Dev Anand, CEO of a construction company, recently escaped a potentially fatal accident. Dev had failed to notice a red light while driving his car and attending to his phone calls. His well-wishers advised him to get a suitable replacement for the previous driver Ram Singh, who had resigned three months back. Ram Singh was not just a driver, but also a trusted lieutenant for Dev Anand for the last five years. Ram used to interact with other drivers, and gathered critical information that helped Dev in successfully bidding for different contracts. His inputs also helped Dev to identify some dishonest employees, and to retain crucial employees who were considering attractive offers from his competitors. Some of the senior employees did not like the informal influence of Ram and made it difficult for him to continue in the firm. Dev provided him an alternative job with one of his relatives.
During the last three months Dev has considered different candidates for the post. The back grounds of the candidates are given in the table below.
| Name | Age | Educational Qualification | Experience | Expected Salary / Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunder | 32 | Post Graduate | Seven years of driving experience | 18,000 per month. Ex-employers are highly satisfied. Concern: tendency to switch jobs after every six months. Enjoys new jobs but loses interest after six months. Not willing to commit for more than six months. |
| Mani | 23 | Studied up to Standard IX | One year | 8,000 per month. Claims to have more than one year of experience but can’t provide proof. Received a hike of 2,000 last month due to good performance. |
| Chintan | 44 | Graduate | 20 years | 20,000 per month. Worked as driver for one year after losing stenographer job. Recommended to take up driver job. |
| Bal Singh | 40 | Literate | More than 20 years | 15,000 per month. Cousin of Ram Singh. Substituted Ram as Dev’s driver when Ram was on leave. Currently working as driver with Dev’s in-laws. Strongly recommended by Ram. His knowledge and contacts in the firm are as good as Ram’s. |
| Chethan | 38 | Standard XII | 10 years | 12,000 per month. Worked as temporary driver with Dev’s competitor for the last three years. Competitor recommended him to Dev. Expressed willingness for long-term job if given annual increment of 500. |
Dev is primarily looking for a stable and trustworthy driver, who can be a suitable replacement for Ram. His family members do not want Dev to appoint a young driver, as most of them are inexperienced. Dev’s driver is an employee of the firm and hence the appointment has to be routed through the HR manager of the firm. The HR manager prefers to maintain parity among all employees of the firm. He also needs to ensure that the selection of a new driver does not lead to discontent among the senior employees of the firm.
From his perspective, and taking into account the family’s concerns, Mr. Dev would like to have
Show Hint
- Chethan
- Chintan
- Bal Singh
- Mani
- Sunder
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
Step 2: Family members do {not want a young driver}. That rules out Mani (23). Sunder is unstable (switches every six months; refuses commitment). Chintan has only {one year} of driving and comes from a stenographer background. Chethan is from a competitor and asks a special annual increment.
Step 3: Bal Singh (40) is Ram’s cousin, strongly recommended by Ram, has >20 years’ experience, already substituted for Ram, and knows the firm’s people and processes—closest fit to Ram. Age satisfies the family’s concern.
Hence, Bal Singh is the best choice.
In order to resolve the conflicting preferences, one of Dev’s friends suggested Dev, his family members and the HR manager to identify their most and the least preferred candidates without considering the concerns of other stakeholders.
I. Dev’s most and least preferred candidates: Bal Singh and Chethan respectively
II. Family members’ most and least preferred candidates: Bal Singh and Chintan respectively
III. HR manager’s most and least preferred candidates: Chethan and Bal Singh respectively
Which of the above three statements is/are in conformity with the information provided in the passage?
I. Dev’s most and least preferred candidates: Bal Singh and Chethan respectively
II. Family members’ most and least preferred candidates: Bal Singh and Chintan respectively
III. HR manager’s most and least preferred candidates: Chethan and Bal Singh respectively
Which of the above three statements is/are in conformity with the information provided in the passage?
Show Hint
- Option I
- Option II
- Options I and II
- Options II and III
- Option I, II and III
The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
Step 2: Family’s view (alone). Their only stated concern is “{no young driver},” which disfavors Mani (23). They are not shown to rank Chintan last; indeed Chintan is older and therefore acceptable by their stated criterion. So II does not strictly follow.
Step 3: HR manager’s view (alone). He wants parity and to avoid senior employees’ discontent. Chethan’s {assured annual increment} violates parity; Bal Singh (Ram’s cousin) may also upset seniors, but statement III claims Chethan is “most” preferred—this conflicts with the parity constraint. Hence III is not in conformity.
Therefore, only Statement I conforms.
Who among the following five candidates is most likely to be rejected by the GM (HR)?
Show Hint
- Chethan
- Chintan
- Bal Singh
- Mani
- Sunder
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
Step 2: Senior employees earlier resented Ram’s informal influence. Hiring Bal Singh, Ram’s cousin with similar contacts and influence, risks renewing the same discontent—thus most likely to be rejected by HR.
Step 3: Chethan’s special increment demand hurts parity, but it can be negotiated; it doesn’t by itself antagonize seniors. Others do not trigger strong HR objections relative to Bal Singh’s likely impact on internal harmony.
Hence, Bal Singh is most likely to be rejected by HR.
Top Questions on Complex Arrangement
Girirajan an unemployed youngster from Kumbakonam, Tamilnadu, visited Singapore where his school friend worked as software engineer. In Singapore, Girirajan realized that there were a lot of Tamils in “Little India” area. He soon assessed that there were very few restaurants serving authentic Tamil food and decided to set-up a restaurant “Giri’s” in “Little India” serving authentic Tamil food in traditional banana leaf. Customers loved the food. Very soon word spread about the good quality food served in the traditional way. Girirajan expanded operation recruiting 10 employees, all Tamils.
Six months later, Girirajan realized that a lot of Kannadiga and Telugu customers started visiting the restaurant along with their Tamil friends. One day, a Kannadiga customer looking for Devangere Benne Dosa suggested that it may not be a bad idea for Girirajan to serve Karnataka and Andhra cuisines along with Tamil. With time, the popularity of the reastaurant kept soaring. As a result, a lot of Malays, Indonesians and Chinese started visiting the restaurant. His software engineer friend advised to cater to customers of all nationalities. Despite his desire to go grand, Girirajan realized he did not have enough money to get extra space anywhere in Singapore and banks were also reluctant to lend.
One day, while assessing the business, he realized that the restaurant had 90% occupancy rate during peak hours and 40% during the non-peak hours. Both gures were increasing with time.- XAT - 2017
- Decision Making
- Complex Arrangement
Geetha Gawde can cultivate up to 6 crops a year. Crop A and B are ready for harvest in 2 months; crop C and D in 3 months, and crop E and F in 4 months. Crop A can be cultivated from January to June; crop B can be cultivated from April to September; crop C can be cultivated from May to December; crops D as well as E can be cultivated from August to December, and crop F from November to May. If Geetha plans a change of crop the soil should be left fallow for one month; however, if the same crop is sown no fallow time is needed. Sowing takes place only at the beginning of a month. Geetha can only harvest a maximum of 1000 units of any crop at any point in time. The production cost per unit (incurred at the time of sowing) and price per unit of crop are as follows:
Crop Production Data
Crop Production cost per unit crop (in USD) Price per unit crop (in USD) A \(20\) \(60\) B \(5\) \(55\) C \(25\) \(70\) D \(15\) \(75\) E \(5\) \(65\) F \(35\) \(75\) - XAT - 2016
- Decision Making
- Complex Arrangement
Tina, a blast furnace expert, who works as a technology trouble-shooter, stays in Jamshedpur. She has got an important assignment in Delhi, which requires six hours to complete. The work is so critical that she has to start working the moment she reaches the client’s premises. She is considering various options for her onward and return journey between Jamshedpur to Delhi.
A quick search revealed that ticket from Jamshedpur to Delhi is available in two trains. Trains 12801 and 12443 depart from Jamshedpur station at 06:45 hrs and 15:55 hrs and reach Delhi next day at 04:50 hrs and 10:35 hrs respectively. Trains 12444 and 12802 start from Delhi at 17:20 hrs and 22:20 hrs and reach Jamshedpur next day at 10:35 hrs and 20:05 hrs respectively.
Another option is to reach Ranchi by a three-hour road trip and take a flight to Delhi from Ranchi. The distance between Ranchi and Delhi is covered in 105 minutes both-ways by any of the scheduled flights. Air India operates two flights, AI 9810 and AI 810, which depart Ranchi at 08:00 hrs and 15:25 hrs respectively. Flight number IT-3348 operated by Kingfisher Airlines departs Ranchi at 19:20 hrs. Return flights operated by Air India, AI 9809 and AI 809, depart Delhi at 05:50 hrs and 11:00 hrs respectively. Flight number IT-3347 operated by Kingfisher Airlines departs Delhi at 17:10 hrs.
From Tina’s home, Jamshedpur railway station is five minutes drive, and her destination at Delhi is 90 minutes and 30 minutes drive from airport and railway station respectively. One has to reach the airport at least one hour before the scheduled departure to complete the boarding procedure. At every railway station she loses five minutes in navigating through the crowd.- XAT - 2012
- Decision Making
- Complex Arrangement
In the country of Gagan, air travellers can buy their tickets either directly from the airlines or from three websites that are licensed to offer ticketing services online. In Gagan, most of the commercial transactions are done electronically, and all citizens have an account with its national bank, CeeCee. As a result, the three websites have become popular, and each transaction through these websites carries a surcharge of Gs. 250 (Gs. refers to Guppes, the currency of Gagan). Given below are four post new - year (January 2, 2011, to February 28, 2011) offers from three competing websites:
Cozy _ travel Offer: Make a con rmed booking for any service ( ight ticket, hotel or rail tickets) through Cozy_travel.com from December 5, 2010 to February 8, 2011 and become eligible for two free air tickets (offer is limited to the base fare). Free tickets have to be booked through online request from January 1, 2011 to February 28, 2011. The request for free tickets should be submitted at least twenty-one days in advance. Free tickets are non-amendable (except the passenger's name) and cannot be cancelled. Free ticket cannot be exchanged for cash or kind with anybody. Cozy_travel will try its best to secure the free ticket as per the request. However, ticket con rmation is subject to airline schedule and set availability in airlines selected and nalized by Cozy_travel from speci c available airlines.
Cool_yatra Offer: Book any air ticket of any airline on Cool_yatra.com on or after December 21, 2010 and get your next ticket free. Under this offer, only the base fare of the free ticket will be refunded by Cool_Yatra.com. The customer will have to bear the rest of the charges (other fees and surcharges). The value of the base fare will be refunded to the passenger on/after March 1 or fteen days after completion of travel on the free ticket (whichever is later). The free ticket can be booked only on Gaga Air ights. The free ticket must be booked within fteen days of booking the original ticket, and the travel date of the free ticket must be fteen days after the booking date of the free ticket. There must be a seven-day gap between the travel date of the main/original ticket and the free ticket. The travel date of the free ticket should be on or before February 28, 2011. The free ticket cannot be transferred. On cancellation of the original ticket(s), you no longer remain eligible for the free ticket(s).
Easy_travel Cash Back Offer: Easy travel offers 25% cash back on all air ticket bookings between December 5, 2010 and February 28, 2011 using CeeCee net banking service or its debit/credit card. The cashback amount will be credited back to the customer's account within twenty-one days of making the transaction. Maximum cashback during the period is Gs. 400 per person per ticket, and the total amount that can be claimed by the customer is Gs. 2,400.
Ek Ke Sath Ek Offer from Easy_travel: Book an AirSpice ticket with Easy_travel using any credit/debit card, and get another ticket absolutely free. The free tickets will be issued on AirSpice on its entire network. The offer is valid for sale from January 11, 2011 to January 31, 2011. The free ticket must be booked at least fteen days prior to the date of travel and needs to be completed within the offer period. The promotion code for the free ticket will get activated only seven days after booking the main ticket. Easy_travel will charge a handling fee of Gs. 1000/- per person for any amendments made on the main ticket. Cancellations of tickets purchased under this offer are not permitted. The free ticket obtained under this offer can not be exchanged for cash and cannot be re-routed- XAT - 2011
- Decision Making
- Complex Arrangement
Questions Asked in XAT exam
- In an 8-week course, the teacher conducts a test every week, and the scores are in the range of 1–4. There are only two students enrolled in the course, \(R\) and \(S\). The following conditions are given:
- \(R\) and \(S\) scored the same on the first test.
- From the second test onwards, \(R\) consistently scored the same (a non-zero score).
- The total of the first three test scores of \(R\) equals the total of the first two test scores of \(S\).
- From the fifth test onwards, \(S\) scored the same as \(R\).
- The scores of \(S\) from the first two tests and all the remaining tests follow a geometric progression.
- XAT - 2025
- Algebra
- Arya, a graduate from a reputable institute, got a job in an IT company but became bored after a year. Her best friend S, who worked at the same company, joined a top-tier B-school for an MBA, which tempted Arya to pursue the same path. Her friend assured her that an MBA would boost her career prospects and salary. Arya started preparing for an MBA while continuing her job, but the challenge of balancing preparation with work made her consider leaving the job.
- XAT - 2025
- Analytical Decision Making
- There’s a community 30 km outside of the main city. Mr. S started a grocery business in the community after winning the bid by offering way above the rent initially drafted by the community council. The community council, led by Mr. D, agreed to the offer with a performance review every three years. Mr. S also agreed to provide an additional 15% of his grocery sales to the council, banking on the prospect of selling in higher volumes. After setting up his business, Mr. S noticed that SUV owners in the community usually bought goods in bulk from the city once a week and used his store primarily for daily necessities and occasional big purchases like mixer grinders.
- XAT - 2025
- Analytical Decision Making
- Four reviewers (R1, R2, R3, R4) are in charge of reviewing products from companies A, B, C, and D. Each reviewer provides a rating between 1 and 5 for the products. Due to a technical glitch, the original ratings were deleted, and only the averages calculated for each product (A, B, C, D) and each reviewer (R1, R2, R3, R4) were saved. The data available is as follows:Tasks:
A B C D Average 3 4 4 ? 4 3 ? 5 ? 4 ? 3 3 ? 4 ? ? ? ? 4.25 4 4 4 4.25
1. What are the missing values in the table?
2. How were the missing values calculated?
3.Verify the correctness of the given averages for both rows and columns. - A bought a phone from a store and paid \(\frac{1}{6}\) of the price using UPI, \(\frac{1}{3}\) of the price in cash, and the remaining balance a year later. He also paid 10% interest on the remaining balance after one year. What was the original price of the phone?
- XAT - 2025
- Percentage