List of top Questions asked in XAT

“Indigestion? Acidity? Unable to sleep?... Don’t spend the time tossing and turning! Take Magix for a sound, restful sleep … you’ll soon fall asleep, and wake up refreshed and energized. Remember … Magix when you are suffering from acidity and need that sleep!”
All of the following are claims of Magix except:

“The increase in the number of reality shows on television channels bolsters the contention that channel owners are more interested in boosting their revenues by pandering to voyeuristic tendencies of viewers.” The premise behind the above argument is that

“Unlike other retail outlets, where items are purchased in any number of units the customer wants, in super-markets items are grouped in bulk packages. This bulk buying offers savings to the customer. The option to buy at wholesale prices by buying in bulk makes super-markets a practical choice for budget-conscious consumers.” Which of the following is an assumption necessary to the author’s argument?

Read the sentences and choose the option that best arranges them in a logical order. 1. He might make the opposite mistake; when I want to assign a name to this group of nuts, he might understand it as a numeral.
2. Now, one can ostensibly define a proper name, the name of a colour, the name of a material, a numeral, the name of a point of the compass and so on.
3. The definition of the number two. "That is called 'two'." Pointing to two nuts is perfectly exact. But how can two be defined like that?
4. He may suppose this; but perhaps he does not.
5. The person one gives the definition to doesn’t know what one wants to call “two”; he will suppose that “two” is the name given to this group of nuts!

Social roles may either conflict or cooperate within any given person, depending upon the circumstances. They conflict when the behaviour patterns demanded by one role cannot be performed while performing the second role. Thus, one cannot easily be a saintly rake or a feminine brute, but given an understanding husband, a woman can be both a loving wife and a loving mother with no conflict between the roles.
Which of the following methods is used by the author to make his or her point?

Read the sentences and choose the option that best arranges them in a logical order. 1. Well, it may mean various things; but one very likely thinks first of all that a picture of the object comes before the child’s mind when it hears the word.
2. But what does this mean?
3. I will call it “ostensive teaching of words.” I say that it will form an important part of the training, because it is so with human beings; not because it could not be imagined otherwise.
4. But now, if this does happen – is it the purpose of the word? Yes, it may be the purpose. I can imagine such a use of words (of series of sounds).
5. This ostensive teaching of words can be said to establish an association between the word and the thing.

Filmmakers tend to highlight their emotional points with visuals, rather than dialogue. Words tend to be the tools of playwrights. Images are the stuff that films are made of. Nevertheless, many successful films have been made from stage plays and contain little else than one location or one stage set. The option most opposite to the idea in the paragraph is:

Classify the following sentences into Fact (F), Judgment (J) and Inference (I) and choose the most suitable sequence: Fact (F): Known matter of direct observation, existing reality, verifiable truth.
Judgment (J): Opinion/estimate/anticipation of common sense or intention.
Inference (I): Logical deduction based on knowledge of facts.
(i) Proper allocation of resources is required for overall development of economy.
(ii) Government has decided to allocate the gas from KG basin to power fertiliser sector.
(iii) A court decision against the declared policy guidelines can result in government intervention in the form of an appeal.
(iv) Some section of society may consider this decision a deliberate attempt to protect private interest.

Weekly forecast (Pisces): “The efforts you make could set the stage for some new opportunities later on. Keep ahead of the opposition by using your imagination and by being original.” For a person possessing a scientific temperament, this forecast for Pisces

Answer questions based on the following information:

An automobile company's annual sales of its small cars depends on the state of the economy as well as on whether the company uses some high profile individual as its brand ambassador in advertisements of its product. The state of the economy is "good", "okay" and "bad" with probabilities 0.3, 0.4 and 0.3 respectively. The company may choose a high profile individual as its brand ambassador in TV ads or may go for the TV ads without a high profile brand ambassador.

If the company fixes price at Rs. 3.5 lakh, the annual sales of its small cars for different states of the economy and for different kinds of TV ads are summarized in Table 1. The figures in the first row are annual sales of the small cars when the company uses a high profile individual as its brand ambassador in its TV ads and the ones in the second row are that when the company does not use any brand ambassador in TV ads, for different states of the economy.

	Good	Okay	Bad
With brand ambassador	100000	80000	50000
Without brand ambassador	80000	50000	30000

Table 1

Without knowing what exactly will be the state of the company in the coming one year, the company will either have to sign a TV ad contract with some high profile individual, who will be the company's brand ambassador for its small car for the next one year, or go for a TV ad without featuring any high profile individual. It incurs a cost of Rs. 3.45 lakh (excluding the payment to the brand ambassador) to put a car on the road.

When the company's profit is uncertain, the company makes decisions on the basis of its expected profit. If the company can earn a profit x_i with probability p_i (the probability depends on the state of economy), then the expected profit of the company is:

∑ (x_i × p_i)

Answer the questions based on the data given in Table 2.
Cost and price data for Portland cement manufactured by Paharpur Cement and Bahsin Cement, for four consecutive quarters, are given in Table 2:

	Paharpur Cement		Bahsin Cement
	Cost (as % of sales revenue)	Price (Rs./bag)	Cost (as % of sales revenue)	Price (Rs./bag)
Oct – Dec 2008	92.11	352	94.21	438
Jan – Mar 2009	87.56	304	91.34	440
Apr – Jun 2009	91.03	340	89.96	430
Jul – Sep 2009	90.42	322	90.38	434

Formulas:
Sales Revenue = Price × Sales Quantity
Profit = Sales Revenue − Cost
Profit Rate = Profit ÷ Sales Quantity

The retail prices of flowers, consumer expenditure on flowers and sales of flowers for the calendar year 2009, in Phoolgaon, a small town with a population of 70,000, is summarized in Table 3:

Months	Price (retail) of roses (Rs./dozen)	Average consumer expenditure on roses and carnations (Rs.)	Total consumer expenditure on roses (Rs.)	Sales of carnations (dozens)
Jan	99	47.4	1136916	13848
Feb	112.5	51.9	1051650	20486
Mar	135	49.5	1137915	12928
Apr	130.5	51.6	1135310	14021
May	126	59.4	1116612	18774
Jun	157.5	55.8	979020	17579
Jul	144	56.4	1188432	17521
Aug	117	54.0	940446	20355
Sep	126	55.5	1287900	16031
Oct	162	55.6	772884	22897
Nov	189	52.8	597240	19128
Dec	166.5	56.4	977688	18859

Table 3

Answer the questions based on the information given below:

Madhubala Devi, who works as a domestic help, received Rs. 2500 as Deepawali bonus from her employer. With that money she is contemplating purchase of one or more among 5 available government bonds - A, B, C, D and E.

To purchase a bond Madhubala Devi will have to pay the price of the bond. If she owns a bond she receives a stipulated amount of money every year (which is termed as the coupon payment) till the maturity of the bond. At the maturity of the bond she also receives the face value of the bond.

Price of a bond is given by:
\[ P = \left[ \sum_{t=1}^{T} \frac{C}{(1+R)^t} \right] + \frac{F}{(1+R)^T} \]

where C is coupon payment on the bond, which is the amount of money the holder of the bond receives annually; F is the face value of the bond, which is the amount of money the holder of the bond receives when the bond matures (over and above the coupon payment for the year of maturity). T is the number of years in which the bond matures;
R = 0.25, which means the market rate of interest is 25%.

Among the 5 bonds the bond A and another two bonds mature in 2 years, one of the bonds matures in 3 years, and the bond D matures in 5 years.

The coupon payments on bonds A, E, B, D and C are in arithmetic progression, such that the coupon payment on bond A is twice the common difference, and the coupon payment on bond B is half the price of bond A.

The face value of bond B is twice the face value of bond E, but the price of bond B is 75% more than the price of bond E. The price of bond C is more than Rs. 1800 and its face value is same as the price of bond A. The face value of bond A is Rs. 1000.

Bond D has the largest face value among the five bonds.

OABC is a square where O is the origin and AB = 1. Consider the set of points S = (x_i, y_i) in the square such that x_i + y_i ≤ 1.

Let P(x₁, y₁) and Q(x₂, y₂) be two such points. Two operations addition (+) and multiplication (·) on S are defined as:

P + Q = (x₁ + x₂ − x₁x₂, y₁y₂)

P · Q = (x₁x₂, y₁ + y₂ − y₁y₂)

Books and More sells books, music CDs and film DVDs. In December 2009, they earned 40% profit in music CDs and 25% profit in books. Music CDs contributed 35% towards their total sales in rupees. At the same time total sales in rupees from books is 50% more than that of music CDs.

Questions are followed by two statements labelled as I and II. Decide if these statements are sufficient to conclusively answer the question. Choose the appropriate answer from the options given below:

A. Statement I alone is sufficient to answer the question.
B. Statement II alone is sufficient to answer the question.
C. Statement I and Statement II together are sufficient, but neither of the two alone is sufficient to answer the question.
D. Either Statement I or Statement II alone is sufficient to answer the question.
E. Both Statement I and Statement II are insufficient to answer the question.

Let A₁, A₂, …, A_n be the points on the straight line y = px + q. The coordinates of A_k is (X_k, Y_k), where k = 1, 2, …, n such that X₁, X₂, …, X_n are in arithmetic progression. The coordinates of A₂ is (2, −2) and A₂₄ is (68, 31).

Read the following case and choose the best alternative.

Ranjan Tuglák, the youngest cabinet minister of the newly elected coalition, glanced through the notes prepared by his secretary regarding the recent controversies on racket, the most popular game of the country. While International Racket Association (IRC) has agreed to implement Drug Testing Code (DTC) promoted by World Athletic and Gamer Federation, Racket Club which controls the entire racket related activities (unlike any other sports and games of the country) had some reservations regarding the initiative. Majority of the citizens waited for the international competitions eagerly and were fanatical about their country’s participation in them. As a result of the popularity of the game, 70% of the total revenue associated with the game originates from the country. Hence Racket Club has high bargaining power with IRC and can change any decision that is not aligned with its interests. Three most popular and senior players, including the captain, are against the application of DTC citing security reasons. A decision against the interests of these players may result in law and order problems throughout the country. Other players support the decision of their senior colleagues and if Racket Club refuses to agree, players may support Counter Racket Club, a new national level initiative. Counter Racket Club may threaten the monopoly of Racket Club, if it succeeds to attract some popular racket players.

Ranjan’s father had been forced to resign from politics due to alleged corruption charges. Ranjan had completed his entire education from abroad before returning to join politics. He is a great soccer player and has major reservations against racket. According to him, racket has negative influence on the country’s youth and diverts their attention from productive work. He also considers drug testing as an essential feature for any sports and games across the world. As the new cabinet minister for Youth and Sports he needs to take some important decisions on this controversial issue.

Read the following case and choose the best alternative – Guruji's guidance

Bhola, an avid nature lover, wanted to be an entrepreneur. He dreamt of establishing a chain of huts in Chaptur region to cater to tourists, who came attracted by the beauty and splendour of the Himalayas.

However, he was appalled by current degradation of the Himalayan environment. He remembered the early times when everything was so green, clean and peaceful. Now, greenery was replaced by buildings, peace was shattered by honking of vehicles and flocking of tourists, and cleanliness was replaced by heaps of plastics.

Bhola had a strong sense of right and wrong. On speaking to few locals about the issue, he realized that the locals were aware of these issues. However, they pointed out the benefits of development: pucca houses for locals; higher disposable income and with that, ability to send their children to better schools and colleges, better road connectivity, and access to latest technology in agriculture. Most locals wanted the development to continue.

Saddened by the lack of support from the locals, Bhola took up the issue with the government. He met the chief minister of the state to find out if government could regulate the developmental activities to prevent environmental degradation. However, the chief minister told Bhola that such an action would slow down the economic progress. That also meant loss of substantial tax revenues for the government.

Bhola needed to resolve the dilemma. Bhola always wanted to be an entrepreneur, who could contribute to the society and earn money as well. However, his business would also be responsible for destroying environment. If he did not set up his business, he would not be able to earn money and contribute to the society.

After mulling over the issues, he went to his mentor “Guruji”. Guruji realized that it was really a difficult puzzle: if one saves the environment, there seems to be no development and if the people and the government sought development, the environment and hence future of this planet and human beings was at stake. After careful thought, he felt that the dilemma could be resolved. He fixed up a meeting with Bhola to answer Bhola's queries.

Questions are based on a set of conditions. In answering some of the questions, it may be useful to draw a rough diagram. Choose the response that most accurately and completely answers each question.

A BPO has assigned duty to nine operators - Abdulla, Ballal, Chandan, Dogra, Eshita, Falguni, Ganguli, Henri and Indra - on Monday, January 05, 2009 from 00:00 hours. Each operator commences duty at any of the following hours: 00:00 hrs, 04:00 hrs, 08:00 hrs, 12:00 hrs, 16:00 hrs and 20:00 hrs. At any point in time, at least one operator is required to take clients' calls. Each operator works continuously for eight hours. All operators located at any single location start work simultaneously. The operators took training in five different colleges: Abhinam College, Sutanama College, Gutakal College, Barala College and Khatamanga College. These colleges are located in the cities Jamshedpur, Pune, Noida, Hyderabad and Mangalore, not necessarily in that order. The operators operate from the cities where their respective colleges are located.

The conditions:
1. Indra operates alone from a city other than Mangalore and Jamshedpur.
2. Operator(s) trained in Abhinam College will start working at 12:00 hrs.
3. Only Dogra and Falguni operate from Pune, but they are not trained in Gutakal College.
4. Three of the operators took training from Sutanama College, and they operate from Noida.
5. The operator(s) from Jamshedpur will start working at 00:00 hrs.
6. Abdulla and Henri operate together as a two-member team from a single location. They do not operate from Mangalore.
7. No operator(s) will join at 20:00 hrs.
8. Ballal, who alone operates from his location, was not trained in Barala College, and will commence his duty four hours after the operator(s) trained in Gutakal College.
9. The operator(s) trained in Barala College operate from Hyderabad.
10. The number of operator(s) trained in Khatamanga College is the same as the number of operator(s) trained in Barala College.

Questions are based on a set of conditions. In answering some of the questions, it may be useful to draw a rough diagram. Choose the response that most accurately and completely answers each question.

Seven bands were scheduled to perform during the week long music festival at XLRI. The festival began on a Monday evening and ended on the Sunday evening. Each day only one band performed. Each band performed only once. The organizing committee had the task of scheduling the performances of the seven bands -- Cactus, Axis, Enigma, Boom, Fish, Dhoom and Bodhi Tree. The festival schedule followed the following conditions:

1. The performance of Bodhi Tree, the home band of XLRI, did not precede the performance of any other band.
2. Among the visiting bands three were rock bands and the other three were fusion bands. All three bands of the same genre were not allowed to perform consecutively.

Additional constraints:
- Boom, which was a rock band, refused to perform immediately before or after Fish.
- Meet, who was a lead vocalist with a rock band, refused to perform after Angelina.
- Angelina, the only female lead vocalist in the music fest besides Bony, was with the band Enigma. Angelina refused to perform after Thursday citing personal reasons.
- Ali, who was the lead vocalist of a rock band, was not with the band Dhoom, and did not perform on Saturday.
- Sid, the lead vocalist of the rock band Cactus, could perform only on Monday.
- Rupam, the only male among the lead vocalists of the fusion bands, was with Fish and performed on Wednesday.
- None of the bands performed in absence of their lead vocalist.