CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)

CAT 2023 VARC Section

The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each
question.
Humans today make music. Think beyond all the qualifications that might trail after this bald
statement: that only certain humans make music, that extensive training is involved, that
many societies distinguish musical specialists from nonmusicians, that in today’s societies
most listen to music rather than making it, and so forth. These qualifications, whatever their
local merit, are moot in the face of the overarching truth that making music, considered from
a cognitive and psychological vantage, is the province of all those who perceive and
experience what is made. We are, almost all of us, musicians — everyone who can entrain
(not necessarily dance) to a beat, who can recognize a repeated tune (not necessarily sing it),
who can distinguish one instrument or one singing voice from another. I will often use an
antique word, recently revived, to name this broader musical experience. Humans are
musicking creatures. . . .
The set of capacities that enables musicking is a principal marker of modern humanity. There
is nothing polemical in this assertion except a certain insistence, which will figure often in
what follows, that musicking be included in our thinking about fundamental human
commonalities. Capacities involved in musicking are many and take shape in complicated
ways, arising from innate dispositions . . . Most of these capacities overlap with nonmusical
ones, though a few may be distinct and dedicated to musical perception and production. In
the area of overlap, linguistic capacities seem to be particularly important, and humans are
(in principle) language-makers in addition to music-makers — speaking creatures as well as
musicking ones.
Humans are symbol-makers too, a feature tightly bound up with language, not so tightly with
music. The species Cassirer dubbed Homo symbolicus cannot help but tangle musicking in
webs of symbolic thought and expression, habitually making it a component of behavioral
complexes that form such expression. But in fundamental features musicking is neither
language-like nor symbol-like, and from these differences come many clues to its ancient
emergence.

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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
If musicking is a primary, shared trait of modern humans, then to describe its emergence
must be to detail the coalescing of that modernity. This took place, archaeologists are clear,
over a very long durée: at least 50,000 years or so, more likely something closer to 200,000,
depending in part on what that coalescence is taken to comprise. If we look back 20,000
years, a small portion of this long period, we reach the lives of humans whose musical
capacities were probably little different from our own. As we look farther back we reach
horizons where this similarity can no longer hold — perhaps 40,000 years ago, perhaps
70,000, perhaps 100,000. But we never cross a line before which all the cognitive capacities
recruited in modern musicking abruptly disappear. Unless we embrace the incredible notion
that music sprang forth in full-blown glory, its emergence will have to be tracked in gradualist
terms across a long period.
This is one general feature of a history of music’s emergence . . . The history was at once
sociocultural and biological . . . The capacities recruited in musicking are many, so describing
its emergence involves following several or many separate strands.
Q.1)
Which one of the following statements, if true, would weaken the author’s claim that humans
are musicking creatures?
[1] As musicking is neither language-like nor symbol-like, it is a much older form of
expression.
[2] Nonmusical capacities are of far greater consequence to human survival than the capacity
for music.
[3] Musical capacities are primarily socio-cultural, which explains the wide diversity of musical
forms.
[4] From a cognitive and psychological vantage, musicking arises from unconscious
dispositions, not conscious ones.
Q.2)
Which one of the following sets of terms best serves as keywords to the passage?
[1] Humans; Psychological vantage; Musicking; Cassirer; Emergence of music.
[2] Musicking; Cognitive psychology; Antique; Symbol-makers; Modernity.
[3] Humans; Capacities; Language; Symbols; Modernity.
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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
[4] Humans; Musicking; Linguistic capacities; Symbol-making; Modern humanity.
Q.3)
Based on the passage, which one of the following statements is a valid argument about the
emergence of music/musicking?
[1] Although musicking is not language-like, it shares the quality of being a form of
expression.
[2] All musical work is located in the overlap between linguistic capacity and music
production.
[3] Anyone who can perceive and experience music must be considered capable of musicking.
[4] 20,000 years ago, human musical capacities were not very different from what they are
today.
Q.4)
“Think beyond all the qualifications that might trail after this bald statement . . .” In the
context of the passage, what is the author trying to communicate in this quoted extract?
[1] Thinking beyond qualifications allows us to give free reign to musical expressions.
[2] A bald statement is one that is trailed by a series of qualifying clarifications and caveats.
[3] Although there may be many caveats and other considerations, the statement is
essentially true.
[4] A bald statement is one that requires no qualifications to infer its meaning.

The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each
question.
[Octopuses are] misfits in their own extended families . . . They belong to the Mollusca class
Cephalopoda. But they don’t look like their cousins at all. Other molluscs include sea snails,
sea slugs, bivalves – most are shelled invertebrates with a dorsal foot. Cephalopods are all
arms, and can be as tiny as 1 centimetre and as large at 30 feet. Some of them have brains
the size of a walnut, which is large for an invertebrate. . . .
It makes sense for these molluscs to have added protection in the form of a higher cognition;
they don’t have a shell covering them, and pretty much everything feeds on cephalopods,
including humans. But how did cephalopods manage to secure their own invisibility cloak?
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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
Cephalopods fire from multiple cylinders to achieve this in varying degrees from species to
species. There are four main catalysts – chromatophores, iridophores, papillae and
leucophores. . . .
[Chromatophores] are organs on their bodies that contain pigment sacs, which have red,
yellow and brown pigment granules. These sacs have a network of radial muscles, meaning
muscles arranged in a circle radiating outwards. These are connected to the brain by a nerve.
When the cephalopod wants to change colour, the brain carries an electrical impulse through
the nerve to the muscles that expand outwards, pulling open the sacs to display the colours
on the skin. Why these three colours? Because these are the colours the light reflects at the
depths they live in (the rest is absorbed before it reaches those depths). . . .
Well, what about other colours? Cue the iridophores. Think of a second level of skin that has
thin stacks of cells. These can reflect light back at different wavelengths. . . . It’s using the
same properties that we’ve seen in hologram stickers, or rainbows on puddles of oil. You
move your head and you see a different colour. The sticker isn’t doing anything but reflecting
light – it’s your movement that’s changing the appearance of the colour. This property of
holograms, oil and other such surfaces is called “iridescence”. . . .
Papillae are sections of the skin that can be deformed to make a texture bumpy. Even
humans possess them (goosebumps) but cannot use them in the manner that cephalopods
can. For instance, the use of these cells is how an octopus can wrap itself over a rock and
appear jagged or how a squid or cuttlefish can imitate the look of a coral reef by growing
miniature towers on its skin. It actually matches the texture of the substrate it chooses.
Finally, the leucophores: According to a paper, published in Nature, cuttlefish and octopuses
possess an additional type of reflector cell called a leucophore. They are cells that scatter full
spectrum light so that they appear white in a similar way that a polar bear’s fur appears
white. Leucophores will also reflect any filtered light shown on them . . . If the water appears
blue at a certain depth, the octopuses and cuttlefish can appear blue; if the water appears
green, they appear green, and so on and so forth.
Q.5)
All of the following are reasons for octopuses being “misfits” EXCEPT that they:
[1] exhibit higher intelligence than other molluscs.
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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
[2] do not possess an outer protective shell.
[3] are consumed by humans and other animals.
[4] have several arms.
Q.6)
Based on the passage, it can be inferred that camouflaging techniques in an octopus are most
dissimilar to those in:
[1] polar bears
[2] cuttlefish
[3] squids
[4] sea snails
Q.7)
Based on the passage, we can infer that all of the following statements, if true, would weaken
the camouflaging adeptness of Cephalopods EXCEPT:
[1] the hydrostatic pressure at the depths at which Cephalopods reside renders radial muscle
movements difficult.
[2] the number of chromatophores in Cephalopods is half the number of iridophores and
leucophores.
[3] light reflects the colours red, green, and yellow at the depths at which Cephalopods
reside.
[4] the temperature of water at the depths at which Cephalopods reside renders the
transmission of neural signals difficult.
Q.8)
Which one of the following statements is not true about the camouflaging ability of
Cephalopods?
[1] Cephalopods can change their colour.
[2] Cephalopods can change their texture.
[3] Cephalopods can blend into the colour of their surroundings.
[4] Cephalopods can take on the colour of their predator.

The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each
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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
question.
We begin with the emergence of the philosophy of the social sciences as an arena of thought
and as a set of social institutions. The two characterisations overlap but are not congruent.
Academic disciplines are social institutions. . . . My view is that institutions are all those social
entities that organise action: they link acting individuals into social structures. There are
various kinds of institutions. Hegelians and Marxists emphasise universal institutions such as
the family, rituals, governance, economy and the military. These are mostly institutions that
just grew. Perhaps in some imaginary beginning of time they spontaneously appeared. In
their present incarnations, however, they are very much the product of conscious attempts
to mould and plan them. We have family law, established and disestablished churches,
constitutions and laws, including those governing the economy and the military. Institutions
deriving from statute, like joint-stock companies are formal by contrast with informal ones
such as friendships. There are some institutions that come in both informal and formal
variants, as well as in mixed ones. Consider the fact that the stock exchange and the black
market are both market institutions, one formal one not. Consider further that there are
many features of the work of the stock exchange that rely on informal, noncodifiable
agreements, not least the language used for communication. To be precise, mixtures are the
norm . . . From constitutions at the top to by-laws near the bottom we are always adding to,
or tinkering with, earlier institutions, the grown and the designed are intertwined.
It is usual in social thought to treat culture and tradition as different from, although
alongside, institutions. The view taken here is different. Culture and tradition are sub-sets of
institutions analytically isolated for explanatory or expository purposes. Some social scientists
have taken all institutions, even purely local ones, to be entities that satisfy basic human
needs – under local conditions . . . Others differed and declared any structure of reciprocal
roles and norms an institution. Most of these differences are differences of emphasis rather
than disagreements. Let us straddle all these versions and present institutions very generally .
. . as structures that serve to coordinate the actions of individuals. . . . Institutions themselves
then have no aims or purpose other than those given to them by actors or used by actors to
explain them . . .
Language is the formative institution for social life and for science . . . Both formal and
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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
informal language is involved, naturally grown or designed. (Language is all of these to
varying degrees.) Languages are paradigms of institutions or, from another perspective,
nested sets of institutions. Syntax, semantics, lexicon and alphabet/character-set are all
institutions within the larger institutional framework of a written language. Natural languages
are typical examples of what Ferguson called ‘the result of human action, but not the
execution of any human design’[;] reformed natural languages and artificial languages
introduce design into their modifications or refinements of natural language. Above all,
languages are paradigms of institutional tools that function to coordinate.
Q.9)
“Consider the fact that the stock exchange and the black market are both market institutions,
one formal one not.” Which one of the following statements best explains this quote, in the
context of the passage?
[1] Market instruments can be formally traded in the stock exchange and informally traded in
the black market.
[2] The stock exchange and the black market are both organised to function by rules.
[3] The stock exchange and the black market are both dependent on the market to survive.
[4] The stock exchange and the black market are examples of how, even within the same
domain, different kinds of institutions can co-exist.
Q.10)
All of the following inferences from the passage are false, EXCEPT:
[1] institutions like the family, rituals, governance, economy, and the military are natural and
cannot be consciously modified.
[2] as concepts, “culture” and “tradition” have no analytical, explanatory or expository
power, especially when they are treated in isolation.
[3] the institution of friendship cannot be found in the institution of joint-stock companies
because the first is an informal institution, while the second is a formal one.
[4] “natural language” refers to that stage of language development where no conscious
human intent is evident in the formation of language.
Q.11)
In the first paragraph of the passage, what are the two “characterisations” that are seen as
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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
overlapping but not congruent?
[1] “an arena of thought” and “academic disciplines”.
[2] “individuals” and “social structures”.
[3] “academic disciplines” and “institutions”.
[4] “the philosophy of the social sciences” and “a set of social institutions”.
Q.12)
Which of the following statements best represents the essence of the passage?
[1] It is usual in social thought to treat culture and tradition as different from institutions.
[2] Language is the fundamental formal institution for social life and for science.
[3] The stock exchange and the black market are both market institutions.
[4] Institutions are structures that serve to coordinate the actions of individuals.

The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each
question.
When we teach engineering problems now, we ask students to come to a single “best”
solution defined by technical ideals like low cost, speed to build, and ability to scale. This way
of teaching primes students to believe that their decision-making is purely objective, as it is
grounded in math and science. This is known as technical-social dualism, the idea that the
technical and social dimensions of engineering problems are readily separable and remain
distinct throughout the problem-definition and solution process.
Nontechnical parameters such as access to a technology, cultural relevancy or potential
harms are deemed political and invalid in this way of learning. But those technical ideals are
at their core social and political choices determined by a dominant culture focused on
economic growth for the most privileged segments of society. By choosing to downplay
public welfare as a critical parameter for engineering design, we risk creating a culture of
disengagement from societal concerns amongst engineers that is antithetical to the ethical
code of engineering.
In my field of medical devices, ignoring social dimensions has real consequences. . . . Most
FDA-approved drugs are incorrectly dosed for people assigned female at birth, leading to
unexpected adverse reactions. This is because they have been inadequately represented in
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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
clinical trials.
Beyond physical failings, subjective beliefs treated as facts by those in decision-making roles
can encode social inequities. For example, spirometers, routinely used devices that measure
lung capacity, still have correction factors that automatically assume smaller lung capacity in
Black and Asian individuals. These racially based adjustments are derived from research done
by eugenicists who thought these racial differences were biologically determined and who
considered nonwhite people as inferior. These machines ignore the influence of social and
environmental factors on lung capacity.
Many technologies for systemically marginalized people have not been built because they
were not deemed important such as better early diagnostics and treatment for diseases like
endometriosis, a disease that afflicts 10 percent of people with uteruses. And we hardly
question whether devices are built sustainably, which has led to a crisis of medical waste and
health care accounting for 10 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
Social justice must be made core to the way engineers are trained. Some universities are
working on this. . . . Engineers taught this way will be prepared to think critically about what
problems we choose to solve, how we do so responsibly and how we build teams that
challenge our ways of thinking.
Individual engineering professors are also working to embed societal needs in their pedagogy.
Darshan Karwat at the University of Arizona developed activist engineering to challenge
engineers to acknowledge their full moral and social responsibility through practical self-
reflection. Khalid Kadir at the University of California, Berkeley, created the popular course
Engineering, Environment, and Society that teaches engineers how to engage in place-based
knowledge, an understanding of the people, context and history, to design better technical
approaches in collaboration with communities. When we design and build with equity and
justice in mind, we craft better solutions that respond to the complexities of entrenched
systemic problems.
Q.13)
In this passage, the author is making the claim that:
[1] technical-social dualism has emerged as a technique for engineering students to
incorporate social considerations into their technical
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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
problem-solving processes.
[2] engineering students today are trained to be non-subjective in their reasoning as this best
enables them to develop much-needed universal solutions.
[3] the objective of best solutions in engineering has shifted the focus of pedagogy from
humanism and social obligations to technological perfection.
[4] engineering students today are taught to focus on objective technical outcomes,
independent of the social dimensions of their work.
Q.14)
We can infer that the author would approve of a more evolved engineering pedagogy that
includes all of the following EXCEPT:
[1] moving towards technical-social dualism where social community needs are incorporated
in problem-definition and solutions.
[2] design that is based on the needs of communities using local knowledge and responding
to local priorities.
[3] making considerations of environmental sustainability intrinsic to the development of
technological solutions.
[4] a more responsible approach to technical design and problem-solving than a focus on
speed in developing and bringing to scale.

Q.15)
All of the following are examples of the negative outcomes of focusing on technical ideals in
the medical sphere EXCEPT the:
[1] continuing calibration of medical devices based on past racial biases that have remained
unadjusted for changes.
[2] incorrect assignment of people as female at birth which has resulted in faulty drug
interventions.
[3] neglect of research and development of medical technologies for the diagnosis and
treatment of diseases that typically afflict marginalised communities.
[4] exclusion of non-privileged groups in clinical trials which leads to incorrect drug dosages.
Q.16)
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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
The author gives all of the following reasons for why marginalised people are systematically
discriminated against in technology-related interventions EXCEPT:
[1] “And we hardly question whether devices are built sustainably, which has led to a crisis of
medical waste and health care accounting for 10 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.”
[2] “But those technical ideals are at their core social and political choices determined by a
dominant culture focused on economic growth for the most privileged segments of society.”
[3] “These racially based adjustments are derived from research done by eugenicists who
thought these racial differences were biologically determined and who considered nonwhite
people as inferior.”
[4] “Beyond physical failings, subjective beliefs treated as facts by those in decision-making
roles can encode social inequities.”
Q.17)
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that
best captures the essence of the passage.
Today, many of the debates about behavioural control in the age of big data echo Cold War-
era anxieties about brainwashing, insidious manipulation and repression in the ‘technological
society’. In his book Psychopolitics, Han warns of the sophisticated use of targeted online
content, enabling ‘influence to take place on a pre-reflexive level’. On our current trajectory,
“freedom will prove to have been merely an interlude.” The fear is that the digital age has not
liberated us but exposed us, by offering up our private lives to machine-learning algorithms
that can process masses of personal and behavioural data. In a world of influencers and
digital entrepreneurs, it’s not easy to imagine the resurgence of a culture engendered
through disconnect and disaffiliation, but concerns over the threat of online targeting,
polarisation and big data have inspired recent polemics about the need to rediscover solitude
and disconnect.
[1] The role of technology in influencing public behaviour is reminiscent of the manner in
which behaviour was manipulated during the Cold War.
[2] With big data making personal information freely available, the debate on the nature of
freedom and the need for privacy has resurfaced.
[3] The notion of freedom and privacy is at stake in a world where artificial intelligence is
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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
capable of influencing behaviour through data gathered online.
[4] Rather than freeing us, digital technology is enslaving us by collecting personal
information and influencing our online behaviour.
Q.18)
The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) below, when properly sequenced, would yield a
coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key
in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer:
[1] The trajectory of cheerfulness through the self is linked to the history of the word ‘cheer’
which comes from an Old French meaning ‘face’.
[2] Translations of the Bible into vernacular languages, expanded the noun ‘cheer’ into the
more abstract ‘cheerful-ness’, something that circulates as an emotional and social quality
defining the self and a moral community.
[3] When you take on a cheerful expression, no matter what the state of your soul, your
cheerfulness moves into the self: the interior of the self is changed by the power of cheer.
[4] People in the medieval ‘Canterbury Tales’ have a ‘piteous’ or a ‘sober’ cheer; ‘cheer’ is an
expression and a body part, lying at the intersection of emotions and physiognomy.
Q.19)
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that
best captures the essence of the passage.
There’s a common idea that museum artworks are somehow timeless objects available to
admire for generations to come. But many are objects of decay. Even the most venerable Old
Master paintings don’t escape: pigments discolour, varnishes crack, canvases warp. This
challenging fact of art-world life is down to something that sounds more like a thread from a
morality tale: inherent vice. Damien Hirst’s iconic shark floating in a tank – entitled The
Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living – is a work that put a spotlight
on inherent vice. When he made it in 1991, Hirst got himself in a pickle by not using the right
kind of pickle to preserve the giant fish. The result was that the shark began to decompose
quite quickly – its preserving liquid clouding, the skin wrinkling, and an unpleasant smell
wafting from the tank.
[1] The role of museums has evolved to ensure that the artworks are preserved forever in
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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
addition to guarding and displaying them.
[2] Artworks may not last forever; they may deteriorate with time, and the challenge is to
slow down their degeneration.
[3] Museums are left with the moral responsibility of restoring and preserving the artworks
since artists cannot preserve their works beyond their life.
[4] Museums have to guard timeless art treasures from intrinsic defects such as the
deterioration of paint, polish and canvas.
Q.20)
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that
best captures the essence of the passage.
Several of the world’s earliest cities were organised along egalitarian lines. In some regions,
urban populations governed themselves for centuries without any indication of the temples
and palaces that would later emerge; in others, temples and palaces never emerged at all,
and there is simply no evidence of a class of administrators or any other sort of ruling
stratum. It would seem that the mere fact of urban life does not, necessarily, imply any
particular form of political organization, and never did. Far from resigning us to inequality,
the picture that is now emerging of humanity’s past may open our eyes to egalitarian
possibilities we otherwise would have never considered.
[1] We now have the evidence in support of the existence of an egalitarian urban life in some
ancient cities, where political and civic organisation was far less hierarchical.
[2] Contrary to our assumption that urban settlements have always involved hierarchical
political and administrative structures, ancient cities were not organised in this way.
[3] The emergence of a class of administrators and ruling stratum transformed the egalitarian
urban life of ancient cities to the hierarchical civic organisations of today.
[4] The lack of hierarchical administration in ancient cities can be deduced by the absence of
religious and regal structures such as temples and palaces.
Q.21)
The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) below, when properly sequenced, would yield a
coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key
in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer:
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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
[1] Women may prioritize cooking because they feel they alone are responsible for mediating
a toxic and unhealthy food system.
[2] Food is commonly framed through the lens of individual choice: you can choose to eat
healthily.
[3] This is particularly so in a neoliberal context where the state has transferred the
responsibility for food onto individual consumers.
[4] The individualized framing of choice appeals to a popular desire to experience agency, but
draws away from the structural obstacles that stratify individual food choices.
Q.22)
The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) below, when properly sequenced, would yield a
coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key
in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer:
[1] From chemical pollutants in the environment to the damming of rivers to invasive species
transported through global trade and travel, every environmental issue is different and there
is no single tech solution that can solve this crisis.
[2] Discourse on the threat of environmental collapse revolves around cutting down
emissions, but biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse are caused by myriad and diverse
reasons.
[3] This would require legislation that recognises the rights of future generations and other
species that allows the judiciary to uphold a much higher standard of environmental
protection than currently possible.
[4] Clearly, our environmental crisis requires large political solutions, not minor technological
ones, so, instead of focusing on infinite growth, we could consider a path of stable-state
economies, while preserving markets and healthy competition.
Q.23)
There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide
in which blank (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.
Sentence: This was years in the making but fast-tracked during the pandemic, when “people
started being more mindful about their food”, he explained.
Paragraph: For millennia, ghee has been a venerated staple of the subcontinental diet, but it
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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
fell out of favour a few decades ago when saturated fats were largely considered to be
unhealthy. ____(1)____ But more recently, as the thinking around saturated fats is shifting
globally, Indians are finding their own way back to this ingredient that is so integral to their
cuisine. ____(2)____ For Karmakar, a renewed interest in ghee is emblematic of a return-to-
basics movement in India. ____(3)____ This movement is also part of an overall trend
towards “slow food”. In keeping with the movement’s philosophy, ghee can be produced
locally (even at home) and has inextricable cultural ties. ____(4)____ At a basic level, ghee is
a type of clarified butter believed to have originated in India as a way to preserve butter from
going rancid in the hot climate.
[1] Option 1
[2] Option 2
[3] Option 3
[4] Option 4
Q.24)
There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide
in which blank (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.
Sentence: Most were first-time users of a tablet and a digital app.
Paragraph: Aage Badhein’s USP lies in the ethnographic research that constituted the
foundation of its development process. Customizations based on learning directly from
potential users were critical to making this self-paced app suitable for both a literate and
non-literate audience. ____(1)____ The user interface caters to a Hindi-speaking audience
who have minimal to no experience with digital services and devices. ____(2)____ The
content and functionality of the app are suitable for a wide audience. This includes youth
preparing for an independent role in life or a student ready to create a strong foundation of
financial management early in her life. ____(3)____ Household members desirous of
improving their family’s financial strength to reach their aspirations can also benefit. We
piloted Aage Badhein in early 2021 with over 400 women from rural areas. ____(4)____ The
digital solution generated a large amount of interest in the communities.
[1] Option 1
[2] Option 2
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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
[3] Option 3
[4] Option 4

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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
CAT 2023 DILR Section
A speciality supermarket sells 320 products. Each of these products was either a cosmetic
product or a nutrition product. Each of these products was also either a foreign product or a
domestic product. Each of these products had at least one of the two approvals – FDA or EU.
The following facts are also known:
1. There were equal numbers of domestic and foreign products.
2. Half of the domestic products were FDA approved cosmetic products.
3. None of the foreign products had both the approvals, while 60 domestic products had both
the approvals.
4. There were 140 nutrition products, half of them were foreign products.
5. There were 200 FDA approved products. 70 of them were foreign products and 120 of
them were cosmetic products.
Q.1)
How many foreign products were FDA approved cosmetic products?
Q.2)
How many cosmetic products did not have FDA approval?
[1] 10
[2] 60
[3] 50
[4] Cannot be determined
Q.3)
Which among the following options best represents the number of domestic cosmetic
products that had both the approvals?
[1] At least 10 and at most 80
[2] At least 20 and at most 70
[3] At least 20 and at most 50
[4] At least 10 and at most 60
Q.4)
If 70 cosmetic products did not have EU approval, then how many nutrition products had
both the approvals?
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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
[1] 10
[2] 20
[3] 30
[4] 50
Q.5)
If 50 nutrition products did not have EU approval, then how many domestic cosmetic
products did not have EU approval?

The two plots below show data for four companies code-named A, B, C, and D over three
years - 2019, 2020, and 2021.
The first plot shows the revenues and costs incurred by the companies during these years.
For example, in 2021, company C earned Rs.100 crores in revenue and spent Rs.30 crores.
The profit of a company is defined as its revenue minus its costs.

The second plot shows the number of employees employed by the company (employee
strength) at the start of each of these three years, as well as the number of new employees
hired each year (new hires). For example, Company B had 250 employees at the start of 2021,
and 30 new employees joined the company during the year.

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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)

Q.6)
Considering all three years, which company had the highest annual profit?
[1] Company B
[2] Company C
[3] Company D
[4] Company A
Q.7)
Which of the four companies experienced the highest annual loss in any of the years?
[1] Company B
[2] Company C
[3] Company A
[4] Company D
Q.8)
The ratio of a company’s annual profit to its annual costs is a measure of its performance.
Which of the four companies had the lowest value of this ratio in 2019?
[1] Company D
[2] Company C
[3] Company B
[4] Company A
Q.9)
The total number of employees lost in 2019 and 2020 was the least for:
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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
[1] Company D
[2] Company B
[3] Company A
[4] Company C
Q.10)
Profit per employee is the ratio of a company’s profit to its employee strength. For this
purpose, the employee strength in a year is the average of the employee strength at the
beginning of that year and the beginning of the next year. In 2020, which of the four
companies had the highest profit per employee?
[1] Company B
[2] Company A
[3] Company C
[4] Company D

A few salesmen are employed to sell a product called TRICCEK among households in various
housing complexes. On each day, a salesman is assigned to visit one housing complex. Once a
salesman enters a housing complex, he can meet any number of households in the time
available. However, if a household makes a complaint against the salesman, then he must
leave the housing complex immediately and cannot meet any other household on that day. A
household may buy any number of TRICCEK items or may not buy any item. The salesman
needs to record the total number of TRICCEK items sold as well as the number of households
met in each day. The success rate of a salesman for a day is defined as the ratio of the
number of items sold to the number of households met on that day. Some details about the
performances of three salesmen - Tohri, Hokli and Lahur, on two particular days are given
below.
1. Over the two days, all three of them met the same total number of households, and each
of them sold a total of 100 items.
2. On both days, Lahur met the same number of households and sold the same number of
items.
3. Hokli could not sell any item on the second day because the first household he met on that
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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
day complained against him.
4. Tohri met 30 more households on the second day than on the first day.
5. Tohri’s success rate was twice that of Lahur’s on the first day, and it was 75% of Lahur’s on
the second day.
Q.11)
What was the total number of households met by Tohri, Hokli and Lahur on the first day?
Q.12)
How many TRICCEK items were sold by Tohri on the first day?
Q.13)
How many households did Lahur meet on the second day?
[1] more than 35
[2] between 30 and 35
[3] 20 or less
[4] between 21 and 29
Q.14)
How many households did Tohri meet on the first day?
[1] between 21 and 40
[2] more than 40
[3] between 11 and 20
[4] 10 or less
Q.15)
Which of the following statements is FALSE?
[1] Tohri had a higher success rate on the first day compared to the second day.
[2] Among the three, Lahur had the lowest success rate on the first day.
[3] Among the three, Tohri had the highest success rate on the second day.
[4] Among the three, Tohri had the highest success rate on the first day.

Every day a widget supplier supplies widgets from the warehouse (W) to four locations –
Ahmednagar (A), Bikrampore (B), Chitrachak (C), and Deccan Park (D). The daily demand for
widgets in each location is uncertain and independent of each other. Demands and
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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
corresponding probability values (in parenthesis) are given against each location (A, B, C, and
D) in the figure below. For example, there is a 40% chance that the demand in Ahmednagar
will be 50 units and a 60% chance that the demand will be 70 units. The lines in the figure
connecting the locations and warehouse represent two-way roads connecting those places
with the distances (in km) shown beside the line. The distances in both the directions along a
road are equal. For example, the road from Ahmednagar to Bikrampore and the road from
Bikrampore to Ahmednagar are both 6 km long.

Every day the supplier gets the information about the demand values of the four locations
and creates the travel route that starts from the warehouse and ends at a location after
visiting all the locations exactly once. While making the route plan, the supplier goes to the
locations in decreasing order of demand. If there is a tie for the choice of the next location,
the supplier will go to the location closest to the current location. Also, while creating the
route, the supplier can either follow the direct path (if available) from one location to another
or can take the path via the warehouse. If both paths are available (direct and via
warehouse), the supplier will choose the path with minimum distance.
Q.16)
If the last location visited is Ahmednagar, then what is the total distance covered in the route
(in km)?
Q.17)
If the total number of widgets delivered in a day is 250 units, then what is the total distance
covered in the route (in km)?
Q.18)
What is the chance that the total number of widgets delivered in a day is 260 units and the
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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
route ends at Bikrampore?
[1] 7.56%
[2] 17.64%
[3] 10.80%
[4] 33.33%
Q.19)
If the first location visited from the warehouse is Ahmednagar, then what is the chance that
the total distance covered in the route is 40 km?
[1] 18%
[2] 5.4%
[3] 30%
[4] 3.24%
Q.20)
If Ahmednagar is not the first location to be visited in a route and the total route distance is
29 km, then which of the following is a possible number of widgets delivered on that day?
[1] 210
[2] 220
[3] 200
[4] 250

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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
CAT 2023 Quant Section
Q.1)
In triangle ABC, altitudes AD and BE are drawn to the corresponding bases. If BAC = 45° and
AD
ABC = , then equals
BE

[1] 1
[2] 2 cos

(sin + cos
[3]
2

[4] 2 sin

Q.2)
Consider the arithmetic progression 3, 7, 11, ... and let An denote the sum of the first n terms
1 25
of this progression. Then the value of 
25 n =1
An is

[1] 404
[2] 415
[3] 455
[4] 442
Q.3)
In an examination, there were 75 questions. 3 marks were awarded for each correct answer,
1 mark was deducted for each wrong answer and 1 mark was awarded for each unattempted
question. Rayan scored a total of 97 marks in the examination. If the number of unattempted
questions was higher than the number of attempted questions, then the maximum number
of correct answers that Rayan could have given in the examination is
Q.4)
2
−3 x −10)
The number of integer solutions of the equation (x 2 − 10)( x =1 is
Q.5)
Suppose for all integers x, there are two functions f and g such that f(x) + f(x – 1) – 1 = 0) and
g(x) = x2. f(x2 – x) = 5, then the value of the sum f(g(5)) + g(f(5)) is
Q.6)
Two ships meet mid-ocean, and then, one ship goes south and the other ship goes west, both
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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
travelling at constant speeds. Two hours later, they are 60 km apart. If the speed of one of
the ships is 6 km per hour more than the other one, then the speed, in km per hour, of the
slower ship is
[1] 20
[2] 24
[3] 12
[4] 18
Q.7)
The number of integers greater than 2000 that can be formed with the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
using each digit at most once, is
[1] 1200
[2] 1440
[3] 1420
[4] 1480
Q.8)
Mr. Pinto invests one-fifth of his capital at 6%, one-third at 10% and the remaining at 1%,
each rate being simple interest per annum. Then, the minimum number of years required for
the cumulative interest income from these investments to equal or exceed his initial capital is
Q.9)
The average of a non-decreasing sequence of N numbers a1, a2, ..., aN is 300. If a1 is replaced
by 6a1; the new average becomes 400. Then, the number of possibie values of a1 is
Q.10)
If a and b are non-negative real numbers such that a + 2b = 6, then the average of the
maximum and minimum possible values of (a + b) is
[1] 3.5
[2] 4.5
[3] 4
[4] 3
Q.11)
Working alone, the times taken by Anu, Tanu and Manu to complete any job are in the ratio 5
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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
: 8 : 10. They accept a job which they can finish in 4 days if they all work together for 8 hours
per day. However, Anu and Tanu work together for the first 6 days, working 6 hours 40
minutes per day. Then, the number of hours that Manu will take to complete the remaining
job working alone is
Q.12)
Let r and c be real numbers. If r and –r are roots of 5x3 + cx2 – 10x + 9 = 0, then c equals
9
[1] −
2

[2] 4
[3] –4
9
[4]
2

Q.13)
In an election, there were four candidates and 80% of the registered voters casted their
votes. One of the candidates received 30% of the casted votes while the other three
candidates received the remaining casted votes in the proportion 1 : 2 : 3. If the winner of the
election received 2512 votes more than the candidate with the second highest votes, then
the number of registered voters was
[1] 50240
[2] 62800
[3] 60288
[4] 40192
Q.14)
4 − log2 n
The number of distinct integer values of n satisfying: < 0, is
3 − log 4 n

Q.15)
Manu earns ₹4000 per month and wants to save an average of ₹550 per month in a year. In
the first nine months, his monthly expense was ₹3500, and he foresees that, tenth month
onward, his monthly expense will increase to ₹3700. In order to meet his yearly savings
target, his monthly earnings, in rupees, from the tenth month onward should be
[1] 4350

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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
[2] 4400
[3] 4300
[4] 4200
Q.16)
On day one, there are 100 particles in a laboratory experiment. On day n, where n ≥ 2, one
out of every n particles produces another particle. If the total number of particles in the
laboratory experiment increases to 1000 on day m, then m equals
[1] 16
[2] 19
[3] 17
[4] 18
Q.17)
For some natural number n, assume that (15,000)! is divisible by (n!)!. The largest possible
value of n is
[1] 4
[2] 5
[3] 6
[4] 7
Q.18)
There are two containers of the same volume, first container half-filled with sugar syrup and
the second container half-filled with milk. Half the content of the first container is transferred
to the second container, and then the half of this mixture is transferred back to the first
container. Next, half the content of the first container is transferred back to the second
container. Then the ratio of sugar syrup and milk in the second container is
[1] 4 : 5
[2] 6 : 5
[3] 5 : 4
[4] 5 : 6
Q.19)
The length of each side of an equilateral triangle ABC is 3 cm. Let D be a point on BC such that
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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
the area of triangle ADC is half the area of triangle ABD. Then the length of AD. in cm, is
[1] √7
[2] √8
[3] √6
[4] √5
Q.20)
Five students, including Amit, appear for an examination in which possible marks are integers
between 0 and 50, both inclusive. The average marks for all the students is 38 and exactly
three students got more than 32. If no two students got the same marks and Amit got the
least marks among the five students, then the difference between the highest and lowest
possible marks of Amit is
[1] 20
[2] 22
[3] 21
[4] 24
Q.21)
Let f(x) be a quadratic polynomial in x such that f(x) ≥ 0 for all real numbers x. If f(2) = 0 and
f(4) = 6, then f(–2) is equal to
[1] 36
[2] 12
[3] 6
[4] 24
Q.22)
Regular polygons A and B have number of sides in the ratio 1 : 2 and interior angles in the
ratio 3 : 4. Then the number of sides of B equals

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CAT 2023 Question Paper (slot 2)
Answer Keys
Q. No. VARC DILR Quant
1 3 1 4
2 4 2 3
3 4 4 24
4 3 1 4
5 3 50 12
6 4 2 4
7 2 4 2
8 4 4 1
9 4 2 1
10 4 1 2
11 3 84 6
12 4 40 1
13 4 4 2
14 1 4 1
15 2 3 2
16 1 1 2
17 2 1 4
18 3142 1 4
19 2 1 1
20 1 1 1
21 2431 4
22 2143 10
23 3
24 4

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