XAT 2020 Question Paper

Carefully read the paragraph below:

A map is a useful metaphor for our brain when talking about _______ because at its most basic level our brain __________to be our atlas of sorts, a system of routes _______to navigate us toward just one destination: staying alive!

From the options below, choose the set that MOST appropriately fills up the blanks.

Carefully read the paragraph below:

__________, medicine has been operated by trial and error, in other words, __________. We know by now that there can be entirely_________ connections between symptoms and treatment, and some medications succeed in medical trials for mere random reasons.

From the options below, choose the one that MOST appropriately fills up the blanks.

Read the following sentences and answer the question that follows:
1. I have good knowledge of German.
2. Except for Rajiv, everybody was there.
3. Whole Delhi was celebrating Independence Day.
4. Neither the dog, nor is the cat responsible for this mess.
5. He knows to swim.
6. I look forward to seeing you.

Which of the above are grammatically INCORRECT?

Which of the following is a grammatically CORRECT sentence?

Which of the following options BEST reflects the author’s understanding of human perception of pleasure?

Going by the author, which of the following options BEST answers the question “how can one sustain the pleasure derived from any experience?"

Which of the following options BEST describes “emptiness” as described in the passage?

Read the following paragraph and answer the question that follows:

“People who work in law, hotel and food services, and technology were found the most likely to skip breakfast daily, according to a recent study. As for people who do eat breakfast and prefer a savoury type (like an egg), the study found they tend to make more money, be night owls and prefer cats over dogs. If you prefer a sweet breakfast like a donut you tend to be a morning person, like romcoms and are a dog person”.

Which of the following can be BEST inferred based on the above paragraph?

Which of the following statements will the poet agree with the MOST?

Which is the MOST UNSUITABLE title of the poem?

Read the following paragraph and answer the question that follows:

In a 2017 survey of 3,915 American workers, my colleagues and I found that workers report experiencing a sizable “voice gap” at work — that is, a gap between how much say or influence they feel they ought to have and how much they actually have — on topics such as wages, working conditions, fair treatment, and input into how they do their work.
And now a second study, I have just completed with a new team, finds that today’s workers want forms of voice and representation that go well beyond traditional unions.

Based on the above paragraph, which of the following options would you agree with the MOST?

Which of the following options is CLOSEST to the meaning of the phrase “labile sense of self”?

Based on the passage, which of the following will the author DISAGREE the MOST with?

Project Affected Families (PAF) are those that are physically displaced due to construction of a large project (dam, factory etc.) in an area where the PAF traditionally resided.
With insights from the passage, what would a project proponent, dealing with PAF, reading the following options agree the MOST with?

Read the following paragraph and answer the question that follows:
In Australia, jellyfish are most common between November and May. In Hawaii, jellyfish often show up on south-facing beaches eight days after a full moon. In the Mediterranean, blooms usually appear in the summer. Unfortunately for travellers, there is no worldwide database for recent jellyfish sightings, and tourism officials are sometimes reluctant to publicize jellyfish swarms out of fear that such news will scare off visitors.
Which of the following can be BEST concluded from the above paragraph?

Read the following paragraph and answer the question that follows:

Global surface temperatures in 2019 are on track to be either the second or third warmest since records began in the mid-1800s, behind only 2016 and possibly 2017. On top of the long-term warming trend, temperatures in 2019 have been buoyed by a moderate El Niño event that is likely to persist through the rest of the year.

Which of the following statements can be BEST inferred based on the above paragraph?

Read the following paragraph and answer the question that follows:
If we can send a human to the Moon, why can’t we build sustainable cities? Defeat cancer? Tackle climate change? So, go the rallying cries inspired by one of humanity’s greatest achievements, the US effort that put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Moon on 20 July 1969.

Which of the following statements, if true, BEST communicates the intent of the paragraph?

Read the following paragraph and answer the question that follows:

When asked what the politician will do for the nation’s economy, he attacked the opponent by saying, “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? I mean, she’s a woman, and I’m not supposed to say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious? Nevertheless, we’re going to defeat ISIS. ISIS happened a number of years ago in a vacuum that was left because of bad judgment. And I will tell you, I will take care of ISIS.”

Which of the following statements BEST describes the politician’s intent?

Which of the following statements BEST captures the essence of the passage?

Based on the passage, which of the following statements can be BEST inferred?

Which of the following options will the author agree the MOST with?

Which of the following options, if true, BEST makes the author’s assertion on pointless jobs erroneous?

Which of the following can be BEST inferred from the passage?

Which of the following statements will BEST explain the principle underlying the theme of the passage?

Go through the statements below and answer the question that follows:

P. Fast food intake for more than three times a week is associated with greater odds of atopic disorders such as asthma, eczema or rhinitis. Thus, it should be definitely and strictly controlled in children as it does no good.
Q. Regular junk food intake can lead to physical and psychological issues among children.
R. Lack of Vitamins such as A and C, and minerals such as magnesium and calcium, encourage the development of deficiency diseases and osteoporosis, as well as dental caries due to higher intake.
S. Junk food, which are rich in energy with lots of fat and sugar, are relatively low in other important nutrients such as protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals.
T. Emotional and self-esteem problems, along with chronic illnesses in later life due to obesity, are the issues associated with the junk food.

Which of the following combinations is the MOST logically ordered?

Go through the statements below and answer the question that follows:

P. Surabhi’s Instagram profile has 1.4 million followers. It is filled with pictures of her posing in different settings.
Q. In India, reports suggest that WhatsApp (Much more than Facebook or Twitter) is the primary tool for the dissemination of political communication.
R. Political campaigns pay social media companies to promote their content.
S. Political advertising on social media comes in many forms and remains underexamined in India.
T. Social media influencers are used for the dissemination of content.

Which of the following combinations is the MOST logically ordered?

Which of the given companies has seen the highest year-on-year growth (in percentage) in any single year during this five-year period?

It was discovered later that one of the companies misreported its revenue of one of the years. If the misreported revenue is replaced by the correct revenue, the revenues of that company over the five-year period will be in an arithmetic progression. The company that misreported its revenue was

During the period from 2014 to 2015, the revenue increased by 25% for three of the companies and by 50% for the remaining company. The total increase in revenue, for all four companies put together, was Rs. 125 lakhs.
Which of the following CANNOT be true?

Based on the given information, how many nations can be uniquely identified?

Based on the given information, which of the following CANNOT be ruled out?

Which of the following information, when considered in addition to the given information, does not allow us to completely identify the nine nations in the graph?

Nalini has received a total of 600 WhatsApp messages from four friends Anita, Bina, Chaitra and Divya. Bina and Divya have respectively sent 30% and 20% of these messages, while Anita has sent an equal number of messages as Chaitra. Moreover, Nalini finds that of Anita’s, Bina’s, Chaitra’s and Divya’s messages, 60%, 40%, 80% and 50% respectively are jokes. What percentage of the jokes, received by Nalini, have been sent neither by Divya nor by Bina?

Two friends, Ram and Shyam, start at the same point, at the same time. Ram travels straight north at a speed of 10km/hr, while Shyam travels straight east at twice the speed of Ram. After 15 minutes, Shyam messages Ram that he is just passing by a large telephone tower and after another 15 minutes Ram messages Shyam that he is just passing by an old banyan tree. After some more time has elapsed, Ram and Shyam stop. They stop at the same point of time. If the straight-line distance between Ram and Shyam now is 50 km, how far is Shyam from the banyan tree (in km)? (Assume that Ram and Shyam travel on a flat surface.)

Two lighthouses, located at points A and B on the earth, are 60 feet and 40 feet tall respectively. Each lighthouse is perfectly vertical and the land connecting A and B is perfectly flat. The topmost point of the lighthouse at A is A’ and of the lighthouse at B is B’. Draw line segments A’B and B’A, and let them intersect at point C’. Drop a perpendicular from C’ to touch the earth at point C. What is the length of CC’ in feet?

A man is laying stones, from start to end, along the two sides of a 200-meterwalkway. The stones are to be laid 5 meters apart from each other. When he begins, all the stones are present at the start of the walkway. He places the first stone on each side at the walkway’s start. For all the other stones, the man lays the stones first along one of the walkway’s sides, then along the other side in an exactly similar fashion. However, he can carry only one stone at a time. To lay each stone, the man walks to the spot, lays the stone, and then walks back to pick another. After laying all the stones, the man walks back to the start, which marks the end of his work. What is the total distance that the man walks in executing this work? Assume that the width of the walkway is negligible.

A rectangular swimming pool is 50 meters long and 25 meters wide. Its depth is always the same along its width but linearly increases along its length from 1 meter at one end to 4 meters at the other end. How much water (in cubic meters) is needed to completely fill the pool?

A shop sells bags in three sizes: small, medium and large. A large bag costs Rs.1000, a medium bag costs Rs.200, and a small bag costs Rs.50. Three buyers, Ashish, Banti and Chintu, independently buy some numbers of these types of bags. The respective amounts spent by Ashish, Banti and Chintu are equal. Put together, the shop sells 1 large bag, 15 small bags and some medium bags to these three buyers. What is the minimum number of medium bags that the shop sells to them?

In the figure given below, the circle has a chord AB of length 12 cm, which makes an angle of $60^\circ$ at the center of the circle, O. ABCD, as shown in the diagram, is a rectangle. OQ is the perpendicular bisector of AB, intersecting the chord AB at P, the arc AB at M and CD at Q. OM = MQ. The area of the region enclosed by the line segments AQ and QB,and the arc BMA, is closest to (in cm$^2$):

A box contains 6 cricket balls, 5 tennis balls and 4 rubber balls. Of these, some balls are defective. The proportion of defective cricket balls is more than the proportion of defective tennis balls but less than the proportion of defective rubber balls.
Moreover, the overall proportion of defective balls is twice the proportion of defective tennis balls. What BEST can be said about the number of defective rubber balls in the box?

When expressed in a decimal form, which of the following numbers will be non - terminating as well as non-repeating?

A rectangular field is 40 meters long and 30 meters wide. Draw diagonals on this field and then draw circles of radius 1.25 meters, with centers only on the diagonals. Each circle must fall completely within the field. Any two circles can touch each other but should not overlap. What is the maximum number of such circles that can be drawn in the field?

A hare and a tortoise run between points O and P located exactly 6 km from each other on a straight line. They start together at O, go straight to P and then return to O along the same line. They run at constant speeds of 12 km/hr and 1 km/hr respectively. Since the tortoise is slower than the hare, the hare shuttles between O and P until the tortoise goes once to P and returns to O. During the run, how many times are the hare and the tortoise separated by an exact distance of 1 km from each other?

Consider the four variables A, B, C and D and a function Z of these variables, $Z = 15A^2 - 3B^4 + C + 0.5D$ It is given that A, B, C and D must be non-negative integers and thatall of the following relationships must hold:
i) $2A + B \leq 2$
ii) $4A + 2B + C \leq 12$
iii) $3A + 4B + D \leq 15$
If Z needs to be maximised, then what value must D take?

XYZ is an equilateral triangle, inscribed in a circle. P is a point on the arc YZ such that X and P are on opposite sides of the chord YZ. Which of the following MUST always be true?

X, Y and Z start a web-based venture together. X invests Rs. 2.5 lakhs, Y invests Rs. 3.5 lakhs, and Z invests Rs. 4 lakhs. In the first year, the venture makes a profit of Rs. 2 lakhs. A part of the profit is shared between Y and Z in the ratio of 2:3, and the remaining profit is divided among X, Y and Z in the ratio of their initial investments. The amount that Z receives is four times the amount that X receives. How much amount does Y receive?

Mohanlal, a prosperous farmer, has a square land of side 2 km. For the current season, he decides to have some fun. He marks two distinct points on one of the diagonals of the land. Using these points as centers, he constructs two circles. Each of these circles falls completely within the land, and touches at least two sides of the land. To his surprise, the radii of both the circles are exactly equal to $\frac{2}{3}$ km. Mohanlal plants potatoes on the overlapping portion of these circles. Calculate the area on which Mohanlal planted potatoes (in sq. km).

Which of the following CANNOT be obtained from the given information?

In addition to the given information, which of the following information is NECESSARY and SUFFICIENT to compute the number of students choosing only E1, only E2 and only E3?

Ashok has a bag containing 40 cards, numbered with the integers from 1 to 40. No two cards are numbered with the same integer. Likewise, his sister Shilpa has another bag containing only five cards that are numbered with the integers from 1 to 5, with no integer repeating. Their mother, Latha, randomly draws one card each from Ashok’s and Shilpa’s bags and notes down their respective numbers. If Latha divides the number obtained from Ashok’s bag by the number obtained from Shilpa’s, what is the probability that the remainder will not be greater than 2?

X, Y, and Z are three software experts, who work on upgrading the software in a number of identical systems. X takes a day off after every 3 days of work, Y takes a day off after every 4 days of work and Z takes a day off after every 5 days of work.
Starting afresh after a common day off,
i) X and Y working together can complete one new upgrade job in 6 days
ii) Z and X working together can complete two new upgrade jobs in 8 days
iii) Y and Z working together can complete three new upgrade jobs in 12 days.

If X, Y and Z together start afresh on a new upgrade job (after a common day off), exactly how many days will be required to complete this job?

What is the remainder if $19^{20} - 20^{19}$ is divided by 7?

Six drums are used to store water. Five drums are of equal capacity, while the sixth drum has double the capacity of each of these five drums. On one morning, three drums are found half full, two are found two-thirds full and one is found completely full. It is attempted to transfer all the water to the smaller drums. How many smaller drums are adequate to store the water?

Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo have been recently awarded with:

In which Indian state did president Ram Nath Kovind serve as Governor?

Malfunction of which of the following organs is the MOST common cause of vertigo?

Which Indian startup was acquired by Walmart?

Which Indian bank was the FIRST to issue “Green Bonds” for financing renewable and clean energy projects?

Which organization’s mascot was R.K. Lakshman’s “the common man”?

Which deer is also known as “the dancing deer” of Manipur?

Which is the largest landlocked salt water lake in India?

What did India commit to achieve under the Paris Climate Agreement (2015) as outlined in its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions report submitted to the UNFCCC?

What does the “Earth Overshoot Day” indicate?

In which state was the first ever environmental referendum held?

Match the following folk theater forms with their associated states:

Omuamua is:

In which Indian state is Sriharikota located?

What does the book "Silent Spring" (1962) by Rachel Carson highlight?

“Rakhigarhi” is associated with:

When Coca Cola exited India, which cola brand was created and marketed by the Government of India to provide jobs to those who earlier were employed by Coca Cola?

Which of the following rivers does not cross international borders?

The phrase “How dare you?” is BEST associated with:

Which Indian state enjoys special provisions under Article 371(D)?

Who among the following was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay award in 2019?

Which organization funded the Indian Cricket League?

Match the following foreign travelers with the rulers of that period

Match the following authors with their works:

Which Indian state has different capitals in summer and winter?

In the second week of her eight-week internship, Amala realizes that the project requires inputs from subjects she studied in her third trimester. However, during the third trimester, Amala was significantly distracted by an inter-college sports meet, affecting her grasp of the subjects.
Which of the following is the MOST appropriate way forward for Amala?

Vindhya’s project is about understanding employee perception regarding the organization’s HR policies. Against her own instinct, she is suggested by her mentor to interview only the good performers identified by his office because poor performers, he believes, usually crib against the policies.

Which of the following courses of action will BEST enable Vindhya to provide the organization with a complete picture?

Shabnam, who is working on sales executives’ work-life balance, has collected the following details about their frequent travels:

1. Frequent meetings help strengthen relationships with key customers.
2. Travelling has no effect on the personal lives of the sales executives as most of them are single.
3. Travel enhances the financial health of the sales executives since their fixed salaries are low.
4. Frequent travel has no significant impact on market budget, given the current high margins from sales.
5. The sales executives have the autonomy to decide the frequency of their travel.

Shabnam thinks that the frequency of travel is higher than required.
Which of the following combinations of the above reasons can enable Shabnam BEST substantiate her thinking?

Chanchala owns a small parcel of farming land in Bori. She grows cannabis in some part of her land and earns a significant amount of money from it. Soon after the bottling plant was commissioned, Chanchala, instigated by a landlord with a vested interest, starts accusing the MNC of robbing her of water and impacting her livelihood. She threatens to take the MNC to court.
Which of the following options will BEST solve the MNC’s problem?

The MNC has spotted traces of chemicals in their fortnightly water quality analysis. The MNC realizes that this is due to the contaminated agricultural runoff, flowing into the spring from the nearby fields where farmers use pesticides and fertilizers.
This requires an immediate solution. Which of the following options will BEST resolve the situation for the MNC?

The MNC is concerned about chemical contamination of the natural spring water due to the agricultural runoff with pesticides and fertilizers. The MNC is looking for a sustainable solution to this contamination.

Which of the following courses of action will BEST solve the issue?

The Small Shop which earlier recorded an annual increase of approximately 12% in revenues has been stagnating at 4% for the last three years, during which e-commerce sidelined brick and mortar outlets. The shop is struggling to increase profitability. In general, The Small Shop has been offering a discount on MRP to compete with e-commerce prices.
Which of the following is the BEST reason for The Small Shop NOT to reduce the current discount offered to the customers?

The Small Shop wants to increase the variety of products sold, including expensive ones. However, it is averse to accumulating unsold products, specifically of the expensive kind.
Which of the following is the BEST option if The Small Shop wants to increase the variety of the products it sells?

An emerging brand offers a franchise to The Small Shop for repairing its products, on a condition that other brands are not to be repaired. Repairs currently account for 15% of its revenues.
Which of the following, if true, will BEST help The Small Shop to decide on the franchise?

A few days later, Deepti received an email from the e-commerce website, requesting her to share feedback about the seller. Deeply frustrated with the overall online purchasing experience, she deliberately ignored it.
Later that evening, over supper, her father opined that the balcony curtains needed to be changed. He suggested that they be bought from a local shop. “If something went wrong, we could at least yell at the seller,” he added.
Deepti stared at her laptop and began writing her feedback.
What would Deepti DEFINITELY achieve by giving feedback?

In the feedback column, Deepti awarded 1-star out of the maximum 5 stars to the seller and described her negative experience.
Later that evening, the sales head called and pleaded with her to retract her feedback and upgrade them to 5-star, as they had already fired the employee concerned. He appealed that they were a young organization and that their sales were getting badly affected.
Given the circumstances, what should be the IDEAL response?

After a few months, the sales head enquired, “In case you are using the cotton pillow covers and like them, kindly rate them on the e-commerce website. It will help us serve our customers better.”
Later that evening, her father remarked, “You know, I really love these pillow covers though I am not sure why you bought so many of them”.
Which of the following reasons gives Deepti the BEST rationale to ignore the sales head’s request?

While considering G&P’s offer, Rakesh pondered over the following facts:
1. A recent government policy made poor performance punishable by salary reduction or dismissal.
2. The first assignment at G&P is a bridge construction project in a village near Dhanbad.
3. With his current savings, Rakesh need not depend on regular income for at least six months.
4. Though an exemplary performer, Rakesh has hardly been recognized at SPCIL.
5. Based on the annual performance review at G&P, Rakesh will either earn double the salary or get fired.

Which of the following combinations of the above facts will BEST help Rakesh decide on joining G&P?

While mulling over the offer, Rakesh consulted Manikandan, his trusted senior at SPCIL. Manikandan, who had friends in G&P, disclosed that it preferred government employees for its projects in Jharkhand, Bihar and Chhattisgarh. “Once the project is completed, G&P may not need your skills,” observed Manikandan.

Which of the following, if true, will BEST enable Rakesh to decide on the offer?

Rakesh, in his current job, came across incidences of bribing by private sector officials. He wondered if he might have to bribe government officials while at G&P.
He reflected on his interview with G&P:
1. The interviewers were puzzled how Rakesh could manage his EMIs with his current income.
2. One interviewer was constantly probing how Rakesh managed to meet his project deadlines with little cooperation from his subordinates.
3. “What would you do if your project has a fortnight’s deadline and it takes a month to obtain a permit?,” asked another interviewer.
4. A question that intrigued Rakesh was, “Should a pack of dacoits share their loot with one of their gang, who had killed a bystander against their motto ‘Thou shalt not kill’?”

Which of the following sequences of the above statements is in the MOST appropriate DESCENDING order of bribing undertones?

Jagdeep has decided to open a branch in Ramnagar. Which of the following facts about Ramnagar will BEST support his decision?

Jagdeep wishes to open a 100% eggless branch in Ramnagar. To explore feasibility, he collected the following facts:
1. Eggless products account for 30% of Le Baguette’s sales.
2. At least 20% of all bakery sales in Ramnagar is from eggless products.
3. The eggless varieties of Le Baguette contain minute traces of egg.
4. Le Baguette currently makes 3% of its revenue from Ramnagar customers and all of it comes from eggless products.
5. Le Croissant’s Ramnagar branch struggles with a market share of 10%.

From the combinations below, in the DESCENDING order of effectiveness, choose the one that BEST supports Jagdeep’s decision.

From a newspaper, Jagdeep has learnt that Americans use their own ovens to bake ready-to-bake products, sold by some bakeries. This idea is apparently catching up in Indian metros as well.
Jagdeep wants to try this out in his bakery. He has gathered the following facts:
1. US bakeries that also sell ready-to-bake products earned higher revenues compared to those that do not.
2. Around 7% of Jagdeep’s regular customers own baking ovens in their homes.
3. The sale of baking ovens in India is forecast to increase by 12% every year, for the next three years.
4. 50% of Jagdeep’s regular customers are fulltime working couples.
5. In Indian metros, ready-to-bake products give higher profit margins compared to finished products.

Select the BEST of the following sequences of the above facts, in DESCENDING order of effectiveness, to support Jagdeep.

The increasing prosperity of the plains people tempted those in the mountains to divert forest land for agriculture. Vanamali was afraid that expansion of agriculture would result in deforestation of the mountains.

Which of the following is the BEST course of action for Vanamali to conserve the mountain forest?

Vanamali, afraid of further deforestation, issued a diktat against felling of trees in the mountains. In due course, thanks to the booming agriculture, the king along with plains people began to prosper. However, mountain people became relatively poor, thanks to Vanamali’s diktat.

Which of the following options should mountain people choose to BEST protect their long-term interests?

The village elders of the mountains had informed Vanamali about the presence of a precious metal in abundance under a large part of the forest. They pleaded with him to repeal his diktat and permit felling of trees for mining.
Vanamali knew that the precious metal would make his kingdom prosper. However, he was worried that mining would reduce the flow of nutrients, water and forest produce to the plains.
Vanamali’s advisor Vanapandit presented the following action plans for his consideration:
1. Repeal the forest diktat and charge hefty royalty for mining in the mountains
2. Permit mining in the mountains and enforce rainwater harvesting in the plains
3. Permit mining in the mountains and begin afforestation in the plains
4. Continue with the forest diktat in the mountains
5. Permit limited mining in rotation but maintain the forest diktat in the rest of the mountains

Which of the following sequences of action plans, in the DESCENDING order of their ability to contribute to Vanarajya’s sustainable prosperity, will be the MOST appropriate for Vanamali?