List of top Questions asked in XAT

Analyse the following passage and provide appropriate answers that follow. 
We can answer Fermi’s Paradox in two ways. Perhaps our current science over - estimates the likelihood of extraterrestrial intelligence evolving. Or, perhaps, evolved technical intelligence has some deep tendency to be self - limiting, even self - exterminating. After Hiroshima, some suggested that any aliens bright enough to make colonizing space ships would be bright enough to make thermonuclear bombs, and would use them on each other sooner or later.
I suggest a different, even darker solution to the Paradox. Basically, I think the aliens forget to send radio signals or colonize space because they’re too busy with runaway consumerism and virtual - reality narcissism. Once they turn inwards to chase their shiny pennies of pleasure, they lose the cosmic plot.
The fundamental problem is that an evolved mind must pay attention to indirect cues of biological tness, rather than tracking tness itself. This was a key insight of evolutionary psychology in the early 1990s; although evolution favours brains that tend to maximize tness (as measured by numbers of great - grandkids), no brain has capacity enough to do so under every possible circumstance. As a result, brains must evolve shortcuts: tness - promoting tricks, cons, recipes and heuristics that work, on an average, under ancestrally normal conditions. Technology is fairly good at controlling external reality to promote real biological tness, but it’s even better at delivering fake tness - subjective cues of survival and reproduction without the real - world effects.
Fitness - faking technology tends to evolve much faster than our psychological resistance to it. With the invention of Xbox 360, people would rather play a high - resolution virtual ape in Peter Jackson’s King Kong than be a perfect – resolution real human. Teens today must nd their way through a carnival of addictively tness faking entertainment products. The traditional staples of physical, mental and social development - athletics, homework dating - are neglected. The few young people with the self - control to pursue the meritocratic path often get distracted at the last minute.
Around 1900, most inventions concerned physical reality and in 2005 focus shifted to virtual entertainment. Freud’s pleasure principle triumphs over the reality principle. Today we narrow - cast human - interest stories to each other, rather than broadcasting messages of universal peace and progress to other star systems. Maybe the bright aliens did the same. I suspect that a certain period of tness - faking narcissism is inevitable after any intelligent life evolves. This is the Great Temptation for any technological species – to shape their subjective reality to provide the cues of survival and reproductive success without the substance. Most bright alien species probably go extinct gradually, allocating more time and resources to their pleasures and less to their children.
Heritable variation in personality might allow some lineages to resist the Great Temptation and last longer. Some individuals and families may start with an “irrational” Luddite abhorrence of entertainment technology, and they may evolve ever more self - control, conscientiousness and pragmatism by combining the family values of the religious right with the sustainability values of the Greenpeace. They wait patiently for our tness faking narcissism to go extinct. Those practical - minded breeders will inherit the Earth as like - minded aliens may have inherited a few other planets. When they nally achieve contacts, it will not be a meeting of novel readers and game - players. It will be a meeting of dead - serious super - parents who congratulate each other on surviving not just the Bomb, but the Xbox.

We are not only afraid of being in the dark; we are also suspicious of being kept in the dark. We often feel that the universe has a hidden order that we cannot quite comprehend. In ancient times, this order was attributed to the gods – omnipotent beings who controlled humans’ fates. Greek myths in particular portrayed humans as pawns in the great games played by the gods. More recently, there are suspicions of global conspiracies. These conspiracies are cited for events that are too important to be random. We no longer describe them as “Acts of God,” so they must be the work of other people - people who are hiding their in uence over us, covering up their involvement. They are keeping the rest of us in the dark. Among the events attributed to these people are political assassinations and UFO sightings. 
Examining these events in minute detail results in a long list of “coincidences” which, in the minds of the conspiracy buffs, are too numerous to be truly random. There must be a central planner who is at the hub of a sinister form of order. No one admits to the conspiracy, so there must be a cover - up. Better to think that we are all being kept in the dark by sinister forces than to admit that there is no order

Answer questions on the basis of the following conversation between two friends, Paradox (P) and Herodox (H) 
P: The human body is but the tomb of the soul and the visible world of matter is appearance that must be overcome if we are to know reality. The former is an integral part of “being”, that which can neither come into existence nor cease to exist for it always is. Being is unmoved and undistributed. Motion and disturbance belong to the realm of “becoming”, the changing world of unreality rather than of “being” in which true reality resides. Further, motion & change by belonging to the realm of “becoming” by having no separate existence of their own are logically inconsistent with reality and hence, unworthy of serious study.
H: All things are in a state of perpetual ux. Permanence, and by extension, the concept of “being” is only an illusion. This change and continual transformation, through an often disorderly process of con ict and survival of the ttest, is the underlying principle at work in the universe. It is from this principle that all things come into existence, and forms the basis for the morals and governance patterns that attempt to preserve the social thread of societies. By extension, the study of human activity through the lens of an idealized state of “being” and as a basis for formulating moral codes of conduct is inappropriate at best.

Answer questions on the basis of the information below. 
Five reviews of the recently published novel, Caught in a Blizzard, are reproduced below. The reviews and the reviewers are identi ed as indicated by the numbers.
a: This novel can change your life - for the good, as it has changed mine. It has made me re ect critically about my life.
b: The novel has become a popular piece of literature, more among the youth than among the older population. 
c: The author uses the plot in her novel to present her philosophy about life in a positive light, rather than relying on the merits of the philosophy per se. 
d: The author is known to be a writer of great power. The intricate and captivating plots in her novels shows that she has a subtle and ingenious mind. 
e: People have been jolted out of their beliefs about love and other different aspects of life after reading this novel.

Chetan Textile Mills (CTM) has initiated various employee welfare schemes for its employees since the day the mill began its operations. Due to its various welfare initiatives and socially responsible business practices, the organisation has developed an impeccable reputation. Majority of the regular workers in Chetan Mills had membership of Chetan Mills Mazdoor Sangh (CMMS), a non political trade union. CMMS had the welfare of its member as its guiding principle. Both CTM and CMMS addressed various worker related issues on a proactive basis. As a result no industrial dispute had been reported from the organization in the recent past. 
These days majority of the employers deploy large number of contract labourers in their production processes. In an open economy survival of an organization depends on its competitiveness. In order to become competitive, an organization must be able to reduce cost and have exibility in employment of resources. Engaging workers through contractors (contract labourer) reduces the overall labour cost by almost 50%. Indian labour legislations make reduction of regular workers almost impossible, but organisations can overcome this limitation by employing contract labourers. Contract labourers neither get the same bene t as regular employees nor do they have any job security. According to various recent surveys, government owned public sector units and other departments are the biggest employers of contract labourers in the country. Contractors, as middle - men, often exploit the contract labourers, and these government organizations have failed to stop the exploitation.
Over time CTM started engaging a large number of contract labourers. At present, more than 35% of CM’s workers (total 5,000 in number) are contract labourers. CMMS leadership was wary about the slow erosion of its support base as regular workers slowly got replaced by contract workers and feared the day when regular workers would become a minority in the mill. So far, CMMS has refused to take contract labourers as members. Recently, based on rumours, CTM management started to investigate the alleged exploitation of contract labourers by certain contractors. Some contractors felt that such investigations may expose them and reduce their pro t margin. They instigated contract labourers to demand for better wages. Some of the contract labourers engaged in material handling and cleaning work started provoking CTM management by adopting violent tactics.
Today’s news - paper reports that police and CTM security guards red two or three rounds in air to quell the mob. The trouble started while a security guard allegedly slapped one of the contract labourers following a heated argument. Angry labourers set re to several vehicles parked inside the premises, and to the police jeeps.

Alex Company has its o ce at the third oor of a multi - storied building in Mumbai. There are 5 rooms to be allotted to 5 managers (designated M1 to M5), each of whom will occupy one room. Each room has its own advantages and disadvantages. Some have the sea view, while others are closer to either the lift or the dining room, while some are more spacious. Each of the ve managers was asked to rank the room preferences amongst the rooms 301, 302, 303, 304 and 305. Their preferences were recorded as follows: 
Table:

Every Saturday, the members of Raja Harish Chandra Club meet in the evening. All the member of the club are honest and never lie. Last Saturday, the following conversation was heard at one of the table with ve members sitting around it.
Satya Sadhan: In this club not all members are friends with each other. 
Satyabrata: None of the pair of friends in this club has any common friend.
Satyajit: Every pair of member who are not friends has exactly two common friends in this club.
Satya Pramod: There are fewer than 22 people in this club.

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

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

The following graphs give annual data of Assets, Sales (as percentage of Assets) and Spending on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) (as percentage of Sales), of a company for the period 2004 - 2009. 

Five years ago Maxam Glass Co. had estimated its staff requirements in the ve levels in their organization as: Level - 1: 55; Level - 2: 65; Level - 3: 225 ; Level - 4: 255 & Level - 5: 300. Over the years the company had recruited people based on ad-hoc requirements, in the process also selecting ex-defence service men and ex policemen. The following graph shows actual staff strength at various levels as on date. 

From a group of 545 contenders, a party has to select a leader. Even after holding a series of meetings, the politicians and the general body failed to reach a consensus. It was then proposed that all 545 contenders be given a number from 1 to 545. Then they will be asked to stand on a podium in a circular arrangement, and counting would start from the contender numbered 1. The counting would be done in a clockwise fashion. The rule is that every alternate contender would be asked to step down as the counting continued, with the circle getting smaller and smaller, till only one person remains standing. Therefore the rst person to be eliminated would be the contender numbered 2.