CAT 2000 QUESTION PAPER LRDI

In a recent report, the gross enrolment ratios at the primary level, that is, the number of children enrolled in classes one to five as a proportion of all children aged six to ten, were shown to be very high for most states; in many cases they were way above 100 per cent! These figures are not worth anything, since they are based on the official enrolment data compiled from school records. They might as well stand for ‘gross exaggeration ratios’.

Which one of the following options best supports the claim that the ratios are exaggerated?

Szymanski suggests that the problem of racism in football may be present even today. He begins by verifying an earlier hypothesis that clubs’ wage bills explain 90 per cent of their performance. Thus, if players’ salaries were to be only based on their abilities, clubs that spend more should finish higher. If there is pay discrimination against some group of players — fewer teams bidding for black players thus lowering the salaries for blacks with the same ability as whites — that neat relation may no longer hold. He concludes that certain clubs seem to have achieved much less than what they could have, by not recruiting black players.

Which one of the following findings would best support Szymanski’s conclusion?

The pressure on Italy’s 257 jails has been increasing rapidly. These jails are old and overcrowded. They are supposed to hold up to 43,000 people — 9,000 fewer than now. San Vittore in Milan, which has 1,800 inmates, is designed for 800. The number of foreigners inside jails has also been increasing. The minister-in-charge of prisons fears that tensions may snap, and so has recommended to the government an amnesty policy.

Which one of the following, if true, would have most influenced the recommendation of the minister? 

The offer of the government to make iodised salt available at a low price of one rupee per kilogram is welcome, especially since the government seems to be so concerned about the ill effects of noniodised salt. But it is doubtful whether the offer will actually be implemented. Way back in 1994, the government, in an earlier effort, had prepared reports outlining three new and simple but experimental methods for reducing the costs of iodisation to about five paise per kilogram. But these reports have remained just those — reports on paper.

Which one of the following, if true, most weakens the author’s contention that it is doubtful whether the offer will be actually implemented? 

About 96 per cent of Scandinavian moths have ears tuned to the ultrasonic pulses that bats, their predators, emit. But the remaining 4 per cent do not have ears and are deaf. However, they have a larger wingspan than the hearing moths, and also have higher wing-loadings — the ratio between a wing’s area and its weight — meaning higher manoeuvrability.

Which one of the following can be best inferred from the above passage? 

Argentina’s beef cattle herd has dropped to under 50 million from 57 million ten years ago in 1990. The animals are worth less, too: prices fell by over a third last year, before recovering slightly. Most local meat packers and processors are in financial trouble, and recent years have seen a string of plant closures. The Beef Producers Association has now come up with a massive advertisement campaign calling upon Argentines to eat more beef — their ‘juicy, healthy, rotund, plate-filling’ steaks.

Which one of the following, if true, would contribute most to a failure of the campaign?

The problem of traffic congestion in Athens has been testing the ingenuity of politicians and town planners for years. But the measures adopted to date have not succeeded in decreasing the number of cars on the road in the city centre. In 1980, an odds and evens number-plate legislation was introduced, under which odd and even plates were banned in the city centre on alternate days, thereby expecting to halve the number of cars in the city centre. Then in 1993 it was decreed that all cars in use in the city centre must be fitted with catalytic converters; a regulation had just then been introduced, substantially reducing import taxes on cars with catalytic converters, the only condition being that the buyer of such a ‘clean’ car offered for destruction a car at least 15-year-old.

Which one of the following options, if true, would best support the claim that the measures adopted to date have not succeeded?

Although in the limited sense of freedom regarding appointments and internal working, the independence of the Central Bank is unequivocally ensured, the same cannot be said of its right to pursue monetary policy without coordination with the Central Government. The role of the Central Bank has turned out to be subordinate and advisory in nature.

Which one of the following best supports the conclusion drawn in the passage? 

The Shveta-chattra or the ‘White Umbrella’ was a symbol of sovereign political authority placed over the monarch’s head at the time of the coronation. The ruler so inaugurated was regarded not as a temporal autocrat but as the instrument of protective and sheltering firmament of supreme law. The white umbrella symbol is of great antiquity and its varied use illustrates the ultimate common basis of non-theocratic nature of states in the Indian tradition. As such, the umbrella is found, although not necessarily a white one, over the head of Lord Ram, the Mohammedan sultans and Chatrapati Shivaji.

Which one of the following best summarises the above passage? 

The theory of games is suggested to some extent by parlour games such as chess and bridge. Friedman illustrates two distinct features of these games. First, in a parlour game played for money, if one wins the other (others) loses (lose). Second, these games are games involving a strategy. In a game of chess, while choosing what action is to be taken, a player tries to guess how his/her opponent will react to the various actions he or she might take. In contrast, the card-pastime, ‘patience’ or ‘solitaire’ is played only against chance.

Which one of the following can best be described as a ‘game’? 

Persons X, Y, Z and Q live in red, green, yellow or blue-coloured houses placed in a sequence on a street. Z lives in a yellow house. The green house is adjacent to the blue house. X does not live adjacent to Z. The yellow house is in between the green and red houses. The colour of the house, X lives in is

My bag can carry not more than ten books. I must carry at least one book each of management, mathematics, physics and fiction. Also, for every management book I carry I must carry two or more fiction books, and for every mathematics book I carry I must carry two or more physics books. I earn 4, 3, 2 and 1 points for each management, mathematics, physics and fiction book, respectively, I carry in my bag. I want to maximise the points I can earn by carrying the most appropriate combination of books in my bag. The maximum points that I can earn is 

Five persons with names P, M, U, T and X live separately in any one of the following: a palace, a hut, a fort, a house or a hotel. Each one likes two different colours from among the following: blue, black, red, yellow and green. U likes red and blue. T likes black. The person living in a palace does not like black or blue. P likes blue and red. M likes yellow. X lives in a hotel. M lives in a

There are ten animals — two each of lions, panthers, bison, bears, and deer — in a zoo. The enclosures in the zoo are named X, Y, Z, P and Q and each enclosure is allotted to one of the following attendants: Jack, Mohan, Shalini, Suman and Rita. Two animals of different species are housed in each enclosure. A lion and a deer cannot be together. A panther cannot be with either a deer or a bison. Suman attends to animals from among bison, deer, bear and panther only. Mohan attends to a lion and a panther. Jack does not attend to deer, lion or bison. X, Y and Z are allotted to Mohan, Jack and Rita respectively. X and Q enclosures have one animal of the same species. Z and P have the same pair of animals. The animals attended by Shalini are

Eighty kilogram of store material is to be transported to a location 10 km away. Any number of couriers can be used to transport the material. The material can be packed in any number of units of 10, 20, or 40 kg. Courier charges are Rs. 10 per hour. Couriers travel at the speed of 10 km/hr if they are not carrying any load, at 5 km/hr if carrying 10 kg, at 2 km/hr if carrying 20 kg and at 1 km/hr if carrying 40 kg. A courier cannot carry more than 40 kg of load. The minimum cost at which 80 kg of store material can be transported to its destination will be

The total annual exports lies between 35 and 40% to the total annual business of the IT industry, in 

The highest percentage growth in the total IT business, relative to the previous year was achieved in 

Which one of the following statements is correct? 

For the IT hardware business activity, which one of the following is not true? 

For the two IT business activities, hardware and peripherals, which one of the following is true? 

Consider three real numbers, X, Y and Z. Is Z the smallest of these numbers?

I. X is greater than at least one of Y and Z.

II. Y is greater than at least one of X and Z.

Let X be a real number. Is the modulus of X necessarily less than 3?

I. X(X + 3) < 0

II. X(X – 3) > 0

How many people are watching TV programme P?

I. Number of people watching TV programme Q is 1,000 and number of people watching both the programmes P and Q, is 100.

II. Number of people watching either P or Q or both is 1,500.

∆PQR has ∠PRQ = 90°. What is the value of PR + RQ?

I. Diameter of the inscribed circle of the ∆PQR is equal to 10 cm.

II. Diameter of the circumscribed circle of the ∆PQR is equal to 18 cm.

Harshad bought shares of a company on a certain day, and sold them the next day. While buying and selling he had to pay to the broker 1% of the transaction value of the shares as brokerage. What was the profit earned by him per rupee spent on buying the shares?

I. The sales price per share was 1.05 times that of its purchase price.

II. The number of shares purchased was 100.

For any two real numbers: a ⊕ b = 1 if both a and b are positive or both a and b are negative.   

= –1 if one of the two numbers a and b is positive and the other negative. What is (2 ⊕ 0) ⊕ (–5 ⊕ –6)?

I. a ⊕ b is zero if a is zero

II. a ⊕ b = b ⊕ a

There are two straight lines in the x-y plane with equations:

ax + by = c

dx + ey = f

Do the two straight lines intersect?

I. a, b, c, d, e and f are distinct real numbers.

II. c and f are non-zero.

‘O’ is the centre of two concentric circles, AE is a chord of the outer circle and it intersects the inner circle at points ‘B’ and ‘D’. ‘C’ is a point on the chord in between ‘B’ and ‘D’.

What is the value of AC/CE?

I. BC/CD = 1

II. A third circle intersects the inner circle at ‘B’ and ‘D’ and the point ‘C’ is on the line joining the centres of the third circle and the inner circle.

Ghosh Babu has decided to take a non-stop flight from Mumbai to No-man’s-land in South America, He is scheduled to leave Mumbai at 5 a.m., IST on December 10, 2000. What is the local time at No-man’s-land when he reaches there?

I. The average speed of the plane is 700 km/hr.

II. The flight distance is 10,500 km.

Choose option A : If one of the statements alone is sufficient but not the other.

Choose option B : If Statements 1 & 2 TOGETHER are sufficient but are not sufficient independently.

Choose option C : If Each statement is INDEPENDENTLY sufficient.

Choose option D : If Statements together are NOT sufficient. Additional data is required.

What are the ages of two individuals, X and Y?

I. The age difference between them is 6 years.

II. The product of their ages is divisible by 6.

Suppose the average employment level is 60 per factory. The average employment in ‘wholly private’ factories is approximately 

Among the firms in different sectors, value added per employee is highest in

Capital productivity is defined as the gross output value per rupee of fixed capital. The three sectors with the higher capital productivity, arranged in descending order are a. Joint, Wholly private, Central and States or Local Governments b. Wholly private, Joint, Central and States or Local Governments c. Wholly private, Central and States or Local Governments, Joint d. Joint, Wholly private, Central

A sector is considered ‘pareto efficient’ if its value added per employee and its value added per rupee of fixed capital is higher than those of all other sectors. Based on the table data, the pareto efficient sector is

The total value added in all sectors is estimated at Rs. 1,40,000 crore. Suppose the number of firms in the joint sector is 2,700. The average value added per factory, in the Central Government is

The country with the highest percentage change in FEI in 1998 relative to its FEI in 1997, is

Based on the data provided, it can be concluded that 

It is known that China’s GDP in 1998 was 7% higher than its value in 1997, while India’s GDP grew by 2% during the same period. The GDP of South Korea, on the other hand, fell by 5%. Which of the following statements is/are true?

I. Foreign equity inflows to China were higher in 1998 than in 1997.

II. Foreign equity inflows to China were lower in 1998 than in 1997.

III. Foreign equity inflows to India were higher in 1998 than in 1997.

IV. Foreign equity inflows to South Korea decreased in 1998 relative to 1997.

V. Foreign equity inflows to South Korea increased in 1998 relative to 1997. 

China’s foreign equity inflows in 1998 were 10 times that of India. It can be concluded that

The highest growth rate in deficit intensity was recorded in

The value of the highest growth rate in deficit intensity is approximately

In 1997-98 the total cost of raw material is estimated as 50% of sales of that year. The turnover of gross fixed assets, defined as the ratio of sales to gross fixed assets, in 1997-98 is, approximately

Which of the following statements can be inferred to be true from the given data?

Which is the sector with the highest growth during the period 1989 to 1998? 

The overall growth rate in 1991 of the four sectors together is approximately 

When was the highest level of production in the manufacturing sector achieved during the 9-year period 1990-98? 

When was the lowest level of production of the mining and quarrying sector achieved during the 9-year period 1990-98? 

The percentage increase of production in the four sectors, namely, manufacturing, mining and quarrying, electricity and chemicals, taken together in 1994, relative to 1989 is approximately 

It is known that the index of total industrial production in 1994 was 50% more than that in 1989. Then, the percentage increase in production between 1989 and 1994 in sectors other than the four listed above is

Total production in July is 40 units. What is the approximate average unit cost for July? 

ABC Ltd. is considering increasing the production level. What is the approximate marginal cost of increasing production from its July level of 40 units? 

From the data provided it can be inferred that, for production levels in the range of 0 to 60 units, 

Suppose that each widget sells for Rs. 150. What is the profit earned by ABC Ltd. in July? (Profit is defined as the excess of sales revenue over total cost.) 

Assume that the unit price is Rs. 150 and profit is defined as the excess of sales revenue over total costs. What is the monthly production level of ABC Ltd. at which the profit is highest? 

For monthly production level in the range of 0 to 30 units,