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Considering the alarming importance of CSAT in UPSC CSE Prelims exam and with enormous requests we received recently, InsightsIAS has started Daily CSAT Test to ensure students practice CSAT Questions on a daily basis. Regular Practice would help one overcome the fear of CSAT too.
We are naming this initiative as Insta– DART – Daily Aptitude and Reasoning Test. We hope you will be able to use DART to hit bull’s eye in CSAT paper and comfortably score 100+ even in the most difficult question paper that UPSC can give you in CSP-2021. Your peace of mind after every step of this exam is very important for us.
Looking forward to your enthusiastic participation (both in sending us questions and solving them on daily basis on this portal).
Wish you all the best ! 🙂
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Question 1 of 5
1. Question
An admirable command over English does not prove one’s mettle in professional life. But it does serve to add to one’s confidence and to inspire confidence in listeners or readers. It is always a good idea to write or speak in short, simple sentences rather than long, rambling ones. With short sentences, it is easier to keep one’s grammar in check too. A good rule of thumb is, ‘First write, then speak.’ It is definitely easier to write than to speak because one does not need good pronunciation (though good knowledge of spelling is a must). Also, one can write slowly, consult dictionaries and online spell checkers, and take one’s own time to correct mistakes. It is better to be slow and sure rather than to be fluent and faulty. Even the native English speaker can make mistakes at times. But poor knowledge of grammar while trying to direct, instruct or influence in the professional field will only cause a dent in the credibility of the speaker.
English may not be a native language for most of us, but it is not difficult to avoid the pitfalls if one is careful. The topics discussed here are not comprehensive. They are meant to be just guidelines. A deserving candidate should not lose out on a good job opportunity because his English pronunciation is coloured by his vernacular accent, his grammar is weak and his communication is clouded. Grammar cannot be learnt for grammar’s sake. It has to apply to life.
It is also extremely profitable to build on one’s vocabulary. Johnson O’Connor, an American educator, who is considered a pioneer in aptitude testing showed a remarkable connection between vocabulary and professional level. According to him, vocabulary of a person is the most effective determiner to predict vocational success. Vocabulary can be enriched by reading, listening and conversing.
Even while discovering the numerous chasms into which our language may stumble, it is best to always remember that English is a dynamic language—it changes form, it welcomes innovation, it also plays with words. Even a child knows ‘up’ and ‘down’ to be opposites. Yet when we cut a tree, we say we cut it down. After that what do we do? We cut it up into pieces! (375 words)
Which of the following views corroborates the above passage?
Correct
Answer: B
Justification:
The passage shows how proper communication in English can be important when trying to influence or impact others. Using proper grammar is one of the most important elements according to the passage as people who make grammatical errors during communication do not inspire confidence. Hence, B.
Incorrect
Answer: B
Justification:
The passage shows how proper communication in English can be important when trying to influence or impact others. Using proper grammar is one of the most important elements according to the passage as people who make grammatical errors during communication do not inspire confidence. Hence, B.
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Question 2 of 5
2. Question
E-learning has several benefits as follows:
Flexible, On-demand Learning
The biggest advantage of e-learning is access to on-demand courses. Many a time one requires access to certain learning material. E-learning provides an abundance of such material (for enhancing both hard domain skills and soft skills) that can be accessed year-long at any time of the day or night. There is no rigidity of a fixed curriculum, no need to go through multiple sequences to gain access to the point of need. Programmes can also be paced or paused, based on availability.
Privacy of Learning
Some people feel intimidated by presence of peers during the learning process. If they do not understand certain sections of a course, they feel awkward to ask these questions in public. E-learning obviates this issue. Learning is a private experience. A section or an entire course can be repeated as many times as needed. Questions to an ‘instructor’ can be asked one-on-one through an on-line query-response system.
Increased Access
E-learning brings the world to one’s finger-tips! It is possible to easily access the best global experts through the electronic medium. Similarly, an expert can reach thousands of students over the Internet or over a Satellite system.
The learning experience is also of higher quality. It is enhanced through the use of audio, video, and graphics and imaging aids. This multimedia experience greatly augments the quality of learning.
Lower Cost
Well-architected e-learning systems typically cost lower than traditional systems, if the right scale is achieved. This is because it leads to savings in terms of travel, time and distribution of content, etc.
Acceptance by Employees for Personal Development
Acceptance of e-learning systems is typically very high in the corporate world for one’s personal development. This is because it allows one to follow-through on their Individual Development Plans in a focussed manner.
Finally, it must be noted that while e-learning systems have many advantages, it has the disadvantage of not having an instructor to personally be present to facilitate the learning. Hence it is not the best medium where queries need to be not just answered, but deliberated at length with multiple opinions and pros and cons needing to be discussed.
(363 words)
Which of the following statements best captures the essence of the passage?
Correct
Answer: C
Justification:
The passage shows the advantages of e-learning systems. However, it mentions that e-learning cannot replace the benefits of having an instructor or be implemented in a large enough scale to replace traditional institutions. While statement 2 is correct, it is not an option that is explored in the passage. Statement 3 however, captures many of the advantages of e-learning and is therefore the best answer.
Incorrect
Answer: C
Justification:
The passage shows the advantages of e-learning systems. However, it mentions that e-learning cannot replace the benefits of having an instructor or be implemented in a large enough scale to replace traditional institutions. While statement 2 is correct, it is not an option that is explored in the passage. Statement 3 however, captures many of the advantages of e-learning and is therefore the best answer.
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Question 3 of 5
3. Question
The ability to listen is a necessary skill because most of our learning comes from listening. It is the basic receptive skill. It has been proved that listening is the most important link in the process of communication. The effectiveness of the spoken language depends not so much on how people talk but mostly on how they listen. A student has to listen to lectures, instructions, speeches, views expressed in conferences and group discussions. Professionals have to listen to their bosses, colleagues, subordinates, seminars and views discussed in various meetings. If you do not listen with concentration, you are likely to face problems.
Listening:
- allows us to understand the views and opinions expressed by others.
- helps us to gather views, opinions, and ideas on how others feel about a particular concept or problem.
- helps us to get proper and accurate information.
- helps the speaker to express their views clearly.
You can define listening as a process of hearing, connecting, understanding, interpreting and replying. Thus, listening is a five stage self-generated activity. The first stage is the hearing of sound waves through ears. The second stage is connecting the sound to sense. The third stage is understanding what has been spoken. The fourth stage is interpreting the message in the context. The fifth stage is the reaction or reply to the message. You can present this process as follows:
Listening = hearing + connecting + understanding + interpreting + responding. (239 words)
Which of the following statements is closest to the meaning of the passage?
Correct
Answer: A
Justification:
The passage describes listening to be a five step process by which we hear, understand, connect, interpret and respond. This is adequately captured in the first statement as it talks about learning and assimilating both. The passage describes the many elements of listening so it cannot be passive as described in Statement 2. Further, since it involves many different stages, it does not have a single aim of forming a response as in statement 3. Statement 4 is correct but incomplete as the passage explains how listening is a deeper and more involved process than hearing. Thus, A is the answer that is closest in meaning.
Incorrect
Answer: A
Justification:
The passage describes listening to be a five step process by which we hear, understand, connect, interpret and respond. This is adequately captured in the first statement as it talks about learning and assimilating both. The passage describes the many elements of listening so it cannot be passive as described in Statement 2. Further, since it involves many different stages, it does not have a single aim of forming a response as in statement 3. Statement 4 is correct but incomplete as the passage explains how listening is a deeper and more involved process than hearing. Thus, A is the answer that is closest in meaning.
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Question 4 of 5
4. Question
One of the important principles in public speaking is that your delivery needs to be natural. Deliver your speech as though you are conversing with individuals in the audience and not reading a written text.
Voice
It is generally believed that your voice is an expression of your personality. You must have heard that voices can be melodious, husky, hoarse, rich, resonant, nasal, powerful, harsh, mellow, metallic or soft. Whatever may be the nature of your voice, you can be sure it is unique and that is why you need to cultivate it as an asset. Your voice punctuates your speech. Notice, for example, how you raise your voice slightly at the end of a question and pause – before an important word in a sentence or before an important concept or idea. Variety in your voice is key to holding attention. Change in voice should be clearly tied to the message you want to get across. Otherwise it could cause distraction.
The tone of your voice is as important as the words you speak. It either conveys control and confidence or proves a lack of both. To battle an audience’s short attention span, speakers need to keep changing the tone using effective diction of their voice. A monotonous tone, mumbling and lack of clarity make the audience notice your voice and not your words.
We all know some of the most famous speakers in history had ordinary voices. Abraham Lincoln had a harsh penetrating voice and Winston Churchill had a slight stammer. By working hard on controlling their tone and pronunciation they became successful speakers. You also can practice your voice to overcome natural disadvantages and use it to the best effect. You will become a successful speaker if you avoid speaking too softly, try not to stumble over words and do not rattle off your words at the speed of a machine gun.
The most important aspects of voice include quality, volume, tone and rate of delivery. Other aspects of voice include pronunciation, accent and even pauses.
Quality
The distinguishing feature of your voice is quality. It is the characteristic that distinguishes one voice from another. It depends on the action of your vocal cords and the size of your mouth, nose, throat and chest cavity. Temporary moods also leave their mark on a person’s voice. A hallow, slack sound comes from someone who is dejected and depressed, while vibrant, bouncy tones are the signs of a person in an elevated and positive mood. The quality of your voice will affect your presentation and speech. If you have a nasal, thin, harsh, hoarse or squeaky voice you can improve its quality by working on other vocal qualities such as volume, tone and rate of delivery.
Volume
The most easily identifiable aspect of your voice is the volume. Volume is defined as the degree of loudness or softness of the voice. Your voice should be in the correct volume while making a speech or presentation.
Speakers should maintain a steady flow of air while they talk. This will help their voice reach every corner of the room. When you speak be sure to adjust your voice to the acoustics of the room, size of audience, and the level of background noise.
Pitch
Pitch is the measure of how high or low your voice is. The faster the sound waves vibrate, the higher is their pitch; the slower they vibrate, the lower is their pitch. Change in pitch is known as inflection. Inflection is an important tool in communicating meaning. Inflection gives to your voice warmth and vitality. It is the inflection of your voice that reveals whether you are asking a question or making a statement, whether you are being sincere or sarcastic. Your inflection can also make you sound happy or sad, angry or pleased, dynamic or dull, tense or relaxed, and interested or bored. Generally, we raise the pitch of our voice at the end of a question and lower it at the end of a statement. (669 words)
Based on the given passage, the following assumptions have been made:
- The ability to give a speech is an innate quality.
- Inflection in speech is often used to communicate emotions.
Which of the following assumptions is/are valid?
Correct
Answer: B
Justification:
Statement 1 is incorrect because the passage states that you can practice your speech and vocal skills in order to improve your voice.
Statement 2 is correct because the passage talks about how your inflection can also make you sound happy or sad, angry or pleased, dynamic or dull, tense or relaxed, and interested or bored, i.e. communicate emotions. Hence, B.
Incorrect
Answer: B
Justification:
Statement 1 is incorrect because the passage states that you can practice your speech and vocal skills in order to improve your voice.
Statement 2 is correct because the passage talks about how your inflection can also make you sound happy or sad, angry or pleased, dynamic or dull, tense or relaxed, and interested or bored, i.e. communicate emotions. Hence, B.
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Question 5 of 5
5. Question
In order to speak effectively it is important to know which words are to be stressed in a sentence. When you pronounce a word with more than one syllable, you stress one of the syllables the most. But in connected speech, you may or may not stress that syllable the most. For example, the word ‘about’ has two syllables. The first syllable is a single letter and it is a weak syllable. It does not receive stress. The second syllable receives stress if you say it in isolation. It can be illustrated with the following example:
My ‘friends are ‘coming at about ‘five o’clock.
In this sentence, the second syllable of the word ‘about’ is not stressed. The words ‘five’, ‘friends’ and ‘coming’ are important words from the point of view of meaning. Let us see another example:
She ‘doesn’t ‘know what it is a’bout.
In this sentence, the second syllable of the word ‘about’ receives primary stress because this word carries important meaning. Now pause and listen to the audio to understand this point better. However, certain kinds of words by virtue of their function in sentences are likely to be more important in conveying the meaning of the whole sentence. These are nouns, main verbs, adjectives, adverbs and some pronouns.
Intonation
One of the important factors in making effective speeches is intonation. Intonation is the way one’s voice rises and falls in speech. Sometimes the pitch rises, sometimes it falls, at other times it remains level. Intonation is an important feature in spoken language. Here it is important to note that intonation patterns vary from one language to another.
Intonation can be used with great subtlety, sometimes to convey information that is not overtly expressed by the words themselves. For example, if a person says, ‘she is very intelligent’ with a falling tone, he means exactly that. If on the other hand, he says the same sentence with a falling-rising intonation, he may mean that though the woman in question is intelligent, there is something else that is undesirable about her. Stress and intonation are linked; they work together to give the effect of an accent. Changes of pitch occur with stressed syllables which are very important from the listener’s point of view. In addition to this, intonation has an attitudinal function as given here.
It distinguishes between different types of utterances, for example,
- a statement from a question
- a command from a request etc.
- it indicates the speaker’s emotional attitude or personality, for example, curiosity, doubt, formality, politeness, friendliness, firmness, etc.
- it draws the attention of the listener to those parts of an utterance which the speaker considers important. (442 words)
Which of the following is the most logical corollary to the above passage?
Correct
Answer: C
Justification:
Statement 1 is correct because the passage gives the example sentences where words are stressed from the point of view of meaning rather than as individual syllables.
Statement 2 is correct because the passage explains how change in intonation can lead to change in the listener’s point of view so that the same sentence can be viewed as a statement or a question.
Thus, C is the correct answer.
Incorrect
Answer: C
Justification:
Statement 1 is correct because the passage gives the example sentences where words are stressed from the point of view of meaning rather than as individual syllables.
Statement 2 is correct because the passage explains how change in intonation can lead to change in the listener’s point of view so that the same sentence can be viewed as a statement or a question.
Thus, C is the correct answer.
