In this section, you will come across the following types of questions :
Sentence Completions
Antonyms
Analogies
Reading Comprehensions
Sentence Completions :-
Sentence completions measure your:
ability to understand the logic of a sentence
recognize words or phrases that complete the meaning of a sentence
You are shown a sentence with either one or two words missing. Your job is to
pick the answer choice with the word, or words, that best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.
Strategies :
Read the incomplete sentence and try to fit your own words in before looking at the answer choices.
Pay attention to grammatical clues.
Break down sentences with two blanks into parts and analyse each part individually.
See that both parts of your answer choice fit the sentence correctly.
Sample question :
The pressure of population on available resources is the key to understanding history, consequently any historical writing that does not take cognizance of_________ facts is_________flawed.
A. ecological..marginally
B. demographic..intrinsically
C. cultural..subtantively
D. psychological..philosophically
E. political..demonstratively
Answer: B
Antonyms :-
Antonyms measure your:
vocabulary
ability to reason from a given concept to its opposite
You are presented with a single word followed by five answer choices containing words or short phrases. You have to select an answer choice that's
most nearly opposite in meaning to the original word. Since the questions often require you to distinguish finer shades of meaning, go through all the possible
answer choices before making your selection.
Strategies :
Try to define the word precisely
Look for shades of meaning of the given word
Make a sentence with it
Analyse the prefix or suffix to help establish a word's meaning
Eliminate irrelevant answer choices
Sample question :
PERSEVERE
A. Take Away
B. Put into
C. Send out
D. Give up
E. Bring forward
Answer: D
Analogies :-
Analogies measure your ability to recognize:
relationships among words and concepts they represent
parallel relationships
Here you are presented with a related pair of words followed by five answer choices containing lettered pairs of words or phrases. Select the lettered pair
that best expresses a relationship similar to that expressed in the original pair.
Strategies :
Try to establish a strong relationship between the given pair of words
Consider relationships of kind, size, spatial contiguity, or degree.
If more than one of the answer choices seems correct, try to state the relationship more precisely.
Check for second meanings of the given words
Sample question :
EVAPORATE:VAPOUR
A. petrify:stone
B. centrifuge:liquid
C. saturate:fluid
D. corrode:acid
E. incinerate:fire
Answer: A
Reading Comprehensions :-
Reading comprehension measures your ability:
to read with understanding, insight, and discrimination
to analyze a written passage from several perspectives
Passages are taken from the humanities, social sciences, biological sciences and physical sciences. The passages are of varied lengths, but generally of 75
to 150 lines. The number of questions pertaining to a particular passage could range from 3 to 5.
Strategies :
Go through the passage once to get the genearal idea of the passage
Don't try to memorize details but instead pay attention to the topic and the focus of the passage as you read.
For questions asking you to give the passage a title, look at the first and last lines of the passage for clues.
Sample question :
Passage: In his 1976 study of slavery in the US, Herbert Gutman, like Fogel, Engerman, And Genovese, has rightly stressed the
slaves' achievements. But unlike these historians......(rest of the passage) ........In sum, Gutman's study is significant because it offers a closely
reasoned and original explanation of some of the slaves' achievements, one that correctly emphasizes the resources that slaves themselves possessed.
Which of the following is the most appropriate title for the passage, based on its content?
A. The influence of Herbert Gutman on Historians of Slavery in the US
B. Gutman's explanation of how slaves could maintain a cultural Heritage and develop a communal consciousness
C. Slavery in the US: New Controversy about an old subject
D. The Black heritage of Folklore, Music, and Religious Expression: It's growing influence
E. The Black family and extended kinship structure: How they were important for the freed slave
