CAT 2024 Question Paper & Answers
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Official PYQ
CAT 2024 (Slot 1)
120 Mins 204 Marks
68Questions
204Max Marks
Sample questions from CAT 2024 (Slot 1)
1[RC passage — topic gist: an essay on the fragility of digital film ownership — content vanishing from streaming platforms (e.g. HBO Max removals), the unreliability of purchased digital copies and physical media alike, and historical parallels of lost films (Chaplin's burned negative, the 1937 Fox vault fire) — asking whether today's studios are effectively burning their own vaults for short-term financial gain. Look it up: https://www.google.com/search?q=%22fragility%20of%20digital%20film%20ownership%20streaming%20platforms%20HBO%20Max%20removals%20purchased%20digital%20copies%22] “Netflix had begun editing old episodes of Stranger Things to retroactively improve their visual effects.” What is the purpose of this example used in the passage?
- A) To show that art in the digital age, specifically film, is no longer sacrosanct, and may be changed to suit changing tastes or technology.
- B) To show that streaming services are controlling access to the cultural commons rather than expanding it.
- C) To show how unsubstantiated reports are leading to an increase in the level of distrust towards streaming services.
- D) To show a practice that justifies the fears of people who feel streaming services cannot be trusted to be custodians of cultural artefacts like film.
Answer: D
2[RC passage — topic gist: an essay on the fragility of digital film ownership — content vanishing from streaming platforms (e.g. HBO Max removals), the unreliability of purchased digital copies and physical media alike, and historical parallels of lost films (Chaplin's burned negative, the 1937 Fox vault fire) — asking whether today's studios are effectively burning their own vaults for short-term financial gain. Look it up: https://www.google.com/search?q=%22fragility%20of%20digital%20film%20ownership%20streaming%20platforms%20HBO%20Max%20removals%20purchased%20digital%20copies%22] Which one of the following statements, if true, would best invalidate the main argument of the passage?
- A) Improved cloud storage services have made it possible for movie collections to now be preserved in perpetuity, without the need to keep migrating the files.
- B) When moving to a different geographical location, customers can easily use Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to bypass geo-blocking and regain access to their content on any streaming service.
- C) Recent research has irrefutably proven that Blu-Ray discs have a shelf life of at least 100 years.
- D) Studios and streaming services have committed to giving customers permanent, unconditional access to all content they have ever purchased or streamed.
Answer: D
3[RC passage — topic gist: an essay on the fragility of digital film ownership — content vanishing from streaming platforms (e.g. HBO Max removals), the unreliability of purchased digital copies and physical media alike, and historical parallels of lost films (Chaplin's burned negative, the 1937 Fox vault fire) — asking whether today's studios are effectively burning their own vaults for short-term financial gain. Look it up: https://www.google.com/search?q=%22fragility%20of%20digital%20film%20ownership%20streaming%20platforms%20HBO%20Max%20removals%20purchased%20digital%20copies%22] Which one of the following statements about art best captures the arguments made in the passage?
- A) In the age of online subscription services, it is time to change our understanding of classic works of art being primarily immutable and easily available to the public.
- B) Accepting retroactive changes to works of art is dangerous because it will encourage creators to not put enough effort into the original attempt, given that they can always edit or update their work later.
- C) Works of art belong to the cultural commons and hence must remain available in perpetuity, irrespective of who pays for access to them.
- D) As art is increasingly created, stored and distributed digitally, access to it is counter intuitively likely to be made more difficult by the rapid churn in technology and the whims of host platforms.
Answer: D
4[RC passage — topic gist: an essay on the fragility of digital film ownership — content vanishing from streaming platforms (e.g. HBO Max removals), the unreliability of purchased digital copies and physical media alike, and historical parallels of lost films (Chaplin's burned negative, the 1937 Fox vault fire) — asking whether today's studios are effectively burning their own vaults for short-term financial gain. Look it up: https://www.google.com/search?q=%22fragility%20of%20digital%20film%20ownership%20streaming%20platforms%20HBO%20Max%20removals%20purchased%20digital%20copies%22] Which of the following statements is suggested by the sentence “Back then, at least, cinema was defined by its ephemerality: the sense that a film was as good as gone once it left your local cinema”?
- A) Today, films are expected to be available for a long time, since they are no longer tied solely to their stay at the local cinema.
- B) Cinema is now no longer as ephemeral as it used to be earlier, because the technology used for creating and preserving films has improved manifold.
- C) Presently, there is no reason why film studios should remove access to films once they have left the local cinema.
- D) Around a century ago, people were more accepting of not having access to films once they left the local cinema.
Answer: A
5There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide where (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit. Sentence: Comprehending a wide range of emotions, Renaissance music nevertheless portrayed all emotions in a balanced and moderate fashion. Paragraph: A volume of translated Italian madrigals were published in London during the year of 1588. This sudden public interest facilitated a surge of English Madrigal writing as well as a spurt of other secular music writing and publication. (1). This music boom lasted for thirty years and was as much a golden age of music as British literature was with Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth (2). The rebirth in both literature and music originated in Italy and migrated to England; the English madrigal became more humorous and lighter in England as compared to Italy. Renaissance music was mostly polyphonic in texture. (3). Extreme use of and contrasts in dynamics, rhythm, and tone colour do not occur. (4). The rhythms in Renaissance music tend to have a smooth, soft flow instead of a sharp, well-defined pulse of accents.
- A) Option 3
- B) Option 4
- C) Option 1
- D) Option 2
Answer: A
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Official PYQ
CAT 2024 (Slot 2)
120 Mins 204 Marks
68Questions
204Max Marks
Sample questions from CAT 2024 (Slot 2)
1Read the following passage and answer the question that follows. Passage: Recent important scientific findings have emerged from crossing the boundaries of scientific fields. They stem from physicists collaborating with biologists, sociologists and others, to answer questions about our world. But physicists and their potential collaborators often find their cultures out of sync. For one, physicists often discard a lot of information while extracting broad patterns; for other scientists, information is not readily disposed. Further, many non-physicists are uncomfortable with mathematical models. Still, the desire to work on something new and different is real, and there are clear benefits from the collision of views. The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
- A) Physicists have successfully buried their differences on research methods applied in other fields in their desire to find answers to baffling scientific questions.
- B) Large data sets and mathematical models in physics research combined with the research methods of non-physicist collaborators have yielded important scientific findings.
- C) Despite differences in their research styles, physicists' research collaborations with scholars from other disciplines have yielded important research findings.
- D) The desire to diversify their research and answer important questions has led to several collaborations between physicists and other social scientists.
Answer: C
2Read the following passage, which has four numbered blanks .
Passage: The first phase of globalization occurred long before the introduction of either steam or electric power...Chinese consumers at all social levels consumed vast quantities of spices, fragrant woods and unusual plants. The peoples of Southeast Asia who lived in forests gave up their traditional livelihoods and completely reoriented their economies to supply Chinese consumers (1). These exchanges of the year 1000 opened some of the routes through which goods and peoples continued to travel after Columbus traversed the mid-Atlantic. (2). Yet the world of 1000 differed from that of 1492 in important ways....the travellers who encountered one another in the year 1000 were much closer technologically. (3). They changed and augmented what was already there since 1000. (4). If globalization hadn't yet begun, Europeans wouldn't have been able to penetrate the markets in so many places as quickly as they did after 1492.
There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph above. Decide where (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.
Sentence: [T]he Europeans did not invent globalization.
- A) Option 3
- B) Option 4
- C) Option 2
- D) Option 1
Answer: A
3Read the following passage and answer the question that follows. Passage: Different from individuals, states conduct warfare operations using the DIME model— "diplomacy, information, military, and economics." Most states do everything they can to inflict pain and confusion on their enemies before deploying the military. In fact, attacks on vectors of information are a well-worn tactic of war and usually are the first target when the charge begins. It's common for telecom data and communications networks to be routinely monitored by governments, which is why the open data policies of the web are so concerning to many advocates of privacy and human rights. With the worldwide adoption of social media, more governments are getting involved in low-grade information warfare through the use of cyber troops. According to a study by the Oxford Internet Institute in 2020, cyber troops are "government or political party actors tasked with manipulating public opinion online." The Oxford research group was able to identify 81 countries with active cyber troop operations utilizing many different strategies to spread false information, including spending millions on online advertising. The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
- A) Governments primarily use the DIME model to deploy cyber troops who practise low-grade information warfare, seeking to manipulate public opinion with the objective of inflicting pain and confusion on their enemies.
- B) Following the DIME model, many governments have taken advantage of open data policies of the web to deploy cyber troops who manipulate domestic public opinion, using advertising and other strategies to spread false information.
- C) Using the DIME model, together with military operations, many governments simultaneously conduct information warfare with the help of cyber troops and routinely monitor telecom data and communications networks.
- D) As part of conducting information warfare as per the DIME model, many governments routinely monitor telecom data and communications networks, and use cyber troops on social media to manipulate public opinion.
Answer: D
4[RC passage — topic gist: an examination of why spices commanded such high prices in medieval Europe (c. ) — debunking the popular theory that they masked spoiled meat, and instead pointing to their medicinal use, humoral dietary theory, and the exotic mystery surrounding their distant, poorly-understood origins, which fueled the voyages of Columbus and da Gama. Look it up: https://www.google.com/search?q=%22why%20spices%20commanded%20high%20prices%20medieval%20Europe%20debunking%20spoiled%20meat%20theory%20medicinal%20uses%22] f a trader brought white peppercorns from India to medieval Europe, all of the following are unlikely to happen, EXCEPT:
- A) medieval maps would be used as navigational aids.
- B) Europeans would doubt the story of pepper harvesting.
- C) the price of spices would decrease.
- D) pepper would no longer be considered exotic.
Answer: B
5[RC passage — topic gist: an examination of why spices commanded such high prices in medieval Europe (c. ) — debunking the popular theory that they masked spoiled meat, and instead pointing to their medicinal use, humoral dietary theory, and the exotic mystery surrounding their distant, poorly-understood origins, which fueled the voyages of Columbus and da Gama. Look it up: https://www.google.com/search?q=%22why%20spices%20commanded%20high%20prices%20medieval%20Europe%20debunking%20spoiled%20meat%20theory%20medicinal%20uses%22] t can be inferred that all of the following contributed to a decline in the allure of spices, EXCEPT:
- A) increase in the availability or spices.
- B) the development of refrigeration techniques.
- C) changes in the system of medical treatment.
- D) changes in European cuisine.
Answer: A
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Official PYQ
CAT 2024 (Slot 3)
120 Mins 204 Marks
68Questions
204Max Marks
Sample questions from CAT 2024 (Slot 3)
1Passage: Fears of AI have historically focused on physical harm, but AI's new threat lies in mastering language -- generating stories, images, laws, and myths, which are the 'cultural artefacts' underlying human rights, religions, and civilisation itself. AI can mass-produce political content and fake news (e.g., around a US presidential race), and could foster false intimacy with humans to manipulate their opinions, even without possessing genuine consciousness. Unlike past tools (the printing press, radio) that merely spread existing human ideas, AI can generate wholly new cultural ideas of its own. While AI could also be used for good, the author warns that regulation must be swift: unlike nuclear weapons, AI can recursively build ever more powerful AI. Unregulated AI deployment would create social chaos that benefits autocrats and ruins democracies, since democracy depends on genuine human conversation, which AI's mastery of language threatens to corrupt. A key proposed regulation: mandatory AI disclosure in conversations, so people always know whether they are talking to a human or an AI. Q: The author identifies all of the following as dire outcomes of the capture of language by AI EXCEPT that it could
- A) apply its mastery of language to create strong emotional ties which could exacerbate the polarization of political views.
- B) spawn a completely new culture through its ability to create new ideas and opinions.
- C) eventually subvert democratic processes through the mass creation and spread of fake political content and news.
- D) out-strip human creativity and endeavours in the spheres such as art and music and, in the formulation of laws.
Answer: A
2Passage: Fears of AI have historically focused on physical harm, but AI's new threat lies in mastering language -- generating stories, images, laws, and myths, which are the 'cultural artefacts' underlying human rights, religions, and civilisation itself. AI can mass-produce political content and fake news (e.g., around a US presidential race), and could foster false intimacy with humans to manipulate their opinions, even without possessing genuine consciousness. Unlike past tools (the printing press, radio) that merely spread existing human ideas, AI can generate wholly new cultural ideas of its own. While AI could also be used for good, the author warns that regulation must be swift: unlike nuclear weapons, AI can recursively build ever more powerful AI. Unregulated AI deployment would create social chaos that benefits autocrats and ruins democracies, since democracy depends on genuine human conversation, which AI's mastery of language threatens to corrupt. A key proposed regulation: mandatory AI disclosure in conversations, so people always know whether they are talking to a human or an AI. Q: We can infer that the author is most likely to agree with which of the following statements?
- A) Apart from its drawbacks, AI tools have been beneficial in boosting technological and industrial advance worldwide.
- B) The commonly expressed fear that future AI developments will fatally harm humans is unfounded.
- C) One of the biggest casualties from the spread of unregulated AI is likely to be the democratic process.
- D) People's fears of the dangers of students using Chat GPT and other new AI tools are unfounded.
Answer: C
3Passage: Fears of AI have historically focused on physical harm, but AI's new threat lies in mastering language -- generating stories, images, laws, and myths, which are the 'cultural artefacts' underlying human rights, religions, and civilisation itself. AI can mass-produce political content and fake news (e.g., around a US presidential race), and could foster false intimacy with humans to manipulate their opinions, even without possessing genuine consciousness. Unlike past tools (the printing press, radio) that merely spread existing human ideas, AI can generate wholly new cultural ideas of its own. While AI could also be used for good, the author warns that regulation must be swift: unlike nuclear weapons, AI can recursively build ever more powerful AI. Unregulated AI deployment would create social chaos that benefits autocrats and ruins democracies, since democracy depends on genuine human conversation, which AI's mastery of language threatens to corrupt. A key proposed regulation: mandatory AI disclosure in conversations, so people always know whether they are talking to a human or an AI. Q: The author terms language "the operating system of our civilisation" for all the following reasons EXCEPT that it
- A) has laid the foundation for the creation of cultural artefacts through writing and telling of stories.
- B) is fundamental to the articulation and spread of human values and culture in our society.
- C) can influence political views and opinions as it engenders close emotional ties among people.
- D) is the basis of AI tools like ChatGPT which can be used to generate academic content and opinion.
Answer: D
4Passage: Fears of AI have historically focused on physical harm, but AI's new threat lies in mastering language -- generating stories, images, laws, and myths, which are the 'cultural artefacts' underlying human rights, religions, and civilisation itself. AI can mass-produce political content and fake news (e.g., around a US presidential race), and could foster false intimacy with humans to manipulate their opinions, even without possessing genuine consciousness. Unlike past tools (the printing press, radio) that merely spread existing human ideas, AI can generate wholly new cultural ideas of its own. While AI could also be used for good, the author warns that regulation must be swift: unlike nuclear weapons, AI can recursively build ever more powerful AI. Unregulated AI deployment would create social chaos that benefits autocrats and ruins democracies, since democracy depends on genuine human conversation, which AI's mastery of language threatens to corrupt. A key proposed regulation: mandatory AI disclosure in conversations, so people always know whether they are talking to a human or an AI. Q: The tone of the passage could best be described as
- A) quizzical, as the passage poses several questions, concluding with the question of whether or not the passage content has been generated by AI.
- B) alarmist, because the passage discusses scenarios of the influence of new AI tools on language and human emotions.
- C) prescient, as the author analyses the future impact of the use of new AI tools on crucial areas of our society and culture.
- D) cautionary, because the author lays out some adverse effects of the proliferation of unregulated AI tools.
Answer: D
5Passage: Lyric poetry is a genre of private meditation rather than public commitment. The impulse in Marxism toward changing a society deemed unacceptable in its basic design would seem to place demands on lyric poetry that such poetry, with its tendency toward the personal, the small scale, and the idiosyncratic, could never answer. There is within Marxism, however, also a strand of thought that would locate in lyric poetry alternative modes of perception and description that call forth a vision of worlds at odds with a repressive reality, or that draw attention to the workings of ideology within the hegemonic culture. The poetic imagination may indeed deflect larger social concerns, but it may also be implicitly critical and utopian. Q: Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
- A) Marxism has internal contradictions due to which one strand of Marxism sees no merit in lyric poetry while another appreciates the alternative modes of perception in poetry.
- B) The focus of lyric poetry as personal may not seem compatible with Marxism. However, it is possible to envisage lyric poetry as a symbol of resistance against an oppressive culture.
- C) The focus of lyric poetry is largely personal while that of Marxism is bringing change in society. Unless the difference is resolved, poetry will remain largely utopian.
- D) Marxism makes unreasonable demands on lyric poetry. However, lyric poetry has its own merits that are largely ignored by Marxism due to its personal nature.
Answer: B
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