1. The latest amendments to the Patents Act 1970, expected to be introduced in Parliament to ________ with India’s commitments under the ‘Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights’ agreement of the WTO have _____ almost unanimous criticism.
a. concur …….. invited
b. compare ……. Solicited
c. comply …… invoked
d. conform ………. Induced
Ans. C.
‘Concur’ means to agree and is not apt for the first blank. ‘Compare’ cannot be the word for the first blank. ‘Conform with’ is not possible as it should be ‘Conform to’. Hence the correct words for the two blanks are ‘comply’ and ‘invoked.’

2. The Arunachal macaque’s high rank in the ______ ladder makes its morphological characterization, identify in relation to other closely related Macaca species and field habits scientifically _______ .
a. natural ……. Insipid
b. evolutionary ……. Exciting
c. developmental ………. Important
d. hierarchical ……… worthwhile
Ans. B.
The word ‘evolutionary’ is the most appropriate to go with ladder.

3. Despite India’s political ______, and sharp inter-party differences on certain issues, the centre and states need to work in ____ to create attractive investment destinations.
a. diversity …… tandem
b. multiplicity ……. Union
c. divisions ……… discord
d. unity …….. concert
Ans. A
The word ‘despite’ shows that the words in the blanks shouls be opposities of each other. Hence (3) and (4) are wrong. ‘To work in tandem’ is an apt phrase whereas ‘ to work in union’ is inappropriate.

4. An editorial policy based on the core values of free and independent journalism and seeking to ______ the public interest will give DD an edge over private channels that brazenly ______ news.
a. endorse …. Distort
b. indicate ….. censor
c. sustain …. Buttress
d. uphold ……. Slant
Ans. D
‘Endorse’ the public interest is meaningless. Indicate is also inapt. The private channels do not buttress the news. What they do is slant the news. Hence the correct choice of words for the blanks is uphold and slant.

5. Pakistan’s ________ with Kashmir is the reason for the lack of significant progress in the relation between the two countries, but India cannot escape blame as it has relied on the principle of _____ in areas such as the visa regime.
a. fixation …….. complicity
b. addiction …. Retaliation
c. obsession …… reciprocity
d. detachment …….. mutuality
Ans. C
Complicity for the second blank is not apt. Addiction ‘with’ is inappropriate as addiction is followed by ‘to’. In the context of Pakistan it cannot be detachment. So the apt words are ‘obsession’ and ‘reciprocity.’

Related posts:

1. Verbal ability questions with answers
2. Verbal Ability Questions
3. CAT Verbal Questions

The number of books in store, number of books sold, number of books ordered but not picked up and sales returns from previous years have been shown in the figures below for Om book store for threes years. The stored opened in the year 2000. Numbers of books in a year include books ordered but not picked up in that year. However, net sales for a year are calculated based on the difference between number of books sold and the sales returns for the year. 60% of books ordered but not picked up, are picked up in the next year and the remaining in the year after that. Numbers of books available for sales at the beginning of the year in store = unsold of last year + Sales returned books of the last year + Fresh purchases for the year are made at the beginning of the year.
Numbers of books sold in a year does not include books from past year which but not picked up.

1. How many units of books were picked up from the store in 2002?
a. 860
b. 700
c. 810
d. None of these

2. Among the books available for sales, how many units of books were there lying in the store already and how many were fresh purchases beginning of the year 2002?
a. 800, 200
b. 740, 260
c. 600, 400
d. None of these

3. At the end of 2002, how many total units of books ordered were not picked up from the store?
a. 180
b. 220
c. 300
d. None of these

4. Total net sales of books (in units) of the store for the given three years is
a. 3300
b. 3150
c. 2970
d. None of these.

Related posts:

1. Data Interpretation Questions
2. Data Interpretation Questions
3. Data Interpretation Questions With Answers

A lot of candidates find personal interviews nerve-wracking. Many of them are otherwise calm, cool, and collected individuals, but find that something about interviews just sets them off and make them feel edgy and unable to present themselves at their best.

Feeling nervous at interviews can create a vicious cycle. You feel nervous, which makes you perform badly at interviews. But the fact that you perform badly at interviews understandably makes you feel nervous.

FireUp’s Interview Tips of the day- Almost all major MBA entrance examinations are over. IIMs have just declared the results of CAT. It’s high time for the candidates expecting calls or those who already have calls to buckle up their shoes for GD-PI preparation.

FireUp is here to help all of you in clearing these hurdles.  We will post few well researched articles on “How to Prepare for Group Discussion” and “How to Prepare for Interview”. So here we start.

How to Prepare for Interview

1. Getting Off to a Great Start

You may have heard people say that most interviewers make up their minds within the first five to ten minutes of an interview. And, in many cases, it is true – a lot of interviewers judge candidates on what they say and do within those initial few minutes.

So make sure that you put in a commanding performance:

• Ask for the permission to enter the room. Wish everyone in the panel. Offer a solid handshake. Wait until the interviewers indicate to sit.

• Demonstrate your enthusiasm. Always have a smiling face. It is the best way to hide your nervousness.

• Make a positive comment. Avoid it if you are not comfortable with it.

• Be prepared for some chitchat but don’t be casual. Never use slang or abbreviations.

Concentrate on making a great impression in those first few minutes and the interviewers may well warm to you and make the rest of the interview that much more enjoyable. But keep your guard up at all times – listen carefully to every question, never interrupt the interviewers, and think before you speak!

We can discuss in details each point above with various examples, if students would like us to do that. Leave your comment below.

2. Communicating with people

At times you need to prove that you are good at communication skills. This is very much possible if you have mentioned “Good Communication Skill” as your strength. When discussing your communication skills with interviewers, think of examples of occasions when you:

• Listened to the needs of other people, such as colleagues or customers.

• Conveyed information to other people – perhaps on a one-to-one basis or to a group of people.

• Handled difficult situations, such as customer complaints, on the telephone.

• Used your written communication skills in preparing reports or documents for other people to read.

3. Using intonation and inflection

Interviewers can spend a couple of days at a time interviewing. And they can feel really bored when all candidates seem to be saying pretty much the same thing. To make the interviewers sit up and take notice of what you’re saying, focus on your tone of voice.

Follow these guidelines to come across as an interesting and enthusiastic – but also calm and confident- candidate:

• Introduce inflection into your speech: Actors sometimes talk of using ‘light and shade’ in a voice. Occasionally raise the tone of your voice or speed up the pace to convey excitement or passion about a topic. Deepen your voice or slow down a little to transmit seriousness.

• Emphasize key words: Say key words and phrases a little louder to make them stand out. This tactic is the auditory equivalent of typing important words in a bold typeface.

• Articulate your words carefully: If in any doubt as to whether you pronounce your words clearly enough. Practice with others. Ask a variety of colleagues for their opinion. Don’t ask friends, as they are too used to your way of speaking to give you objective feedback.

• Think about leaving pauses between sentences: Remember that full stops appear at the end of sentences. Make sure not to let your sentences all run together.

Intonation and inflection are really difficult to get right. The best way to tell if you sound okay is to tape record yourself saying interview answers out loud and then listen to your responses to see how they come across.

Many other articles will be posted in the same category. Keep coming back to “Personal Interview” category.

Related posts:

1. Interview Tips
2. Personal Interview after CAT
3. Interview Tips

Each of five friends purchased exactly one fruit basket from among five fruit baskets – P, Q, R, S and T. Each of the five baskets contained four apples or five bananas or six oranges or seven mangoes or eight guavas. No tiw baskets contained the same varity of fruits. Q contained six fruits in it. Each of the five friends then transferred at least one and at most two fruits from her respective basket to each of the other baskets. None of the friends transferred any fruit that they received from another. After all the transfer, it is observed that
(i) R has no guavas in it.
(ii) P has a total of ten fruits, at least three of which are mangoes.
(iii) T has fruits in all, none of which is an apple.

1. How many fruits were there in S initially?
a. 8
b. 6
c. 7
d. 5

2. Which fruit is present in all the baskets after all transfers?
a. Banana
b. Orange
c. Mango
d. Both Orange and Mango

3. Which of the following statements is true?
a. The baskets having the same total number of fruits all the transfers have an equal number of each kind of fruit.
b. The two baskets which have a difference of four in the total number of fruits after all the transfers; have an equal number of fruits of exactly three kinds.
c. After all the transfers, no two baskets have an equal number of fruits of more than two kinds.
d. The baskets which was initially having the maximum total number of fruits, now has the minimum total number of fruits.

Related posts:

1. Logical Questions
2. Logical Questions With Answers
3. Sample Logical Questions and Answers

1. In 1988, 50 people with emotional disturbances underwent hypnosis to be cured of their mood swings. A follow up survey in 1993 revealed that five had fairly stable emotional conditions at the time of the survey. These five subjects can therefore serve as models of the types of people for whom hypnosis is likely to be successful. Which of the following, if true, casts the most doubt on the suitability of those five subjects as models in the sense described?
(A) The five subjects have very different personalities and backgrounds.
(B) Since 1988, the five subjects have experienced dramatic mood swings interspersed with periods of relative stability.
(C) Those people who were still suffering from unstable emotional conditions at the time
of the 1993 survey had shown no improvement since 1988.
(D) Many psychologists are less concerned about a patient’s mood swings than about the patient’s willingness to express his or her problems and fears.
(E) The emotional condition of most of the 45 subjects who were still unstable at the time of the 1993 survey had actually worsened since 1988.
Answer. B
Explanation: The Conclusion: These five people can serve as models for the type of person who can be helped by hypnosis. The Evidence: A study showed that these five previously disturbed hypnosis subjects had stable emotional conditions. The survey only found that at the time of the study the five seemed to be doing OK. Remember, these people were originally suffering from mood swings; maybe the study just caught them on a good day. If that’s the case—if since 1988 these people have been experiencing dramatic mood swings and occasional periods of health—then hypnosis hasn’t really helped them and they’re not good models. The author presented the people as models of different types of people who can be helped, not as a single model of a single personality type, so they needn’t be similar (A). It doesn’t matter that the other 45 people who underwent hypnosis didn’t get better (C); the argument is based on and concerns only the five who were stable. (E) fails to weaken the argument for the same reason. The concern of many psychologists (D) is well outside the scope. We need a statement that speaks about hypnosis and these five subjects.

2. The cause of the peculiar columnar growth pattern displayed by junipers growing near burning underground veins of lignite coal has never been convincingly explained. Until recently, the accepted theory posited that the abundance of carbon monoxide in the local atmosphere caused the columnar growth. However, a new theory holds that the cause is the persistent heat present near these underground fires which, while not intense enough to inflame the trees, can nonetheless change their normal growth pattern.
The existence of which of the following would provide the strongest support for the new
theory?
(A) A columnar juniper growing in an atmosphere of intense heat and an absence of carbon monoxide
(B) A normal juniper growing in an atmosphere of intense heat and an absence of carbon
monoxide
(C) A columnar juniper growing in an atmosphere of normal heat and a high concentration of carbon monoxide
(D) A normal juniper growing in an atmosphere of intense heat and a high concentration
of carbon monoxide
(E) A columnar juniper growing in an atmosphere of intense heat and a high
concentration of carbon monoxide
Answer. A
Explanation: The New Theory’s Conclusion: Heat (from the burning coal) causes columnar growth in junipers near burning underground coal veins. The New Theory’s Evidence: None really, except the correlation of columnar growth with these areas with underground fires. The Old Theory’s Conclusion: The abundance of carbon monoxide causes columnar growth.
The Old Theory’s Evidence: None really, except the correlation of columnar growth with these areas with high carbon monoxide. When you scan the choices, you see that each presents a case of the cause with or without the effect or the effect with or without the cause. Since the two theories are in opposition, weakening the old theory is a way of strengthening the new one. Bearing in mind from the lesson the key issues in a causal argument, we recognize that a case of columnar growth where the cause claimed by the new theory (heat) is present, but the cause claimed by the old theory (carbon monoxide) is absent strengthens the new theory at the expense of the old. A case (B) where we get the new theory’s alleged cause (intense heat), without the alleged effect (columnar junipers) is of no help at all. A columnar juniper in an atmosphere with high carbon monoxide but no extra heat (C) strengthens the old theory. A case with both alleged causes without the expected effect (D) weakens both theories. Like wise columnar growth in the presence of both causes (E) does nothing to promote one theory over the other.

3. Truck driver: The gasoline tax is too high and it must be lowered. It has been raised every year for the last five years, while other sales taxes have not. If the government persists in unfairly penalizing truck drivers, our increased operating costs will either hurt consumers or put us out of business.
State official: But your gasoline tax dollars maintain and improve the very roads you depend on. Without those additional revenues, road conditions would deteriorate, costing you and consumers much more in maintenance and repairs.
If the statements made above are true, the best characterization of the logical relationship between the two arguments is that the state official’s response (5)
(A) points out that the truck driver’s proposal will actually worsen the problem it is intended to solve
(B) is circular, assuming the truth of its conclusion in order to justify its conclusion
(C) points out that the truck driver is selfish because more people are aided by the gasoline tax than are penalized
(D) is merely an attempt to excuse the government’s policies without providing any justification for those policies
(E) points to an inherent contradiction between the cause the truck driver cites and the effects the truck driver thinks will follow from the cause
Answer. A
Explanation: The Truck Driver’s Conclusion: The gas tax must be lowered. The Truck Driver’s Evidence: Increased costs will either put the truckers out of business or will hurt consumers.
The Official’s Conclusion: The tax must remain.
The Official’s Evidence: Highways will fall into disrepair without tax revenues, costing truckers and consumers even more.
The official wants the trucker to realize that cutting gas taxes won’t help, but will likely raise costs for both industry and consumers. So she’s arguing that the trucker’s proposal, if carried out, will actually make matters worse. A circular argument (B) is more or less a restatement of the conclusion—that’s not what’s happening here. The official doesn’t accuse the trucker of selfishness (C); moreover, the trucker also warns of the harm done to consumers by the gas tax. The official does provide justification of the tax policy (D): the revenue pays for road upkeep. There’s no inherent contradiction between high taxes and the destruction of the trucking industry (E); nor does the official claim there is.

4. The cost of transatlantic airfare has nearly doubled over the past five years, yet airlines are doing a booming business. Clearly, people today have more money to spend on vacations than they did five years ago. All of the following, if true, would weaken the argument above EXCEPT:
(A) Most people buying transatlantic tickets today use them for business trips, so airfare is refunded by their companies.
(B) There are fewer airlines in existence today than five years ago.
(C) People are taking shorter vacations and staying in cheaper hotels than they used to.
(D) Crossing the Atlantic by ship requires more time than most people can afford.
(E) Domestic airline flights have seen a steady increase in passengers.
Answer. E
The Conclusion: People have more money to spend on their vacations.
The Evidence: Airlines are doing fine even though they’re charging high fares to cross the Atlantic.
The idea that domestic flights are also booming doesn’t sever the connection between booming business and vacation money—it shows more booming business.
The fact that most of the flights presented as evidence aren’t bought by vacationers (A) breaks the connection between booming business and vacation money. Airlines can do a booming business even if business as a whole is down, as long as (B) there are fewer airlines. If people are skimping elsewhere (C), then even if they’re paying a lot for airfare, they needn’t have more vacation money. And if in many cases people have no choice but to fly (D), they must pay the higher fares no matter how little money they have.

5. Plant Y thrives in environments of great sunlight and very little moisture. Desert X is an environment with constant, powerful sunlight, and almost no moisture. Although Plant Y thrives in the areas surrounding Desert X, it does not exist naturally in the desert, nor does it survive long when introduced there. Which of the following, if true, would be most useful in explaining the apparent discrepancy above?

(A) Desert X’s climate is far too harsh for the animals that normally feed on Plant Y.
(B) For one week in the fall, Desert X gets consistent rainfall.
(C) The environment around Desert X is ideally suited to the needs of Plant Y.
(D) Due to the lack of sufficient moisture, Desert X can support very little plant life.
(E) Plant Y cannot survive in temperatures as high as those normally found in Desert X.
Answer. E
The Discrepancy: We’re led to expect that Plant Y would thrive in Desert X. The plant likes lots of sunlight and little moisture, which is just what the desert has. So why doesn’t this plant thrive in this desert? That Desert X has high temperatures and that Plant Y can’t live in such high temperatures gives us additional evidence—it’s a perfectly fine explanation of why Plant Y wouldn’t thrive in Desert X. And by picking up on the fact that Y is a desert (which is often very hot places), this explanation works from the information given, as good GMAT explanations do. The absence of a predator (A), far from decreasing the likelihood of a plant’s survival, seems more likely to increase it. We have no reason to suspect (B) that one week of rainfall per year is too much for Plant Y to withstand. The fact that it can easily grow elsewhere (C) is irrelevant to the question of why it doesn’t grow in Desert X. And the information about Desert X provided in (D) doesn’t help us, since we’re not concerned with plant life in general, but only with Plant Y.

Related posts:

1. Verbal Ability Questions With Answers
2. Verbal ability questions with answers
3. CAT Verbal Ability Questions: Verbal Ability Test

1. If a * b = e and a * a = d, what is the value of c * d?
a. a
b. b
c. c
d. e

2. If a * a = b and b * b = c, what is the value of c * d?
a. a
b. b
c. c
d. e

3. If a * b = d and c * d = b, then d * d =
a. c
b. a
c. d
d. b

Related posts:

1. Quantitative Questions For CAT
2. Quantitative Questions For CAT
3. CAT Quantitative Questions

1) Every student (boy or girl) of each class participated in a game.
2) In each game, from every class, the number of girls participating is 25% of the number of boys participating in each game from the same class.
3) Each student participates in one game only.

1. What is the ratio of boys and girls, if boys playing chess and badminton are combined and the girls playing hockey and football are combined?
a. 1:2
b. 2:3
c. 3:1
d. 4:1

2. How many boys cannot be paired for a game, if boys of class X-C and X-D are paired with girls of their class?
a. 72
b. 66
c. 76
d. 80

3. The boys of X-C and girls of X-D together from how much percentage of total number of students?
a. 20%
b. 25%
c. 39%
d. 35%

4. If the boys of X-E participating in chess, girls of X-C participating in table tennis and hockey respectively are selected for a sports course, what percentage of the total students will benefit from this course?
a. 2%
b. 3%
c. 4%
d. 3.5%

Related posts:

1. Data Interpretation Questions With Answers
2. Data Interpretation
3. Data Interpretation Questions

Among six friends – A, B, C, D, E and F – three are wearing a Blue dress, two are wearing a Red dress and one is wearing a Green dress. Three of them are employed, two are unemployed and one is a student. Also, three of them own only a Bicycle each, two of them own only a scooter each and one owns only a Mobike. Except C and D, no two friends have more than one similar attribute in common. Further the following information is known.

(i) C, who does not wear a Blue dress, does not have the same kind of vehicle as A.
(ii) Each of the four persons A, B, D and E have exactly one attribute in common with the person who owns the kind of vehicle which no other person owns.
(iii) The student does not own a Bicycle.
(iv) For A, B and F, there is one common attribute and that is not the color of dress.

1. Who owns the Mobike?
a. C
b. F
c. D
d. Either C or F

2. What is the color of the dress that the student wears?
a. Blue
b. Green
c. Red
d. Cannot be determined

3. Which of the following is a pair of employed friends?
a. F and A
b. F and D
c. B and E
d. A and D

4. Who wears Green dress?
a. A
b. B
c. C
d. None of these

Related posts:

1. Reasoning Questions For CAT
2. Reasoning Ability Questions
3. Sample Reasoning Ability Questions

Consider a cylinder of height n cms and radius 3/π cms. A string of width h cms, when would around the cylinder without keeping any space between two turns, covers the lateral surface of the cylinder completely.

1. What is the required length of the string?
a. 6n/h cms
b. 12h/c cms
c. 36n/h cms
d. 6n cms

2. The same string is wound on the exterior four walls of a cube, making eqully spaced 6 turns starting from point A and ending at point B exactly above A. If ‘a’ is the side of the cube then find the relation between a and n. (Let h = 1 in the above question and neglect it in this question)
a. a = 3/2√n
b. a = 1/4n
c. n = √3/2a²
d. a = 1/2n²

3. Find the ratio of the lateral surface area of the cylinder to the total surface arear of the cube.
a. 16:n
b. 3n:8
c. 8n:3
d. None of these

Related posts:

1. Quantitative Ability Questions
2. Quantitative Ability
3. Sample Quantitative Ability Questions

I. Each of the four celebrities, will be in the stands for exactly more than the one in which he has to receive the award.
II. Delhi has always been favorable to spin bowling and hence aptly known as ‘spin magic’.
III. Neither Kolkata nor Mumbai will be honoring Bishan Singh Bedi.
IV. The one who will be honors at kolkata will also be present at the ‘poor outfeild’.
V. The city famous as ‘poor outfeild’ will be honoring kapil Dev.
VI. Mohinder Amarnath will be honored at ‘fast track’ and will watch the matches only in the company of Kapil Dev.
VII. Sunil Gavaskar will be honored in Mumbai and will not be visiting Kolkata and Chennai.

1. Mumbai is known as
a. spin magic
b. poor outfield
c. batsmen’s paradise
d. fast track
e. None of these

2. Kolkata will be honoring
a. Bishan Singh Bedi
b. Kapil Dev
c. Mohinder Amarnath
d. Cannot be determined
e. None of (a), (b), (c)

3. The maximum number of celebrities to visit Kolkata is
a. 1
b. 2
c. 3
d. 4
e. None of these

4. Chennai will not be visited by
a. Bishan Singh Bedi
b. Kapil Dev
c. Mohinder Amarnath
d. Sunil Gavaskar
e. None of these

Related posts:

1. Logical reasoning questions
2. Logical Questions And Answers
3. Logical Questions And Answers