Vimla is the domestic help for Shreya and her neighbour Padma; both live in a posh gated community. Vimla not only cleans the house but also cooks for both the families. Shreya treasures Vimla ever since she joined her family four years ago. Vimla joined Padma’s household this year.
Vimla is the domestic help for Shreya and her neighbour Padma; both live in a posh gated community. Vimla not only cleans the house, but also cooks for both the families. Shreya treasures Vimla ever since she joined her family four years ago. Vimla joined Padma’s household this year.
One evening Shreya trying to pay the pizza delivery was surprised to find a few five hundred rupee notes missing from her purse that she was sure were there earlier. She wants to ascertain if someone has stolen the money. On reflecting, the following facts crossed her mind:
1. In the last one year, Shreya had noticed cash missing on three occasions.
2. Shreya’s husband also shared that a few notes were missing from his wallet, though he was not sure if they were stolen.
3. Her eldest son had been pestering Shreya for more pocket money for the last three weeks; in the last few days, he had stopped doing so.
4. In the last one year, Vimla had received six mails from her family asking for money.
5. Her eldest son’s expenditure had gone up in the last few days.
Which of the following combinations of the above statements would DECREASE the likelihood that Vimla has stolen the money?
2. Shreya’s husband also shared that a few notes were missing from his wallet, though he was not sure if they were stolen.
3. Her eldest son had been pestering Shreya for more pocket money for the last three weeks; in the last few days, he had stopped doing so.
4. In the last one year, Vimla had received six mails from her family asking for money.
5. Her eldest son’s expenditure had gone up in the last few days.
Which of the following combinations of the above statements would DECREASE the likelihood that Vimla has stolen the money?
Show Hint
- 1 and 3
- 1 and 4
- 1 and 5
- 2 and 4
- 3 and 5
The Correct Option is
Solution and Explanation
- (1) and (2) show general missing cash but do not directly point towards or away from Vimla.
- (4) strengthens suspicion against Vimla, since her family has been asking her for money.
Step 2: Identify statements that reduce suspicion on Vimla
- (3) Eldest son had been pestering for more money, but recently stopped. This suggests he might have found another source of money, possibly through theft, which decreases suspicion on Vimla.
- (5) Eldest son’s expenditure has gone up in the last few days, which also points towards the son having unexplained money. Again, this shifts suspicion away from Vimla.
Step 3: Conclusion
The combination of (3) and (5) provides an alternative explanation — the son could be responsible for the missing cash. Therefore, these two statements decrease the likelihood that Vimla stole the money.
\[ \boxed{\text{Correct combination: 3 and 5}} \]
Padma discovered some money missing from her purse. She suspects that Vimla has stolen it. She wants to prevent the stealing from happening again and is contemplating the following actions:
1. She should let it pass, since to err is human.
2. She should confront Vimla and tell her that she knows the truth and the act is unpardonable regardless of her past service and she is thinking of terminating her services.
3. She should tell Vimla that she is aware someone has stolen money from the house but is not sure who it is.
4. She should share with Vimla that neighbours think Vimla has stolen the money; she doesn’t, but is interested in finding out the truth.
5. She should directly ask Vimla if she stole the money, promising her no punishment if she confesses.
Arrange the following combinations of the above actions in the DECREASING order of appropriateness.
2. She should confront Vimla and tell her that she knows the truth and the act is unpardonable regardless of her past service and she is thinking of terminating her services.
3. She should tell Vimla that she is aware someone has stolen money from the house but is not sure who it is.
4. She should share with Vimla that neighbours think Vimla has stolen the money; she doesn’t, but is interested in finding out the truth.
5. She should directly ask Vimla if she stole the money, promising her no punishment if she confesses.
Arrange the following combinations of the above actions in the DECREASING order of appropriateness.
Show Hint
- 1, 5, 4
- 2, 4, 1
- 2, 5, 4
- 3, 5, 4
- 5, 2, 4
The Correct Option is D
Solution and Explanation
Principles to apply: fairness and due process (no premature accusation), dignity and confidentiality, problem-prevention, and proportionality.
Assessing each action:
(3) States the problem without accusation and opens space for dialogue and fact-finding. This is the \emph{most appropriate} first step—respectful, non-threatening, and fair.
(5) A direct but calm inquiry can follow. Offering amnesty helps surface the truth and allows corrective action; while not ideal in all cases, it is more constructive than blaming or threatening. \emph{Second best}.
(4) Citing neighbours’ suspicions risks gossip and reputational harm; even with the caveat “I don’t think so,” it applies social pressure and weakens confidentiality. It may be used \emph{only after} private conversations fail. \emph{Third}.
(2) Accusatory and punitive upfront; violates due process and escalates conflict—\emph{inappropriate}.
(1) Ignoring the issue enables recurrence and fails the preventive goal—\emph{least appropriate}.
Thus the decreasing order of appropriateness among the given combinations is:
3, 5, 4, which matches option
D.
Final Answer: \[ \boxed{\text{D. 3, 5, 4}} \]
Top Questions on Conditioning
- As a newly started organization in the IT sector, Saksha IT is a fast-growing 400-employee organization. Its head, Saksha Kumar, believes in building an organization driven by humility. Which of the following policies would best help him achieve that?
- XAT - 2017
- Decision Making
- Conditioning
- Principal Maheshwari of BINK School of Management is facing a problem that calls for quick action. She received an anonymous mail one day, possibly from one of the students, complaining about outdated syllabi, mediocre teachers and poor choice of courses on offer. Which of the following is the best course of action available to the Principal?
- XAT - 2017
- Decision Making
- Conditioning
Vimla is the domestic help for Shreya and her neighbour Padma; both live in a posh gated community. Vimla not only cleans the house, but also cooks for both the families. Shreya treasures Vimla ever since she joined her family four years ago. Vimla joined Padma’s household this year.
- XAT - 2017
- Decision Making
- Conditioning
Six people working at the Bengaluru office of Simsys are planning to buy ats at a real estate project at White eld. Their preferences are listed below:
Preferences of Persons
Person Designation First Preference Second Preference Third Preference Bhatia Vice President Ground floor flat Price \( < \) Rs 50 lacs Shopping mall within 5 km Patel Client Relationship Manager Distance to office \( < 10 \) km Recreation Club - Khan Project Manager Recreation Club Place for morning walk Car parking Singh Senior Software Engineer Shopping mall within 15 km Price \( < \) Rs 30 lacs Place for morning walk Yadav Assistant Software Engineer Price \( < \) Rs 50 lacs Distance to office \( < 10 \) km - Lingdo Assistant Software Engineer Recreation club - - Real Estate Projects
Project Price Distance to office Morning Walk Recreation Club Distance to Mall Car Parking Ground Floor Flat M Rs 60–80 lacs \(< 5\) km ✓ ✓ Inside ✓ ✓ N Rs 45–50 lacs \(< 10\) km - - \(> 25\) km ✓ ✓ O Rs 20–25 lacs \(> 20\) km ✓ - \(< 2\) km - - P Rs 65–80 lacs \(> 15\) km - ✓ Inside ✓ - Q Rs 35–45 lacs \(< 2\) km ✓ - \(< 5\) km - - R Rs 25–40 lacs \(< 10\) km ✓ - \(> 10\) km - - S Rs 20–30 lacs \(< 5\) km - ✓ \(> 20\) km ✓ ✓ - XAT - 2016
- Decision Making
- Conditioning
Mrs. Sharma has a house which she wants to convert to a hostel and rent it out to students of a nearby women’s college. The house is a two story building and each door has eight rooms. When one looks from the outside, three rooms are found facing North, three found facing East, three found facing West and three found facing South. Expecting a certain number of students, Mrs. Sharma wanted to follow certain rules while giving the sixteen rooms on rent:
All sixteen rooms must be occupied.
No room can be occupied by more than three students.
Six rooms facing north is called north wing. Similarly six rooms facing east, west and south are called as east wing, west wing and south wing. Each corner room would be in more than one wing. Each of the wings must have exactly 11 students. The rst oor must have twice as many students as the ground oor.
However Mrs. Sharma found that three fewer students have come to rent the rooms. Still. Mrs.Sharma could manage to allocate the rooms according to the rules- XAT - 2011
- Decision Making
- Conditioning
Questions Asked in XAT exam
Match the following renowned Indian personalities with their respective awards.
Names Award 1. Shri Ratan Naval Tata A. Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2. Manmohan Singh B. Grammy Awards 3. Zakir Hussain C. Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy 4. Shyam Benegal D. World Statesman Award - XAT - 2025
- Famous personalities and their contributions
Match the following authors with their respective works.
Authors Books 1. Andy Weir A. Dune 2. Cixin Liu B. The Time Machine 3. Stephen Hawking C. The Brief History of Time 4. HG Wells D. The Martian 5. Frank Herbert E. The Three Body Problem - XAT - 2025
- Books and Authors
Match the following airlines with the countries where they are headquartered.
Airlines Countries 1. AirAsia A. Singapore 2. AZAL B. South Korea 3. Jeju Air C. Azerbaijan 4. Indigo D. India 5. Tigerair E. Malaysia - XAT - 2025
- Business and Economy
The diagram below represents a road network connecting five towns, namely Meeren, Lannisport, Winterfell, Oldtown, and Gulltown. The maximum speed limits along any stretch of road are as shown in the diagram. The straight road that connects Meeren to Gulltown passes through Oldtown. Another straight road, running west to east, connecting Meeren to Winterfell, passes through Lannisport. Further, two straight roads, one from Lannisport to Oldtown and another from Winterfell to Gulltown, are perpendicular to the road joining Meeren to Winterfell, and run from south to north.
Consider a car always travelling at the maximum permissible speed, and always taking the shortest route. It takes 1 hour to reach Oldtown from Meeren, 2 hours to reach Gulltown from Oldtown, and 45 minutes to reach Winterfell from Gulltown. (For this problem, always consider the shortest route in terms of distance.)
- XAT - 2025
- Logical and Analytical Reasoning Skills
The plots below depict and compare the average monthly incomes (in Rs. ’000) of males and females in ten cities of India in the years 2005 and 2015. The ten cities, marked A-J in the records, are of different population sizes. For a fair comparison, to adjust for inflation, incomes for both the periods are scaled to 2025 prices. Each red dot represents the average monthly income of females in a particular city in a particular year, while each blue dot represents the average monthly income of males in a particular city in a particular year. The gender gap for a city, for a particular year, is defined as the absolute value of the average monthly income of males, minus the average monthly income of females, in that year.
- XAT - 2025
- Data Interpretation