XAT 2021 Question Paper | XAT VALR

XAT Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning | XAT 2021 Question Paper

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XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

Read the following statements and answer the question that follows.
1. Behavioral models in finance most often critique the efficient market hypothesis, which states that if investors behave rationally then prices should reflect all available information about the financial asset in consideration.
2. A number of behavioral models, including feedback models where investors bid up the price, have been used to explain this phenomenon.
3. But asset price bubbles and crashes belie this conclusion.
4. Finance is one of the fields where behavioral models have been used extensively, enough for behavioral finance.
5. This idea of “irrational exuberance” is now widely accepted and used in financial analysis, especially while analyzing asset price bubbles.
Arrange the above five statements in a logical sequence.
1. 1, 3, 2, 5, 4
2. 1, 4, 2, 3, 5
3. 4, 1, 3, 2, 5
4. 4, 5, 1, 3, 2
5. 4, 3, 1, 5, 2
Choice C
4, 1, 3, 2, 5
XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

Read the following statement:
While start-ups have__________ reach, _____ they introduce ________ products, they open-up ________ markets.
Fill in the blanks meaningfully, in the above statement, from the following options.
1. Limited, since, new, innovative
2. Limited, when, innovative, new
3. Restricted, while, innovative, new
4. Limited, if, new, innovative
5. Restricted, when, new, innovative
Choice B
Limited, when, innovative, new
XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

Read the following statements and answer the question that follows.
1. Some countries are, at least, trying to curb emissions.
2. Morocco is building a colossal solar-power plant in the desert.
3. States in the Middle East and North Africa can do little on their own to mitigate climate change.
4. Saudi Arabia is not going to stop exporting oil, but it plans to build a solar plant that will be about 200 times the size of the biggest such facility operating today.
5. Politics often gets in the way of problem solving.
Arrange the above five statements in a logical sequence.
1. 4,2,1,5,3
2. 5,3,1,4,2
3. 5,1,3,4,2
4. 3,1,5,2,4
5. 3,5,1,2,4
Choice E
3,5,1,2,4
XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

Which of the following sentences uses a WRONG tag-question?
1. There’s little point in doing anything about the match, is there?
2. He has few reasons for saying no to the match, has he?
3. Nobody has called for you, have they?
4. Moreover, he plays well, isn’t it?
5. You like to play, don’t you?
Choice D
Moreover, he plays well, isn’t it?

Read the following poem and answer the two questions that follow.
Sit, drink your coffee here; your work can wait awhile. You're twenty-six, and still have some of life ahead. No need for wit; just talk vacuities, and I'll Reciprocate in kind, or laugh at you instead.
The world is too opaque, distressing and profound. This twenty minutes' rendezvous will make my day: To sit here in the sun, with grackles all around, Staring with beady eyes, and you two feet away.

XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

Which of the following BEST captures the essence of the poem?
1. Let’s create our own meaning in life, no matter what.
2. Let’s eat, drink and be merry in the lap of nature.
3. Let’s celebrate our existence, not our work.
4. Let’s be gibberish, not rational about life.
5. Let’s enjoy a moment of peace in this busy life.
Choice E
Let’s enjoy a moment of peace in this busy life.
XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

What does the poet BEST convey by mentioning grackles in these lines, “...with grackles all around, /Staring with beady eyes, and you two feet away.”?
1. We should not care about grackles, but us.
2. Over witty discussions, grackles are the pleasant birds to look at.
3. Grackles love to stare at us; however, they maintain a two-feet distance.
4. A small bird like grackle can give us lots of happiness.
5. Grackles, like humans, love to bask in the Sun.
Choice A
We should not care about grackles, but us.

Read the following passage and answer the two questions that follow.
And that has to do with the question of uncertainty and doubt. A scientist is never certain. We all know that. We know that all our statements are approximate statements with different degrees of certainty; that when a statement is made, the question is not whether it is true or false but rather how likely it is to be true or false. We must discuss each question within the uncertainties that are allowed. And as evidence grows it increases the probability perhaps that some idea is right or decreases it. But it never makes absolutely certain one way or the other. Now, we have found that this is of paramount importance in order to progress. We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and there is no learning. There is no learning without having to pose a question. And a question requires doubt. People search for certainty. But there is no certainty. People are terrified- how can you live and not know? It is not odd at all. You only think you know as a matter of fact. And most of your actions are based on incomplete knowledge and you really don’t know what it is all about or what the purpose of the world is or know a great deal of other things. It is possible to live and not know.

XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

What does the author BEST mean when he says, “We must discuss each question within the uncertainties that are allowed?”
1. The uncertainties are limited by the nature of the answers sought.
2. There is a finite set of uncertainties for any question.
3. The question decides the amount of uncertainties that are allowed.
4. The uncertainties should be relevant to the question.
5. We must be prepared to accept errors in the answers we seek.
Choice E
We must be prepared to accept errors in the answers we seek.
XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

Which of the following BEST describes the essence of the passage?
1. Reasonable scepticism is the characteristic of a scientific mind.
2. Doubting the established world order is the purpose of science.
3. Science can never give a conclusive answer to a question.
4. Progress involves questioning accepted truths.
5. Reasonable discomfort with certainty is the path for progress.
Choice A
Reasonable scepticism is the characteristic of a scientific mind.

Read the following passage and answer the three questions that follow.
Most of recorded human history is one big data gap. Starting with the theory of Man the Hunter, the chroniclers of the past have left little space for women’s role in the evolution of humanity, whether cultural or biological. Instead, the lives of men have been taken to represent those of humans overall. When it comes to the lives of the other half of humanity, there is often nothing but silence.
And these silences are everywhere. Our entire culture is riddled with them. Films, news, literature, science, city planning, economics. The stories we tell ourselves about our past, present and future. They are all marked—disfigured—by a female-shaped ‘absent presence’. This is the gender data gap.
The gender data gap isn’t just about silence. These silences, these gaps, have consequences. They impact on women’s lives every day. The impact can be relatively minor. Shivering in offices set to a male temperature norm, for example, or struggling to reach a top shelf set at a male height norm. Irritating, certainly. Unjust, undoubtedly.
But not life-threatening. Not like crashing in a car whose safety measures don’t account for women’s measurements. Not like having your heart attack go undiagnosed because your symptoms are deemed ‘atypical’. For these women, the consequences of living in a world built around male data can be deadly.
One of the most important things to say about the gender data gap is that it is not generally malicious, or even deliberate. Quite the opposite. It is simply the product of a way of thinking that has been around for millennia and is therefore a kind of not thinking. A double not thinking, even: men go without saying, and women don’t get said at all. Because when we say human, on the whole, we mean man.
This is not a new observation. Simone de Beauvoir made it most famously when in 1949 she wrote, ‘humanity is male and man defines woman not in herself, but as relative to him; she is not regarded as an autonomous being. [...] He is the Subject, he is the Absolute—she is the Other.’ What is new is the context in which women continue to be ‘the Other’. And that context is a world increasingly reliant on and in thrall to data. Big Data. Which in turn is panned for Big Truths by Big Algorithms, using Big Computers. But when your big data is corrupted by big silences, the truths you get are half-truths, at best. And often, for women, they aren’t true at all. As computer scientists themselves say: ‘Garbage in, garbage out.’

XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

Based on the passage, which of the following statements BEST explains “absent presence”?
1. The absence makes the case for the need for presence.
2. By its sheer absence, it is present.
3. The presence is felt due to the specificity of the absence.
4. The absence is female-shaped, making it present.
5. Because of the absence, one can recognise its presence.
Choice C
The presence is felt due to the specificity of the absence.
XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

Based on the passage, which of the following options BEST describes “double not thinking”?
1. Whenever humans are mentioned, it is men; further, women are not mentioned.
2. Men, over millennia, always confused human with being only male.
3. Men not thinking and women not being allowed to think is due to double not thinking.
4. Men’s rejection of women as humans and women’s acceptance of it is the double not thinking.
5. Over millennia, men and women have been conditioned to treat women as unequal.
Choice A
Whenever humans are mentioned, it is men; further, women are not mentioned.
XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

Which of the following statements can be BEST concluded from the passage?
1. The gender data gap is amplified by data-based decision making.
2. Emphasis on data-based decision making, can be devastating to women, given the gender data gap.
3. The need of the hour is to revisit the past, and reduce the gender data gap at the earliest.
4. Women have never been treated as distinct identities which causes the gender data gap.
5. Over millennia, men ignored women, which resulted in the gender data gap and deadly consequences.
Choice B
Emphasis on data-based decision making, can be devastating to women, given the gender data gap.
XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

Read the following sentences and answer the question that follows.
1. In my opinion, Tom Jones is a picaresque novel.
2. According to me, Tom Jones is a bildungsroman.
3. The books were distributed between Jessica, Neha and Swati. 4. The books were distributed among Jessica and Neha.
5. Life teaches us important lessons.
6. The life moves forward, teaches backward.
Which of the above sentences are grammatically CORRECT?
1. 1, 3, 5
2. 2, 4, 6
3. 2, 3, 6
4. 1, 4, 6
5. 1, 4, 5
Choice A
1, 3, 5
XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

Read the following passage and answer the question that follows.
We can think of the history of life on earth as a vast, long-term experiment in pure competition. Every living organism is competing with all other living organisms for resources (nutrients, sunlight, water, territory, etc.). Nature, or the natural world, is a laboratory of unfettered competition. It’s a dog-eat-dog, no-holds-barred, day-in and day-out struggle.
There are no governmental regulators to protect the weak or favor the strong. All organisms are given a chance, but not necessarily an equal chance. As the climate and the environment change (and change they do), some organisms are favored over others at times, but these advantages are fleeting. What nature gives, nature can take away.
Which of the following can be BEST concluded from the passage?
1. Without unforgiving competition, the planet will be inundated with the weak.
2. Nature gives a fair opportunity to every organism to survive.
3. Competition is critical to ensure the survival of the fittest.
4. Forgiveness is alien to the natural world.
5. Brutal competition is the only constant in the natural world.
Choice E
Brutal competition is the only constant in the natural world.
XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

Read the following passage and answer the question that follows.
Twitter is not on the masthead of a newspaper. But Twitter has become its ultimate editor. As the ethics and mores of that platform have become those of the paper, the paper itself has increasingly become a kind of performance space. Stories are chosen and told in a way to satisfy the narrowest of audiences, rather than to allow a curious public to read about the world and then draw their own conclusions.
Based on the passage, the writer’s disappointment can be BEST summarised as:
1. Newspapers are ready to compromise with their ethics.
2. Newspapers fear to speak outside the narrow confines of social media.
3. Newspapers get influenced by the followers on social-media platforms.
4. Newspapers create their own narratives to control the audience.
5. Newspapers cave into the narratives shared on social-media platforms.
Choice E
Newspapers cave into the narratives shared on social-media platforms.
XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

Read the following sentences and answer the question that follows.
1. We are going to a restaurant but we haven’t decided which one. 2. We went to the toilet behind a tree.
3. It was the November after we went to Indonesia.
4. My friend is travelling to UK.
5. She drinks medicine by a litre.
6. Would you rather go out or watch a TV.
Which of the above sentences have INCORRECT usages of articles?
1. 4, 5, 6
2. 3, 4, 5
3. 6, 1, 2
4. 1, 2, 3
5. 2, 3, 4
Choice A
4, 5, 6

Read the following passage and answer the three questions that follow.
Considering the multitude of situations in which we humans use numerical information, life without numbers is inconceivable. But what was the benefit of numerical competence for our ancestors, before they became Homo sapiens? Why would animals crunch numbers in the first place? It turns out that processing numbers offers a significant benefit for survival, which is why this behavioural trait is present in many animal populations.
Several studies examining animals in their ecological environments suggest that representing number enhances an animal’s ability to exploit food sources, hunt prey, avoid predation, navigate in its habitat, and persist in social interactions. Before numerically competent animals evolved on the planet, single-celled microscopic bacteria — the oldest living organisms on earth — already exploited quantitative information. The way bacteria make a living is through their consumption of nutrients from their environment. Mostly, they grow and divide themselves to multiply. However, in recent years, microbiologists have discovered they also have a social life and are able to sense the presence or absence of other bacteria; in other words, they can sense the number of bacteria. Take, for example, the marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri. It has a special property that allows it to produce light through a process called bioluminescence, similar to how fireflies give off light. If these bacteria are in dilute water solutions (where they are alone), they make no light. But when they grow to a certain cell number of bacteria, all of them produce light simultaneously. Therefore, Vibrio fischeri can distinguish when they are alone and when they are together.
Somehow they have to communicate cell number, and it turns out they do this using a chemical language. They secrete communication molecules, and the concentration of these molecules in the water increases in proportion to the cell number. And when this molecule hits a certain amount, called a quorum, it tells the other bacteria how many neighbours there are, and all bacteria glow. This behaviour is called “quorum sensing”: The bacteria vote with signalling molecules, the vote gets counted, and if a certain threshold (the quorum) is reached, every bacterium responds. This behavior is not just an anomaly of Vibrio fischeri; all bacteria use this sort of quorum sensing to communicate their cell number in an indirect way via signalling molecules.

XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

Which of the following statements CANNOT be inferred from the passage?
1. Ancestors of Homo sapiens exploited resources in groups.
2. Ancestors of Homo sapiens used numerical competence.
3. Ancestors of Homo sapiens sensed numbers.
4. Ancestors of Homo sapiens hunted in groups.
5. Ancestors of Homo sapiens interacted solely using numbers.
Choice E
Ancestors of Homo sapiens interacted solely using numbers.
XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

Based on the passage, which of the following statements BEST defines “quorum sensing” in bacteria?
1. Bacteria respond when they discern enough numbers around them.
2. Bacteria communicate only in numerical terms with others.
3. Bacteria do not communicate beyond certain numbers.
4. Bacteria chat only when they are in groups.
5. Bacteria multiply only till they reach their required numbers.
Choice A
Bacteria respond when they discern enough numbers around them.
XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

Which of the following statements is NOT based on the premises of the passage?
1. People protest in large numbers because it helps them get their voices heard.
2. No one can whistle a symphony; it takes a whole orchestra to play it.
3. To de-escalate a border tension, countries carry out mirror deployment.
4. Politicians rally with numbers to woo their undecided voters.
5. Teams fear a red card as it would present an advantage for the opponents.
Choice B
No one can whistle a symphony; it takes a whole orchestra to play it.
XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

Read the following passage and answer the question that follows.
The painting, which is in poor condition, suggests that a highly advanced artistic culture existed some 44,000 years ago, punctuated by folklore, religious myths and spiritual belief. The scene may be regarded not only as the earliest dated figurative art in the world but also as the oldest evidence for the communication of a narrative in Palaeolithic art.
"This is noteworthy, given that the ability to invent fictional stories may have been the last and most crucial stage in the evolutionary history of human language and the development of modern-like patterns of cognition” researchers said.
Which of the following can be BEST concluded from the passage?
1. Evolution of modern-day languages started with Palaeolithic era, evidenced through the painting.
2. The painting timestamps the beginning of the evolution of modern-like cognitive abilities.
3. The painting puts chronological context to the evolution of modern-like cognitive abilities.
4. Advanced cognitive abilities of Palaeolithic people is substantiated by the painting.
5. Palaeolithic people possessed advanced artistic culture, evidenced through paintings.
Choice C
The painting puts chronological context to the evolution of modern-like cognitive abilities.

Read the following excerpt and answer the two questions that follow.
Para 1: We plan to right-size our manufacturing operations to align to the new strategy and take advantage of integration opportunities. We expect to focus phone production mainly in Hanoi, with some production to continue in Beijing and Dongguan. We plan to shift other Microsoft manufacturing and repair operations to Manaus and Reynosa respectively, and start a phased exit from Komaron, Hungary.
Para 2: In short, we will focus on driving Lumia volume in the areas where we are already successful today in order to make the market for Windows Phone. With more speed, we will build on our success in the affordable smart phone space with new products offering more differentiation. We’ll focus on acquiring new customers in the markets where Microsoft’s services and products are most concentrated. And, we will continue building momentum around applications.
Para 3: We plan that this would result in an estimated reduction of 12500 factory direct and professional employees over the next year. These decisions are difficult for the team, and we plan to support departing team members with severance benefits.

XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

Which of the following can be BEST described as the core message of the excerpt?
1. Microsoft is shifting its base of production for Lumia along with the places it is interested in selling them.
2. Microsoft is reducing cost of operations and the number of staff involved in operations.
3. Microsoft is reducing its cost of operations, marketing and human resources while staying the course on Lumia.
4. Microsoft is reducing its cost of operations and downsizing staff while staying optimistic about the future.
5. Microsoft is closing poorly performing factories and personnel though it thinks Lumia has a future.
Choice D
Microsoft is reducing its cost of operations and downsizing staff while staying optimistic about the future.
XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

In conveying the core message, the Para 2:
1. Assuages panic
2. Predicts a rosy picture
3. Reassures a promising future
4. Digresses from the line of thought
5. Elaborates the core message
Choice C
Reassures a promising future

Read the following passage and answer the two questions that follow.
We stand before this great world. The truth of our life depends upon our attitude of mind towards it - an attitude which is formed by our habit of dealing with it according to the special circumstance of our surroundings and our temperaments. It guides our attempts to establish relations with the universe either by conquest or by union, either through the cultivation of power or through that of sympathy. And thus, in our realization of the truth of existence, we put our emphasis either upon the principle of dualism or upon the principle of unity.

XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

Which of the following statements can be BEST inferred from the passage?
1. Conquest and union are two ways of realising the truth of our life.
2. Our habits and surroundings determine the truth of our life.
3. War and conquest are a part of the truth of our life.
4. Principle of dualism is inferior to the principle of unity.
5. The truth of our life co-evolved with our quest for sympathetic supremacy.
Choice A
Conquest and union are two ways of realising the truth of our life.
XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

According to the passage, our emphasis on dualism or on unity is BEST guided by:
1. Our attitude of mind, formed by our habits
2. Our desire to achieve versus our focus on contentment
3. How powerful or sympathetic our surroundings and temperament are
4. How we deal with our surroundings and our temperaments
5. Our deals with the universe, based on special circumstances
Choice D
How we deal with our surroundings and our temperaments

Read the following passage and answer the three questions that follow.
Multitasking has been found to increase the production of the stress hormone cortisol as well as the fight-or-flight hormone adrenaline, which can overstimulate your brain and cause mental fog or scrambled thinking. Multitasking creates a dopamine addiction feedback loop, effectively rewarding the brain for losing focus and for constantly searching for external stimulation. To make matters worse, the prefrontal cortex has a novelty bias, meaning that its attention can be easily hijacked by something new—the proverbial shiny objects we use to entice infants, puppies, and kittens. The irony here for those of us who are trying to focus amid competing activities is clear: The very brain region we need to rely on for staying on task is easily distracted. We answer the phone, look up something on the Internet, check our email, send an SMS, and each of these things tweaks the novelty-seeking, reward-seeking centers of the brain, causing a burst of endogenous opioids (no wonder it feels so good!), all to the detriment of our staying on task. It is the ultimate empty-caloried brain candy. Instead of reaping the big rewards that come from sustained, focused effort, we instead reap empty rewards from completing a thousand little sugarcoated tasks.
In the old days, if the phone rang and we were busy, we either didn’t answer or we turned the ringer off. When all phones were wired to a wall, there was no expectation of being able to reach us at all times—one might have gone out for a walk or be between places, and so if someone couldn’t reach you (or you didn’t feel like being reached), that was considered normal. Now more people have cell phones than have toilets. This has created an implicit expectation that you should be able to reach someone when it is convenient for you, regardless of whether it is convenient for them. This expectation is so ingrained that people in meetings routinely answer their cell phones to say, “I’m sorry, I can’t talk now, I’m in a meeting.” Just a decade or two ago, those same people would have let a landline on their desk go unanswered during a meeting, so different were the expectations for reachability.

XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

According to the passage, why do people in meetings routinely answer their cell phones to say, “I’m sorry, I can’t talk now, I’m in a meeting.”?
1. Because, it is convenient for people to send a message.
2. Because, if you carry a cell phone, you have to reply.
3. Because, it conveys that the receiver is a busy person.
4. Because, people don’t mind if somebody takes a brief phone call.
5. Because, in meetings, cell phones allow people to multitask.
Choice B
Because, if you carry a cell phone, you have to reply.
XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

What does the author BEST intend to convey when he says, “Now more people have cell phones than have toilets?”
1. The need to be connected is more pronounced now.
2. The number of cell phone users has increased over time.
3. Cell phones have become a bigger necessity.
4. The usage of toilets is limited, while cell phones are used all the time.
5. Everybody wants to stay connected, using cell phones.
Choice E
Everybody wants to stay connected, using cell phones.
XAT 2021 Question Paper - VALR

Which of the following can be BEST inferred from the passage?
1. Multitasking gives you happiness, single-tasking gives you satisfaction.
2. Multitasking gives you a feeling of achieving many things, single-tasking enables actually achieving something.
3. Multitasking helps you move towards different goals, single-tasking helps you achieve the one.
4. Multitasking helps you complete thousands of tasks, single-tasking makes you do one.
5. Multitasking takes you all over, single-tasking helps you achieve some goals.
Choice B
Multitasking gives you a feeling of achieving many things, single-tasking enables actually achieving something.