CAT — Para Summary
19 questions, free to view. Click any question to see the answer and explanation.
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Scientific research shows that many animals are very intelligent and have sensory and motor abilities that dwarf ours. Dogs are able to detect diseases such as cancer and diabetes and warn humans of impending heart attacks and strokes. Elephants, whales, hippopotamuses, giraffes, and alligators use low-frequency sounds to communicate over long distances, often miles. Many animals also display wide-ranging emotions, including joy, happiness, empathy, compassion, grief, and even resentment and embarrassment. It's not surprising that animals share many emotions with us because we also share brain structures, located in the limbic system, that are the seat of our emotions.
The advanced sensory and motor abilities of animals is the reason why they can display wide-ranging emotions.
The similarity in brain structure explains why animals show emotions typically associated with humans.
Animals can show emotions which are typically associated with humans.
Animals are more intelligent than us in sensing danger and detecting diseases.
Animals can show emotions which are typically associated with humans.
The passage links animals displaying human-like emotions to the fact that humans and animals share brain structures in the limbic system, which is the seat of emotions. This shared brain structure is presented as the explanation for why animals display these emotions.
Why Option A is
Incorrect: This incorrectly attributes animals' emotional display to their sensory and motor abilities, when the passage actually attributes it to shared brain structure.
Why Option C is
Incorrect: This only states the fact that animals show human-like emotions but omits the explanation for why, the shared brain structure, which the passage explicitly provides.
Why Option D is
Incorrect: This focuses only on animals' sensory abilities in disease detection, ignoring the passage's broader point about animals' emotional similarity to humans and its underlying explanation.
Why Option B is Correct: This captures both pieces, the fact that animals display human-like emotions and the passage's explicit explanation, the similarity in brain structure.
Key Takeaway: A complete summary should include not just what the passage states but also the explanation it provides for that claim.
The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
The return to the tailor is the juxtaposition of three key things for the mindful Indian shopper. The first is the conscious shift away from the homogeneity of fast fashion, the idea of a hundred other people owning exactly the same Zara trench coat or H&M pleated skirt. The second is an actual understanding of the waste behind the fast fashion market, and wanting not to contribute to that anymore. The last is the shift toward customisation and fit—the idea of having imaginations brought to life and to have them fit exactly; without paying exorbitant rates for that bespoke tailoring. For the individual with a keen fashion sense and a genuine desire to move away from the waste and uniformity of fast fashion without paying the premium for it that indie brands would invariably demand, the tailor is the perfect crossover.
The mindful Indian shoppers are returning to the tailor with a genuine desire to wear clothes which are less expensive, fit them well and are yet fashionable.
The mindful Indian shopper is shifting away from convenience and uniformity of clothing, and waste in fashion, to customisation and less exorbitantly priced clothing.
All Indian shoppers are opting for customisation and a shift away from homogeneity over expensive clothing brands like Zara and H&M.
In the Indian retail market, people believe that expensive branded clothes are wasteful and, therefore, are returning to the neighbourhood tailor.
The mindful Indian shopper is shifting away from convenience and uniformity of clothing, and waste in fashion, to customisation and less exorbitantly priced clothing.
The passage describes three motivations driving Indian shoppers back to tailors: rejecting fast fashion's homogeneity, awareness of its waste, and a desire for affordable customisation and fit, without paying indie brand premiums.
Why Option A is
Incorrect: This focuses mainly on affordability and fit, but omits the rejection of homogeneity and waste, which are explicitly stated as two of the three core motivations.
Why Option B is Correct: This captures all three drivers, the shift away from uniformity and waste, and the move toward customisation at non-exorbitant prices, matching the passage closely.
Why Option C is
Incorrect: This overgeneralises with "all Indian shoppers" and misrepresents the comparison, the passage is about avoiding indie brand premiums, not about choosing tailors over Zara and H&M specifically on cost grounds alone.
Why Option D is
Incorrect: This narrows the reasoning to only the perception of wastefulness in expensive clothes, ignoring the equally important points about uniformity and customisation.
Key Takeaway: A good summary must reflect all the distinct motivations the passage lists, not just one of them.
The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
For millennia, in the process of opening up land for agriculture, gardens, grazing and hunting, humans have created ecological "mosaics", or "patchworks": landscapes holding a mixture of habitats, like meadows, gardens and forests. These were not designed as nature reserves, but often catered to hugely diverse animal life. Research indicates that European hay meadows cultivated for animal feed were actually more successful at preserving a vast array of species than meadows explicitly cultivated for biodiversity. Studying the early Holocene, researchers have found that human presence was about as likely to increase biodiversity as reduce it. Of course, not all human-created landscapes have the same value. A paved subdivision with astroturfed lawns is very different to a village with diverse vegetable and flower gardens. But scientists continue to find evidence that the old idea of humans as antithetical to nature is also wrong-headed, and that rosy visions of thriving, human-free environments are more imaginary than real.
In our attempts to shape the world around us to our needs, humans have often created landscapes like meadows, gardens, and forests, which support hugely diverse species, and are more successful at preserving them, than parks created specifically for this.
In terms of preserving biodiversity, scientists are finding increasing evidence that human action is not always antithetical to nature, but often assists the preservation of meadows, landscapes, and flourishing of species.
Studying the early Holocene and human practices over millennia, researchers say that while agricultural meadows, gardens, and forests were not explicitly designed as nature reserves, they actually preserved a vast array of species, belying the idea that humans harm nature.
Contrary to the idea that humans always hurt nature and that it thrives in their absence, a lot of human action across history has been equally likely to increase biodiversity than reduce it, often creating varied ecological landscapes that support a vast array of species.
In our attempts to shape the world around us to our needs, humans have often created landscapes like meadows, gardens, and forests, which support hugely diverse species, and are more successful at preserving them, than parks created specifically for this.
The passage argues that human-shaped landscapes such as meadows and gardens often supported biodiversity as well as or better than reserves designed for that purpose, that human presence in the early Holocene was about as likely to increase biodiversity as reduce it, and that the idea of humans as purely harmful to nature and of pristine human-free environments is largely a myth.
Why Option A is
Incorrect: This captures only the comparative point about meadows outperforming reserves, missing the passage's larger conclusion that humans are not inherently harmful to nature.
Why Option B is
Incorrect: This overstates the claim, suggesting human action generally assists preservation, when the passage actually says human impact was equally likely to help or harm biodiversity.
Why Option C is
Incorrect: This captures the historical detail accurately but omits the nuance that human impact could go either way, and drops the closing point about human-free environments being more imaginary than real.
Why Option D is Correct: This captures the central contradiction, that human action across history has been just as likely to increase biodiversity as reduce it, often producing varied landscapes supporting diverse species, which directly reflects the passage's strongest claim.
Key Takeaway: A correct summary must include the passage's final and strongest claim, not just a supporting detail from earlier in the argument.
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Different from individuals, states conduct warfare operations using the DIME model— "diplomacy, information, military, and economics." Most states do everything they can to inflict pain and confusion on their enemies before deploying the military. In fact, attacks on vectors of information are a well-worn tactic of war and usually are the first target when the charge begins. It's common for telecom data and communications networks to be routinely monitored by governments, which is why the open data policies of the web are so concerning to many advocates of privacy and human rights. With the worldwide adoption of social media, more governments are getting involved in low-grade information warfare through the use of cyber troops. According to a study by the Oxford Internet Institute in 2020, cyber troops are "government or political party actors tasked with manipulating public opinion online." The Oxford research group was able to identify 81 countries with active cyber troop operations, utilizing many different strategies to spread false information, including spending millions on online advertising.
Following the DIME model, many governments have taken advantage of open data policies of the web to deploy cyber troops who manipulate domestic public opinion, using advertising and other strategies to spread false information.
Governments primarily use the DIME model to deploy cyber troops who practise low-grade information warfare, seeking to manipulate public opinion with the objective of inflicting pain and confusion on their enemies.
Using the DIME model, together with military operations, many governments simultaneously conduct information warfare with the help of cyber troops and routinely monitor telecom data and communications networks.
As part of conducting information warfare as per the DIME model, many governments routinely monitor telecom data and communications networks, and use cyber troops on social media to manipulate public opinion.
As part of conducting information warfare as per the DIME model, many governments routinely monitor telecom data and communications networks, and use cyber troops on social media to manipulate public opinion.
The passage explains the DIME model, notes that information is typically the first target in warfare, mentions governments monitoring telecom networks, introduces social media enabling cyber troops, and closes with the Oxford study's finding about 81 countries using cyber troops to spread false information. The correct summary must capture the information warfare thread through telecom monitoring and cyber troops without distorting the scope.
The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
In 1903, left-wing feminist Elizabeth Magie invented The Landlord's Game, the original version of what became Monopoly. It was designed as a powerful teaching tool to illustrate the dangers of monopolies and how wealth could concentrate in the hands of a few. The game featured a circular path, properties, and a "Go to Jail" space. Magie created two rule sets: one "monopolist" version where players crushed opponents through accumulation, and another, more radical "Prosperity" version, where everyone shared in the wealth, promoting fairness and equity. Years later, unemployed Charles Darrow sold a simplified version to Parker Brothers. They paid Magie only $500 for her patent—without royalties—and credited Darrow as the sole inventor. For decades, his tale of inventing the game in his basement remained the official story, while Magie's name and her original, anti-capitalist message were left in the shadows.
It is ironical that a left-wing feminist lost credit for the Landlord's Game to an unemployed man, who plagiarised and sold one version of the twin game to Parker Brothers for a meagre sum, denying her royalties.
Celebrated icons of the gaming industry, Charles Darrow and Parker Brothers, snatched the feminist icon Elizabeth Magie's original design and transformed Monopoly into a worldwide phenomenon, while barely acknowledging her.
Only one version of Monopoly became famous because of Charles Darrow's relentless basement work, carefully refining Elizabeth Magie's original idea into an engaging and entertaining pastime that he successfully patented and sold, symbolizing what many regarded as the ultimate triumph of individual ingenuity.
Parker Brothers' capitalist intent led to them acquiring from Charles Darrow a simplified version of Elizabeth Magie's original game, transforming it into a widespread commercial success while providing her only minimal financial compensation and granting scant public recognition.
It is ironical that a left-wing feminist lost credit for the Landlord's Game to an unemployed man, who plagiarised and sold one version of the twin game to Parker Brothers for a meagre sum, denying her royalties.
The passage centers on the irony that Magie, the original feminist inventor, lost credit and fair compensation to Darrow, who sold a simplified version of her game to Parker Brothers for a small one-time sum without royalties, while his fabricated origin story replaced her name in history.
Why Option A is Correct: This captures the irony of credit being stolen, the meagre payment without royalties, and the erasure of Magie's name and message, matching the passage closely.
Why Option B is
Incorrect: This describes Darrow and Parker Brothers as "celebrated icons," which is not supported and shifts focus away from the irony of Magie's erasure to their success instead.
Why Option C is
Incorrect: This frames Darrow's basement work as careful refinement and individual ingenuity, which misrepresents the passage, since Darrow simply sold a simplified version and is not credited with the depth of innovation this option implies.
Why Option D is
Incorrect: This focuses heavily on Parker Brothers' capitalist intent and frames the transaction mechanically, missing the personal irony of Magie being a left-wing feminist whose anti-capitalist message was buried, which is central to the passage.
Key Takeaway: Choose the summary that captures both the factual sequence of events and the tone or irony the passage is building toward.
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
When the tradwife puts on that georgic, pinstriped dress, she is not just admiring the visual cues of a fantastical past. She takes these dreams of storybook bliss literally, tracing them backward in time until she reaches a logical conclusion that satisfies her. And by doing so, she ends up delivering an unhappy reminder of just how much our lives consist of artifice and playacting. The tradwife outrages people because of her deliberately regressive ideals. And yet her behaviour is, on some level, indistinguishable from the non-tradwife's. The tradwife's trollish genius is to beat us at our own dress-up game. By insisting that the idyllic cottage daydream should be real, right down to the primitive gender roles, she leaves others feeling hollow, cheated. The hullabaloo and headaches she causes may be the price we pay for taking too many things at face value: our just deserts, served Instagram-perfect by a manicured hand on a gorgeous ceramic dish, with fat, mouthwatering maraschino cherries on top.
The tradwife's commitment to outdated gender roles and retro fashion critiques the superficiality of today's societal ideals.
By promoting an idealized past, the tradwife exposes the artifice of contemporary values and mocks societal norms.
The tradwife, with her vintage dress and traditional roles, highlights the superficiality of modern life and challenges current societal norms.
The tradwife's vintage dress and adherence to traditional roles reveal the artificial nature of modern life and its superficial values.
The tradwife, with her vintage dress and traditional roles, highlights the superficiality of modern life and challenges current societal norms.
The passage argues that the tradwife, by insisting on making her idyllic domestic fantasy real, exposes how much of modern life is artifice and playacting, leaving others feeling hollow because she beats them at their own game of dress-up. The key points are the tradwife's vintage aesthetic, her traditional gender roles, her exposure of modern superficiality, and her challenge to contemporary norms.
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
John Cleese told Fox News Digital that comedians do not have the freedom to be funny in 2022. "There's always been limitations on what they're allowed to say," Cleese said. "I think it's particularly worrying at the moment because you can only create in an atmosphere of freedom, where you're not checking everything you say critically before you move on. What you have to be able to do is to build without knowing where you're going because you've never been there before. That's what creativity is — you have to be allowed to build. And a lot of comedians now are sitting there and when they think of something, they say something like, 'Can I get away with it? I don't think so. So and so got into trouble, and he said that, oh, she said that.' You see what I mean? And that's the death of creativity."
Comedians must not check what they think and say. They must go where no one has gone before.
Creativity and critical thinking cannot work together. Comedians must first be creative, and later be critical.
Comedians are being prevented from saying what they want and that is the death of this art form.
Freedom and creativity are essential for comedy. Fear about offending people hinders originality.
Freedom and creativity are essential for comedy. Fear about offending people hinders originality.
Cleese's argument is that creative work requires freedom from self-censorship, that the moment comedians start filtering their ideas by asking whether they can get away with something, creativity is killed. The passage is not about restrictions on what comedians are allowed to say in a legal sense, but about how fear of offending others stifles originality.
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Cartographers design and create maps to communicate information about phenomena located somewhere on our planet. In the past, cartographers did not worry too much about who was going to read their maps. Although some simple "usability" research was done—like comparing whether circle or bar symbols worked best—cartographers knew how to make maps. This has changed now, however, due to all kinds of societal and technological developments. Today, map readers are more demanding—mostly because of the tools they use to read maps. Cartographers, who are also influenced by these trends, are now more interested in seeing if their products are efficient, effective, and appreciated.
Today, cartographers also need to look into the usability of maps because of the new technological developments.
Modern mapmakers evaluate a map's effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction of the user through a series of experiments.
Maps are being used for a variety of reasons and therefore map readers have become more demanding.
New technological developments have prompted cartographers to experiment with their maps by applying these new innovations.
Today, cartographers also need to look into the usability of maps because of the new technological developments.
The passage describes how cartographers previously didn't worry much about who read their maps, but due to societal and technological developments, they are now more focused on usability, efficiency, effectiveness and user appreciation of their products.
Why Option B is
Incorrect: This claims modern cartographers evaluate maps "through a series of experiments," a specific methodological detail not stated as the defining current practice in the passage, which speaks more generally about increased interest in usability.
Why Option C is
Incorrect: This shifts the cause to "maps being used for a variety of reasons," which is not the stated reason in the passage, the passage attributes the change to societal and technological developments affecting how readers use maps.
Why Option D is
Incorrect: This frames cartographers as experimenting with new innovations themselves, but the passage's focus is on their growing concern for usability and reader experience, not on adopting new mapping technologies themselves.
Why Option A is Correct: This matches the passage's central point, that technological developments have made cartographers more attentive to usability, a shift from their earlier indifference to how maps were read.
Key Takeaway: Choose the summary that reflects the passage's stated cause, here technological developments, rather than an unstated or loosely related cause.
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Lyric poetry is a genre of private meditation rather than public commitment. The impulse in Marxism toward changing a society deemed unacceptable in its basic design would seem to place demands on lyric poetry that such poetry, with its tendency toward the personal, the small scale, and the idiosyncratic, could never answer. There is within Marxism, however, also a strand of thought that would locate in lyric poetry alternative modes of perception and description that call forth a vision of worlds at odds with a repressive reality or that draw attention to the workings of ideology within the hegemonic culture. The poetic imagination may indeed deflect larger social concerns, but it may also be implicitly critical and utopian.
The focus of lyric poetry is largely personal while that of Marxism is bringing change in society. Unless the difference is resolved, poetry will remain largely utopian.
Marxism has internal contradictions due to which one strand of Marxism sees no merit in lyric poetry while another appreciates the alternative modes of perception in poetry.
The focus of lyric poetry as personal may not seem compatible with Marxism. However, it is possible to envisage lyric poetry as a symbol of resistance against an oppressive culture.
Marxism makes unreasonable demands on lyric poetry. However, lyric poetry has its own merits that are largely ignored by Marxism due to its personal nature.
The focus of lyric poetry as personal may not seem compatible with Marxism. However, it is possible to envisage lyric poetry as a symbol of resistance against an oppressive culture.
The passage argues that lyric poetry, while focused on the personal and idiosyncratic, can nonetheless serve as a vehicle for implicit social critique and utopian vision within a Marxist framework, since some Marxist thought finds in poetry alternative modes of perception that resist repressive reality.
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Certain codes may, of course, be so widely distributed in a specific language community or culture, and be learned at so early an age, that they appear not to be constructed — the effect of an articulation between sign and referent — but to be 'naturally' given. Simple visual signs appear to have achieved a 'near-universality' in this sense: though evidence remains that even apparently 'natural' visual codes are culture specific. However, this does not mean that no codes have intervened; rather, that the codes have been profoundly naturalized. The operation of naturalized codes reveals not the transparency and 'naturalness' of language but the depth, the habituation and the near-universality of the codes in use. They produce apparently 'natural' recognitions. This has the (ideological) effect of concealing the practices of coding which are present.
Learning linguistic and visual signs at an early age makes all such codes appear natural. This naturalization of codes is the effect of ideology.
Not all codes are natural but certain codes are naturalized and made to appear universal. Ideology aims to hide the mechanism of coding behind signs.
Language and visual signs are codes. However, some of the codes are so widespread that they not only seem naturally given but also hide the mechanism of coding behind the signs.
All codes, linguistic and visual, have a natural origin but some are so widespread that they become universal. This is what hides the mechanism of coding behind signs.
Language and visual signs are codes. However, some of the codes are so widespread that they not only seem naturally given but also hide the mechanism of coding behind the signs.
The passage argues that codes, both linguistic and visual, are not naturally given but are constructed, and that some codes become so widespread and deeply naturalised that they appear natural, which conceals the fact that coding practices are at work behind these supposedly natural signs.
Why Option A is
Incorrect: This claims early learning makes "all such codes" appear natural, which overgeneralises, the passage specifically discusses certain widely distributed codes becoming naturalised, not a blanket claim about all codes through early learning alone.
Why Option B is
Incorrect: This is close but frames the naturalisation as being specifically due to "ideology" aiming to hide coding, when the passage frames the ideological effect as a consequence of naturalisation, not its driving purpose.
Why Option D is
Incorrect: This incorrectly states that all codes have a "natural origin," when the passage's central point is the opposite, that codes are constructed, not naturally given, even when they appear that way due to widespread use.
Why Option C is Correct: This accurately captures the passage's full argument, that codes are constructed, some become so widespread they seem naturally given, and this naturalisation conceals the mechanism of coding behind the signs.
Key Takeaway: Watch for summaries that subtly reverse the passage's claim about origin, mistaking what merely "appears natural" for what the passage says is "naturally given."
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Passage: People spontaneously create counterfactual alternatives to reality when they think "if only" or "what if" and imagine how the past could have been different. The mind computes counterfactuals for many reasons. Counterfactuals explain the past and prepare for the future, they implicate various relations including causal ones, and they affect intentions and decisions. They modulate emotions such as regret and relief, and they support moral judgments such as blame. The ability to create counterfactuals develops throughout childhood and contributes to reasoning about other people's beliefs, including their false beliefs.
Counterfactuals help people to prepare for the future by understanding intentions and making decisions.
People create counterfactual alternatives to reality for various reasons, including reasoning about other people's beliefs.
Counterfactual alternatives to reality are created for a variety of reasons and is part of one's developmental process.
Counterfactual thinking helps to reverse past and future actions and reason out false beliefs.
Counterfactual alternatives to reality are created for a variety of reasons and is part of one's developmental process.
The passage states that people create counterfactual alternatives for many reasons, covering past explanation, future preparation, causal relations, decision-making, emotional modulation and moral judgment, and that this ability develops throughout childhood and contributes to reasoning about others' beliefs.
Why Option A is
Incorrect: This captures only one of the many purposes of counterfactuals, preparing for the future and making decisions, leaving out all the others the passage lists.
Why Option B is
Incorrect: This captures the multiple reasons for counterfactual thinking but omits the developmental aspect, which the passage explicitly includes as a key component.
Why Option C is Correct: This captures both elements, the variety of reasons for creating counterfactuals, and the developmental dimension, that counterfactual thinking is part of one's developmental process contributing to reasoning about others' beliefs.
Why Option D is
Incorrect: This says counterfactual thinking helps reverse past and future actions, which is not what the passage says. The passage says counterfactuals explain the past and prepare for the future, not that they reverse actions, which is a distortion of the original claim.
Key Takeaway: A complete summary must reflect both the breadth of the list the passage provides and any separate developmental or contextual dimension the passage identifies as a distinct component of the argument.
The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Zombie cells may contribute to age-related chronic inflammation: this finding could help scientists understand more about the aging process and why the immune system becomes less effective as we get older. Zombie or "senescent" cells are damaged cells that can no longer divide and grow like normal cells. Scientists think that these cells can contribute to chronic health problems when they accumulate in the body. In younger people, the immune system is more effective at clearing senescent cells from the body through a process called apoptosis, but as we age, this process becomes less efficient. As a result, there is an accumulation of senescent cells in different organs in the body, either through increased production or reduced clearance by the immune system. The zombie cells continue to use energy though they do not divide, and often secrete chemicals that cause inflammation, which if persistent for longer periods of time can damage healthy cells leading to chronic diseases.
Senescent "zombie" cells are inactive or malfunctioning cells that can be found throughout the body.
A younger person's immune system is healthy and is able to clear the damaged cells, but as people age, the zombie cells resist apoptosis, and start accumulating in the body.
Aging leads to less effective apoptosis, and therefore zombie cells start to accumulate in the body, causing inflammation, which accelerates aging and leads to chronic diseases.
Dead cells accelerate chronic inflammation weakening the immune system and lead to aging.
Aging leads to less effective apoptosis, and therefore zombie cells start to accumulate in the body, causing inflammation, which accelerates aging and leads to chronic diseases.
The passage explains that zombie cells accumulate because the immune system becomes less efficient at clearing them as we age, and that these cells cause chronic inflammation by secreting chemicals, which damages healthy cells and leads to chronic diseases.
Why Option A is
Incorrect: This only defines senescent cells as inactive or malfunctioning and found throughout the body, but omits the mechanism of accumulation, the inflammation process, and the link to chronic disease.
Why Option B is
Incorrect: This describes the contrast between young and old immune systems but misrepresents the passage by saying zombie cells "resist apoptosis," when the passage actually says the immune system becomes less efficient at clearing them, not that the cells themselves actively resist.
Why Option C is Correct: This captures the full causal chain, aging leads to less efficient apoptosis, zombie cells accumulate, they cause inflammation, and this leads to chronic disease, matching the passage's core argument precisely.
Why Option D is
Incorrect: This confuses the description by calling the cells "dead" rather than senescent cells that are damaged but still metabolically active, and also reverses causality by implying the cells weaken the immune system rather than accumulating because the immune system weakens.
Key Takeaway: A summary must accurately reflect both the mechanism and the direction of causality described in the passage, not just the end result.
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Manipulating information was a feature of history long before modern journalism established rules of integrity. A record dates back to ancient Rome, when Antony met Cleopatra and his political enemy Octavian launched a smear campaign against him with "short, sharp slogans written upon coins." The perpetrator became the first Roman Emperor and "fake news had allowed Octavian to hack the republican system once and for all". But the 21st century has seen the weaponization of information on an unprecedented scale. Powerful new technology makes the fabrication of content simple, and social networks amplify falsehoods peddled by States, populist politicians, and dishonest corporate entities. The platforms have become fertile ground for computational propaganda, 'trolling' and 'troll armies'.
Disinformation, which is mediated by technology today, is not new and has existed since ancient times.
People need to become critical of what they read, since historically, weaponization of information has led to corruption.
Use of misinformation for attaining power, a practice that is as old as the Octavian era, is currently fueled by technology.
Octavian used fake news to manipulate people and attain power and influence, just as people do today
Use of misinformation for attaining power, a practice that is as old as the Octavian era, is currently fueled by technology.
The passage argues that manipulation of information is not new, having existed since ancient Rome with Octavian's smear campaign, but that the 21st century has seen this weaponisation of information on an unprecedented scale due to powerful new technology and social media platforms.
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Recent important scientific findings have emerged from crossing the boundaries of scientific fields. They stem from physicists collaborating with biologists, sociologists and others, to answer questions about our world. But physicists and their potential collaborators often find their cultures out of sync. For one, physicists often discard a lot of information while extracting broad patterns; for other scientists, information is not readily disposed. Further, many non-physicists are uncomfortable with mathematical models. Still, the desire to work on something new and different is real, and there are clear benefits from the collision of views.
Despite differences in their research styles, physicists' research collaborations with scholars from other disciplines have yielded important research findings.
Large data sets and mathematical models in physics research combined with the research methods of non-physicist collaborators have yielded important scientific findings.
The desire to diversify their research and answer important questions has led to several collaborations between physicists and other social scientists.
Physicists have successfully buried their differences on research methods applied in other fields in their desire to find answers to baffling scientific questions.
Despite differences in their research styles, physicists' research collaborations with scholars from other disciplines have yielded important research findings.
The passage states that important scientific findings have come from physicists crossing into other fields, acknowledges that there are cultural differences and methodological friction, but concludes that the desire to work on something new is real and the collision of views has clear benefits.
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Passage: Heatwaves are becoming longer, frequent and intense due to climate change. The impacts of extreme heat are unevenly experienced; with older people and young children, those with pre-existing medical conditions and on low incomes significantly more vulnerable. Adaptation to heatwaves is a significant public policy concern. Research conducted among at-risk people in the UK reveals that even vulnerable people do not perceive themselves as at risk of extreme heat; therefore, early warnings of extreme heat events do not perform as intended. This suggests that understanding how extreme heat is narrated is very important. The news media play a central role in this process and can help warn people about the potential danger, as well as about impacts on infrastructure and society.
Protection from heat waves is important but current reports and public policies seem ineffective.
People are vulnerable to heatwaves caused due to climate change, measures taken are ineffective.
Heatwaves pose an enormous risk; the media plays a pivotal role in alerting people to this danger.
News stories help in warning about heatwaves, but they have to become more effective.
Heatwaves pose an enormous risk; the media plays a pivotal role in alerting people to this danger.
The passage makes two key points, that heatwaves are becoming more severe and unevenly harmful to vulnerable groups, and that early warnings are ineffective because vulnerable people do not perceive themselves as at risk, which makes media narration of heat events crucial.
Why Option A is
Incorrect: This says current reports and public policies seem ineffective, but the passage focuses specifically on why early warnings don't work and the role of media narration, not on a general ineffectiveness of policies.
Why Option B is
Incorrect: This says people are vulnerable and measures taken are ineffective, which captures only the problem but omits the passage's specific conclusion about the central role of media narration in addressing this gap.
Why Option C is Correct: This captures both the risk posed by heatwaves and the passage's specific conclusion that media plays a pivotal role in alerting people to this danger, directly reflecting the passage's final and most important point.
Why Option D is
Incorrect: This focuses only on news stories needing to become more effective, which goes beyond the passage by adding a normative recommendation about improvement that the passage does not explicitly make. The passage identifies the role of media as important, not that it is currently failing and needs to improve.
Key Takeaway: Choose the summary that reflects the passage's conclusion rather than one that adds a normative prescription the passage does not make or that omits the passage's final and most important claim.
The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
In investigating memory-beliefs, there are certain points which must be borne in mind. In the first place, everything constituting a memory-belief is happening now, not in that past time to which the belief is said to refer. It is not logically necessary to the existence of a memory-belief that the event remembered should have occurred, or even that the past should have existed at all. There is no logical impossibility in the hypothesis that the world sprang into being five minutes ago, exactly as it then was, with a population that "remembered" a wholly unreal past. There is no logically necessary connection between events at different times; therefore nothing that is happening now or will happen in the future can disprove the hypothesis that the world began five minutes ago. Hence the occurrences which are CALLED knowledge of the past are logically independent of the past; they are wholly analysable into present contents, which might, theoretically, be just what they are even if no past had existed.
When we discuss the concept of memory-beliefs, we must understand that it is not logically impossible for the event remembered to have never happened at all; it could just be a figment of our imagination.
Memory-beliefs depend wholly on what is remembered in the present, and not on anything else; just as it is not logically impossible that the world came into being five minutes ago, and that everyone now just remembers a wholly imaginary past for it.
When investigating memory beliefs, we must keep in mind that an actual past event is not a prerequisite for a memory-belief to exist, and that what we know of the past could theoretically not need a past at all.
That which we call 'knowledge of the past' is logically independent of the past, since the act of remembering which forms memory-beliefs happens in the present, and does not need to be based in real past occurrences, or even need a past at all.
That which we call 'knowledge of the past' is logically independent of the past, since the act of remembering which forms memory-beliefs happens in the present, and does not need to be based in real past occurrences, or even need a past at all.
The passage argues that memory-beliefs occur entirely in the present, that the actual past event is not logically necessary for a memory-belief to exist, and uses the hypothesis of a world springing into existence five minutes ago to show that what we call "knowledge of the past" is logically independent of any real past.
Why Option A is
Incorrect: This focuses only on the possibility that a remembered event never happened, but misses the deeper logical claim that knowledge of the past as a whole does not depend on the past existing at all.
Why Option B is
Incorrect: This restates the hypothesis and the idea that memory-beliefs depend on the present, but does not capture the conclusion as precisely, that what is called knowledge of the past is logically independent of the past itself.
Why Option C is
Incorrect: This captures the idea that an actual past is not a prerequisite, but stops short of stating the specific conclusion that what we call "knowledge of the past" is itself logically independent of the past, the passage's most precise closing claim.
Why Option D is Correct: This captures both the conclusion, that knowledge of the past is logically independent of the past, and the reasoning behind it, that memory-beliefs happen in the present and do not require any actual past to have occurred.
Key Takeaway: Choose the summary that includes both the passage's central logical conclusion and the reasoning that supports it, rather than one that only captures part of the argument.
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Colonialism is not a modern phenomenon. World history is full of examples of one society gradually expanding by incorporating adjacent territory and settling its people on newly conquered territory. In the sixteenth century, colonialism changed decisively because of technological developments in navigation that began to connect more remote parts of the world. The modern European colonial project emerged when it became possible to move large numbers of people across the ocean and to maintain political control in spite of geographical dispersion. The term colonialism is used to describe the process of European settlement, violent dispossession and political domination over the rest of the world, including the Americas, Australia, and parts of Africa and Asia.
As a result of developments in navigation technology, European colonialism led to the displacement of indigenous populations and global political changes in the 16th century.
Colonialism, conceptualized in the 16th century, allowed colonizers to expand their territories, establish settlements, and exercise political power.
Technological advancements in navigation in the 16th century, transformed colonialism, enabling Europeans to establish settlements and exert political dominance over distant regions.
Colonialism surged in the 16th century due to advancements in navigation, enabling British settlements abroad and global dominance.
Technological advancements in navigation in the 16th century, transformed colonialism, enabling Europeans to establish settlements and exert political dominance over distant regions.
The passage argues that colonialism as a general phenomenon is ancient, that it changed decisively in the sixteenth century due to advances in navigation technology, and that modern European colonialism specifically involved using these advances to move large numbers of people across oceans and maintain political control over remote territories.
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Humans have managed to tweak the underlying biology of various plants and animals to produce high-tech crops and microbes. But regulating these entities is complicated, as the framework of policies and procedures are outdated and not flexible enough to adapt to emerging technology. The question is whether regulation will ever be able to keep up with human innovation, to regulate living things, which are apt to be unpredictable and unique; to capture all the potential risks when new biological entities are introduced, or when they pass on variations of their genes?
The mercurial nature of biological entities calls for scientists to shape the regulations governing emerging technology, with regular calibration to handle variations in the field.
A new framework of rules and procedures for regulating the most recent research emerging from biotechnology is urgently needed, to keep up with this rapidly changing discipline.
Current regulation of biotechnology is outdated, but it is debatable if we can create a framework, imaginative and flexible, to cover all contingencies in this fast-changing area.
The problem with formulating regulation for innovation in the scientific arena it that it is impossible to imagine the outcomes or risks related to the outcomes of all the research.
Current regulation of biotechnology is outdated, but it is debatable if we can create a framework, imaginative and flexible, to cover all contingencies in this fast-changing area.
The passage states that humans have tweaked biology to produce high-tech crops and microbes, that regulating these entities is complicated because existing frameworks are outdated and inflexible, and poses the open question of whether regulation can ever keep up with innovation given the unpredictability of living things.
The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
In the dynamic realm of creativity, artists often find themselves at the crossroads between drawing inspiration from diverse cultures and inadvertently crossing into the territory of cultural appropriation. Inspiration is the lifeblood of creativity, driving artists to create works that resonate across borders. The globalized nature of the modern world invites artists to draw from a vast array of cultural influences. When approached respectfully, inspiration becomes a bridge, fostering understanding and appreciation of cultural diversity. However, the line between inspiration and cultural appropriation can be thin and easily blurred. Cultural appropriation occurs when elements from a particular culture are borrowed without proper understanding, respect, or acknowledgement. This leads to the commodification of sacred symbols, the reinforcement of stereotypes, and the erasure of the cultural context from which these elements originated. It's essential to recognize that the impact of cultural appropriation extends beyond the realm of artistic expression, influencing societal perceptions and perpetuating power imbalances.
Artists in a globalised world must navigate between drawing inspiration from diverse cultures respectfully and cultural appropriation that involves borrowing without proper acknowledgement which has broader societal impacts including perpetuating power imbalances.
In today's world of creativity, artists have to decide between respectfully acknowledging works that are inspired by diverse cultures and appropriating elements without respect for their contexts.
In a globalised world, artists must draw from diverse cultural influences to create works that appeal to all, and this results in instances of both inspiration and cultural appropriation.
Artists must navigate the thin line between inspiration and cultural appropriation, where respectful inspiration fosters cultural understanding whereas appropriation involves borrowing without acknowledgement leading to commodification and reinforcement of stereotypes.
Artists in a globalised world must navigate between drawing inspiration from diverse cultures respectfully and cultural appropriation that involves borrowing without proper acknowledgement which has broader societal impacts including perpetuating power imbalances.
The passage discusses both respectful inspiration, which builds cultural understanding, and cultural appropriation, which involves borrowing without acknowledgement and leads to commodification, stereotype reinforcement, erasure of cultural context, and broader societal harm including power imbalances.
Why Option B is
Incorrect: This omits the broader societal impacts including perpetuating power imbalances and the erasure of cultural context, which the passage explicitly includes as consequences of cultural appropriation extending beyond just artistic expression.
Why Option C is
Incorrect: This misrepresents the passage by suggesting that drawing from diverse cultural influences necessarily results in both inspiration and appropriation, as if appropriation is an inevitable by-product of cultural exchange, which is not what the passage argues.
Why Option D is
Incorrect: This captures the distinction between inspiration and appropriation but does not include the passage's explicit point that appropriation's impact extends beyond art to broader societal perceptions and power imbalances.
Why Option A is Correct: This captures all the key elements, navigating between respectful inspiration and appropriation, the defining features of each, and the broader societal impacts of appropriation including perpetuating power imbalances.
Key Takeaway: A complete summary must include not just the central distinction being drawn but also the broader consequences the passage explicitly attributes to the negative outcome being described.
Want this as a timed attempt?
Log in free to attempt this topic with a real timer, analytics, streaks and bookmarks.