CAT 2020 Question Paper | VARC Slot 3

CAT Questions

Para Summary type of questions are trickier than you expect it to be. In the CAT previous year paper , we saw that there were 3 questions on an average per slot in Para Summary. Though CAT 2020 saw a reduction of questions from 34 to 26, the average no. of questions remained the same for Para Summary. Since it is trickier, and carries negative marking, it will be wiser to attempt it after the other parts of VA like Sentence Elimination and Sentence Rearrangement. We can expect atleast 1 question from this type to be at the easy to moderate difficulty. The best questions to practice for the CAT Exam are the actual CAT Previous Year Paper. We at 2IIM offer you exactly that, in a student friendly format to take value from this.

Question 19 : The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

Brown et al. (2001) suggest that ‘metabolic theory may provide a conceptual foundation for much of ecology just as genetic theory provides a foundation for much of evolutionary biology’. One of the successes of genetic theory is the diversity of theoretical approaches and models that have been developed and applied. A Web of Science (v. 5.9. Thomson Reuters) search on genetic* + theor* + evol* identifies more than 12000 publications between 2005 and 2012. Considering only the 10 most-cited papers within this 12000 publication set, genetic theory can be seen to focus on genome dynamics, phylogenetic inference, game theory and the regulation of gene expression. There is no one fundamental genetic equation, but rather a wide array of genetic models, ranging from simple to complex, with differing inputs and outputs, and divergent areas of application, loosely connected to each other through the shared conceptual foundation of heritable variation.

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Video Explanation

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Explanatory Answer

The paragraph starts with the idea that metabolic theory may provide a conceptual foundation for ecology just as genetic theory did for evolutionary biology. It goes on to explain how the genetic theory worked: through wide array of genetic models loosely connected to each other through theshared conceptual foundation. Option B captures both ideas.

Option A states that metabolic theory "must have" the same range of theoretical approaches and applications. This is not what the paragraph says. Option C does not mention metabolic theory while option D is incorrect, based on the information in the paragraph.

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The answer is, "Genetic theory has a wide range of theoretical approaches and application and is foundational to evolutionary biology and Metabolic theory has the potential to do the same for ecology."