A2Z is a state-funded leading engineering college in the country, renowned for its teaching and placements. Now, A2Z aspires to be a global leader in research as well. A2Z has, therefore, decided to push for better quality research from its newly recruited faculty members. In the past, a few faculty members were confirmed because of their exceptional teaching feedback even though their research output was below par. Currently, the Dean, in consultation with the academic council, has included the quality of research as a mandatory requirement along with teaching excellence for the confirmation of the newly recruited faculty members. (The academic council comprises of the senior faculty members from different departments.)
Initially, newly recruited faculty members are put on a probation for three years. Either they are confirmed or their probation is extended or their services are terminated, based on teaching and research contributions. Once confirmed, their job is secure along with other additional perquisites.
Aparna joined the social sciences department of A2Z two years back. She is amongst the many faculty members, recruited after the new norms for confirmation were introduced. She completed her doctorate from a reputed university in the USA, with a significant research contribution. However, after joining A2Z, Aparna got deeply involved in social outreach as COVID-19 was spreading. Though her social outreach has given her immense satisfaction, she has nothing to show against research contributions; further, it has impacted her teaching effectiveness. Her confirmation is due in a year.
The Dean, during the annual appraisal of Aparna, realizes that her research contribution needs considerable investment of time and efforts. He is concerned that her performance could set a wrong precedent for the new faculty recruits. The dean wants to communicate to the new faculty recruits that research contribution is critical.
Which of the following actions will BEST help the Dean in achieving the objective, while being fair to Aparna?
Which of the following actions will BEST help the Dean in achieving the objective, while being fair to Aparna?
- Extend Aparna’s probation period by an additional year, while reminding her about the research and teaching contributions needed for confirmation
- Appreciate Aparna’s social outreach, but advise her to focus on research and teaching contributions as they are essential for confirmation
- Increase her teaching and research requirements, while extending her probation period by two years
- Suggest Aparna to start looking for a new job in the time available to her
- Exhort Aparna to suspend her social outreach activities till the end of her probation, and to focus on research and teaching instead
The Correct Option is B
Approach Solution - 1
The scenario presented is a classic case of balancing priorities and ensuring that faculty members meet the institute's standards. The Dean's aim is to emphasize the importance of research contributions among the new faculty recruits at A2Z, while also being fair to Aparna.
- Understanding the Context:
- A2Z is a state-funded engineering college focused on becoming a leader in research.
- The new mandate requires a balance of teaching excellence and quality research for confirmation.
- Aparna, a new faculty member, has focused more on social outreach, affecting her research and teaching effectiveness.
- With confirmation due in a year, the Dean must address Aparna’s lack of research output effectively.
- Evaluating the Options:
- Extend Aparna’s probation period by an additional year: This does not directly address the issue of communicating the importance of research to new recruits.
- Appreciate Aparna’s social outreach, but advise her to focus on research and teaching: This option balances appreciating Aparna's efforts while clearly indicating the need to focus on her research and teaching contributions for confirmation. Hence, it effectively communicates to her the critical areas of focus and indirectly informs other recruits of what is expected of them.
- Increase her teaching and research requirements, while extending her probation period by two years: This might seem harsh and may demotivate Aparna, potentially leading to dissatisfaction.
- Suggest Aparna to start looking for a new job: This is not a constructive solution as it doesn’t address the concern and can demotivate Aparna unnecessarily.
- Exhort Aparna to suspend her social outreach activities: This could frustrate Aparna by disregarding her satisfaction from social outreach and may not necessarily improve her research and teaching.
- Conclusion:
The best approach is to appreciate Aparna's social outreach but advise her to focus on research and teaching contributions as they are essential for confirmation. This strategy emphasizes the criticality of research for both Aparna and other new faculty members while recognizing her past contributions.
Approach Solution -2
The Dean must balance fairness to Aparna with the need to send a strong message to the new faculty recruits that research contribution is essential.
- Option 1: Only extends probation. This delays the issue without addressing the importance of research.
- Option 3: Increases pressure unfairly. This is too harsh and counterproductive.
- Option 4: Suggesting Aparna to leave disregards her contributions and is not fair.
- Option 5: Asking her to suspend social work undermines her valuable outreach activities.
Option 2 is the most balanced choice. It recognizes Aparna’s social outreach (fairness) while firmly reminding her that research and teaching are the core requirements for confirmation. This also sets the correct example for new recruits.
Therefore, Option 2 is the most appropriate action.
One year on, Aparna continues with her social work. Gradually, she gets closer to the end of her probation and she has not much to show against her teaching and research contributions. However, her social work has been widely appreciated by the local media. The Chief Minister of the state wants Aparna to take a larger role in social outreach and assist the government. The Dean is afraid that not confirming Aparna might prompt her to leave the institution, sending a wrong signal to the outside world. However, he also wants to send a message to the newly joined faculty members that teaching and research contributions are essential for confirmation.
Which of the following actions by the Dean is the MOST sustainable given the circumstances?
Which of the following actions by the Dean is the MOST sustainable given the circumstances?
- Offer Aparna a five-year contractual position after which she has to leave irrespective of her contributions
- Offer to create a non-teaching position of outreach officer for Aparna, but terminate her from the teaching position
- Extend Aparna’s probation by three years, and tell her that she would have to leave if her research and teaching do not improve in that period
- Confirm Aparna, but freeze her increments and promotions until her research contributions are as per the expected standards
- Declare that Aparna’s extraordinary achievement deserves to be treated exceptionally, and confirm her
The Correct Option is C
Approach Solution - 1
To answer this question, we need to consider several aspects of the scenario involving Aparna, a faculty member at A2Z. The institution places importance on both teaching and research for faculty confirmation. Aparna's unique situation demands that the Dean balances between institutional standards and individual exceptions.
- Objective of A2Z: A2Z aspires to be a global leader in research while maintaining its teaching standards. The confirmation policy was revised to ensure faculty meet these dual goals.
- Aparna's Current Situation: Aparna has made significant contributions to social outreach, which have been recognized externally, but she lacks accomplishments in teaching and research at A2Z.
- Institutional Policy: The institution has set a regimen where both research contributions and teaching effectiveness are mandatory for faculty confirmation.
- Alternative Outcomes Analysis:
- Offer Aparna a five-year contract? This might not address the core issues of aligning her work with institutional goals.
- Create a non-teaching position? This dismisses the importance of academic contributions and may not serve long-term aspirations of the college.
- Freeze increments and promotions if confirmed? This doesn't directly incentivize improvement, and confirmation might set a wrong precedent.
- Declare extraordinary achievement? This undermines the institution’s revised standards and may lead to dissatisfaction among other faculty who follow the guidelines.
- Extend probation by three years, requesting improvement? This provides plenty of time for Aparna to align with institutional requirements while acknowledging her current contributions and potential.
- Conclusion: Extending Aparna’s probation by three years, with the condition of enhanced research and teaching contributions, strikes a balance between recognizing her social outreach efforts and upholding the institution's valued research standards. This decision sends a clear message to newly joined faculty members regarding the expectations for confirmation while not losing a potentially valuable faculty member.
Approach Solution -2
Step 1: Core Conflict
- Aparna excels in social work but underperforms in research and teaching. - The Dean must balance institutional standards (teaching & research are essential) with external reputation (Aparna has political and media recognition). - A sustainable action is required, avoiding both favoritism and rigidity.
Step 2: Evaluate Options
- Option 1: Five-year contract then exit — inflexible, sends a negative message, not sustainable.
- Option 2: Outreach officer role — removes her from academics, but creates precedent of creating special roles, unsustainable.
- Option 3: Extend probation by three years with clear conditions — balanced, fair, allows Aparna time to improve while upholding standards.
- Option 4: Confirm with frozen increments — weakens standards; sends a wrong message to new faculty that confirmation can happen without research.
- Option 5: Exceptional confirmation — favoritism, undermines credibility of academic evaluation.
Step 3: Conclusion
The most sustainable solution is to extend Aparna’s probation. It reassures external stakeholders of fairness, while also preserving the academic integrity of the institute.
Final Answer:
\[ \boxed{\text{Option (C): Extend probation by three years with clear teaching \& research requirements.}} \]
A few months later, Aparna, during an interview with the local media, inadvertently expresses her fear that she might be let go by A2Z because she has not met its teaching and research requirements. Consequently, the academic council urges the Dean to review the faculty confirmation policy. The Dean, however, believes that any change in the policy will be a setback to the institute’s aspirations of becoming a global leader in research.
Which of the following actions by the Dean will be the MOST appropriate, given the circumstances?
Which of the following actions by the Dean will be the MOST appropriate, given the circumstances?
- Confirm Aparna, but ask her to issue a public statement, acknowledging the importance A2Z gives to research contributions
- Tell Aparna that she is being let go for insulting the college on a public platform
- Confirm Aparna, but make it clear that her future promotions will be tied to her research contribution and teaching feedback
- Convey to Aparna that the institute is eager to retain her; however, emphasize that she should focus on research to get confirmed
- Give an interview to a local newspaper and share Aparna’s lack of research and poor teaching feedback
The Correct Option is D
Approach Solution - 1
To solve this scenario-based question, we must consider Aparna's situation, the institute's expectations, and the most suitable course of action for the Dean that aligns with the institute's goals without causing unnecessary friction. Let's analyze the options given:
- Confirm Aparna, but ask her to issue a public statement, acknowledging the importance A2Z gives to research contributions.
- Tell Aparna that she is being let go for insulting the college on a public platform.
- Confirm Aparna, but make it clear that her future promotions will be tied to her research contribution and teaching feedback.
- Convey to Aparna that the institute is eager to retain her; however, emphasize that she should focus on research to get confirmed.
- Give an interview to a local newspaper and share Aparna’s lack of research and poor teaching feedback.
Let's evaluate these options:
- Option 1: This option seems to address the public relations aspect but might not directly contribute to Aparna meeting the academic criteria required for her confirmation.
- Option 2: Immediately letting Aparna go is a harsh step that neglects her potential contributions and doesn't offer her a chance to improve.
- Option 3: Confirming Aparna and setting expectations for future promotions aligns partially with long-term goals but doesn't directly address her immediate need to meet the current confirmation criteria.
- Option 4: This approach strikes a balance between motivating Aparna and reinforcing the institute’s research focus. It encourages Aparna to enhance her research output while expressing the institution's willingness to support her.
- Option 5: Publicly criticizing Aparna could damage her reputation and doesn't constructively solve the matter.
Therefore, the most appropriate action by the Dean is Option 4: "Convey to Aparna that the institute is eager to retain her; however, emphasize that she should focus on research to get confirmed." This strategy aligns with A2Z's goals of enhancing research contributions while also providing Aparna with the guidance she needs to secure her position.
Option 4 provides constructive feedback, supports institutional goals, and communicates the institute's interest in Aparna's career development, making it the best choice given the context.
Approach Solution -2
Step 1: Identify the Core Conflict
- Aparna has publicly expressed doubts about meeting research and teaching requirements. - The council wants flexibility, but the Dean believes policy change will harm A2Z’s research leadership goals. Thus, the Dean needs to balance faculty support with institutional standards.
Step 2: Evaluate Options
- Option 1: Confirming Aparna despite shortcomings undermines research standards. A public statement doesn’t solve the problem.
- Option 2: Letting her go immediately for her statement is harsh, retaliatory, and harms reputation.
- Option 3: Confirming her now but tying promotions to research weakens entry-level standards — a poor precedent.
- Option 4: Best approach — reassures Aparna of the institute’s intent to retain her, but emphasizes research contribution as a must for confirmation.
- Option 5: Publicly criticizing Aparna is unprofessional and damages institutional credibility.
Step 3: Logical Conclusion
The Dean should neither dilute institutional standards nor act harshly. Option 4 balances compassion with academic rigor: retain talent, but reinforce that confirmation depends on research performance.
Final Answer:
\[ \boxed{\text{Option (D): Retain Aparna with reassurance, but emphasize research focus for confirmation.}} \]
Top Questions on Reading Comprehension
- Shown below are letters ‘e’ taken from four popular logos, arranged in a sequence. Which of the options is the correct sequence?
- UCEED - 2026
- English Language Comprehension
- Reading Comprehension
- Shown below are four options, each showing consecutive frames representing the movement of a pendulum of an old-style wall clock for an animation movie. Which is the correct option?
- UCEED - 2026
- English Language Comprehension
- Reading Comprehension
- Acrucial moderating factor in how people experience comparisons is self-esteem. Individuals with high self-esteem are more likely to interpret upward comparison as informative rather than threatening. They are more resilient in the face of others’ success and more likely to believe they can reach their own goals. In contrast, people with low self-esteem are more prone to interpret comparison as judgment, reinforcing negative self-views and triggering feelings of inadequacy.
This dynamic creates a self-reinforcing loop. People with high self-esteem are less vulnerable to upward comparison, which intensifies those doubts. Those with a secure sense of self are more likely to use comparison as a learning tool. The same external stimulus—a colleague’s achievements, a friend’s popularity—can have radically different effects depending on internal stability.
Self-esteem also influences how people choose their comparison targets. Research has found that individuals often engage in “selective comparison,” seeking out those who confirm their existing beliefs about themselves. This can become a subtle form of self-sabotage. Someone who feels unworthy may subconsciously seek out targets that reinforce that sense, perpetuating a narrative of inferiority. One of the most promising antidotes to social comparison is temporal comparison—evaluating oneself not against others, but against one’s own past. This method has been shown to increase motivation and satisfaction, especially when individuals can see concrete progress. Temporal comparison activates the same reward circuits as social comparison but avoids the threat systems associated with social ranking. It also reinforces agency: individuals focus on what they can control and improve rather than what others control. In therapeutic and coaching settings, temporal comparison is used to help clients build self-efficacy and track growth over time.
Moreover, people who focus on self-improvement rather than social dominance are less likely to fall into cycles of envy or self-pity. They can still use others as inspiration, but they do so without attaching their self-worth to the outcome. This is not to say they never compare—but that they focus on learning, rather than judgment. The most skilful approach to comparison may lie in eliminating it, but in reframing it as feedback. When we interpret comparison as information rather than a verdict, we can ask, “What can I learn from this?” This shift turns comparison into a growth tool. Teachers mentor their students, not as rivals. Psychologists emphasize that the key variable here is mindset.
A fixed mindset sees comparison as a threat. If someone else is better, it means we are worse. A growth mindset sees comparison as a map. If someone else has reached a certain level, it means the path exists. This reframing is not just a cognitive trick. It changes the emotional tone of comparison, making it more likely to inspire than to wound. Reframing also requires emotional regulation—the ability to notice an initial pang of envy or shame without reacting impulsively. With practice, individuals can learn to pause, reflect, and reinterpret their emotional responses. Over time, this builds resilience and self-trust, allowing comparison to become a learning tool rather than a cage.- XAT - 2026
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Reading Comprehension
When people who are talking don’t share the same culture, knowledge, values, and assumptions, mutual understanding can be especially difficult. Such understanding is possible through the negotiation of meaning. To negotiate meaning with someone, you have to become aware of and respect both the differences in your backgrounds and when these differences are important. You need enough diversity of cultural and personal experience to be aware that divergent world views exist and what they might be like. You also need the flexibility in world view, and a generous tolerance for mistakes, as well as a talent for finding the right metaphor to communicate the relevant parts of unshared experiences or to highlight the shared experiences while demphasizing the others. Metaphorical imagination is a crucial skill in creating rapport and in communicating the nature of unshared experience. This skill consists, in large measure, of the ability to bend your world view and adjust the way you categorize your experiences. Problems of mutual understanding are not exotic; they arise in all extended conversations where understanding is important.
When it really counts, meaning is almost never communicated according to the CONDUIT metaphor, that is, where one person transmits a fixed, clear proposition to another by means of expressions in a common language, where both parties have all the relevant common knowledge, assumptions, values, etc. When the chips are down, meaning is negotiated: you slowly figure out what you have in common, what it is safe to talk about, how you can communicate unshared experience or create a shared vision. With enough flexibility in bending your world view and with luck and charity, you may achieve some mutual understanding.
Communication theories based on the CONDUIT metaphor turn from the pathetic to the evil when they are applied indiscriminately on a large scale, say, in government surveillance or computerized files. There, what is most crucial for real understanding is almost never included, and it is assumed that the words in the file have meaning in themselves—disembodied, objective, understandable meaning. When a society lives by the CONDUITmetaphor on a large scale, misunderstanding, persecution, and much worse are the likely products.- XAT - 2026
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Reading Comprehension
Later, I realized that reviewing the history of nuclear physics served another purpose as well: It gave the lie to the naive belief that the physicists could have come together when nuclear fission was discovered (in Nazi Germany!) and agreed to keep the discovery a secret, thereby sparing humanity such a burden. No. Given the development of nuclear physics up to 1938, development that physicists throughout the world pursued in all innocence of any intention of finding the engine of a new weapon of mass destruction—only one of them, the remarkable Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard, took that possibility seriously—the discovery of nuclear fission was inevitable. To stop it, you would have had to stop physics. If German scientists hadn’t made the discovery when they did, French, American, Russian, Italian, or Danish scientists would have done so, almost certainly within days or weeks. They were all working at the same cutting edge, trying to understand the strange results of a simple experiment bombarding uranium with neutrons. Here was no Faustian bargain, as movie directors and other naifs still find it intellectually challenging to imagine. Here was no evil machinery that the noble scientists might hide from the problems and the generals. To the contrary, there was a high insight into how the world works, an energetic reaction, older than the earth, that science had finally devised the instruments and arrangements to coart forth. “Make it seem inevitable,” Louis Pasteur used to advise his students when they prepared to write up their discoveries. But it was. To wish that it might have been ignored or suppressed is barbarous. “Knowledge,” Niels Bohr once noted, “is itself the basis for civilization.” You cannot have the one without the other; the one depends upon the other. Nor can you have only benevolent knowledge; the scientific method doesn’t filter for benevolence. Knowledge has consequences, not always intended, not always comfortable, but always welcome. The earth revolves around the sun, not the sun around the earth. “It is a profound and necessary truth,” Robert Oppenheimer would say, “that the deep things in science are not found because they are useful; they are found because it was possible to find them.”
...Bohr proposed once that the goal of science is not universal truth. Rather, he argued, the modest but relentless goal of science is “the gradual removal of prejudices.” The discovery that the earth revolves around the sun has gradually removed the prejudice that the earth is the center of the universe. The discovery of microbes is gradually removing the prejudice that disease is a punishment from God. The discovery of evolution is gradually removing the prejudice that Homo sapiens is a separate and special creation.- XAT - 2026
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Reading Comprehension
Questions Asked in XAT exam
- An artificial swimming pool is circular and water is flowing clockwise at a speed of 3 km/hr. Two swimmers Ayub and Rana start from diametrically opposite points, Ayub in the anticlockwise direction and Rana in the clockwise direction. They first meet at a point such that Ayub has covered 60 m by that time. Their second meeting point is such that Rana has covered another 180 m after the first meeting point. If the speed of Rana in still water is 3 km/hr, find the time taken by Ayub to cover one full circle in the clockwise direction.
- XAT - 2026
- Time and Work
- Arrange the following generations from the oldest to the youngest:
1. Generation X
2. Silent Generation
3. Generation Alpha
4. Baby Boomers
5. Millennials
- XAT - 2026
- Current Affairs
- Read the following scenario and answer the THREE questions that follow.
Brijbhushan, a microfinancier, lends money at the rate of Rs.10 per square meter to small farmers at a village. He charges an annual interest rate of 10%. All the farming plots in that village are rectangular, with areas varying between a minimum of 1000 square meters and a maximum of 10,000 square meters.
This year, Brijbhushan has lent money only to five farmers: Aditya, Binod, Chhuttan, Dabloo and Govind. The perimeter of Chhuttan’s plot is 250 meters, with the length and width being at a ratio of 4:1. Aditya’s plot has an area three times the area of Govind’s plot. The area of Aditya’s plot is also the average of the areas of Govind’s plot and Dabloo’s plot. The plots belonging to Aditya, Binod and Dabloo are of the same width, but of different lengths. Moreover, the length of Binod’s plot is the sum of the lengths of Aditya’s plot and Dabloo’s plot.- XAT - 2026
- Mensuration
Light Chemicals is an industrial paint supplier with presence in three locations: Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. The sunburst chart below shows the distribution of the number of employees of different departments of Light Chemicals. There are four departments: Finance, IT, HR and Sales. The employees are deployed in four ranks: junior, mid, senior and executive. The chart shows four levels: location, department, rank and gender (M: male, F: female). At every level, the number of employees at a location/department/rank/gender are proportional to the corresponding area of the region represented in the chart.
Due to some issues with the software, the data on junior female employees have gone missing. Notice that there are junior female employees in Mumbai HR, Sales and IT departments, Hyderabad HR department, and Bengaluru IT and Finance departments. The corresponding missing numbers are marked u, v, w, x, y and z in the diagram, respectively.
It is also known that:
a) Light Chemicals has a total of 210 junior employees.
b) Light Chemicals has a total of 146 employees in the IT department.
c) Light Chemicals has a total of 777 employees in the Hyderabad office.
d) In the Mumbai office, the number of female employees is 55.
- XAT - 2026
- Pie Charts
An investment company, Win Lose, recruit's employees to trade in the share market. For newcomers, they have a one-year probation period. During this period, the employees are given Rs. 1 lakh per month to invest the way they see fit. They are evaluated at the end of every month, using the following criteria:
1. If the total loss in any span of three consecutive months exceeds Rs. 20,000, their services are terminated at the end of that 3-month period,
2. If the total loss in any span of six consecutive months exceeds Rs. 10,000, their services are terminated at the end of that 6-month period.
Further, at the end of the 12-month probation period, if there are losses on their overall investment, their services are terminated.
Ratan, Shri, Tamal and Upanshu started working for Win Lose in January. Ratan was terminated after 4 months, Shri was terminated after 7 months, Tamal was terminated after 10 months, while Upanshu was not terminated even after 12 months. The table below, partially, lists their monthly profits (in Rs. ‘000’) over the 12-month period, where x, y and z are masked information.
Note:
• A negative profit value indicates a loss.
• The value in any cell is an integer.
Illustration: As Upanshu is continuing after March, that means his total profit during January-March (2z +2z +0) ≥
Rs.20,000. Similarly, as he is continuing after June, his total profit during January − June ≥
Rs.10,000, as well as his total profit during April-June ≥ Rs.10,000.
- XAT - 2026
- Logical and Analytical Reasoning Skills