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Daily CSAT Practice Test
Everyday 5 Questions from Aptitude, Logical Reasoning, and Reading Comprehension will be covered from Monday to Saturday.
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Question 1 of 5
1. Question
2 years ago, one-fifth of Amit’s age was equal to one-fourth of the age of Sandhya, and the average of their age was 27 years. If the age of Pranitha is also considered, the average age of three of them declines to 24. What will be the average age of Sandhya and Pranitha 3 years from now?
Correct
Solution (b)
Let ‘A’, ‘S’ and ‘P’ be Amit’s, Sandhya’s and Pranitha’s present age. It is given that 2 years ago, one-fifth of Amit’s age was equal to one-fourth of the age of Sandhya, and the average of their age was 27 years
[(A − 2) + (S − 2)]/2 = 27
A + S = 58 –> (1)
(A − 2)/5 = (S − 2)/4
4A − 8 = 5S − 10
5S − 4A = 2 –> (2)
From equation (1) and (2) we can say that S = 26, A = 32.
Average age of Amit, Sandhya and Pranitha before 2 years was 24.
[(A − 2) + (S − 2) + (P − 2)]/3 = 24
A + S + P = 78
Hence P = 20
Therefore, the average age of Sandhya and Pranitha 3 years from now = [(S + 3) (P + 3)]/2 = [(26 + 3) (20 + 3)]/2 = 26 years.
Incorrect
Solution (b)
Let ‘A’, ‘S’ and ‘P’ be Amit’s, Sandhya’s and Pranitha’s present age. It is given that 2 years ago, one-fifth of Amit’s age was equal to one-fourth of the age of Sandhya, and the average of their age was 27 years
[(A − 2) + (S − 2)]/2 = 27
A + S = 58 –> (1)
(A − 2)/5 = (S − 2)/4
4A − 8 = 5S − 10
5S − 4A = 2 –> (2)
From equation (1) and (2) we can say that S = 26, A = 32.
Average age of Amit, Sandhya and Pranitha before 2 years was 24.
[(A − 2) + (S − 2) + (P − 2)]/3 = 24
A + S + P = 78
Hence P = 20
Therefore, the average age of Sandhya and Pranitha 3 years from now = [(S + 3) (P + 3)]/2 = [(26 + 3) (20 + 3)]/2 = 26 years.
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Question 2 of 5
2. Question
Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow. Your answer to these questions should be based on the passages only
More and more companies, government agencies, educational institutions and philanthropic organisations are today in the grip of a new phenomenon: ‘metric fixation’. The key components of metric fixation are the belief that it is possible and desirable to replace professional judgment (acquired through personal experience and talent) with numerical indicators of comparative performance based upon standardised data (metrics); and that the best way to motivate people within these organisations is by attaching rewards and penalties to their measured performance.
The rewards can be monetary, in the form of pay for performance, say, or reputational, in the form of college rankings, hospital ratings, surgical report cards and so on. But the most dramatic negative effect of metric fixation is its propensity to incentivise gaming: that is, encouraging professionals to maximise the metrics in ways that are at odds with the larger purpose of the organisation. If the rate of major crimes in a district becomes the metric according to which police officers are promoted, then some officers will respond by simply not recording crimes or downgrading them from major offences to misdemeanours. Or take the case of surgeons, When the metrics of success and failure are made public, affecting their reputation and income – some surgeons will improve their metric scores by refusing to operate on patients with more complex problems, whose surgical outcomes are more likely to be negative. Who suffers? The patients who don’t get operated upon.
When reward is tied to measured performance, metric fixation invites just this sort of gaming. But metric fixation also leads to a variety of more subtle unintended negative consequences. These include goal displacement, which comes in many varieties: when performance is judged by a few measures, and the stakes are high (keeping one’s job, getting a pay rise or raising the stock price at the time that stock options are vested), people focus on satisfying those measures – often at the expense of other, more important organisational goals that are not measured. The best-known example is ‘teaching to the test’, a widespread phenomenon that has distorted primary and secondary education in the United States since the adoption of the No Child Left behind Act of 2001.
Short-termism is another negative. Measured performance encourages what the US sociologist Robert K Merton in 1936 called ‘the imperious immediacy of interests’ where the actor’s paramount concern with the foreseen immediate consequences excludes consideration of further or other consequences’. In short, advancing short-term goals at the expense of long-range considerations. This problem is endemic to publicly traded corporations that sacrifice long-term research and development, and the development of their staff, to the perceived imperatives of the quarterly report.
To the debit side of the ledger must also be added the transactional costs of metrics: the expenditure of employee time by those tasked with compiling and processing the metrics in the first place – not to mention the time required to actually read them.
All of the following can be a possible feature of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, except:
Correct
Solution (c)
The author has criticized the No Child left behind Act of 2001. So, it should be against what the author has supported in the passage. We know that the author has been critical of metric fixation. Therefore, the No Child left behind Act of 2001 must have the features of metric fixation.
Option c cannot be a feature of the No Child left behind Act of 2001 as it mentions the subjective evaluation of students based on their participation in the class which is against the theory of metric fixation.
Hence, option c is the correct answer.
Incorrect
Solution (c)
The author has criticized the No Child left behind Act of 2001. So, it should be against what the author has supported in the passage. We know that the author has been critical of metric fixation. Therefore, the No Child left behind Act of 2001 must have the features of metric fixation.
Option c cannot be a feature of the No Child left behind Act of 2001 as it mentions the subjective evaluation of students based on their participation in the class which is against the theory of metric fixation.
Hence, option c is the correct answer.
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Question 3 of 5
3. Question
Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow. Your answer to these questions should be based on the passages only
More and more companies, government agencies, educational institutions and philanthropic organisations are today in the grip of a new phenomenon: ‘metric fixation’. The key components of metric fixation are the belief that it is possible and desirable to replace professional judgment (acquired through personal experience and talent) with numerical indicators of comparative performance based upon standardised data (metrics); and that the best way to motivate people within these organisations is by attaching rewards and penalties to their measured performance.
The rewards can be monetary, in the form of pay for performance, say, or reputational, in the form of college rankings, hospital ratings, surgical report cards and so on. But the most dramatic negative effect of metric fixation is its propensity to incentivise gaming: that is, encouraging professionals to maximise the metrics in ways that are at odds with the larger purpose of the organisation. If the rate of major crimes in a district becomes the metric according to which police officers are promoted, then some officers will respond by simply not recording crimes or downgrading them from major offences to misdemeanours. Or take the case of surgeons, When the metrics of success and failure are made public, affecting their reputation and income – some surgeons will improve their metric scores by refusing to operate on patients with more complex problems, whose surgical outcomes are more likely to be negative. Who suffers? The patients who don’t get operated upon.
When reward is tied to measured performance, metric fixation invites just this sort of gaming. But metric fixation also leads to a variety of more subtle unintended negative consequences. These include goal displacement, which comes in many varieties: when performance is judged by a few measures, and the stakes are high (keeping one’s job, getting a pay rise or raising the stock price at the time that stock options are vested), people focus on satisfying those measures – often at the expense of other, more important organisational goals that are not measured. The best-known example is ‘teaching to the test’, a widespread phenomenon that has distorted primary and secondary education in the United States since the adoption of the No Child Left behind Act of 2001.
Short-termism is another negative. Measured performance encourages what the US sociologist Robert K Merton in 1936 called ‘the imperious immediacy of interests’ where the actor’s paramount concern with the foreseen immediate consequences excludes consideration of further or other consequences’. In short, advancing short-term goals at the expense of long-range considerations. This problem is endemic to publicly traded corporations that sacrifice long-term research and development, and the development of their staff, to the perceived imperatives of the quarterly report.
To the debit side of the ledger must also be added the transactional costs of metrics: the expenditure of employee time by those tasked with compiling and processing the metrics in the first place – not to mention the time required to actually read them.
What main point does the author want to convey through the examples of the police officer and the surgeon?
Correct
Solution (b)
In the second paragraph, the author discusses that one of the major drawbacks of metric fixation is the rise in unethical behaviour in order to maximize the metrics. The author, further, goes on to give the examples of the police officer and the surgeon to substantiate his claims. Therefore, option b is the correct answer.
Option a does not mention that the influence would be unethical and harmful in nature.
Option c is the underlying message of the author but, he does not explicitly provide the examples of the police officer and the surgeon to prove this.
Option d is too broad and has no specifics about the unethical behaviour which could be encouraged by metric fixation.
Incorrect
Solution (b)
In the second paragraph, the author discusses that one of the major drawbacks of metric fixation is the rise in unethical behaviour in order to maximize the metrics. The author, further, goes on to give the examples of the police officer and the surgeon to substantiate his claims. Therefore, option b is the correct answer.
Option a does not mention that the influence would be unethical and harmful in nature.
Option c is the underlying message of the author but, he does not explicitly provide the examples of the police officer and the surgeon to prove this.
Option d is too broad and has no specifics about the unethical behaviour which could be encouraged by metric fixation.
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Question 4 of 5
4. Question
A 20% ethanol solution is mixed with another ethanol solution ‘S’ of unknown concentration in the proportion 1:3 by volume, this mixture is then mixed with an equal volume of 20% ethanol solution. If the resultant mixture is a 31.25% ethanol solution, then the unknown concentration of ‘S’ is
Correct
Solution (a)
Let the volume of the first and the second solution be 100 and 300.
When they are mixed, quantity of ethanol in the mixture
= (20 + 300S)
Let this solution be mixed with equal volume i.e. 400 of third solution in which the strength of ethanol is 20%.
So, the quantity of ethanol in the final solution
= (20 + 300S + 80) = (300S + 100)
It is given that, 31.25% of 800 = (300S + 100)
Or, 300S + 100 = 250
Or S = 1/2 = 50%
Hence, option a is the correct answer.
Incorrect
Solution (a)
Let the volume of the first and the second solution be 100 and 300.
When they are mixed, quantity of ethanol in the mixture
= (20 + 300S)
Let this solution be mixed with equal volume i.e. 400 of third solution in which the strength of ethanol is 20%.
So, the quantity of ethanol in the final solution
= (20 + 300S + 80) = (300S + 100)
It is given that, 31.25% of 800 = (300S + 100)
Or, 300S + 100 = 250
Or S = 1/2 = 50%
Hence, option a is the correct answer.
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Question 5 of 5
5. Question
If N = 960. Find total number of factors of N.
Correct
Solution (c)
Here the question is asking to find the number of divisors (factors) of N.
The number of divisors of a composite number:
If D is a composite number in the form, D = ap × bq × cr, where a, b, c are prime numbers, then the number of divisors of D, represented by n is given by n = (p+1)(q+1)(r +1).
Following the same, after dividing 960 into prime factors: 26 × 31 × 51, we can calculate the total number of factors as (6+1)*(1+1)*(1+1) = 28.
Hence, option c is correct
Incorrect
Solution (c)
Here the question is asking to find the number of divisors (factors) of N.
The number of divisors of a composite number:
If D is a composite number in the form, D = ap × bq × cr, where a, b, c are prime numbers, then the number of divisors of D, represented by n is given by n = (p+1)(q+1)(r +1).
Following the same, after dividing 960 into prime factors: 26 × 31 × 51, we can calculate the total number of factors as (6+1)*(1+1)*(1+1) = 28.
Hence, option c is correct
