List of top Verbal and Logical Ability Questions asked in XAT

Bright Engineering College (BEC) has listed 20 elective courses for the next term and students have to choose any 7 of them. Simran, a student of BEC, notices that there are three categories of electives: Job-oriented (J), Quantitative-oriented (Q) and Grade-oriented (G). Among these 20 electives, some electives are both Job and Grade-oriented but are not Quantitative-oriented (JG type). QJ type electives are both Job and Quantitative-oriented but are not Grade-oriented and QG type electives are both Quantitative and Grade-oriented but are not Job-oriented. Simran also notes that the total number of QJ type electives is 2 less than QG type electives. Similarly, the total number of QG type electives is 2 less than JG type and there is only 1 common elective (JQG) across three categories. Furthermore, the number of only Quantitative-oriented electives is same as only Job-oriented electives, but less than the number of only Grade-oriented electives. Each elective has at least one registration and there is at least one elective in each category, or combinations of categories. 

A few years back Mr. Arbit and Mr. Boring started an oil refinery business. Their annual earning is currently just 50,000 million rupees. They are now exploring various options to improve the business. Mr. Xanadu, a salesperson from Innovative Technology Solutions (ITS), is trying to sell a new oil refinery technology to Mr. Arbit and Mr. Boring. This technology could potentially enhance their annual earning to 150,000 million rupees within a year. But they have to make one-time investment of 100,000 million rupees to implement the technology. If the technology is not successful, the investment would be lost. Mr. Arbit and Mr. Boring are discussing about possible risks of the investment.

Life Saving Pharmaceuticals (LSP) is India-based Pharmaceuticals Company. Their business mostly revolves around a couple of generic drugs and a few patented drugs. LSP operates in 30 odd countries and more than 50% of their sales volume is from outside India. 

Mohan’s was a popular fast-food joint at Connaught Place, Delhi. Initially Mohan handled his business alone. His sons, Ram and Kishan, joined the business after graduation from college. Ram was entrepreneurial in nature. Subsequently, another branch of Mohan’s was opened in Panipat. Mohan had chosen Ram to head the Panipat branch. Though Ram increased sales in short time, he had stopped using premium quality organic vegetables, the speciality of Mohan’s. Mohan and Kishan were not happy with his way of doing business.
Now, the foremost challenge for Mohan was to sort out this issue with Ram. Mohan knew that replacing Ram with Kishan was difficult as Kishan did not want to leave Delhi. However, giving a freehand to Ram might have long term negative consequences. Mohan was confused about the future course of actions. 

MBA entrance examination comprises two types of problems: formula-based problems and application-based problems. From the analysis of past data, Interesting School of Management (ISM) observes that students good at solving application-based problems are entrepreneurial in nature. Coaching institutes for MBA entrance exams train them to spot formula-based problems and answer them correctly, so as to obtain the required overall cut-off percentile. Thus students, in general, shy away from application-based problems and even those with entrepreneurial mind-set target formula-based problems.
Innovative Institute of Business (IIB) has decided to be the first green campus in India. IIB Administration has advised all campus residents to reduce carbon footprints. IIB faculty members did a brainstorming and came up with the following suggestions:
I. Replacing electricity source for street lights with solar panels.
II. Replacing the existing buildings with environment-friendly buildings.
III. Organizing a seminar on ‘Towards a Sustainable Future’ involving all students, staff, and experts from around the country.
IV. Introducing a compulsory course on sustainability to increase awareness among students.
V. Conducting an initial energy audit to explore where IIB can reduce carbon footprints. Which of the following options would be the most preferred sequence of actions to reduce carbon footprints on campus?
The scheduled presentation went off smoothly. Back in his cabin, Dipangshu read Mr. Patel’s e-mail once more and pondered over it. During the last meeting he tried hard to put forward his explanation but Mr. Patel had not allowed him to speak. Dipangshu was thinking of meeting Mr. Patel again but was doubtful that would help. Incidentally, he had a job offer from a start-up with a comparable salary. If Dipangshu was to join the new job, he had to accept the offer within the next two weeks. However, he cannot think of a life without a job. Which of the following options would be the best move for Dipangshu?
After a couple of weeks, Mr.\ Patel came to know that Dipangshu’s project leader Mr.\ John, a very competent senior executive, may have wilfully influenced his team members to file a wrong complaint against Dipangshu. Mr.\ John may have done it because Dipangshu has refused to tow John’s line. Mr.\ Patel also came to know that Dipangshu was thinking of quitting this job. He felt regretful about his letter to Dipangshu. He wanted to resolve the complicated situation. He was contemplating the following five actions in his mind. \begin{enumerate}
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[I.] Talk to Mr.\ John about Dipangshu and convey to him that losing a bright employee would cost the organization dearly.
[II.] Catch up with Mr.\ John during coffee break and convey that Dipangshu has a very good track record.
[III.] Chat with Dipangshu during coffee break.
[IV.] Catch up with Dipangshu during coffee break and convey that the organization values him.
[V.] Arrange a meeting among Mr.\ John, Dipangshu and himself to sort out the difference. \end{enumerate} Which of the following is the best sequence of actions for resolving the problem?
Initially, the e-mail distracted Dipangshu but he decided to focus on the job. Which of the following options might best explain his decision to do so?
Read the following statements carefully:
Statement 1: If you want to understand the causes that existed in the past, look at the results as they are manifested in the present.
Statement 2: Murali did not work as hard as his friends but had secured 1st rank in the examination. Which of the following options is correct with respect to the above two statements?
Read the following sentences and choose the option that best arranges them in a logical order.
I. It is certainly true that the critics – those persons whom the dictionary describes as “skilled in judging the qualities or merits of some class of things, especially of literary or artistic work” – have long harboured murderous thoughts about the conditions of drama, but their ineffectuality as public executioners is legendary.
II. But not close enough, it would seem, for this “marriage” constitutes the case of an absolute desire encountering a relative compliance.
III. The reviewers, by contrast, come close to being the most loyal and effective allies the commercial theatre could possibly desire.
IV. Perhaps the greatest irony in a situation bursting with ironies is the reiterated idea that the critics are killing the theatre.
V. We all know that when theatre people or members of the public refer to the critics, they nearly always mean the reviewers.
In the traditions of many religions throughout the world (including Judaeo–Christian beliefs), there has long been a sustained belief that the Universe as we know it today did not exist forever in the past, and that there was a spontaneous act which gave birth to all that has been, and all that will be. In other words, the Universe itself has not been eternal as our senses might indicate at first glance, \ldots\ Which of the following options can meaningfully complete the above sentence?
It is a curious historical fact that modern quantum mechanics began with two quite different mathematical formulations: the differential equation of Schrödinger, and the matrix algebra of Heisenberg. The two, apparently dissimilar, approaches were proved to be mathematically equivalent. Which of the following sentences would most meaningfully follow the above paragraph?
In the following pages, I shall demonstrate that there is a psychological technique which makes it possible to interpret dreams, and that on the application of this technique, every dream will reveal itself as a psychological structure, full of significance, and one which may be assigned a specific place in the psychic activities of the waking state. Further, I shall endeavour to elucidate the processes, the nature of the psychic forces whose conflict or cooperation is responsible for our dreams. This done, my investigation will terminate, as it will have reached the point where the problem of the dream merges into more comprehensive problems, and to solve these we must have recourse to material of a different kind.
Which of the following would be closest to the ideas expressed in the first two sentences of the above passage?
Ranu is an ordinary sportsperson. In the last two university sprint events, her performances in the heats were pathetic. Which of the following, if true, weakens the above argument the most?
Identify the correct sequence of words would most that aptly fit the blanks in the following passage.
It is ______ (i) ______ that the accused had ______ (ii) ______ ______ (iii) ______ from all criminal activities by adopting the ______ (iv) ______ of a sanyasi. However, despite repeated requests from the counsel for prosecution, the court has ______ (v) ______ a lie detector to ascertain the truth.
Six words are given below:
I. Cacophonic
II. Cacographic
III. Calamitous
IV. Catastrophic
V. Contraindicative
VI. Cataclysmic
Which of the above words have similar meanings?
Which of the following is not a term of ‘disapproval’?
The first and the last sentences of the paragraph are numbered 1 & 6. The others, labeled as P, Q, R and S, are given below: 1. The world of cinema is indeed a strange one and baffles many a critic.
P. But there are incorrigible optimists who see a bright future.
Q. The pundits still predict doom and they insist that it is the end of the road for cinema.
R. At the temples of the box office, fortunes are made and unmade.
S. The world of cinema has, they say, its own attraction.
6. Perhaps a positive outlook is not unwarranted. A doomsday approach is far too fatal at this stage. Which of the following combinations given below is the most logically ordered?
Read the four sentences given below: i. He is the most ________ of the speakers to address us today.
ii. The belief in ________ justice is the essence of his talk.
iii. This hall would have been full but for the ________ rain.
iv. Many in the audience have achieved ________ in their respective fields.
Which of the following sequence of words would most appropriately fit the blanks?

There is an essential and irreducible ‘duality’ in the normative conceptualization of an individ ual person. We can see the person in terms of his or her ‘agency’, recognizing and respecting his or her ability to form goals, commitments, values, etc., and we can also see the person in terms of his or her ‘well-being’. This dichotomy is lost in a model of exclusively self-interested motivation, in which a person’s agency must be entirely geared to his or her own well-being. But once that straitjacket of self-interested motivation is removed, it becomes possible to rec ognize the indisputable fact that the person’s agency can well be geared to considerations not covered- or at least not fully covered- by his or her own well-being. Agency may be seen as important (not just instrumentally for the pursuit of well-being, but also intrinsically), but that still leaves open the question as to how that agency is to be evaluated and appraised. 
Even though the use of one’s agency is a matter for oneself to judge, the need for careful assess ment of aims, objective, allegiances, etc., and the conception of the good, may be important and exacting. To recognize the distinction between the ‘agency aspect’ and the ‘well-being aspect’ of a person does not require us to take the view that the person’s success as an agent must be independent, or completely separable from, his or her success in terms of well-being. A person may well feel happier and better off as a result of achieving what he or she wanted to achieve- perhaps for his or her family, or community, or class, or party, or some other cause. Also it is quite possible that a person’s well-being will go down as a result of frustration if there is some failure to achieve what he or she wanted to achieve as an agent, even though those achievements are not directly concerned with his or her well-being.
There is really no sound basis for demanding that the agency aspect and the well-being aspect of a person should be independent of each other, and it is, I suppose, even possible that every change in one will affect the other as well. However, the point at issue is not the plausibility of their independence, but the sustainability and relevance of the distinction. The fact that two variables may be so related that one cannot change without the other, does not imply that they are the same variable, or that they will have the same values, or that the value of one can be obtained from the other on basis of some simple transformation. The importance of an agency achievement does not rest entirely on the enhancement of well-being that it may indirectly cause. The agency achievement and well-being achievement, both of which have some distinct importance, may be casually linked with each other, but this fact does not compromise the specific importance of either. In so far as utility-based welfare calculations concentrate only on the well-being of the person, ignoring the agency aspect, or actually fails to distinguish between the agency aspect and well-being aspect altogether, something of real importance is lost.

The idea of demarcating certain areas within the country as special economic zones to promote investment and growth is not new. A large country unable to provide the kind of facilities and environment that can attract foreign investment throughout the country often finds it feasible and attractive to carve up some of its areas where such facilities can be provided. The laws and procedures for setting up new industries are waived to make the area business-friendly with developed infrastructure and a one-window interaction with government. In addition, huge tax benefits are promised to lure investors. China’s experience shows that if chalked out and implemented with care such a policy can accelerate the flow of capital and technology from abroad and thereby speed up growth. 
However, SEZs may not be the best option in all situations to clear the bottlenecks in growth. India’s experience with export processing zones (EPZs) bears this out. They have failed in India for the simple reason that the factors that made the SEZs successful in China have been absent here. In India, as in China, EPZs were thought of as a way of providing an escape route from the stranglehold of control that prevailed over the Indian economy. But even while promising to ease the rigours of controls, Indian policy-makers could not give up their pen chant for micromanaging from the centre and undoing the promised relaxations with all kinds of qualifications and “guidelines”.
Over last two decades India has evolved into a market economy and much of governmental control has disappeared, but the flow of foreign direct investment has not reached anywhere near the levels of China. Besides, infrastructure building has fallen far short of what is required. Even after three years of the enactment of the Electricity Act (2003), private investment in electricity generation is still a trickle with the states refusing to give up the monopoly of their electricity boards in the matter of purchase of the power generated. While swearing by growth, governments at both the centre and the states cite the fiscal responsibility laws to plead their helplessness in making the required investments to improve infrastructure.
Given the situation, the SEZs have apparently been thought of as a simple way out. In its enthusiasm for SEZs the commerce ministry forgot two critical lessons of the Chinese experi ence, viz., that an SEZ must be of an adequate size to provide opportunities for reaping the benefits of large-scale operations and their number should be few. Every industry or economic activity worth its name is now seeking SEZ status. Proposals are now being floated to invite foreign educational institutions to come to India with promises of SEZ treatment! The finance ministry apprehends a loss of nearly 1,75,000 crore in direct taxes, customs duties and excise duties over the next five years.

When income tax rates are reduced, there is an increase in taxable income, and an increase in taxable income results in increased total income tax revenues for the government. Which of the following is analogous to the argument above in terms of its logical features?
Which word is the opposite of the word ‘hypothesize’?
Concurrence means all of the following except: