CAT 2020 Question Paper | VARC Slot 2

CAT Questions

Para Summary is part of the Verbal ability section(VA). Questions of this type carry negative marks but if done right, they fetch you additional marks. The best way to approach para summary questions is to try and eliminate all the extreme/exaggerated options. Try this easy to medium level question on Para Summary and see if you can get to the right answer without having a look at the solution provided.
To practice more such para summary questions, check out our 2IIM's CAT Question Bank.

Question 23 : The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

The rural-urban continuum and the heterogeneity of urban settings pose an obvious challenge to identifying urban areas and measuring urbanization rates in a consistent way within and across countries. An objective methodology for distinguishing between urban and rural areas that is based on one or two metrics with fixed thresholds may not adequately capture the wide diversity of places. A richer combination of criteria would better describe the multifaceted nature of a city’s function and its environment, but the joint interpretation of these criteria may require an element of human judgment.

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Video Explanation

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Explanatory Answer

The main idea of the paragraph is that, given the rural-urban continuum, in order to identify urban areas and measure urbanization rates in a consistent manner we need not only a richer combination of measurable criteria but also some element of human judgement. Option D captures all key ideas.

Options A and B are limited to one idea, A to human judgement and B to the combination of criteria. Option C is too general and does not include key points.

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The answer is, "With the diversity of urban landscapes, measurable criteria for defining urban areas may need to be supplemented with human judgement."