Natural Science in Reading comprehension has always been considered to be one of the most important sections of the CAT exam. It is one of the key areas of Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension of CAT(VARC) section. These RC passage for CAT consist of 2-3 paragraphs with a word limit of 500-900 words depending upon the management entrance exam. 4 to 5 questions will be given at the end based on the passage and candidate needs to solve them based on how they understand the passage. There are different genres in RCs, such as science, history, geography, current affairs, economics, humanities, etc. In this section, we focus on RCs based on Natural Science. That means, topics related to the sciences in the physical world, e.g. physics, chemistry, geology, biology.
Every entrance examination has the section of Reading comprehension, Be it CAT, GMAT, XAT, NMAT, CET or SNAP or any other MBA entrance exam. CAT exam has a weightage for reading comprehension of 66%, i.e.,16 questions out of 24 questions. in CAT exam belongs to Reading comprehension. Although the level of difficulty of the passages and the questions thereof vary from one exam to another – RC importance to a candidates’ overall performance in any management exam cannot be underestimated. Hence, the aspirants need to prepare well for this section as it takes time and constant practice to develop speed reading, understanding the context, and then correctly answer RC questions for CAT.
Let’s see some more details in the table given below:
Exam | Year | No. of RCs | No. of Rc Questions | Natural Science based RCs | No. of Questions in Natural Science based RCs | Level of Difficulty |
CAT | 2020 Slot 1 | 5 | 24 | 1 | 5 | Difficult |
CAT | 2019 Slot 1 | 5 | 24 | 1 | 5 | Moderate |
CAT | 2019 Slot 2 | 5 | 24 | 2 | 10 | Moderate |
CAT | 2018 Slot 1 | 5 | 24 | 2 | 10 | Difficult |
CAT | 2018 Slot 2 | 5 | 24 | 2 | 9 | Moderate |
CAT | 2017 Slot 1 | 5 | 24 | 1 | 6 | Difficult |
CAT | 2017 Slot 2 | 5 | 24 | 0 | 0 | – |
XAT | 2020 | 4 | 12 | 0 | 0 | – |
XAT | 2019 | 4 | 12 | 0 | 0 | – |
XAT | 2018 | 4 | 13 | 0 | 0 | – |
IIFT | 2019 | 4 | 16 | 0 | 0 | – |
IIFT | 2018 | 5 | 16 | 0 | 0 | – |
IIFT | 2017 | 4 | 16 | 0 | 0 | – |
SNAP | 2018 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 0 | – |
There are no specific concepts or written rules to answer the questions correctly for an RC passage for CAT. The most important skill is the candidates’ reading speed and understanding of the content. But still, we can use different strategies while practicing and check which one works.
1. According to the passage, over time, with migrations, the calls regressed to the average pulse rate of the founder colony in Isla Guadalupe. The passage does not indicate that the influx of new northern elephant seals into Año Nuevo Island would have made the call pulse rate of its male seals exceed that of those at Isla Guadalupe.
All other options can be inferred:
Option A: “At the individual level, the pulse of the calls stayed the same: A male would maintain his vocal signature throughout his lifetime.”
Option C: “This led Le Boeufvand his collaborator, Lewis Petrinovich, to deduce that the dialects were, perhaps, a result of isolation over time, after the breeding sites had been recolonized.”
Option D: “In the decades that followed, scientists noticed that the geographical variations reported in 1969 were not obvious anymore.”
The question is “All of the following can be inferred from Le Boeuf’s study as described in the passage EXCEPT that:”
Hence, the answer is, “the influx of new northern elephant seals into Año Nuevo Island would have soon made the call pulse rate of its male seals exceed that of those at Isla Guadalupe.”
2. According to the passage, the possible reason for dialects disappearing is that “as the population continued to expand and the islands kept on receiving immigrants from the original population, the calls in all locations would have eventually regressed to the average pulse rate of the founder colony”. If, instead, the call tempo of the immigrant seals changed to match that of the host colony (each of which has a different dialect), then dialects would be different.
Option A is incorrect as it is the immigrant male seals that change the average call tempo. Option B states exactly what happened, resulting in the diappearance of dialects. The scenario in option C would not change the outcome in any way.
The question is “Which one of the following conditions, if true, could have ensured that male northern elephant seal dialects did not disappear?”
Hence, the answer is, “The call tempo of individual immigrant male seals changed to match the average tempo of resident male seals in the host colony.”
3. The last few lines of the passage have the answer: “Modern males exhibit more individual diversity, and their calls are more complex. While 50 years ago the drumming pattern was quite simple and the dialects denoted just a change in tempo, Casey explained, the calls recorded today have more complex structures”.
The question is “Which one of the following best sums up the overall history of transformation of male northern elephant seal calls?”
Hence, the answer is, “The calls have transformed from exhibiting simple composition, less individual variety, and great regional variety to complex composition, great individual variety, and less regional variety.”
4. Note the observation in paragraph 4: “At other sites, where the scientists found faster pulse rates, the opposite would have happened—seals with faster rates would have happened to arrive first.”
The question is “From the passage it can be inferred that the call pulse rate of male northern elephant seals in the southern rookeries was faster because:”
Hence, the answer is, “the male northern elephant seals of Isla Guadalupe with faster call pulse rates might have been the original settlers of the southern rookeries.
Q.2. In a low-carbon world, renewable energy technologies are hot business. For investors looking to redirect funds, wind turbines and solar panels, among other technologies, seem a straightforward choice. But renewables need to be further scrutinized before being championed as forging a path toward a low-carbon future. Both the direct and indirect impacts of renewable energy must be examined to ensure that a climate-smart future does not intensify social and environmental harm. As renewable energy production requires land, water, and labor, among other inputs, it imposes costs on people and the environment. Hydropower projects, for instance, have led to community dispossession and exclusion . . .Renewable energy supply chains are also intertwined with mining, and their technologies contribute to growing levels of electronic waste . . . Furthermore, although renewable energy can be produced and distributed through small-scale, local systems, such an approach might not generate the high returns on investment needed to attract capital.
Although an emerging sector, renewables are enmeshed in long-standing resource extraction through their dependence on minerals and metals . . . Scholars document the negative consequences of mining . . . even for mining operations that commit to socially responsible practices[:] “many of the world’s largest reservoirs of minerals like cobalt, copper, lithium,[and] rare earth minerals”—the ones needed for renewable technologies—“are found in fragile states and under communities of marginalized peoples in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. ”Since the demand for metals and minerals will increase substantially in a renewable- powered future . . . this intensification could exacerbate the existing consequences of extractive activities.
Among the connections between climate change and waste, O’Neill . . . highlights that “devices developed to reduce our carbon footprint, such as lithium batteries for hybrid and electric cars or solar panels[,] become potentially dangerous electronic waste at the end of their productive life.” The disposal of toxic waste has long perpetuated social injustice through the flows of waste to the Global South and to marginalized communities in the Global North . ..
While renewable energy is a more recent addition to financial portfolios, investments in the sector must be considered in light of our understanding of capital accumulation. As agricultural finance reveals, the concentration of control of corporate activity facilitates profit generation. For some climate activists, the promise of renewables rests on their ability not only to reduce emissions but also to provide distributed, democratized access to energy . . .But Burke and Stephens . . . caution that “renewable energy systems offer a possibility but nota certainty for more democratic energy futures.” Small-scale, distributed forms of energy are only highly profitable to institutional investors if control is consolidated somewhere in the financial chain. Renewable energy can be produced at the household or neighborhood level. However, such small-scale, localized production is unlikely to generate high returns for investors. For financial growth to be sustained and expanded by the renewable sector, production and trade in renewable energy technologies will need to be highly concentrated, and large asset management firms will likely drive those developments. [CAT 2020]
Q 5: Which one of the following statements, if false, could be seen as best supporting the arguments in the passage?
A) Renewable energy systems have little or no environmental impact.
B) Renewable energy systems are as expensive as non-renewable energy systems.
C) Renewable energy systems are not as profitable as non-renewable energy systems.
D) The production and distribution of renewable energy through small-scale, local systems is not economically sustainable.
Q 6: All of the following statements, if true, could be seen as supporting the arguments in the passage, EXCEPT:
A) One reason for the perpetuation of social injustice lies in the problem of the disposal of toxic waste.
B) Marginalised people in Africa, Asia and Latin America have often been the main sufferers of corporate mineral extraction projects.
C) The example of agricultural finance helps us to see how to concentrate corporate activity in the renewable energy sector.
D)The possible negative impacts of renewable energy
Q 7: Which one of the following statements, if true, could be an accurate inference from the first paragraph of the passage?
A) The author has reservations about the consequences of non-renewable energy systems.
B) The author does not think renewable energy systems can be as efficient as non-renewable energy systems
C) The author’s only reservation is about the profitability of renewable energy systems.
D) The author has reservations about the consequences of renewable energy systems.
Q 8: Which one of the following statements best captures the main argument of the last paragraph of the passage?
A) Renewable energy systems are not democratic unless they are corporate-controlled.
B) The development of the renewable energy sector is a double-edged sword.
C) Renewable energy produced at the household or neighbourhood level is more efficient than mass-produced forms of energy.
D) Most forms of renewable energy are not profitable investments for institutional investors.
Q 9: Based on the passage, we can infer that the author would be most supportive of which one of the following practices?
A) The study of the coexistence of marginalised people with their environments.
B) Encouragement for the development of more environment-friendly carbon-based fuels.
C) More stringent global policies and regulations to ensure a more just system of toxic waste disposal.
D) The localised, small-scale development of renewable energy systems
5. Trickily worded question. The statement that, if false, supports the arguments in the passage is the one that, if true, does not support the arguments in the passage.
Clearly, statement D goes against one of the key ideas in the passage.
All other statements are based on ideas in the passage.
The question is “Which one of the following statements, if false, could be seen as best supporting the arguments in the passage?”
Hence, the answer is, “Renewable energy systems have little or no environmental impact.”
6. Statements A and C, if true, support the argument in the passage that the “disposal of toxic waste has long perpetuated social injustice through the flows of waste to the Global South and to marginalized communities in the Global North”.
According to the passage, “agricultural finance reveals the concentration of control of corporate activity facilitates profit generation”. Statement B is based on the same idea.
Statement D, however, is different from the arguments in the passage. According to the passage, though investment in renewable energy is a “straightforward choice”, further scrutiny is needed before declaring that it will lead to a low-carbon future.
The question is “All of the following statements, if true, could be seen as supporting the arguments in the passage, EXCEPT:”
Hence, the answer is, “The possible negative impacts of renewable energy need to be studied before it can be offered as a financial investment opportunity.”
7. “For investors looking to redirect funds, wind turbines and solar panels, among other technologies, seem a straightforward choice. But renewables need to be further scrutinized before being championed as forging a path toward a low-carbon future.” Clearly, the author has reservations about the consequences of renewable energy systems.
The question is “Which one of the following statements, if true, could be an accurate inference from the first paragraph of the passage?”
Hence, the answer is, “The author has reservations about the consequences of renewable energy systems.”
8. Option C is the main idea of the passage. All other options can be easily eliminated.
Option A is clearly incorrect, as it implies corporate control ensures democratic access. The last paragraph states the exact opposite of options B and C.
The question is “Which one of the following statements best captures the main argument of the last paragraph of the passage?”
Hence, the answer is, “The development of the renewable energy sector is a double-edged sword.
9. The author discusses the social injustice perpetuated through the disposal of toxic waste in the passage. He is hence likely to be supportive of more stringent global policies and regulations to ensure a more just system of toxic waste disposal.
The study of the coexistence of marginalized people with their environments is not related to the main idea of the passage. The author clearly states that small-scale renewable energy systems do not produce high returns. The author does not broach upon the idea of more environment-friendly carbon-based fuels in the passage.
The question is “Based on the passage, we can infer that the author would be most supportive of which one of the following practices?”
Hence, the answer is, “More stringent global policies and regulations to ensure a more just system of toxic waste disposal.
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