector in independent India has been that it never experienced a high-growth phase, unlike the non-agricultural economy. The highest decadal growth (compound annual growth rate or CAGR) for agriculture has been just 3.5% in the 1980s. Also, after experiencing a spurt in decadal growth during the 1980s, agricultural growth suffered relative stagnation thereafter. This is in sharp contrast to non-agricultural growth, which consistently increased from the 1980s to 2000s.
Which one of the following statements best reflects the corollary to the above passage?
Directions for the following item: Refer to Passage - 1 given above and answer the item based on the passage only.
With reference to the passage, the following assumptions have been made:
The growing divergence between the fortunes of the agricultural and non-agricultural economy in India could have been reduced/contained by:
I. adapting large-scale cultivation of commercial crops and viable corporate farming.
II. providing free insurance for all crops and heavily subsidizing seeds, fertilizers, electricity and farm machinery at par with developed countries.
Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?
Directions for the following item: Read the following passage and answer the item that follows. Your answer to this item should be based on the passage only.
Passage - 2
In our country, handlooms are equated with a culture that ensures a continuity of tradition. This idea has become part of the public policy-framing and provides a legitimate basis for the State to support the sector. But the notion of tradition as a single, linear entity is being strongly contested today. The narratives dominant in defining culture/tradition in a particular way are seen to have emerged as the identities and histories of large sections. The discounted and, at times, forcibly stifled identities are fighting for their rightful place in history. Against this backdrop, when we promote handloom as a traditional industry, it is not surprising that large sections of our population choose to ignore it.
Which one of the following statements best reflects the most logical and rational message conveyed by the author of the passage?
Directions for the following item: Refer to Passage - 2 given above and answer the item based on the passage only.
With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:
I. There is no need for the State to be involved in any manner in the handloom sector.
II. Handloom products are no longer appealing and attractive in the rapidly changing modern world.
Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?
Consider the first 100 natural numbers. How many of them are not divisible by any one of 2, 3, 5, 7 and 9?
If $4 \le x \le 8$ and $2 \le y \le 7$, then what is the ratio of maximum value of $(x + y)$ to minimum value of $(x - y)$?
Let both $p$ and $k$ be prime numbers such that $(p^2 + k)$ is also a prime number less than 30. What is the number of possible values of $k$?
There are $n$ sets of numbers each having only three positive integers with LCM equal to 1001 and HCF equal to 1. What is the value of $n$?
Let PQR be a 3-digit number, PPT be a 3-digit number and PS be a 2-digit number, where P, Q, R, S, T are distinct non-zero digits. Further, PQR - PS = PPT. If $Q = 3$ and $T < 6$, then what is the number of possible values of (R, S)?
Consider the sequence AB_CC_A_BCCC_BBC_C that follows a certain pattern. Which one of the following completes the sequence?
Directions for the following item: Read the following passage and answer the item that follows. Your answer to this item should be based on the passage only.
Passage - 1
In our country, regrettably, teaching and learning for the examination have been our forte but the new demands of society and the future of work require critical and independent thinking, learning through doing, asking questions from multiple disciplinary perspectives on the same issue, using evidence for building arguments, and reflecting and articulation. Higher education should not "either be a mere servant of the government policy or a passive respondent to public mood." Higher learning is all about how to think rather than what to think. Teaching has to be re-invented.
Which one of the following statements best reflects the central idea conveyed by the passage?
Directions for the following item: Refer to Passage - 1 given above and answer the item based on the passage only.
With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:
I. Higher education is a constantly evolving subject that needs to align towards new developments in all spheres of society.
II. In our country, sufficient funds are not allocated for promoting higher education.
Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?
Directions for the following item: Read the following passage and answer the item that follows. Your answer to this item should be based on the passage only.
Passage - 2
If there is inequality in the pattern of population growth, there is greater inequality in food production and utilization. As societies become wealthier, their consumption of animal products increases. This means that a greater proportion of such basic foodstuff as grains and legumes that could feed humans directly is instead being converted into feed for poultry and large farm animals. Yet this conversion of plant-based food into animal food for humans is far from efficient. Only 16% of the calories fed to chickens are recovered by us when we eat them. This conversion rate goes down to five to seven per cent in large animals that are fed grain to add fat and some protein before slaughter.
Which one of the following statements best reflects the crux of the passage?
Directions for the following item: Refer to Passage - 2 given above and answer the item based on the passage only.
With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:
I. The food manufacturing and processing industries in every country should align their objectives and processes in accordance with the changing needs of the societies.
II. Wealthier societies tend to incur great loss of calories of food materials due to indirect utilization of their agricultural produce.
Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?
What is the maximum value of $n$ such that $7 \times 343 \times 385 \times 1000 \times 2401 \times 777777$ is divisible by $35^n$?
What is X in the sequence 24, X, 12, 18, 36, 90?
P and Q walk along a circular track. They start at 5:00 a.m. from the same point in opposite directions. P walks at an average speed of 5 rounds per hour and Q walks at an average speed of 3 rounds per hour. How many times will they cross each other between 5:20 a.m. and 7:00 a.m.?
If $P = +$, $Q = -$, $R = \times$, $S = \div$, then insert the proper notations between the successive numbers in the equation 60_15_3_20_4 - 4 = 20:
A tram overtakes 2 persons X and Y walking at an average speed of 3 km/hr and 4 km/hr in the same direction and completely passes them in 8 seconds and 9 seconds respectively. What is the length of the tram?
If $N^2 = 12345678987654321$, then how many digits does the number $N$ have?
Directions for the following item: Read the following passage and answer the item that follows. Your answer to this item should be based on the passage only.
Passage - 1
Over the next 30 years, many countries are promising to move to net-zero carbon, implying that household emissions will have to be cut to close to nothing. A leading climate scientist reckons that, at best, half the reduction might be achieved through demand-side measures, such as behavioural changes by individuals and households. And even that would require companies and governments to provide more incentives to change through supply-side investments to make low-carbon options cheaper and more widely available.
Which one of the following statements best reflects the central idea conveyed by the passage?
Directions for the following item: Refer to Passage - 1 given above and answer the item based on the passage only.
With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:
I. Supply-side investments in companies can result in low-carbon behaviour in people.
II. People are not capable of adapting low-carbon behaviour without the involvement of Government and Companies.
Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?
Directions for the following item: Read the following passage and answer the item that follows. Your answer to this item should be based on the passage only.
Passage - 2
In only 50 years, the world's consumption of raw materials has nearly quadrupled, to more than 100 billion tons. Less than 9% of this is reused. Batteries of old vehicles contain materials such as lithium, cobalt, manganese and nickel that are pricey and can be hard to obtain. Supply chains are long and complicated. Buyers' risks are being aggravated by their suppliers' poor environmental and labour standards. Reusing materials makes sense. Once batteries reach the ends of their lives, they should go back to a factory where their ingredients can be recovered and put into new batteries.
Which one of the following statements best reflects the most logical, rational and pragmatic message conveyed by the passage?
Directions for the following item: Refer to Passage - 2 given above and answer the item based on the passage only.
With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:
I. Automobile factories are examples of the circular economy.
II. Economic growth is compatible with circular use of mineral resources.
Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?
A set (X) of 20 pipes can fill 70% of a tank in 14 minutes. Another set (Y) of 10 pipes fills 3/8th of the tank in 6 minutes. A third set (Z) of 16 pipes can empty half of the tank in 20 minutes. If half of the pipes of set X are closed and only half of the pipes of set Y are open, and all pipes of the set (Z) are open, then how long will it take to fill 50% of the tank?