Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Psychology (psyche = mind/soul + -logy = study) is the scientific study of the human mind and behaviour.

1. Microbiology – study of micro-organisms.
2. Epidemiology – study of how diseases spread in populations.
3. Anthropology – study of humankind, societies and cultures.
4. Only Psychology studies the mind.

Trick: Psyche = mind → psychology; psychiatry = treatment of mental illness.

Answer: (A) Psychology

Concept: Foul play means unfair or dishonest conduct, especially in sports (it can also mean a criminal act).

1. 'Unfair conduct … in international sports tournaments' = foul play.
2. Red handed = caught in the act of wrongdoing.
3. 'Straw in the eye' and 'hand in the mud' are not standard English idioms.

Trick: In sports, a 'foul' = breaking the rules → foul play.

Answer: (C) foul play

Concept: Denounce means to publicly criticise or condemn something as wrong; its opposite is praise.

1. Denounce = condemn, criticise openly.
2. Praise = express approval or admiration – opposite.
3. Criticise is a synonym; Relieve and Dainty (delicate) are unrelated.

Trick: Denounce ↔ praise; condemn ↔ commend.

Answer: (A) Praise

Concept: Leniency means mildness, being merciful or not strict in punishment; its opposite is sternness – strictness, severity.

1. Leniency = mercy, tolerance, softness.
2. Sternness = harshness, strictness – direct opposite.
3. Penalty is a punishment (a thing, not the quality); Favour is close to leniency; Discard is unrelated.

Trick: Lenient teacher ↔ stern teacher.

Answer: (C) Sternness

Concept: Viable means capable of working successfully and continuing to exist over time (a viable plan/business). Among the words in the sentence, sustainability – the ability to be maintained over the long term – is the closest in sense.

1. Viable = workable, able to survive and last.
2. Sustainability = capacity to continue/be maintained → closest to viability.
3. Efficiency = output with little waste; Optimised = made as good as possible; Scalability = ability to grow in size – none means 'able to survive/work'.

Trick: Viable ← Latin vita (life): able to live on → sustain.

Answer: (D) Sustainability

Concept: A unique person/post takes the definite article the: India has only one Prime Minister, so it must be The Prime Minister of India.

1. 'A Prime Minister of India' suggests one of many – wrong, the post is unique.
2. will address, the nation today, on the occasion of Independence Day are correct.
3. Correct: The Prime Minister of India will address the nation today on the occasion of Independence Day.

Trick: Unique things/posts → the (the sun, the President of India, the Prime Minister).

Answer: (A) A Prime Minister of India

Concept: Hold your horses means wait, be patient, do not act hastily.

1. 'We should hold our horses before buying this car' = we should wait and think before buying.
2. Eat like a horse = eat a lot.
3. Stop to change horses – from 'don't change horses in midstream' = don't change plans midway.
4. Get off our high horse = stop being arrogant.

Trick: Riders pull the reins to stop horses → hold your horses = slow down.

Answer: (B) hold our horses

Concept: The correct idiom is stab someone in the back – to betray someone who trusts you.

1. She trusted her husband, but he usurped her inheritance → betrayal → stabbed her in the back.
2. 'Stabbed her in the neck', 'snapped her in the neck', 'stabbed her with a fork' are not idioms.
3. 'Stabbed her prospects' is not a standard expression.

Trick: Back-stabber = traitor: the attack comes from behind, where you do not expect it.

Answer: (A) stabbed her in the back

Concept: A curator is the keeper or custodian of a museum, gallery, library or other collection.

1. Curator (Latin curare = to take care of).
2. Cartographer = map-maker.
3. Calligrapher = one skilled in beautiful handwriting.
4. Chauffeur = person employed to drive a car.

Trick: Curator cures (takes care of) the collection.

Answer: (C) Curator

Concept: Linking (sense) verbs like taste, smell, look, feel, sound describe the subject, so they take an adjective, not an adverb.

1. 'It tasted sweetly' wrongly uses an adverb.
2. The cake itself is sweet → it tasted sweet.
3. 'Raman ate', 'the cake' and 'and exclaimed that' are correct.
4. Correct: Raman ate the cake and exclaimed that it tasted sweet.

Trick: Sense verb + adjective: smells good, looks beautiful, tastes sweet.

Answer: (C) it tasted sweetly

Concept: The passage praises South Korea’s beauty industry – heavy investment, ahead of competitors, discerning shoppers. So the country is described as cosmetically advanced.

1. 'Most cosmetically ______ country' + 'ahead of its competitors' → a positive word of progress is needed.
2. Advanced = highly developed – fits.
3. Ancient, primitive and early suggest old or undeveloped – contradict the passage.

Trick: Look for a clue in the next sentences: 'ahead of its competitors' = advanced.

Answer: (C) advanced

Concept: The noun investment takes the preposition in: investment in something.

1. 'Heavy investment in the industry' = money put into the industry.
2. 'Investment of' refers to what is invested (investment of money), not where.
3. 'By the' / 'from the' would mean the industry is the investor or source – not the sense here.

Trick: Invest in / investment in – fixed preposition.

Answer: (C) in the

Concept: Money is used with the verb spend: citizens spend twice as much on skincare products.

1. '… twice as much on skincare products' – 'spend … on' is the natural collocation.
2. Plural subject 'its citizens' → base form spend.
3. Cherish (value), comply (obey) and propagate (spread) do not fit 'as much on products'.

Trick: Spend + amount + on + thing.

Answer: (A) spend

Concept: The blank needs an adverb expressing possibility inside the sentence: Korean shoppers are perhaps the world’s most discerning.

1. Perhaps is an adverb that fits naturally between 'are' and the complement.
2. Maybe is used mainly at the start of a sentence ('Maybe they are…'); 'are maybe' is awkward/informal.
3. Although and though are conjunctions and need a clause after them.

Trick: Mid-sentence possibility adverb → perhaps/probably; 'maybe' usually opens the sentence.

Answer: (A) perhaps

Concept: To say that something works in the manner of something else, we use function(s) like: an app that functions like a cosmetics-specific forum.

1. Singular subject 'an app that' → functions.
2. The app is used 'to debate the merits of … ingredients' – it works like a discussion platform.
3. Dissolves, stops and malfunctions give negative/illogical meanings.

Trick: X functions like Y = X works the way Y does.

Answer: (D) functions

Concept: A title should cover the central idea of the whole passage. After a short introduction about the mind, every paragraph deals with creativity – its nature, theories, benefits, challenges and strength.

1. Paragraphs 2–6 all discuss creativity; the last line calls it 'one of our greatest strengths' → The Power of Creativity.
2. 'Complexities of Human Cognition' and 'History of the Human Mind' fit only the first paragraph.
3. 'Role of the Human Mind in Promoting Positive Change' covers only one paragraph.

Trick: Title = the idea repeated in most paragraphs + the conclusion.

Answer: (A) The Power of Creativity

Concept: The main focus is what most of the passage discusses: what creativity is, how it helps society, and what obstacles it faces.

1. Nature: theories – subconscious, conscious, or both; 'multifaceted and complex'.
2. Benefits: 'potential to bring about positive change'.
3. Challenges: 'self-doubt and insecurity … rejection and criticism'.
4. Options on cognition, mysteries of the mind, or fancy and imagination are too narrow or off-focus.

Trick: Main focus = nature + benefits + challenges – the option that covers all three.

Answer: (C) The nature of creativity, its benefits and challenges.

Concept: Paragraph 4 states that creativity 'can be driven by a variety of factors such as curiosity, passion, or the desire for recognition'.

1. Drivers named: curiosity, passion, desire for recognition.
2. Self-doubt, insecurity, external pressures and constraints are listed as obstacles, not drivers.
3. 'Fancy and imagination' is not mentioned as a driving factor.

Trick: Match the exact keyword 'driven by' in the passage.

Answer: (B) Curiosity and passion

Concept: Paragraph 6 lists the challenges: self-doubt, insecurity, external pressures, and the fact that 'not all creative ideas are successful or well-received' – innovators 'face rejection and criticism'.

1. Ideas not well-received + rejection and criticism = lack of appreciation for creative ideas.
2. (A) says the absence of pressures – the passage says their presence is a challenge.
3. (B) and (D) are never stated; the passage praises the mind’s capacity.

Trick: Watch for reversal traps like 'absence of' vs 'presence of'.

Answer: (C) The lack of appreciation for creative ideas.

Concept: Fraught (with) means full of or filled with (usually something unpleasant): 'fraught with obstacles'. Its opposite is devoid (of) – completely lacking.

1. Fraught with obstacles = full of obstacles.
2. Devoid = entirely without → exact opposite of 'full of'.
3. Beset (troubled by) is close to fraught – a synonym.
4. Tranquil and Calm oppose 'tense/anxious' (another sense of fraught), not 'full of' as used in the passage.

Trick: Fraught with = full of; devoid of = empty of.

Answer: (D) Devoid