Online Quiz
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Directions (Q 1–10): Read the passage The Second Loan and answer the questions.
When microfinance first reached villages that had never seen a bank, the results looked almost miraculous. Women who had borrowed from moneylenders at crushing rates could now take small loans from a group-based lender, repay in weekly instalments and use the money to buy a cow, a sewing machine or stock for a small shop. Repayment rates were remarkably high, and the model was praised as proof that the poor are reliable borrowers when credit is offered on fair terms.
The success brought competition. In some regions, several lenders began to operate in the same villages, each eager to add borrowers. A woman who already had one loan could easily take a second from another lender, and sometimes a third, often without any lender knowing about the others. On paper, every loan was small, and each lender, seeing only its own loan, judged the borrower safe. Together, they could add up to a burden that her household's income could not support.
The danger of over-indebtedness lies in the way it hides. As long as new loans are easy to get, an old loan can be repaid with a new one, and repayment records stay perfect. The problem appears only when the flow of new credit slows – because of a bad harvest, an illness in the family or a decision by lenders to tighten their rules. Then a household that looked creditworthy is suddenly unable to pay anyone, and the pressure to repay can become harsh.
Lenders and regulators have learnt from such episodes. One important tool is the credit bureau, which collects information on every loan a borrower holds, so that a lender can see the whole picture before approving a new one. Limits on the number of lenders that may lend to one borrower and on the total amount a household may owe are another tool. Such rules are not meant to make borrowing difficult; they are meant to make sure that a loan is given because the borrower can repay it, not merely because the lender wants to grow.
Equally important is what happens before the loan is made. A loan officer who visits a borrower's home, asks about all sources of income and all existing debts, and explains the full cost of the loan in plain language is doing more than following a procedure. He is helping the borrower make a decision she can live with. Such a visit takes time, and in a race for growth it is often the first step to be cut. Training in basic financial skills – understanding interest, keeping a simple record of income and spending, and knowing whom to approach with a complaint – adds to this protection.
None of this suggests that small loans have failed. For millions of families, they remain the only formal credit available, and they have helped many to build small businesses and to cope with emergencies without selling land or jewellery. The lesson is narrower and more practical: credit is a tool whose value depends on how it is used. A loan that fits a household's income can open doors; a pile of loans that does not fit can close them.
The real measure of a lending programme, then, is not how many loans it disburses or how high its repayment rate looks in a good year. It is whether its borrowers are better off after several years – with more stable incomes, more savings and less fear of the next instalment.
Correct Answer: E [Small loans help most when lenders check a borrower's total debt and ability to repay, because hidden multiple borrowing can become a burden.]
Explanation:
Proof: “a loan is given because the borrower can repay it” … “None of this suggests that small loans have failed.”.
Why did the early results of microfinance look ‘almost miraculous’?
Correct Answer: C [Poor borrowers repaid reliably when credit was offered on fair terms.]
Explanation:
Proof: “the poor are reliable borrowers when credit is offered on fair terms”.
Why, according to the passage, does over-indebtedness ‘hide’?
Correct Answer: D [Old loans can be repaid with new ones, so repayment records stay perfect.]
Explanation:
Proof: “an old loan can be repaid with a new one, and repayment records stay perfect”.
Which of the following is NOT mentioned as an event that can expose over-indebtedness?
Correct Answer: B [a rise in the price of gold]
Explanation:
Proof: “because of a bad harvest, an illness in the family or a decision by lenders to tighten their rules”.
What is the purpose of a credit bureau as described in the passage?
Correct Answer: A [to let a lender see all the loans a borrower already holds]
Explanation:
Proof: “collects information on every loan a borrower holds”.
What is the author's view of limits on lenders per borrower and on total household debt?
Correct Answer: A [They aim to match loans to the borrower's ability to repay, not to block credit.]
Explanation:
Proof: “Such rules are not meant to make borrowing difficult”.
According to the passage, a loan officer who explains the full cost of a loan in plain language is:
Correct Answer: C [helping the borrower make a decision she can live with]
Explanation:
Proof: “He is helping the borrower make a decision she can live with.”.
Which word is most nearly OPPOSITE in meaning to harsh as used in the passage?
Correct Answer: B [gentle]
Explanation:
Proof: “the pressure to repay can become harsh”.
The word disburses, as used in the passage, means:
Correct Answer: E [pays out]
Explanation:
Proof: “how many loans it disburses”.
Which of the following is/are true according to the passage?
I. Several lenders working in the same villages made multiple borrowing easier.
II. Small loans have helped some families cope with emergencies without selling land.
III. A high repayment rate in a good year proves that borrowers are better off.
Correct Answer: C [Only I and II]
Explanation:
Proof: “A woman who already had one loan could easily take a second from another lender” … “to cope with emergencies without selling land or jewellery”.
Directions (Q 11–16): In the passage below, each blank is numbered. Choose the word that best fits each blank.
Few ideas in personal finance are as powerful, or as poorly understood, as compound interest. When interest is earned not only on the original sum but also on the interest already added, savings grow at an (11) ________ rate. The same force works in (12) ________ on debt: an unpaid credit-card balance, on which interest is charged on interest, can grow far faster than its owner (13) ________.
The (14) ________ is not complicated: start saving early, so that time does the heavy lifting, and clear high-interest debt before chasing returns elsewhere. Yet such advice is (15) ________ ignored, partly because the effects of compounding are (16) ________ in the early years and dramatic only later.
Correct Answer: D [accelerating]
Explanation:
“accelerating” – growth on growth speeds up – accelerating.
Blank (12)
Correct Answer: A [reverse]
Explanation:
“reverse” – ‘works in reverse’ = in the opposite direction.
Blank (13)
Correct Answer: D [anticipates]
Explanation:
“anticipates” – a present-tense verb meaning ‘expects’ is needed.
Blank (14)
Correct Answer: E [remedy]
Explanation:
“remedy” – a noun meaning ‘cure’ is needed after ‘The’.
Blank (15)
Correct Answer: B [routinely]
Explanation:
“routinely” – an adverb meaning ‘regularly’ before ‘ignored’.
Blank (16)
Correct Answer: C [imperceptible]
Explanation:
“imperceptible” – too small to notice in the early years – imperceptible.
Directions (Q 17–22): Find the part of the sentence that has an error. If there is no error, choose ‘No error’.
Correct Answer: E [No error]
Explanation:
No error. not only + verb … but also + verb – parallel and correct (CJ7).
Had the committee (A) / studied the report carefully, (B) / it would not approve (C) / the faulty proposal. (D)
Correct Answer: C [(C)]
Explanation:
Part (C): would not approve → would not have approved.
You need not (A) / waited (B) / for me yesterday; (C) / I had a spare key. (D)
Correct Answer: B [(B)]
Explanation:
Part (B): waited → have waited.
Scarcely had (A) / the meeting begun (B) / than the power (C) / failed. (D)
Correct Answer: C [(C)]
Explanation:
Part (C): than → when. Rule: scarcely … when (CJ3).
The cost of living (A) / in big cities (B) / have risen (C) / steadily in recent years. (D)
Correct Answer: C [(C)]
Explanation:
Part (C): have → has. Rule: the subject is ‘cost’ (SV11).
She is one of those (A) / employees who (B) / always arrives (C) / early for work. (D)
Correct Answer: C [(C)]
Explanation:
Part (C): arrives → arrive.
Directions (Q 23–26): Choose the pair of words that best fills the two blanks.
Correct Answer: C [sound, unworkable]
Explanation:
‘but’ needs a contrast: good in theory (sound) vs failure in practice (unworkable).
Although the loan was ________, the borrower ________ every instalment on time.
Correct Answer: D [large, paid]
Explanation:
‘Although’ needs a contrast: a large loan, yet every instalment paid; past tense → paid.
The new rules are ________ to the interests of small depositors and have been ________ welcomed.
Correct Answer: E [favourable, widely]
Explanation:
favourable to = helpful to; an adverb before ‘welcomed’ → widely.
The witness's account was so ________ that the court found no reason to ________ it.
Correct Answer: B [credible, doubt]
Explanation:
believable (credible) → no reason to doubt; to + base verb.
Directions (Q 27–31): The first sentence of a paragraph is fixed. Rearrange the other five sentences (A)–(E) and answer the questions.
(First sentence – fixed) Most organisations treat customer complaints as a nuisance to be handled and closed as quickly as possible.
(A) A single complaint may be an accident, but fifty complaints about the same form point to a problem in the form itself.
(B) Yet each complaint is also a piece of information about something that went wrong.
(C) Their aim is not merely to close complaints faster but to receive fewer of them.
(D) Some banks now review their complaint records every month for exactly this reason.
(E) When these patterns are studied, the cause can be fixed once instead of being apologised for again and again.
Correct Answer: B [(B)]
Explanation:
(B). Sequence BAEDC. ‘Yet’ turns from nuisance to information; one vs fifty complaints; ‘these patterns’; ‘for exactly this reason’; ‘Their aim’ closes.
(Complaints as data) After rearrangement, what is the THIRD sentence (the fixed sentence counts as the first)?
Correct Answer: A [(A)]
Explanation:
(A). Sequence BAEDC. ‘Yet’ turns from nuisance to information; one vs fifty complaints; ‘these patterns’; ‘for exactly this reason’; ‘Their aim’ closes.
(Complaints as data) Which one is the FIFTH sentence once the sentences are rearranged (the fixed sentence counts as the first)?
Correct Answer: D [(D)]
Explanation:
(D). Sequence BAEDC. ‘Yet’ turns from nuisance to information; one vs fifty complaints; ‘these patterns’; ‘for exactly this reason’; ‘Their aim’ closes.
(Complaints as data) Which sentence closes the paragraph as the SIXTH (last) one (the fixed sentence counts as the first)?
Correct Answer: C [(C)]
Explanation:
(C). Sequence BAEDC. ‘Yet’ turns from nuisance to information; one vs fifty complaints; ‘these patterns’; ‘for exactly this reason’; ‘Their aim’ closes.
(Complaints as data) Which is the correct sequence of the sentences?
Correct Answer: A [BAEDC]
Explanation:
BAEDC. ‘Yet’ turns from nuisance to information; one vs fifty complaints; ‘these patterns’; ‘for exactly this reason’; ‘Their aim’ closes.
Directions (Q 32–35): Answer as directed.
Column I: (A) The two cheques you deposited on Monday (B) Unless the account is used at least once in two years, (C) Such was the demand for the new scheme
Column II: (D) it will be treated as inoperative. (E) that the forms ran out by noon. (F) have both been cleared.
Correct Answer: A [A–F, B–D, C–E]
Explanation:
(A) is a plural subject with no verb → F (have both been cleared).
Join a part from Column I with a part from Column II to make correct sentences.
Column I: (A) Having finished the audit, (B) If you had read the notice carefully, (C) Not only did the branch meet its target
Column II: (D) but it also won the regional award. (E) the team submitted its report to the manager. (F) you would not have missed the deadline.
Correct Answer: B [A–E, B–F, C–D]
Explanation:
(C) ‘Not only did …’ needs ‘but … also’ → D.
Which two bold words should be swapped to make the sentence meaningful and correct? If none, choose ‘No swap required’.
The account (A) opened a new customer (B) at the main branch (C) on Monday (D).
Correct Answer: D [A–B]
Explanation:
Swap A–B: “The customer opened a new account at the main branch on Monday.”
In which sentence is the word disinterested used CORRECTLY?
Correct Answer: D [A disinterested judge decides cases without taking sides.]
Explanation:
disinterested = impartial; the other sentences need ‘uninterested’ (not interested).
Directions (Q 36–37): Choose the phrase that should replace the part in bold. If no change is needed, choose ‘No improvement required’.
Correct Answer: C [had the train arrived than]
Explanation:
The partner of ‘No sooner’ is ‘than’, never ‘when’; ‘No sooner had + V3 … than’ fits (CJ3, TR7).
Being a rainy day, the match was cancelled.
Correct Answer: A [It being a rainy day]
Explanation:
Without a subject, ‘Being a rainy day’ would describe ‘the match’ (a dangling participle); ‘It being a rainy day’ gives the phrase its own subject.
Directions (Q 38–40): Answer as directed.
Small farmers (A) will receive (B) the new subsidy (C) directly from the goverment (D).
Correct Answer: D [(D)]
Explanation:
Correct spelling: “government”; the other bold words are spelt correctly.
Combine the sentences, beginning with Despite: “The roads were flooded. The staff reached the branch on time.”
Correct Answer: E [Despite the flooded roads, the staff reached the branch on time.]
Explanation:
Despite + noun phrase (not a clause, never ‘despite of’).
Choose the connector that best fills the blank: “The bank's profits rose this year. ____, its share price fell.”
