SNAP 2015 Previous Year Question Paper

Passage

We have never had more information, and seldom less patience with it. A student today can summon, in seconds, more facts about the history of medicine than a nineteenth-century physician met in a lifetime. Yet facts do not arrange themselves. Knowing that a drug lowers blood pressure is knowledge; knowing when its side effects outweigh its benefit for this patient, at this age, with these other illnesses, is something closer to wisdom.

Wisdom, in this sense, is less a store of answers than a sense of proportion: the ability to see a problem in relation to the many other things that matter. The specialist who knows one field perfectly but cannot judge its place among human purposes may do great harm with great skill. Education that multiplies facts without cultivating judgement produces people who are well armed and poorly aimed.

1. According to the passage, what chiefly distinguishes wisdom from knowledge?

   1. Wisdom requires a larger store of facts.
   2. Wisdom is the ability to judge facts in proportion to wider purposes and circumstances.
   3. Wisdom can only be acquired through formal education.
   4. Wisdom belongs mainly to specialists.
   Answer and explanation

   Answer: B (Wisdom is the ability to judge facts in proportion to wider purposes and circumstances.)

   The author calls wisdom 'a sense of proportion: the ability to see a problem in relation to the many other things that matter', and illustrates this with judging a drug for a particular patient. A reverses the point, and C and D contradict the passage.

2. The phrase 'well armed and poorly aimed' most nearly means:

   1. well educated but unemployed
   2. confident but lacking information
   3. possessing powerful skills without the judgement to direct them well
   4. trained in military skills but not in civilian ones
   Answer and explanation

   Answer: C (possessing powerful skills without the judgement to direct them well)

   'Armed' refers to the facts and skills education supplies; 'poorly aimed' refers to the missing judgement about how to use them, echoing 'great harm with great skill'.

Verbal ability

3. Choose the word closest in meaning to EPHEMERAL.

   1. Eternal
   2. Essential
   3. Ethereal
   4. Short-lived
   Answer and explanation

   Answer: D (Short-lived)

   Ephemeral means lasting for a very short time. Eternal is its opposite, and ethereal (delicate, heavenly) is a sound-alike distractor.

4. Choose the correct meaning of the idiom 'to bite the bullet'.

   1. To speak angrily
   2. To face an unpleasant situation with courage
   3. To make a hasty decision
   4. To avoid responsibility
   Answer and explanation

   Answer: B (To face an unpleasant situation with courage)

   'Bite the bullet' means to make yourself do something difficult or unpleasant that cannot be avoided.

5. Identify the figure of speech: 'The wind whispered through the pines.'

   1. Personification
   2. Hyperbole
   3. Oxymoron
   4. Simile
   Answer and explanation

   Answer: A (Personification)

   Whispering is a human action given to the wind, a non-human thing, so this is personification. There is no 'like' or 'as' (simile), exaggeration (hyperbole) or contradiction (oxymoron).

6. Pen : Writer :: Scalpel : ?

   1. Butcher
   2. Surgeon
   3. Sculptor
   4. Barber
   Answer and explanation

   Answer: B (Surgeon)

   A pen is the characteristic tool of a writer, and a scalpel is the characteristic tool of a surgeon.

7. The British English word 'lift' corresponds to which American English word?

   1. Hoist
   2. Ride
   3. Elevator
   4. Escalator
   Answer and explanation

   Answer: C (Elevator)

   British 'lift' is American 'elevator'. Other pairs of this kind: flat/apartment, petrol/gasoline, lorry/truck.

Quantitative ability

8. A can finish a job in 12 days and B in 18 days. With C's help, the three together finish it in 4 days. How many days would C alone take?

   1. 6
   2. 8
   3. 9
   4. 12
   Answer and explanation

   Answer: C (9)

   C's daily rate = 1/4 − 1/12 − 1/18 = (9 − 3 − 2)/36 = 4/36 = 1/9. So C alone takes 9 days.

9. What is the value of log₂ 8 + log₃ 81 − log₅ 25?

   1. 3
   2. 4
   3. 5
   4. 7
   Answer and explanation

   Answer: C (5)

   log₂ 8 = 3, log₃ 81 = 4 and log₅ 25 = 2, so the value is 3 + 4 − 2 = 5.

10. From a point on level ground 60√3 m from the foot of a tower, the angle of elevation of its top is 30°. What is the tower's height?

    1. 30 m
    2. 180 m
    3. 60 m
    4. 60√3 m
    Answer and explanation

    Answer: C (60 m)

    tan 30° = height/distance, so height = 60√3 × (1/√3) = 60 m.

11. A card is drawn at random from a well-shuffled pack of 52. What is the probability that it is a king or a heart?

    1. 17/52
    2. 4/13
    3. 1/4
    4. 5/13
    Answer and explanation

    Answer: B (4/13)

    There are 13 hearts and 4 kings, and the king of hearts is counted twice, so favourable cards = 13 + 4 − 1 = 16. Probability = 16/52 = 4/13.

12. The price of sugar rises by 25%. By what percentage must a household cut its consumption to keep its spending on sugar unchanged?

    1. 20%
    2. 15%
    3. 25%
    4. 33⅓%
    Answer and explanation

    Answer: A (20%)

    New consumption = 1/1.25 = 0.8 of the old, a cut of 20%. (Shortcut: r/(100 + r) × 100 = 25/125 × 100 = 20%.)

Data interpretation

The table shows the number of adults who could not read or write (in thousands) in four districts in 2005 and 2015.

13. Which district recorded the largest percentage fall in the number of such adults between 2005 and 2015?

    1. A
    2. B
    3. C
    4. D
    Answer and explanation

    Answer: C (C)

    Falls: A 60/240 = 25%; B 30/150 = 20%; C 112/320 = 35%; D 9/90 = 10%. District C is highest.

14. By approximately what percentage did the combined number for all four districts fall over the decade?

    1. 28.8%
    2. 24.0%
    3. 22.5%
    4. 26.4%
    Answer and explanation

    Answer: D (26.4%)

    Total in 2005 = 240 + 150 + 320 + 90 = 800; total in 2015 = 180 + 120 + 208 + 81 = 589. Fall = 211/800 = 26.375% ≈ 26.4%.

15. The 2015 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to:

    1. Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi
    2. The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet
    3. The European Union
    4. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
    Answer and explanation

    Answer: B (The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet)

    The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet won the 2015 prize for its contribution to building a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia. Option A won in 2014, C in 2012 and D in 2013.

16. With effect from 1 January 2015, NITI Aayog replaced which body?

    1. Inter-State Council
    2. Finance Commission
    3. National Development Council
    4. Planning Commission
    Answer and explanation

    Answer: D (Planning Commission)

    The Government of India replaced the Planning Commission with NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) from 1 January 2015.

17. The climate agreement adopted on 12 December 2015 at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the UNFCCC is known as the:

    1. Lima Accord
    2. Kyoto Protocol
    3. Paris Agreement
    4. Copenhagen Accord
    Answer and explanation

    Answer: C (Paris Agreement)

    COP21 in Paris adopted the Paris Agreement on 12 December 2015.

18. Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana, launched on 8 April 2015, mainly provides:

    1. loans to non-corporate small and micro enterprises
    2. housing subsidies for the urban poor
    3. pensions for unorganised-sector workers
    4. crop insurance for farmers
    Answer and explanation

    Answer: A (loans to non-corporate small and micro enterprises)

    MUDRA (Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency) Yojana provides collateral-free loans to non-corporate, non-farm small and micro enterprises.

19. Which team won the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground?

    1. South Africa
    2. Australia
    3. India
    4. New Zealand
    Answer and explanation

    Answer: B (Australia)

    Australia beat New Zealand by 7 wickets in the final at the MCG on 29 March 2015, for their fifth World Cup title.

Arrangement

Five friends, P, Q, R, S and T, sit in a row facing north. S sits second from the left end. T sits immediately to the right of S. P does not sit at either end. Q sits somewhere to the right of R.

20. Who sits in the middle of the row?

    1. T
    2. P
    3. S
    4. R
    Answer and explanation

    Answer: A (T)

    S is in position 2 and T in position 3. P cannot be at an end, so P is in 4. Positions 1 and 5 go to R and Q, and since Q is to the right of R, R is 1 and Q is 5. The row is R S T P Q, with T in the middle.

21. Who sits immediately to the left of Q?

    1. P
    2. S
    3. T
    4. No one
    Answer and explanation

    Answer: A (P)

    In the row R S T P Q, the person immediately to the left of Q (position 5) is P (position 4).

Miscellaneous

22. Pointing to a man, Anita says, 'He is the son of my grandfather's only son.' How is the man related to Anita?

    1. Cousin
    2. Uncle
    3. Nephew
    4. Brother
    Answer and explanation

    Answer: D (Brother)

    Anita's grandfather's only son must be her father. The son of her father is her brother.

23. In a certain code, MANGO is written as NBOHP. How is GRAPE written in that code?

    1. HSBQF
    2. HQBOF
    3. FSBQD
    4. HSBPF
    Answer and explanation

    Answer: A (HSBQF)

    Each letter moves one place forward: M→N, A→B, N→O, G→H, O→P. So G→H, R→S, A→B, P→Q, E→F, giving HSBQF.

24. Find the next number: 3, 7, 15, 31, 63, ?

    1. 95
    2. 125
    3. 131
    4. 127
    Answer and explanation

    Answer: D (127)

    Each term is double the previous plus 1 (equivalently 2ⁿ − 1): 63 × 2 + 1 = 127.

25. Statements: All pens are tools. Some tools are heavy. Conclusions: I. Some pens are heavy. II. Some heavy things are tools. Which conclusion(s) follow?

    1. Only I
    2. Only II
    3. Both I and II
    4. Neither I nor II
    Answer and explanation

    Answer: B (Only II)

    'Some tools are heavy' converts to 'some heavy things are tools', so II follows. The heavy tools need not include any pens, so I does not necessarily follow.