30 questions. Each is marked with the exam level it suits. Answer, then open the step-by-step solution.
For most of human history, boredom was simply part of life. People waited for crops to ripen, for letters to arrive and for long journeys to end. Today, a phone in the pocket means that no moment need ever be empty. A queue, a bus ride or a pause in conversation can be filled instantly with messages, videos and news.
This may seem like pure gain, but some psychologists are not so sure. In several experiments, people who were first given a dull task, such as copying numbers from a phone book, later produced more original ideas in a creative test than people who had not been bored. One explanation is that boredom pushes the mind to wander, and a wandering mind makes unexpected connections between ideas.
None of this means that boredom is pleasant, or that we should seek it for its own sake. Long, enforced boredom, as in some jobs or in prisons, is linked to stress and poor health. The point is narrower: short stretches of unstructured time may serve a purpose. By filling every gap, we may be giving up the very conditions in which new thoughts form.
Questions 1–5 are based on this passage.
What is the main idea of the passage?
The passage argues that brief, unstructured time can aid original thinking, and that filling every gap may remove it.
Why does the writer mention copying numbers from a phone book?
It is the dull task given to participants before the creative test.
Which statement would the writer most likely agree with?
The third paragraph separates short unstructured time (possibly useful) from long, enforced boredom (linked to stress).
The word 'enforced' in the third paragraph is closest in meaning to
Enforced boredom is boredom that people cannot escape, which is imposed on them.
According to the passage, how might boredom lead to original ideas?
The second paragraph gives this explanation.
Economics textbooks often describe prices that change smoothly whenever demand or costs change. In practice, many prices stay the same for months, even when a firm's costs have risen. Economists call such prices 'sticky'.
There are several reasons. Changing a price has costs of its own: menus must be reprinted, price tags replaced and customers informed. More importantly, firms fear the reaction of regular buyers, who may see a price rise as unfair and take their business elsewhere. A shop may therefore prefer to absorb a small rise in costs rather than risk losing loyal customers. Some firms change the size of a product instead, selling a smaller packet at the same price.
Sticky prices matter for the whole economy. When the central bank changes interest rates, it hopes to influence spending and, through it, prices. If prices adjust only slowly, the effect of such policy on inflation also arrives slowly, and output and jobs may change first. This is one reason central banks look ahead and act before inflation is fully visible in the data.
Questions 6–10 are based on this passage.
What does the passage mean by 'sticky' prices?
The first paragraph defines sticky prices as those that stay the same for months despite cost changes.
Which of the following is NOT given as a reason why firms avoid changing prices?
The passage never mentions government rules; the other three are stated in the second paragraph.
Selling a smaller packet at the same price is mentioned as
It is how some firms deal with higher costs while keeping the price fixed.
According to the passage, why do central banks act before inflation is fully visible?
The final paragraph links slow price adjustment to the delayed effect of policy, which is why banks look ahead.
The tone of the passage is best described as
The writer explains an economic idea calmly, with reasons and consequences.
When people talk about the great builders of modern India, the names that come up are usually of politicians or industrialists. Yet many of the dams, canals and bridges that shaped the country were designed by engineers whose names are now known only to specialists. One such engineer, whose life is a composite drawn here from several careers of the period, began work in a district public works office in the 1920s, surveying land on horseback.
His early reports show an unusual habit: before proposing any irrigation channel, he spent weeks talking to farmers about where water collected during the monsoon and where it ran away. Senior officers sometimes complained that this slowed down the work. But the channels he designed rarely needed costly changes later, because they followed the land as local people already understood it.
In later life he argued that engineering was as much about listening as about calculation. Equations, he wrote, could tell you whether a wall would stand; only people could tell you whether it was needed. It is a lesson that modern planners, armed with satellite maps, still sometimes forget.
Questions 11–15 are based on this passage.
What made the engineer's approach unusual?
The second paragraph describes him talking to farmers for weeks before proposing a channel.
Why did his channels rarely need costly changes?
This is stated directly in the second paragraph.
The writer describes the engineer as 'a composite'. This means he is
The passage says his life is 'drawn here from several careers of the period'.
What is the 'lesson' mentioned in the last sentence?
The engineer argued that engineering is as much about listening as about calculation.
Which word best describes the writer's attitude to the engineer?
The writer presents his method and views favourably and calls them a lesson for modern planners.
Coral reefs cover a tiny fraction of the ocean floor but support around a quarter of all known marine species. A reef is built by small animals called coral polyps, which live in partnership with algae. The algae live inside the coral's tissue and, through photosynthesis, supply most of its food. They also give many corals their colour.
This partnership is sensitive to temperature. When the water stays even one or two degrees above its usual summer maximum for several weeks, the corals expel the algae. Without them, the corals turn white, an event known as bleaching. Bleached corals are not dead, and they can recover if temperatures fall soon enough. But if the heat lasts, they starve.
Bleaching events have become more frequent as the oceans have warmed. Some scientists are breeding corals that tolerate heat better, and others are studying reefs that have survived unusually warm water. These efforts may buy time, but most researchers agree that the long-term survival of reefs depends on limiting the rise in ocean temperatures.
Questions 16–20 are based on this passage.
What do the algae provide to the corals?
The first paragraph says the algae supply most of the coral's food and give it colour.
What is 'bleaching'?
Defined in the second paragraph.
Which statement is supported by the passage?
The passage says bleached corals are not dead and can recover if temperatures fall soon enough.
According to most researchers, the long-term survival of reefs depends mainly on
The last sentence states this; the other efforts 'may buy time'.
The phrase 'buy time' in the last paragraph means
Efforts that buy time postpone harm without solving the underlying problem.
Organisations often respond to a mistake by writing a new rule. A customer is treated badly, so a script is written for every call; an expense is misused, so every purchase needs three signatures. Each rule makes sense on its own. Over time, however, the rules pile up, and employees spend more effort following procedures than serving the purpose behind them.
Rules have real strengths. They are predictable, they protect against favouritism, and they allow large organisations to act consistently. But no set of rules can foresee every situation. When something unexpected happens, an employee bound by a script may know exactly what to say and still be unable to help.
The alternative is not to abolish rules but to leave room for judgement. Some companies give front-line staff a small budget they may spend, without approval, to solve a customer's problem. Such trust carries risks, but it also signals that the organisation values thinking, not just compliance. The challenge for managers is to decide where consistency matters most and where flexibility serves people better.
Questions 21–25 are based on this passage.
What is the writer's central argument?
The third paragraph says the answer is not to abolish rules but to leave room for judgement.
Which of these is given as a strength of rules?
The second paragraph lists predictability, protection against favouritism and consistency.
The example of the small budget for front-line staff illustrates
It shows the organisation giving staff freedom to solve problems.
What problem does the writer see in adding a rule after every mistake?
The first paragraph describes this build-up.
The word 'compliance' in the third paragraph means
Compliance is acting according to rules or instructions.
In many cities, the bicycle is enjoying an unexpected revival. A generation ago it was seen as the vehicle of those who could not afford anything better. Today, office workers in some cities cycle to work by choice, and governments are building separate lanes to keep them safe.
The reasons are partly practical. In congested city centres, a bicycle can be faster than a car for short trips, and it needs no fuel and little parking space. Health is another reason: regular cycling builds fitness without the need for a gym. Electric bicycles, which give the rider a gentle push, have made longer or hillier journeys possible for people who would not otherwise try them.
Yet the revival is uneven. Where roads are designed only for cars, cycling remains dangerous, and few people take it up regardless of its benefits. Experience from several countries suggests that the decisive factor is not enthusiasm but infrastructure: when safe, connected lanes are built, cyclists appear; when they are not, even keen riders give up.
Questions 26–30 are based on this passage.
According to the passage, what is the decisive factor in whether people cycle?
The last paragraph says the decisive factor is infrastructure, not enthusiasm.
How was the bicycle seen a generation ago, according to the passage?
Stated in the first paragraph.
Which advantage of the bicycle is NOT mentioned?
Carrying heavy goods is not mentioned.
What role do electric bicycles play, according to the passage?
Stated in the second paragraph.
The word 'revival' in the first paragraph is closest in meaning to
A revival is a return to popularity.
These are original practice questions written by Target Campus in the pattern, syllabus and difficulty of IPMAT Indore, IPMAT Rohtak, JIPMAT, NPAT and SET. They are not previous-year papers.
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