Reading Comprehension Questions and Answers

Answer: C

The correct inference is that ultra-black skin has both advantages and disadvantages to species S.

The passage gives two advantages (avoiding predators and attacking prey unseen) and one disadvantage (less collagen, so a more fragile skin). An inference that keeps to the passage must reflect both sides.

"Only advantageous" ignores the fragile skin. "Only disadvantageous ... advantageous only to their predators" contradicts the passage, which says the skin helps the fish avoid predators. The option crediting lower collagen with the advantage reverses cause and effect: it is the black pigment that hides the fish, while the lower collagen is the cost.

Answer: C

When we run our eyes quickly over a text to find a particular piece of information such as a name or a date, we are scanning. Skimming gives the general idea, and skipping and speed reading are different. The answer is scanning, option C.

Skimming is a quick reading to get the gist of the text, while scanning is a search for a specific item such as a name or date, which is the activity the question describes.

Answer: A

The inference is that social scientists did not question that progress was a fact.

The passage says 'Progress was taken for granted'. Taking something for granted means accepting it without question, which is exactly the first option.

The other options go beyond the text. The passage says theories were inspired less by Biology, not that social scientists disapproved of it, and it says nothing that would put Biology above the social sciences. It also says they attempted to discover the laws and phases of progress, not that they succeeded in framing them.

Answer: D

The inference is A king's greatness, as we know him today, is interpreted by historians.

The passage says we consider Ashoka great because of the evidence he left, and that historians correlate a king's greatness with the evidence available today. So the greatness we now attribute to a king is a judgement historians make from surviving evidence.

'completely forgotten' is too strong: the passage links evidence with judgements of greatness, not with being remembered at all. Ashoka's motive for carving edicts is never discussed, so the option about earning historians' respect reads intent into the text. Statues are not mentioned; the evidence is edicts.

Answer: B

The correct inference is that GSR may be used in future in response to adverse effects of climate change.

The passage says climate change threatens the supply of rice and that scientists are developing GSR to be resilient under extreme weather and still yield well. It follows that GSR is a possible future response to that threat; the word “may” matches the passage’s “are working on developing”.

The other options contradict or go beyond the passage. Nothing says GSR grows only in extreme weather. The passage says GSR gives higher yields, not lesser ones. And it presents extreme weather as a threat to regular rice, so the claim that regular rice will keep yielding well contradicts it.

Answer: B

P is False and Q is True.

The passage says combinatorial counting is sometimes used in modeling physical phenomena. Statement P says it is always invoked, which goes beyond, and against, what the passage claims, so P is false.

Statement Q restates the last three sentences: in such models the combinatorial possibilities are assigned probability values, and this enables the computation of average values of physical quantities. Q is limited to 'some' phenomena, matching 'sometimes', so it is true.

Any option calling P true ignores the word 'sometimes', and calling Q false ignores the passage's explicit link between probabilities and averages.

Answer: D

Neither (i) nor (ii) can be inferred.

Statement (i) goes beyond the passage. The author only wonders whether these developments are good or required; wondering is not concluding that computers are not good for us.

Statement (ii) contradicts the passage. Computers were invented for high-end computation, and many believe the internet is an unintended consequence of that invention, so the passage does not support calling the internet an intended invention. Options including (i), (ii) or both therefore fail.

Answer: B

The correct inference is Metrics are useful in organizations with good work culture.

The passage says directly that in organizations with good work culture, metrics help improve outcomes, which is what 'useful' means here.

The other options contradict it. Metrics are said to be counterproductive where the work culture is poor, so they are not useful there. 'Always counterproductive' and 'never useful' in organizations with good work culture deny the one thing the passage asserts about such organizations.

Answer: A

The best summary is Thorough regimentation was the main reason for the efficiency of the Roman legions even in adverse circumstances.

The passage makes one point: discipline, harsh as it was, kept units obedient, intact and fighting even when the odds were against them. 'Thorough regimentation' captures the discipline, 'efficiency' captures obedient and fighting units, and 'even in adverse circumstances' captures 'when the odds and conditions were against them'.

The passage calls the discipline brutal but does not say the men were treated as animals. It calls discipline a legacy of the legions, not an inheritance from their seniors. And it says discipline kept them fighting against the odds, not that the discipline caused those odds, which reverses cause and effect.

Answer: C

The statement that follows is We do not know of any species other than humans who possess the ability to construct mental worlds.

The passage says 'So far as we know, no other species possesses this ability'. That is a claim about our knowledge, which this option restates exactly.

'No species possess the ability' contradicts the passage, which says humans have it, and also drops the 'so far as we know'. The passage calls imagination, invention and innovation different flavours of the same skill, so they are neither unrelated to one another nor unrelated to constructing mental worlds; that rules out the last two options.