Nothing is sure but death and taxes, and of course that north is north and south is south, and thus it has always been, so they say. But they'd be wrong. You can perhaps be sure about death and taxes, but you might want to reconsider the rest of it. In fact, at many times in our planet's history, north has become south and south has become north, in a process called magnetic reversal.
Paleogeologists have discovered the existence of these mysterious phenomena (in a field study known as paleomagnetism) by investigating rocks. When rocks are being formed from magmas, atoms within their crystals respond to the earth's magnetic field by "pointing" towards the magnetic north people. By age dating the rocks and nothing their magnetic alignment, scientists can determine where on earth the north pole was located at that time because as the rocks solidified, they trapped that information within them. The study of ancient lava flows has revealed that at certain periods in the earth's history magnetic north was directly opposite its present location. In fact, it has been determined that the north/south reversal has occurred on average every 500,000 years and that the last reversal took place about 700,000 years ago. Scientists call those periods of "normal" polarity (the magnetic orientation of our modern era) and "reversed" polarity (the magnetic orientation of reverse situation) by the name "magnetic chrons."
Although the fact of such reversals is clear, why and how they happen and their effects on the planet are subjects of considerable debate. Because no one knows precisely how the earth's magnetic field is produced, it becomes difficult to say how it might be reversed. Among explanations proposed are a reversal of the direction of convection currents in the liquid outer core of the earth and a collision between the earth and a meteorite or comet. And while the precise effects of a reversal are not known, there can be little doubt that the earth would receive during the process a great deal more damaging ultraviolet radiation than it now does and that such occurrences have been correlated with the extinction of certain species in the geologic past.
The main purpose of the passage is to
- Present opposing hypotheses concerncing the earth's magnetic field and argue that one of them is adequate
- Explain what is meant by 'normal' polarity
- Set forth a time table for magnetic reversal
- Explain the process of magnetic reversal and how it was discovered
The Correct Option is D
Solution and Explanation
The correct option is (D)
'Magnetic reversal' refers to
- The reversal of direction in ancient lava flows
- A reversal of the direction of convection currents in the outer core of the earth
- North becoming south and south becoming north
- The atoms in rock crystal pointing towards the magnetic north pole
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
The correct option is (C)
According to the passage, which of the following was crucial to the discovery of magnetic reversal?
- The rapid change from 'normal' to 'reversal' polarity
- Lava flows 'pointing' to magnetic north
- Solidification of rocks formed from magmas
- The extinction of certain species 700,000 years ago
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
The correct option is (C)
One can infer from the passage that
- If the earth collides wiih a meteorite, the magnetic field will be reversed
- A magnetic reversal could present a damage to humans
- The earth's magnetic field was produced about 700,000 years ago
- In spite of past reversals, 'normal' polarity is now firmly established
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
The correct option is (B)
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?
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- 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?
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- 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
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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 MAT exam
- Ram kumar, a trader mixes two varieties of Moong dal, totally weighing 90kg worth Rs7443. The price of the first variety that he mixes is Rs57.50 per kg and that of the second variety is Rs111.50 per kg. How much quantity of the second variety of moong dal does he mix?
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- A shopkeeper makes a profit of 17% by giving a discount of 22% on the marked price of an article. But with a view to gain more profit, he reduces the discount to 18% and makes a higher profit. How much is the difference in his profit percentage with this reduction in discount?
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- How many 4-digit numbers can be formed using digits 1 to 6 if the digit 4 is never there in the number and the repetition of digits is not allowed?
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- The table shows the marks of five engineering students in Thermodynamics and Hydraulics. What is the ratio between the total marks obtained by Quesh and Sharma together in Hydraulics and the total marks obtained by Parikh and Rao together in Thermodynamics?
- Find the ratio between the male blood donors from Golf Link and Saket.
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