UPSC CSAT Mock Tests – Chapter 7: Mock Test 6 – Advanced Level (80 MCQs)

Passage 1

Supporters of a universal basic income argue that paying a small sum to every citizen avoids the errors of targeting: no poor family is left out because a form was wrong or an official was unhelpful, and no one loses the payment by earning a little more. Critics reply that a sum paid to all must be small unless taxes rise sharply, and that a small sum spread thinly may do less for the poorest than a larger one aimed at them. The choice is less between generosity and meanness than between two kinds of error. Targeting wrongly excludes some who are poor; universality knowingly pays many who are not. Which error a country should prefer depends on how well it can identify the poor and how much it can afford to spend.

According to supporters, one advantage of a universal payment is that:

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

"Targeting wrongly excludes some who are poor; universality knowingly pays many who are not." The contrast between "wrongly" and "knowingly" suggests that:

Which of the following is a perfect cube?

What is the least number that must be subtracted from 2,000 to make it exactly divisible by 23?

Three numbers are in the ratio 1 : 2 : 3 and their HCF is 12. What is their sum?

Statements:

No apples are bananas.

All bananas are fruits.

Conclusions:

I. Some fruits are not apples.

II. No apple is a fruit.

Which of the following is correct?

Reasoning set 1

A team of three is to be chosen from six officers A, B, C, D, E and F.

– A and B cannot both be chosen.

– If C is chosen, D must also be chosen.

– E can be chosen only if F is chosen.

– Exactly one of D and F is chosen.

If C is chosen, which of the following must also be chosen?

Which pair can never be chosen together?

How many different teams can be chosen?

Passage 2

Many patients die each year waiting for organs that could have come from people who died in accidents. Families asked at the hospital bedside, in shock and grief, often refuse, though some say later that they would have agreed had they known the wishes of the person who died. Talking about donation in calm times – in families, schools and public campaigns – may therefore do more to raise donation than any change made at the hospital itself.

Which of the following is the main point of the passage?

The passage assumes that:

A number leaves a remainder of 29 when divided by 56. What remainder will it leave when divided by 8?

What is the value of (0.2)³ ÷ 0.04?

A man spends 75 per cent of his income. His income rises by 20 per cent and his spending by 10 per cent. By what percentage do his savings rise?

Passage 3

When a single tax on goods and services replaced many separate levies, the Union and the States gave up part of their separate power to tax and agreed to decide rates together in a council. Each side gained something: a common market without tax barriers at State borders, and a share in a larger, more buoyant tax base. Each side also lost the freedom to act alone. Such an arrangement lasts only as long as both sides believe the bargain is fair. If States come to feel that decisions are made over their heads, or that promised compensation is uncertain, the cooperation that the council requires may give way to suspicion, even though the rules remain unchanged.

According to the passage, what did the Union and the States give up under the new arrangement?

The author suggests that the arrangement depends most on:

Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the author's concern?

Statement: In a district, many children in government schools cannot read a simple paragraph even after five years of schooling.

Courses of action:

I. Teachers should assess each child's reading level and group children for teaching by level for part of the day.

II. All government schools in the district should be closed and the children shifted to private schools.

Which of the following is correct?

Statement: "Only those who have passed Class XII may apply for the post." Ravi has passed Class XII.

Which of the following must be true?

If CAT is coded as 24, because C = 3, A = 1 and T = 20 are added, what is the code for DOG?

What comes next in the series 2, 3, 6, 7, 14, 15, …?

Passage 4

Farmers once saved seed from their own fields and exchanged it with neighbours, keeping alive hundreds of local varieties of rice and millet. As uniform high-yielding seed spread, many of these varieties were no longer sown and were lost. Some survive in seed banks, frozen for the future. But a variety kept in a freezer stops adapting, while one grown in fields goes on changing with the climate and with the pests it meets. Seed banks are insurance; they are not a substitute for farmers who keep growing the old varieties.

Why, according to the passage, is a seed bank not a substitute for growing old varieties in fields?

The author would most likely support:

An article is sold at a loss of 10 per cent. Had it been sold for ₹90 more, there would have been a gain of 5 per cent. What is the cost price?

A shopkeeper allows a discount of 20 per cent on the marked price and still gains 20 per cent. By what percentage above the cost price is the marked price?

If 3A = 4B = 6C, what is A : B : C?

Passage 5

In trials of a new medicine, some patients receive a dummy pill without knowing it, and a share of them improve. The effect is not imaginary – pain and some other symptoms truly ease – but it comes from expectation rather than from the drug. That is why a medicine is judged not by whether patients improve, but by whether they improve more than those who took the dummy pill.

Which of the following follows from the passage?

How much water must be added to 30 litres of a solution containing 20 per cent sugar to make it a 12 per cent solution?

What is the average of the first ten multiples of 7?

The average mark of 30 students was found after one mark was wrongly entered as 85 instead of 58. By how much does the average fall when the mistake is corrected?

Passage 6

Folk arts once lived on the support of village festivals and local patrons. As those patrons dwindled, some forms found new audiences in cities and on television, but often in a shortened, stage-ready form. A tradition that survives only as a performance for visitors may keep its costumes and lose the occasions that gave it meaning.

The author implies that when folk arts move to new audiences:

Should mobile phones be banned inside examination halls?

Arguments:

I. Yes. Phones can be used to copy or to receive answers during the examination.

II. No. Candidates may need to call home in an emergency.

Which of the following is correct?

Argument: "Sales of our product rose by 20 per cent in the year we began advertising on television. Television advertising therefore raised our sales."

Which of the following points to the main weakness of the argument?

Passage 7

Before elections, parties often promise free goods and services. Some of these – free school meals, for example – are investments that repay themselves in health and learning. Others give a short-term benefit at a long-term cost, using money that might have gone to roads, schools or hospitals. The difficulty is that voters rarely see the second cost, because it is spread across future years and across services that never appear. A rule requiring that each promise come with an estimate of its cost and of how it will be paid for would not ban any promise; it would make the trade-off visible.

According to the author, the proposed rule would:

The author's distinction between free school meals and other promises rests on the idea that:

The sum of the ages of five children born at intervals of three years each is 50 years. What is the age of the youngest child?

A number exceeds two-fifths of itself by 36. What is the number?

A sum of money at 10 per cent compound interest a year amounts to ₹6,050 in two years. What is the sum?

What is the difference between the compound interest and the simple interest on ₹16,000 for three years at 5 per cent a year?

Passage 8

An employee who discovers that her organisation is hiding a danger to the public faces two loyalties. One is to the colleagues and the institution that trusted her; the other is to the people who may be harmed. Going outside the organisation at once may expose a wrong, but it may also damage people who were not at fault and close the door to correction from within. Staying silent protects the institution at the public's cost. Most codes of conduct therefore ask that a concern be raised first through internal channels, and that going outside be justified when those channels fail or when the harm is serious and imminent. Such rules mean little, however, unless those who raise concerns are protected from reprisal.

According to the passage, when is going outside the organisation justified under most codes?

Which of the following best captures the author's view of such codes?

The passage implies that staying silent about the danger:

11 is related to 122 in the same way as 9 is related to which number?

A clock loses 5 minutes every hour. It is set right at 12 noon on a Monday. When will it next show the correct time?

A leap year begins on a Thursday. How many Fridays does it have?

Passage 9

Lightning kills more people in some parts of the country than floods or cyclones, mostly farmers and herders caught in open fields. Forecasts can now warn of thunderstorms an hour or more ahead, but a warning helps only if it reaches the person in the field, in a language that person understands, with advice on what to do.

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

A can do one-third of a job in 5 days, and B can do two-fifths of it in 10 days. In how many days can they finish the whole job together?

A pipe can fill a tank in 10 hours. Because of a leak at the bottom, it takes 12 hours. In how many hours can the leak alone empty the full tank?

Without stoppages a bus runs at 54 km/h; with stoppages its average speed is 45 km/h. For how many minutes does the bus stop in each hour?

Two people start from the same point on a circular path 1.2 km long and walk in opposite directions at 4 km/h and 5 km/h. After how many minutes do they first meet?

A person covers the first third of a journey at 10 km/h, the next third at 20 km/h and the last third at 60 km/h. What is the average speed for the whole journey?

Passage 10

A country with a long coastline can move heavy goods between its own ports by sea at a fraction of the fuel used by trucks. Yet much cargo still travels by road, because a ship saves money only if the port handles it quickly and the last stretch to the factory is short and cheap. A cheap sea voyage that ends in three days of waiting at the port and a costly road journey inland is no bargain.

According to the passage, why does much cargo still travel by road?

Which of the following would most likely increase the use of coastal shipping, according to the passage?

A room is 12 m long, 9 m wide and 8 m high. What is the length of the longest rod that can be placed in it?

If the radius of a cylinder is doubled and its height halved, how does its volume change?

Passage 11

Much research is paid for by the public through grants to universities, yet the results are often published in journals that charge high fees to read them. A doctor in a small hospital or a student in a poor college may be unable to read work that taxes paid for. Open-access publishing makes papers free to read, but some open-access journals charge authors a fee to publish, which shifts the barrier from readers to writers – and may tempt weaker journals to accept papers for the fee.

Which of the following best reflects the author's view of open-access publishing?

The phrase "shifts the barrier from readers to writers" means that:

In how many ways can 3 different prizes be given to 4 students, if a student may receive more than one prize?

How many four-digit numbers have their digits in strictly increasing order from left to right (for example, 1357)?

A bag contains 4 red, 5 green and 6 blue balls. One ball is drawn at random. What is the probability that it is not green?

Three friends each choose one of the numbers 1, 2 and 3 at random and independently. What is the probability that all three choose different numbers?

Passage 12

During adolescence the body's clock shifts later, so teenagers tend to fall asleep later at night. When school begins early, many of them start the day short of sleep, and tired students learn less. Some schools that moved their start time later have reported better attendance and alertness.

Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

You are the head of a government office. A clerk with a good record admits that he made an error that caused a citizen's pension to be delayed by three months. The citizen has suffered hardship. There is pressure from senior colleagues to quietly correct the record and not mention the error. What should you do?

For how many whole numbers n from 1 to 100 is n² + n an even number?

If each of 140 crore people drinks 2 litres of water a day, about how much water is drunk in a year?

Passage 13

A nuclear power station produces electricity without smoke and with little land, but its spent fuel stays dangerous for thousands of years. A decision to build one is therefore also a decision about where that waste will be kept long after the station has closed and those who built it are gone.

The passage suggests that the decision to build a nuclear power station:

In the English alphabet, which letter is seventh to the right of the fifteenth letter from the left?

In 2, 5, 14, 41, …, which number should come after 41?

A cuboid measuring 3 cm × 4 cm × 5 cm is painted on all its faces and cut into 1 cm cubes. How many of the small cubes have no face painted?

Passage 14

A highway built through a forest divides it in two. Animals that need large ranges, such as elephants and tigers, must cross the road or stay confined to one side. Underpasses and overpasses placed on known animal paths can restore some movement, but only if they are built where the animals actually cross, not where they are cheapest to build.

Which of the following is assumed by the author?

A newly joined colleague keeps asking you basic questions about office procedure while you are busy with an urgent task. What is the best response?

Passage 15

Gandhi left a test for moments of doubt: recall the face of the poorest and weakest person you have seen, and ask whether the step you are about to take will be of any use to that person. The test does not tell an official which file to sign; it tells the official whose interest to keep in view while deciding.

According to the passage, the purpose of the test is to:

Statement: The number of students joining engineering colleges in the State has fallen for three years, while admissions to courses in data science have risen sharply.

Conclusions:

I. Interest in some newer fields of study has grown among students in the State.

II. Engineering colleges in the State will all close within three years.

Which of the following is correct?

In a class of 40 students ranked without ties, Meena is 9th from the top. Arul is 6 places below Meena. What is Arul's rank from the bottom?

Data set 1

The table shows the number of students who appeared and passed in an examination, by stream. The figures are for practice only.

Which stream had the highest pass percentage?

What was the overall pass percentage, correct to one decimal place?

About what share of all the students who failed came from the Arts stream?

Question: On which day of the week did 1 March fall in a certain year?

Statement 1: In that year, 1 February fell on a Sunday.

Statement 2: That year was not a leap year.