Section I: English

EU (25 Q) + RC (15 Q)

Topic of passage: The scarcity of water, the causes and the need to move from a government-owned system to private (as in the case of oil), so that competition has its beneficial effect on the entire process.

The 10 direct questions that were asked from this passage were easily manageable. 3 synonyms were asked of words such as “Determined, Geared, Universal” and 2 antonyms of words such as “Exacerbate, Myriad”, etc.

The grammar-based sentence correction questions were not difficult at all. There were no close options provided. 5 questions were asked based on 6 jumbled sentences about the food insecurity and famine in India. The Cloze test was related to Malaysia’s Independence and its unexpected progress since then.

All in all, quite an easy English section. Ideally, 32-35 questions could have been attempted in the given time period, leading to a score of 25-30.

Section II: Quantitative Ability (QA & DI)

Although easy to solve, this section put a premium on calculation.

Type 1: Find the replacement of (?) from the options.

1. 4357 + 6358 – (?) = 4267
   a) 5648
   b) 5248
   c) 5128
   d) 4838
   e) none
   
   This was a straightforward question. By observation alone, one could have inferred that the answer must be greater than 6358 and hence (e) was the correct option.

2. 432.364 + 54.824 – 8 – 17 = (?)
   a) 462.188        
   b) 457.378        
   c) 467.188        
   d) 463.378        
   e) none

This could have been solved within no time by addition and subtraction alone.

3. 6056 + ² = (161)² – (124)²
   a) 4489
   b) 67                
   c) 57                
   d) 3249
   e) none
   
   Instead of trying to solve this, one could have easily checked for the digit sum of LHS and RHS and deduced that (?)^2 had the digit sum as 7, which could have been verified from the answer options.

Type 2: Find the approximate value of the following.

1. 432.67 x 634.46 + 435
   a) 273000         
   b) 175000         
   c) 275000         
   d) 278000         
   e) 293000
   This question had very close options. One could have calculated 43*65 +45.5 to approximate the values; otherwise this question should have been avoided.

2. (142.42)² + 436.67 – 658.657
   a) 21400           
   b) 20500           
   c) 20000           
   d) 19500           
   e) 19400
   A real tough one with answer options that were too close. Should have been left alone.

DI:
One table on production and sale of wheat (in thousand tonnes) of different companies from 2001 – 2005

1. Which company has highest sale over the years?
2. In which year the production of all the companies was minimum?
3. Sale of 2004 is what percentage of production of 2005?

One should have definitely attempted this set because only calculation was required and no additional logic was involved. In other words, a must-do set.

One pie chart on the expenditure of a family on different commodities in terms of angles (total expenditure is given)

1. What is the amount of expenditure in food and education combined?
2. Amount spent on clothing is what percentage of amount spent on rent?

This set had minimal logic incorporated. The only concern could have been the tough calculation. But one should have definitely attempted this set.

Misc. questions:

1. There is a cube of dimension 18 cm x 18cm x 18 cm. How many cubes of dimension 0.9cm x 0.9 cm x 0.9cm can be made from this cube?
2. Numerator and denominator of a fraction are in the ratio 3:7. Numerator is increased by 300% and denominator is decreased by 500% the fraction becomes 11/ 26. What was the original fraction?
3. (?) / 35 = 315/(?). What is the value of (?)?
4. Rs. 5000 is invested by two friends on SI and CI respectively. What is the difference in interests collected by the two friends?
5. Difference in SI & CI on the same amount in three years at 12% p.a. is Rs. 224.64. What was the principal amount?
6. Anita & Aakash started a business investing Rs. 12000 and Rs. 7000 respectively. After 7 months Aakash invested Rs. 2000 more in the business. Total profit after one year was Rs. 2400. What is the share of Anita?

All the miscellaneous questions could have been solved easily without much effort, leading to a good score.

No. Series:

1. 15  14  26  69  260  ___
2. 3  12  25  42  63  ___
3. 108  54  81  202.5  708.75  ___

One could have also looked at attempting these types of pattern-based questions. Few of them were patterns, which could have been easily identified.

Section III: Analytical Reasoning

A total of 50 questions were asked from the following segments:

1. Logical / Miscellaneous Reasoning: 10

   Coding decoding-3,
   Venn diagram-1
   Word rearrangement -2
   Odd one out -3
   Sequence based question-1

    The level of difficulty was moderate to easy.

2. Caselet: The caselet question was based on a circular sitting arrangement. According to the question, there were 8 people named A,B,C,D,E,F,G and H sitting around a circular table facing the center.  Different conditions were given regarding their positions and 5 questions were asked. This was an easy one!

3. Statement & Conclusions: (5 questions) Based on Statement and conclusions in which different symbols were used to derive a conclusion present amongst the letters given in the question. It proved to be of moderate level of difficulty.

4. Cause and Effect:  (5 questions) Two statements were provided and one was asked to figure out the relationship between them in terms of cause and effect .The level of difficulty was moderate.

5. Statement Course of Action: (5 questions) In these questions, some problem was posed in the statement followed by two courses of action. One had to figure out the correct course. Easy to solve.

6. Statement Arguments:- (5 questions) A statement followed by two arguments was provided and one was asked to figure out the strong argument(s) from the given options. Moderately difficult.

7. Probably True Probably False:- (5 questions) From a short passage different statements and their categorization were asked in terms of Probably True, Probably False, Definitely True, Definitely False and Data Inadequate. The level of difficulty was high.
   

8. Selection Criteria:- (10 questions) Different conditions were given regarding selection in an institute. Various cases were provided and one was asked whether or not the case would be selected or sent for some other treatment. Although moderately difficult, the question proved to be quite time consuming.       
   

Section IV : General Knowledge

1. Which of the following countries is NOT a member of BRIC?
2. What is the misconception due to which farmers use more of chemical fertilizers in their fields?
3. Nari Adalats are run by which of the following states in India?
4. The name of the scheme that deals with woman empowerment (Swa Shakti)
5. The topmost milk producing country of the world? (India)
6. What is the social indicator of a prosperous village?
7. The name of the scheme that dealt with the development of children (ICDS)
8. 5 schemes were given and the health schemes out of the abbreviated options had to be identified.
9. The full form of SEZ was asked. ( Special Economic Zone)
10. Focus Africa is the part of which policy of India?
11. Mohammed Yunus is associated with which bank? (Grameen Bank)
12. The outcomes of ‘Pratham Study’.
13. The total area as per GOI that falls under the Special Economic Zones.
14.  Pragati Farmers is the name of the club that operates in which state of India?
15. The two most populous countries of the world? (India and China)
16. The duration of the present National Population Policy (2000 to 2010)
17. Which type of connectivity is involved in PURA scheme? (Social, Physical, Electronic)?
18. Agriculture subsidies are given on what commodities?
19. What is Quality Employment?

All the best!!
Career Launcher Team