VARC Test 2 Practice

The sentence "Most were first-time users of a tablet and a digital app " would fit best in blank 4 because it
provides information about the specific group of people who were involved in the pilot study for the app. The
preceding sentence mentions that the app was piloted in early 2021 with over 400 women from rural areas,
and the added sentence provides further detail about the specific experiences that these users had with
technology. This information helps to clarify that the pilot study for the app involved a group of people who
may be unfamiliar with digital devices and services, and it also helps to emphasize the potential impact that
the app may have had on these users.
Placing the sentence in blank 4 is logical because it provides relevant and specific information about the
pilot study for the app, which is the topic being discussed in that part of the paragraph. By contrast, placing the sentence in any of the other blanks would be less logical because it would be introducing information
that is not directly related to the main topic being discussed in those parts of the paragraph.
Hence, Option D is the correct choice.

The given set of sentences talks about the concept of cheerfulness and how it can affect a person's internal
state. It discusses the history of the word "cheer," which originally referred to a person's facial expression,
and how it came to be associated with an abstract concept of positive emotion. The passage also notes
that translations of the Bible into vernacular languages helped to expand the meaning of "cheer" to include a
sense of cheerfulness or positivity as a quality of the self and a moral community. We note that sentences 1,
2 and 4 are part of the timeline the author traces, while statement 3 is a broad claim that would serve as an
apt introduction. The idea of cheerfulness and self that is mentioned in 3 is linked to the " trajectory of
cheerfulness through the self" highlighted in statement 1, allowing us to form the pair [3-1]. Note that 4
discusses how cheer came to be perceived as a trait at the intersection of emotion and a physical feature
[as highlighted in 1 - where it has been categorised as a facial feature]. Sentence 2 then extends on this idea
by how cheerfulness, over time, came to be considered as "an emotional and social quality." Hence, the
correct arrangement is 3142.

The statements here discuss how the way we think about food often centres around individual choice, rather
than acknowledging the larger societal and structural factors that influence food choices. It also mentions
the role of neoliberalism in shifting the responsibility for food onto individual consumers and how this may
disproportionately impact women, who may feel a sense of responsibility to navigate and "mediate" an
unhealthy food system. Sentences 2 and 4 create a logical block since 2 highlights the framing of food
through the "lens of individual choice", and 4 extends on the impact of such a framing ["appeals to a popular
desire to experience agency, but draws away from the structural obstacles that stratify individual food
choices"]. "This" in statement 3 refers to the particular outcome of framing underlined in 4, allowing us to
create a logical block: [2-4-3]. Statement 1 can be placed at the end of this arrangement to emphasise how
women are perhaps disproportionately impacted by the elements discussed in 2-4-3. Hence, the correct
answer is 2431.

The statements discuss the complexity of environmental issues and the need for political solutions rather
than technological ones to address the threat of environmental collapse. The discussion focuses on the
various causes of biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse, such as chemical pollutants, damming of rivers,
and invasive species, and highlights that there is no single technological solution to address these issues.
The suggestion is that we should consider moving towards stable-state economies, which preserve markets
and competition while also recognizing the rights of future generations and other species and allowing for
stronger environmental protections. Statements 1 and 2 both address the complexity and diverse nature of
environmental issues. Statement 2 notes that while discourse often focuses on emissions, there are many
other factors contributing to environmental collapse, including biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse.
Statement 1 then adds to this by outlining specific examples of diverse causes of environmental problems,
including chemical pollutants, damming of rivers, and invasive species. Statements 4 and 3 offer
suggestions to combat the issues highlighted in 2 and 1. Hence, the correct arrangement is 2143.

The passage is about the 'inherent vice' or the natural tendency of certain artworks to deteriorate over time
due to various factors such as discolouration of pigments, cracking of varnishes, and warping of canvases.
The passage also mentions an example of Damien Hirst's artwork, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the
Mind of Someone Living, which began to decompose quickly due to the use of the wrong preserving liquid. In
this regard, Option D offers an apt summary of the passage because it accurately captures the main idea of
the passage, which is that artworks may not last forever and may deteriorate with time. Option A is incorrect
because the passage does not mention any moral responsibility of museums to restore and preserve
artworks. Similarly, Option B can be eliminated since the passage does not specifically mention museums guarding art treasures from intrinsic defects. Option C is also inaccurate because the discussion does not
present the evolution of the role of museums in preserving artworks forever.
Hence, Option D is the correct choice.

The passage discusses the ways in which big data and targeted online content can potentially influence and
manipulate behaviour, leading to concerns over freedom and privacy in the digital age. This is reflected in
the statements that "behavioural control" in the age of big data echoes Cold War-era anxieties about
"brainwashing" and "repression," and that the use of targeted online content can enable "influence to take place on a pre-reflexive level." The passage also mentions the fear that the digital age has not liberated us,
but rather exposed us by making personal and behavioural data available to machine-learning
algorithms. Option B accurately reflects this central theme of the passage by stating that the debate on the
nature of freedom and privacy has resurfaced due to the availability of personal information through big
data. Option A is incorrect because it goes beyond the scope of the passage by stating that digital
technology is "enslaving" us, which is not explicitly stated in the text. Similarly, Option C is inaccurate since
the author only mentions the Cold War as a reference point for similar debates on behavioural control, but
does not focus on the Cold War itself. Option D is wrong because the passage does not mention artificial
intelligence specifically, but rather machine-learning algorithms.
Hence, Option B is the correct choice.

The passage is about the political and civic organization of ancient cities. It states that some ancient cities
were organized along egalitarian lines, without any indication of temples or palaces (which suggests a lack
of a ruling class or administrators), and that in other cities, temples and palaces never emerged at all. Option
D correctly summarizes this information by stating that there was evidence of an egalitarian urban life in
some ancient cities, where the political and civic organization was less hierarchical. Option A is incorrect
because it only mentions the absence of temples and palaces, but does not mention the fact that some
ancient cities were organized along egalitarian lines. On a similar note, Option B presents an exaggeration
by suggesting that 'all' ancient cities were organized along egalitarian lines, which is not stated in the
passage. Option C is also inaccurate since it asserts that ancient cities were transformed from egalitarian to
hierarchical, but the passage only states that some ancient cities were egalitarian and does not mention any
transformation.
Hence, Option D is the correct choice.

We can easily eliminate Options A and B since the given sentence " This was years in the making but fasttracked
during the pandemic, when "people started being more mindful about their food", he explained"
uses the pronoun "he," which must refer to "Karmakar." The sentence should take the spot of blank 3 since it
fits in well with the idea that ghee is part of a "return-to-basics movement in India", as it mentions that the
renewed interest in ghee has been developing for a while but was accelerated during the pandemic when
people became more conscious about their food choices. Additionally, the idea that this movement is part of
an overall trend towards "slow food" is also mentioned in the sentence, as it talks about people being
mindful of their food. By contrast, placing the sentence in any of the other blanks would be less logical
because it would be introducing information that is not directly related to the main topic being discussed in
those parts of the paragraph.
Hence, Option C is the correct choice.

The author discusses camouflaging techniques in an octopus vis-a-vis other organisms such as cuttlefish,
squids and polar bears: { 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}
However, note that no such discussion on sea snails is presented; hence, Option A is the correct choice.

{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. }
We can understand that B, C and D are true - they are points of dissimilarities between octopuses and other
molluscs [we are told that they have multiple appendages instead of a single dorsal foot and lack shells;
they also have higher intelligence]. However, there is no information on whether humans consume molluscs
like sea snails or not [furthermore, the author does not use this fact to claim that octopuses are distinct in
this regard].
Hence, Option A is the correct choice.