VOCABULARY -

Q1. Choose the synonym of "Tenacious"

a) Weak
b) Firm
c) Shaky
d) Lazy

Q2. "To throw in the towel" means:

a) To begin a task
b) To surrender or quit
c) To show anger
d) To clean up

Q3. One who pretends to have more knowledge than they actually possess:
a) Charlatan
b) Stoic
c) Optimist
d) Altruist

Q4. Choose the antonym of "Insolent"

a) Arrogant
b) Respectful
c) Rude
d) Bold

Q5. Choose the correctly spelled word:

a) Connosieur
b) Conoisseur
c) Connoisseur
d) Connoissure

Q6. "A Pyrrhic victory" means:

a) A peaceful resolution
b) A win with heavy losses
c) A clear-cut victory
d) A surprise defeat

Q7. Choose the antonym of "Belligerent"

a) Aggressive
b) Hostile
c) Peaceful
d) Violent

Q8. Choose the correctly spelled word:

a) Camuflage
b) Camouflage
c) Camoflouge
d) Camauflage

Q9. One who collects or studies coins:

a) Geologist
b) Philatelist
c) Numismatist
d) Archivist

Q10. Choose the synonym of "Ubiquitous"

a) Scarce
b) Rare
c) Omnipresent
d) Absent

Q11. Choose the correctly spelled word:

a) Exhuberant
b) Exuberent
c) Exuberrant
d) Exuberant

Q12. Choose the antonym of "Ephemeral"

a) Momentary
b) Fleeting
c) Eternal
d) Temporary

Q13. "To tilt at windmills" means:

a) To fight imaginary enemies
b) To clean vigorously
c) To ride a horse
d) To lose hope

Q14. Identify the correctly used sentence with the homonyms “Complement” and “Compliment”:
a) She gave me a nice complement about my dress.
b) The wine was a perfect compliment to the meal.
c) Her scarf complemented her outfit, and she received many compliments.
d) I received a great complement for my cooking.

Q15. A statement that appears self-contradictory but reveals a truth:

a) Irony
b) Paradox
c) Hyperbole
d) Euphemism

SENTENCE IMPROVEMENTS-

Q:16 A chair is a piece of furniture to sit comfortably.

1.to sit on

2.to sit with

3.No improvement
4.to sit in

Q:17 Healthy lakes neither provide us with a number of environmental benefits but they also influence our
quality of life and strengthen our economy.

1.No improvement

2.either

3.not only

4.only not

Q:18 A good leader does not waste his valuable time finding faults with his subordinates, rather invests it in
performing productive works that can benefit everyone.

1.finding fault with his subordinates

2.to find faults with his subordinates

3.to find faults in his subordinates

4.No improvement

Q:19 But if you persist in asking me not to conspire against you, I will certainly conspire against you.

1.But if you persist at

2.But if you persist for

3. But if you persist with

4. No improvement

SPOTTING ERRORS _

Q:20 Yet another vulnerability have been found in WhatsApp that can allow attackers to access the
sensitive information of users.

1.found in WhatsApp that

2.can allow attackers to

3.Yet another vulnerability have been

4.access the sensitive information of users

Q:21 The student being a graduate he is eligible for the post of probationary officer in our bank.

1.graduate he is
2.The student being a

3.of probationary officer in our bank

4.eligible for the post

Q:22 Popular pizza outlet Domino’s India seems to have fall victim to a cyber attack.

1.Domino’s India seems

2.victim to a cyber attack

3.Popular pizza outlet

4.to have fall

Q:23 If you’re among them who dream of making their mark in the field of space, you’re in luck.

1.who dream of making

2.their mark in the field

3.If you’re among them

4.of space, you’re in luck

Q:24 In the present scenario, ________ of India are part of the global village.

1.the rich and the poor

2.rich and the poor

3.rich and poor

4.the rich and poor

Q:25 Radha does not like _______.

1.me coming so late

2.my coming so late

3.I coming so late

4.me comes so late

Q:26 Rahul _______ in Srinagar for three years when his parents came to visit.

1.has lived
2.had lived

3.was living

4.had been living

Q:27 Sita asked Rohan if she _______ borrow his book for a week.

1.will

2.could

3.can

4.should

28----A. The French Revolution created a vision for a new moral universe: that sovereignty resides
in nations; that a constitution and the rule of law govern politics; that people are equal and enjoy
inalienable rights; and that church and state should be separate.

B. The French Revolution invented modern revolution —the idea that humans can transform the
world according to a plan—and so has a central place in the study of the social sciences.

C. It ushered in modernity by destroying the foundations of the “Old Regime”—absolutist politics,

legal inequality, a “feudal” economy (characterized by guilds, manorialism, and even serfdom),
and an alliance of church and state.

D. That vision is enshrined in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of 1789, whose
proclamation of “natural, imprescriptible, and inalienable” rights served as the model for the
1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

ADBC
BADC
ACBD
BCAD

29---A. The oldest fossil grasses are just 70 million years old, although grass may have evolved a
bit earlier than that.

B. There have been land plants for 465 million years, yet there were no flowers for over two-
thirds of that time.

C. The equally-familiar grasses appeared even more recently.

D. Flowering plants only appeared in the middle of the dinosaur era.

DCBA
BCAD
CADB
BDCA
30---A. Patrilineal ownership of lands and the culture of dowry attached to it have turned
daughters into bad debts.

B. The control of such castes on local politics aggravates masculine hubris.

C. The bigotry of our village culture and polity is intrinsically linked to a control of land and
agriculture.

D. Land makes certain castes ‘kingly’ in rural communities.

DBCA
DABC
CDBA
ADBC

31---A. The Cold War was underpinned by an understanding which allowed the US to maintain
hegemony over the capitalist world and which gave the Soviet Union a regional sphere of
influence in Eastern Europe.

B. The bloody upheavals and wars occurred not in Europe, America or Russia, but in Asia, Africa
and the Middle East, and were either directly or indirectly a response to the experience of
Western colonialism.

C. Despite the aggressive rhetoric of this era, the Cold War was a period of relative peace between
hostile geopolitical blocs.

D. In retrospect, what was remarkable about the Cold War was the ability of most of the major
players to manage their conflict.

ADCB
DBCA
CBDA
BADC

EVEN as Punjab and Haryana are grappling ______1______the seasonal ______2______ of stubble
burning, the Supreme Court has sought a report from the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM)
on the steps being taken for controlling air pollution in and around Delhi. The CAQM, a statutory body
tasked with implementing the Central Government’s Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to
______3______ air pollution in Delhi-NCR during the winter season, had reported a ‘sudden decline’ in air
quality parameters in the region last week, with Delhi’s air quality index entering the ‘poor’ category.
Consequently, Stage I of GRAP kicked ______4_____, with the CAQM directing authorities in the NCR to
enforce a ban on coal usage in hotels and restaurants and take punitive measures against polluting
industries and thermal power plants.

32. Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank 1.

A. To
B. From
C. With
D. By
33. Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank 2.
A. Trace
B. Face
C. Menace
D. Place

34. Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank 3.

A. Put
B. Threat
C. Expect
D. Combat

35. Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank 4.

A. In
B. For
C. To
D. By

On March 11, Prime Minister Narendra Modi used social media to announce India’s entry into a small club
of countries capable of delivering multiple nuclear warheads on a single missile. This was
______1_______with the _____2_____flight test of Agni-V, India’s longest range ballistic missile with a
range of over 5,000 kilometres, with multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle (MIRV) technology
under ‘Mission Divyastra’ by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Since
_______3_______ first test in April 2012, Agni-V has _______4______ several tests and developments
including canisterisation to improve its ease of handling and operation. The MIRV system’s indigenous
avionics systems and high accuracy sensor packages ensure that the re-entry vehicles reach the target
points accurately. The DRDO said the mission accomplished the designed parameters. The test also comes
five years after India’s maiden anti-satellite (ASAT) test under Mission Shakti. On March 27, 2019, a live
satellite in the low earth orbit of around 300 km _____5______shot down using a modified interceptor of
the Ballistic Missile Defence system.

36. Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 1.

A. Established
B. Diminished
C. Accomplished
D. Detached

37. Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 2.

A. Evident
B. Prevent
C. Portent
D. Maiden
38. Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 3.

A. Its
B. It’s
C. Their
D. There

39. Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 4

A. Undergone
B. Prone
C. Bygone
D. Milestone

40. Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 5

A. Were
B. Is
C. Was
D. Are

THERE is much excitement — and rightly so — around the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) branching out
overseas. IIT-Madras has become the first one to make the significant foray. With India signing a
Memorandum of Understanding with Tanzania on Thursday in this regard, Zanzibar is set to have an IIT
campus from October. Next in line are IIT-Delhi and IIT-Kharagpur, which will have their campuses in the
UAE and Malaysia, respectively. The expansion of the footprint of India’s high-ranked institutes and
universities worldwide is aligned with the country’s foreign policy and commitment to strengthening
South-South cooperation. The internationalisation of education through such collaborative endeavours is
bound to deepen ties with the recipient countries through the spread of tech education and student
mobility as well as the resultant opening of more global research opportunities.
However, at the same time, this development underlines how poorly our overall higher education sector is
generally placed. Other than the handful of high-performing institutes, such as the IITs and the IISc, most of
our universities and colleges are lowly placed in various global rankings. Shackled by the lack of adequate
funds and staff, they are struggling to give quality education to their students.
Even though the youth from the hinterland are talented, the educational institutions that they mostly have
access to are, unfortunately, not good enough to hone their skills. This impacts their employability and
potential to launch startups or register patents. A lot of degree-holders end up doing jobs much below
their capabilities or even opting out of their core field and area of expertise. The government should
prioritise empowering India’s youth with quality education along with enhancing the country’s global
presence.

41. According to the passage, what is one potential benefit of the internationalization of education as
seen in the case of IIT branching out overseas?

A. It will increase competition among students in India.

B. It will significantly improve the state of higher education in India.
C. It will strengthen India's ties with the recipient countries through the spread of tech education, student
mobility, and more global research opportunities.
D. It will increase the number of students studying in IITs within India.
42. Based on the passage, what is the attitude of the author towards the state of higher education in
India, apart from the case of IIT?

A. The author views the overall higher education sector as well-placed and successful.
B. The author believes that the higher education sector is generally performing exceptionally.
C. The author sees potential for improvement in the overall higher education sector.
D. The author considers the higher education sector to be benefiting greatly from IIT's overseas expansion.

43. Based on the passage, what can be inferred about the quality of education in most Indian
universities and colleges?

A. The quality of education is very high, especially in the IITs and the IISc.
B. The quality of education is poor due to a lack of funds and staff.
C. The quality of education is directly linked to the amount of patents registered.
D. The quality of education is excellent because they are high in global rankings

44. According to the passage, what could be the potential impact of providing better quality education to
India's youth?

A. It will lead to more degree-holders choosing to opt out of their core field and area of expertise.
B. It will increase the global presence of the country and improve the employability of the youth.
C. It will decrease the number of startups and patents registered.
D. It will result in the youth doing jobs much below their capabilities.

45. What is the main theme of the passage?

A. The inefficiency of higher education in India

B. The internationalization of the Indian Institute of Technology
C. The importance of research opportunities
D. The spread of tech education and student mobility