UPSC CSAT Mock Tests – Chapter 6: Mock Test 5 – Advanced Level (80 MCQs)

Reasoning set 1

Five friends P, Q, R, S and T sit in a row, all facing north.

– There are exactly two persons between P and Q.

– T sits to the immediate right of P.

– R does not sit at either end.

– S sits somewhere to the left of R.

– S sits at one of the ends.

Who sits in the middle of the row?

Who sits second to the right of P?

Which two friends sit at the ends of the row?

Passage 1

A government facing an election is tempted to cut interest rates, since cheaper credit lifts spending and jobs before the vote, while the inflation it causes arrives later. Knowing this, people expect higher inflation and raise their wage and price demands in advance, so that inflation comes without the extra jobs. One answer has been to give a central bank a clear inflation target and the freedom to pursue it without day-to-day political direction. Such independence is not a law of nature; it rests on the public's trust that the bank's decisions are made on evidence, and on the government's willingness to accept a decision it dislikes. Independence that is granted on paper but overridden in practice may be worse than none, because it tells the public that the target is not meant seriously.

According to the passage, why might a government be tempted to cut interest rates before an election?

Which of the following best captures the central idea of the passage?

The author suggests that independence "granted on paper but overridden in practice" may be worse than none because:

What is the sum of all the divisors of 72, including 1 and 72?

How many numbers between 100 and 300 are multiples of both 6 and 8?

If a/b = 3/4, what is the value of (5a − 2b) ÷ (5a + 2b)?

Statements:

All teachers are graduates.

Some graduates are singers.

Conclusions:

I. Some teachers being singers is a possibility.

II. All singers being teachers is a possibility.

Which of the following is correct?

Statements: J ≥ K = L < M

Conclusions:

I. J > L

II. J = L

Which of the following is correct?

Passage 2

A delivery rider who works through an app is told that he is his own boss: he logs in when he wishes and is paid by the trip. Yet the app sets the price of each trip, assigns the orders, rates his speed and can switch him off without explanation. He bears the risks of an employee – an accident, an illness, a slow month – without the protections that employees have won. Calling him a partner does not settle what he is; what he is depends on who controls his work.

The author's main point is that:

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the author's view?

If the numerator of a fraction is increased by 20 per cent and its denominator decreased by 10 per cent, the fraction becomes 16/21. What was the original fraction?

By selling 33 metres of cloth, a shopkeeper gains the selling price of 11 metres. What is his gain per cent?

A vendor buys oranges at 6 for ₹10 and sells them at 4 for ₹10. What is his gain per cent?

Passage 3

A democracy is often described as rule by the majority, yet most democracies allow judges, who are not elected, to strike down laws passed by elected legislatures. This looks like a contradiction only if democracy means nothing more than counting votes on each question. If it also means that certain things – free speech, a fair trial, equal treatment – must be secured for everyone so that future votes remain meaningful, then a court that protects them is guarding the conditions of democracy rather than defeating it. The danger lies at the other edge: a court that strikes down laws merely because the judges disagree with them stops guarding and starts ruling.

According to the passage, judicial review seems contradictory to democracy only if:

The author would most likely agree that a court:

Which of the following is an assumption underlying the passage?

In a code, each letter is replaced by the letter in the same position counted from the other end of the alphabet (A by Z, B by Y and so on). If CAT is written as XZG, how is DOG written?

What comes next in the series 3, 10, 29, 66, 127, …?

Passage 4

Rivers that fall steeply through the Himalaya carry great energy, and dams there can generate power without burning fuel. The same mountains, however, are young, still rising, and prone to landslides and earthquakes. Tunnelling and blasting can loosen slopes that were stable, and a reservoir in a narrow valley leaves little room for error when a glacial lake bursts upstream. Clean power from such places is not free of risk; the risk is simply of a different kind from the smoke of a coal plant.

The author's main concern is that:

According to the passage, why is a reservoir in a narrow Himalayan valley a particular concern?

The salaries of A, B and C are in the ratio 2 : 3 : 5. They receive increments of 15 per cent, 10 per cent and 20 per cent respectively. What is the new ratio of their salaries?

Two vessels contain milk and water in the ratios 3 : 1 and 5 : 3. Equal quantities from the two are mixed. What is the ratio of milk to water in the mixture?

The average of a, b and c is 20, and the average of b, c and d is 25. If d = 30, what is a?

Passage 5

A count of the population taken every ten years tells a government how many schools, hospitals and ration shops each district needs. When the count is delayed, plans continue to be made on the old figures, and the districts that have grown fastest – often the poorest urban ones – are the most under-served, because the numbers say they are smaller than they are.

Which of the following is the most logical conclusion from the passage?

Three years ago, the average age of a husband, his wife and their child was 27 years. Five years ago, the average age of the wife and the child was 20 years. What is the husband's present age?

The ages of A and B are in the ratio 4 : 3. A will be 26 years old when B is 21. What is A's present age?

The sum of two numbers is 25 and the difference of their squares is 75. What is the larger number?

Passage 6

A coastal city that defends itself against rising seas with walls protects what lies behind them, but it may also block the movement of sediment and push erosion onto the next stretch of coast. Defences built one town at a time can therefore shift the problem along the shore rather than solve it.

Which of the following is implied by the passage?

P is the son of Q. Q is the sister of R. R is the father of S. How is P related to S?

Statement: "To reduce queues, the passport office will from next month give appointments only through its website."

Assumptions:

I. Most applicants can use the website or get help to do so.

II. Queues at the office are caused partly by people arriving without appointments.

Which of the following is correct?

Argument: "The new reading programme raised children's reading scores in the twenty schools where it was tried, so it should be introduced in every school in the State."

Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

₹10,000 is lent in two parts, one at 8 per cent and the other at 10 per cent simple interest a year. The total yearly interest is ₹880. How much is lent at 10 per cent?

What is the compound interest on ₹8,000 for one year at 10 per cent a year, if interest is compounded half-yearly?

Passage 7

Communities have used certain plants as medicine for centuries, passing the knowledge down by word of mouth. When a company isolates the active compound and patents it, the community that pointed the way may receive nothing. Patent law rewards novelty, and knowledge that was never written down is easy to treat as new. Recording traditional knowledge in a searchable register does not stop research; it allows a patent office to see that the use was already known.

According to the passage, what is the purpose of a register of traditional knowledge?

The author implies that the present weakness of patent law, in this context, is that:

ACE is related to BDF in the same way as PRT is related to which of the following?

How many minutes after 6 o'clock will the hands of a clock first be at right angles?

A month of 31 days begins on a Saturday. Which of the following days occurs only four times in that month?

Passage 8

An official who applies the rules exactly treats every citizen alike, and that is a real virtue: favouritism begins where the rules are bent. Yet rules are written in advance for typical cases, and some cases are not typical. A widow who misses a deadline because she was in hospital is, by the letter of the rule, in the same position as one who simply forgot. To treat them alike is consistent but not just. The answer is not to give each official a free hand, which would bring back favouritism, but to build into the rules a stated ground for exceptions, with reasons recorded so that like cases are treated alike.

Which of the following best states the author's position?

The example of the widow is used to show that:

Why does the author insist that reasons for exceptions be recorded?

A and B together can do a job in 12 days, B and C in 15 days, and C and A in 20 days. In how many days can A alone do it?

15 men working 8 hours a day finish a job in 12 days. In how many days will 18 men working 10 hours a day finish it?

A car leaves a town at 9 a.m. at 40 km/h. A second car leaves the same town at 11 a.m. on the same road at 60 km/h. At what time does the second car overtake the first?

The speeds of A and B are in the ratio 3 : 4. A takes 30 minutes more than B to cover the same distance. How long does A take?

Two trains start at the same time from towns A and B and run towards each other. After they meet, the first train takes 9 hours to reach B and the second takes 16 hours to reach A. What is the ratio of the speed of the first train to that of the second?

Passage 9

In many districts, undernourished children and overweight adults now live in the same households. Both conditions can come from the same diet – plenty of cheap refined grain, oil and sugar, and too little protein, vegetables and fruit. A programme that counts only calories may therefore feed the child and fatten the parent without nourishing either.

Which of the following is the most valid inference from the passage?

You are the collector of a district hit by a cyclone. Relief material is arriving faster than it can be distributed, and a local leader wants all of it sent first to the villages of his constituency, which were less affected than coastal villages. What should you do?

What is the greatest four-digit number that is exactly divisible by 12, 15 and 18?

The product of two consecutive odd numbers is 323. What is their sum?

Passage 10

A hill town that once received a few thousand visitors a summer may now receive that many in a weekend. The roads, water supply and sewage system were built for its residents. When visitors exceed what these can bear, the town's water runs short, waste piles up on the slopes and the very scenery that drew the visitors is spoiled. Limiting the number of vehicles or visitors is unpopular with traders, but a town that is ruined will have no trade to protect.

Which of the following is the author's main argument?

The author's argument depends on which of the following?

In a class, every student who plays chess also plays carrom. Some students who play carrom also play cricket. No student who plays cricket plays chess.

Which of the following must be true?

In a row of children, Kavin is 10th from the left and Mathi is 15th from the right. When they exchange places, Kavin becomes 18th from the left. How many children are in the row?

Passage 11

Most apps ask users to accept a long privacy policy before they can use the service. Few read it, and fewer could understand it if they did. Consent given in this way is real only in form: the user agrees because refusal means losing the service. A system that puts the whole burden of protection on such consent protects the company that wrote the policy more than the person who clicked "I agree". Some limits on what may be collected must therefore apply whatever the user has clicked.

Which of the following best expresses the author's view of consent through privacy policies?

Which of the following follows from the author's argument?

In how many ways can the letters of the word GARDEN be arranged so that the vowels always come together?

A committee of 4 is to be chosen from 6 men and 4 women so that it has at least 2 women. In how many ways can this be done?

What is the probability that a leap year, chosen at random, has 53 Sundays?

Two fair dice are thrown. What is the probability that the product of the numbers is even?

Passage 12

A handloom weaver can make a sari that no machine can copy, yet earn less in a month than a factory worker. The skill is not the problem; the distance between the weaver and the buyer is. Each trader in the chain takes a share, and by the time the sari reaches the city, little of its price returns to the loom.

According to the passage, why do handloom weavers earn little?

Which of the following groups is best represented by one circle lying wholly inside a second circle, with a third circle separate from both?

A wooden cube is painted blue on two opposite faces and red on the other four faces. It is then cut into 27 equal small cubes. How many small cubes have at least one blue face and at least one red face?

Which of D4, G7, J10, M12 does not follow the rule of the others?

Passage 13

The Constitution lists among the fundamental duties of citizens the duty to develop the scientific temper. A scientific temper is not a stock of facts; it is the habit of asking for evidence, accepting a claim only as far as the evidence goes, and changing one's mind when better evidence appears. A person can know a great deal of science and lack it, and a person with little schooling can have it.

According to the passage, which of the following shows a scientific temper?

How many three-digit numbers have digits that add up to 4?

An empty tank measuring 4 m × 3 m × 2 m is filled by a pipe that delivers 400 litres a minute. How long does it take to fill the tank?

A path 2 m wide runs inside a rectangular garden 30 m long and 20 m wide, along all four sides. What is the area of the path?

The sides of a right-angled triangle are x, x + 7 and x + 8 centimetres, the last being the hypotenuse. What is the area of the triangle?

Passage 14

As tiger numbers rise in a reserve, young tigers leave to find territories of their own, and some wander into farmland. A rise in conflict near reserves is therefore partly a sign that protection has worked. It is also a warning that a reserve cannot be managed without the people around it, who bear the cost of lost cattle and the fear of attack.

The passage suggests that rising conflict near tiger reserves:

A member of the public writes a sharply worded letter to your office, pointing out a real error in a notice your office issued. What is the best response?

A sheet of paper is 0.1 mm thick. If it could be folded in half 20 times, about how thick would the folded stack be?

Passage 15

An old couplet compares one who speaks harsh words when kind words are at hand to one who takes unripe fruit when ripe fruit is there to be had.

What is the point of the comparison?

Data set 1

The table shows the number of units produced by a factory and the number found defective in five months. The figures are for practice only.

In which month was the defect rate (defective units as a percentage of units produced) the highest?

How many of the five months had a defect rate of exactly 1.5 per cent?

What was the defect rate for the five months taken together, correct to one decimal place?

Question: How many students are there in the class?

Statement 1: Ravi's rank is 12th from the top and 25th from the bottom.

Statement 2: There are 11 students ahead of Ravi.