Arguments - Previous Year CAT/MBA Questions
The best way to prepare for Arguments is by going through the previous year Arguments XAT questions. Here we bring you all previous year Arguments XAT questions along with detailed solutions.
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It would be best if you clear your concepts before you practice previous year Arguments XAT questions.
Read the following paragraph and answer the question that follows:
In a 2017 survey of 3,915 American workers, my colleagues and I found that workers report experiencing a sizable “voice gap” at work — that is, a gap between how much say or influence they feel they ought to have and how much they actually have — on topics such as wages, working conditions, fair treatment, and input into how they do their work.
And now a second study, I have just completed with a new team, finds that today’s workers want forms of voice and representation that go well beyond traditional unions.
Based on the above paragraph, which of the following options would you agree with the MOST?
- (a)
The first study defines the concept and the second study uses the concept in a specific context.
- (b)
The first study shows the intensity of the problem and the second study shows limitations of the existing solutions.
- (c)
The first study shows the frustration of the American workers and the second study shows the inability of unions in addressing them.
- (d)
The first study focuses on the need for fair representation and the second study discusses forms of representation.
- (e)
The first study highlights the existence of the problem and the second study highlights the need for new ways of solving it.
Solution
Discuss
ReportRead the following paragraph carefully and answer the question that follows:
Indian religious and ethical space is different from that of the western countries. The Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana, and the Mahabharata etc. enrich Indian religious
and social space. Details of the treatment of human values and Dharmas have a long tradition. They are often compared, contrasted and debated by the characters in the Ramayana and the
Mahabharata. In the process, it has given birth to a tradition of dharma, which has been transferred from generation to generation. Ethical discourse was not a one-time affair. From time to time, religious leaders from various regions of India nourished and strengthened the Indian ethical arena. Tiruvalluvar (second century B.C.), Kabir from Uttar Pradesh (fifteenth century A.D.), Nanak from Punjab (fifteenth century A.D), Alvars and Nayanmars of Tamil Nadu (eighth century A.D.), Basaveswara of Karnataka (Twelfth century A.D.), Sri Chaitanya (Sixteenth century) were prominent.
Which of the following assumptions will make the above paragraph redundant?
- (a)
All religious leaders, mentioned in the paragraph, preach the same message and it is transferred from one generation to the next.
- (b)
Western religious spaces do not have details of treatment of principle of Dharma.
- (c)
Ramayana and Mahabharata have made it possible for religious leaders to build the tradition.
- (d)
Western civilizations have been traversed by a different kind of religious leaders.
- (e)
Western ethical and religious space has a long tradition of treatment of human values and Dharma.
Read the following statements carefully:
A manager seeks approval for conducting a training programme on 'openness'. He puts forward the following arguments in favour of the program to his CEO.
Which of the following arguments is the least likely to have a logical fallacy?
- (a)
We did a pilot training program with a group of employees. Post the program, one of the participants was open to new ideas.
- (b)
This program should be good for our organization since it is designed by a leading consultant.
- (c)
Internal studies conducted across groups and locations showed that 'openness' increases innovation.
- (d)
We have only two options; we can either train our employees on 'openness' or suffer the consequences.
- (e)
If you really care about the organization, you should approve this training program.
Read the following paragraphs and answer the question that follows:
The current trend indicates that food and vegetable inflations continue to be pain points. Food inflation rose to 7.79 percent in June from 7.47 percent, and vegetable inflation rose to 14.74 percent from 10.85 percent. In the weeks ahead, the volatile food inflation will determine the course of overall inflation.
For RBI too, the trend is a concern since under the current agreement with the government, if the inflation exceeds 11 percent it will have to explain to the government why it could not be contained (the lower limit is 2 percent).
Which of the following options is the most appropriate?
- (a)
The first paragraph states a cause and the second illustrates the effect.
- (b)
The first paragraph provides information and the second highlights potential application of the information.
- (c)
The first paragraph is an assertion and the second provides an illustration of that assertion.
- (d)
The first paragraph highlights inflation conditions and the second hints at RBI’s inefficiency in managing the situation.
- (e)
The first paragraph highlights pain points and the second contains a remedy for them.
Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:
On Friday morning, Dieting supplement sales company Herbalife agreed to pay the US Federal Trade Commission a $200m fine. The FTC said Herbalife cheated hopeful salespeople out of hundreds of millions of dollars with a high-pressure multi-level marketing scheme.
Herbalife’s stock received an immediate 15% increase following the above news. The company also announced that it would hire a second former FTC commissioner in a press release describing the terms of the settlement.
Which of the following options would imply that the 15 percent increase in stock price is fair?
- (a)
Cheating results in increase in the company’s stock price.
- (b)
When fraudulent companies are exposed, their stock price increases.
- (c)
When fraudulent companies are caught, their stock price initially goes down.
- (d)
Acknowledgement of deceit increases the stock price of companies.
- (e)
Compliance with court order increases the company’s stock price.
This season will pass. The Prime Minister may not win Lok Sabha elections, or she may; she may not continue as Prime Minister, or she may. The country will survive whatever the texture of politics in this decade or the next.
Which of the following, IF TRUE, will BEST reinforce the author’s view?
- (a)
The survival of any Prime Minister is dependent on the country’s economics growth.
- (b)
The country has a vibrant young working population.
- (c)
The survival of the country depends on a dynamic, growth-oriented Prime Minister, not on the texture of politics.
- (d)
The previous season had also witnessed similar political uncertainty.
- (e)
The survival of the Prime Minister is dependent on the political texture of the country.
Ranu is an ordinary sportsperson. In the last two university sprint events, her performances in the heats were pathetic.
Which of the following, if true, weakens the above argument the most?
- (a)
She had participated in the college swimming competition and finished last.
- (b)
She is a national shot-put champion.
- (c)
The last two times, Ranu had to compete with national level runners. Had she been in other heats, she would have reached quarterfinals.
- (d)
Ranu was the only player who represented her college in the sprint events.
- (e)
In the college sprint events, Ranu always won.
Read the following statements carefully:
Statement 1: If you want to understand the causes that existed in the past, look at the results as they are manifested in the present.
Statement 2: Murali did not work as hard as his friends but had secured 1st rank in the examination
Which of the following options is correct with respect to the above two statements?
- (a)
If Statements 2 is right, Statement 1 is invalid.
- (b)
Statement 1 and Statement 2 are contradictory to each other.
- (c)
Statement 2 supplements Statement 1.
- (d)
Statement 2 is a rare occurrence and hence irrelevant.
- (e)
Statement 1 will hold true even if Statement 2 is valid
Read the following statement carefully:
Statement 1:
In India factories dump their waste in the nearby water bodies.
Statement 2:
Government is thinking of granting tax benefits to factories which adopt
eco – friendly practices.
Which of the following options best captures the relationships between Statement 1 and Statement 2?
- (a)
Statement 1 is an example of market failure and Statement 2 corroborates Statement 1.
- (b)
Statement 1 is an example of ‘adverse selection problem’ and Statement 2 is an example of ‘moral hazard problem’.
- (c)
Statement 1 is example of market failure while Statement 2 suggests one way of reducing the problem.
- (d)
Statement 1 is an example of public good and Statement 2 is an example of private good.
- (e)
In Statement 1 the principal is ‘factory’ and in Statement 2 the principal is ‘government’.
The 2001 census showed a sharp fall in the litreacy rate compared to 1991, but an increase in the litreacy rate by 2006 suggests that between 1991 and 2006 India progressed in terms of litreacy rate.
Which of the following statements, if true, best refutes the above argument?
- (a)
One of the causes of more litreacy is the increased population growth rate.
- (b)
Although there was no census in 2006 the information about the litreacy rate is reliable.
- (c)
Many of those who were illitreate in 2001 become litreate by 2006.
- (d)
The rate of fall in litreacy rate between 1991 and 2001 was more than the rate of rise in litreacy rate between 2001 and 2006.
- (e)
The rise in litreacy rate between 2001 and 2006 was due to persistent campaign on television and FM radio.
Ethologists, people who study animal behavior, have traditionally divided an organism’s actions into two categories: learned behavior (based on experience) and instinctive behavior (based on genotype). Some current scholars reject this distinction, claiming that all behavior is a predictable interaction of experience and genotype.
Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the arguments made in the sentence above?
- (a)
All organisms with identical genotypes and identical experience sometimes respond differently in different situations.
- (b)
All organisms with different genotypes and identical experience always respond identically in identical situations.
- (c)
All organisms with similar genotypes and similar experience always respond differently in identical situations.
- (d)
All organisms with identical genotypes and identical experience always respond identically in identical situations.
- (e)
All organisms with identical genotypes and different experience always respond identically in identical situations.
When income tax rates are reduced, there is an increase in taxable income, and an increase in taxable income results in increased total income tax revenues for the government.
Which of the following is analogues to the argument above in terms of its logical features?
- (a)
If the city municipal corporation increases taxes on property by 1% it will raise tax revenues, which can be used for garbage disposal management.
- (b)
The Leader of the Opposition at the Parliament argued that a restriction on the import of Chinese manufacturing products will increase the sales of Indian manufacturing products.
- (c)
An advertisement using more than 25 words of text will not be read, and when an advertisement is not read, the product is not sold. Therefore, the fewer words an advertisement has, the more effective it will be in promoting its product.
- (d)
The balance of payment of a country will improve if the country reduces its imports and increases exports.
- (e)
Citizens earning more than 15 lakh rupees per annum pay at an increased tax rate of 40% Citizens earning less than 1 lakh rupees per annum can be exempted from paying income taxes without decreasing the revenues of the Income Tax Department
In 1867, S. Colum Gilfillan, a sociologist traced the evolution of ships from the dugout canoe to the modern steamship of the day.
Many theories propose the existence of a technology in many forms. From these variations, some perform better and are selected for further use and development.
Till date the people who have thought hardest about the general questions of technology have only been social scientists. They have viewed technology from the outside as stand-alone objects without studying earlier technologies.
Some technologies, for example, the laser, the jet engine, the radar, the quick sort algorithm and the locomotive just appear, or at least they seem to just appear unlike novel biological species which are versions of earlier objects.Radar descends from radio but you can vary 1930s radio circuits as radically you like but you will never get radar. Radar requires a different principle.
Assuming the above statements are true, which option would most strengthen the author’s premise that the question that he has identified has not been solved as yet?
- (a)
I and III
- (b)
II and III
- (c)
I, III and IV
- (d)
II, V and III
- (e)
IV, V and III