Passage Completion Questions and Answers

Answer: C

The correct pair is C for gap 1 and A for gap 2. After the breeze disturbing the pond hides the jewel, the sentence that the jewel can be seen if the surface is unaffected completes the analogy (C). After the yoga practitioners' extraordinary powers, the research sentence A about laboratories investigating yoga's benefits follows from Scientists have only recently begun to acknowledge yoga's benefits. B, about nadi and chakra, is the extra sentence.

Answer: A

The correct pair is A then C. Gap 1 comes right after the names of the species, and A, which says that the genus includes herbaceous plants, shrubs and small trees, extends that general description. Gap 2 comes after the description of the fruit and flower, and C, that hibiscus is an example of a complete flower, ends the botanical description.

B (tea from the flower) and D (birds and butterflies) bring in uses and visitors that the passage does not discuss, so they are not needed for these gaps.

Answer: C

Gap 1 is sentence C and gap 2 is sentence B (option CB). Gap 1 follows ‘it has large ears that help it hear even the smallest sounds’ and precedes ‘Because of this, the rabbit is able to spot its enemies’, so it must explain how large ears catch sounds: C, which says the large ear picks up sound waves and carries them to the inner ear.

Gap 2 follows the sentence about the jackrabbit living in a desert that is hot by day and cold at night and precedes the sentence on blood flow through its ears to lose or gain heat, so it must be B, the jackrabbit's ears also help regulate body temperature. Sentence A on teeth fits neither gap, so it is the extra sentence.

Answer: D

The correct choice is AC. Gap 1 comes after the sentence about an animal's capacity to conceal itself from prey and predators, and before 'One notable example is the narrow-headed Madagascar frog'. A, which says animals can disguise themselves in a variety of ways, is a general statement that leads into the example, so it fits. Gap 2 follows the sentence about the leopard's spots and the tiger's stripes and precedes 'In a similar vein, the praying mantis', so it needs another example of colour change, which C gives with the chameleon. B, the shingleback lizard, is the extra sentence.

Answer: B

Correct answer: conceived

An idea is conceived - formed in the mind - and the passage is naming the moment Anubhav first had it. Accepted, borrowed and taken all imply the idea came from somewhere else, which the rest of the passage contradicts: he goes on to propose it himself.

Answer: A

Correct answer: attending

One attends a course. Arriving and catching do not take a course as object, and noticing would say he merely observed it.

Answer: C

Correct answer: at

A named institution takes at: at the Western International University. In would refer to the building, on is impossible with a university, and as is not a preposition of place.

Answer: B

Correct answer: entry

What one submits to a competition is an entry, and a possible entry for a competition is the natural phrase. Exit and retirement reverse the sense, and allocation belongs to the distribution of resources.

Answer: A

Correct answer: for

The competition is run for the benefit of the organisation named after the blank, and a competition for SIFE is the reading the sentence supports. Form is a misspelling of from, and if is a conjunction, not a preposition.

Answer: C

Correct answer: but

The sentence reverses what has gone before: he had an idea and an intended use for it, and then the institution turned it down. But marks that reversal. Except and only cannot open the clause, and yet would need a comma and a different rhythm.