Official XAT 2020 Paper – Questions, Answers, and Detailed Solutions
XAT 2020 Questions and Answers – English
Q.1 A map is a useful metaphor for our brain when talking about _______ because at its most basic level our brain________to be our atlas of sorts, a system of routes__________to navigate us toward just one destination: staying alive! From the options below, choose the set that MOST appropriately fills up the blanks.
Q.2 __________, medicine has been operated by trial and error, in other words,_________. We know by now that there can be entirely_______connections between symptoms and treatment, and some medications succeed in medical trials for mere random reasons. From the options below, choose the one that MOST appropriately fills up the blanks.
Q.3 Q. Read the following sentences and answer the question that follows:
1. I have good knowledge of German.
Q.4 Which of the following is a grammatically CORRECT sentence?
Q.5 Once, during a concert of cathedral organ music, as I sat getting gooseflesh amid that tsunami of sound, I was struck with a thought: for a medieval peasant, this must have been the loudest human-made sound they ever experienced, awe-inspiring in now-unimaginable ways….
Q.6 “People who work in law, hotel and food services, and technology were found the most likely to skip breakfast daily, according to a recent study…..
Q.7 Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But, if it had to perish twice,
Q.8 In a 2017 survey of 3,915 American workers, my colleagues and I found that workers report experiencing a sizable “voice gap” at work — that is……
Q.9 There is nothing spectacularly new in the situation. Most old-societies-turned-young-nation-states learn to live in a world dominated by the psychology and culture of exile…..
Q.10 In Australia, jellyfish are most common between November and May. In Hawaii, jellyfish often show up on south-facing beaches eight days after a full moon. In the Mediterranean, blooms usually appear in the summer.
Q.11 Global surface temperatures in 2019 are on track to be either the second or third warmest since records began in the mid-1800s, behind only 2016 and possibly 2017.
Q.12 If we can send a human to the Moon, why can’t we build sustainable cities? Defeat cancer? Tackle climate change?
Q.13 When asked what the politician will do for the nation’s economy, he attacked the opponent by saying, “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? I mean, she’s a woman, and I’m not supposed to say bad things, but really,
Q.14 The nature of knowledge cannot survive unchanged within this context of general transformation. It can fit into the new channels, and become operational, only if learning is translated into quantities of information.
Q.15 It’s as if someone were out there making up pointless jobs just for the sake of keeping us all working. And here, precisely, lies the mystery. In capitalism, this is precisely what is not supposed to happen….
Q.16 Go through the statements below and answer the question that follows:
P. Fast food intake for more than three times a week is associated with greater odds of atopic disorders such as asthma, eczema or rhinitis……
Q.17 Go through the statements below and answer the question that follows:
P. Surabhi’s Instagram profile has 1.4 million followers. It is filled with pictures of her posing in different settings.
XAT 2020 Questions and Answers – Decision Making
Q.1 Vindhya, Shabnam and Amala are interning at a software organization as part of the requirement of their B-school curriculum. The organization has allotted each of them a project based on their area of specialization.
Q.2 A Multinational Company (MNC) sources pristine natural spring water from Bori, a village in Satpura mountains. The unprocessed natural spring water is directly bottled by the MNC.
Q.3 The Small Shop, selling computer peripherals, is the only one of its kind in the remote village of Turturunk. Because online purchases take two weeks or more to arrive, …
Q.4 When Deepti opened the package, she was aghast. She received cotton pillow covers instead of satin pillow covers, she had ordered. Deepti ordered them for her father from a popular e-commerce website that hosted products of many sellers.
Q.5 Rakesh, who hailed from Dhanbad, worked in Jamshedpur with SPCIL, a government construction company. Although HR policies concerning job security & work-life balance attracted Rakesh to SPCIL..
Q.6 Two industrial towns, Jayanagar and Ramnagar, about 15 kms. apart, are similar in land area, population, ethnic diversity and per capita incomes.
Q.7 A powerful, intelligent king Vanamali once ruled over an ancient kingdom, Vanarajya. The kingdom was known for its high mountains and sprawling plains, and ninety percent of its land was under forest cover.
XAT 2020 Questions and Answers – General Knowledge
Q.1 Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo have been recently awarded with:
Q.2 In which Indian state did president Ram Nath Kovind serve as Governor?
Q.3 Malfunction of which of the following organs is the MOST common cause of vertigo?
Q.4 Which Indian startup was acquired by Walmart?
Q.5 Which Indian bank was the FIRST to issue “Green Bonds” for financing renewable and clean energy projects?
Q.6 Which organization’s mascot was R.K. Lakshman’s “the common man”?
Q.7 Which deer is also known as “the dancing deer” of Manipur?
Q.8 Which is the largest landlocked salt water lake in India?
Q.9 What did India commit to achieve under the Paris Climate Agreement (2015) as outlined in its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions report submitted to the UNFCCC?
Q.10 What does the “Earth Overshoot Day” indicate?
Q.11 What does the “Earth Overshoot Day” indicate?
Q.12 In which state was the first ever environmental referendum held?
Q.13 Match the following folk theater forms with their associated states:
Q.14 Omuamua is:
Q.15 In which Indian state is Sriharikota located?
Q.16 What does the book “Silent Spring” (1962) by Rachel Carson highlight?
Q.17 “Rakhigarhi” is associated with:
Q.18 When Coca Cola exited India, which cola brand was created and marketed by the Government of India to provide jobs to those who earlier were employed by Coca Cola?
Q.19 Which of the following rivers does not cross international borders?
Q.20 The phrase “How dare you?” is BEST associated with:
Q.21 Which Indian state enjoys special provisions under Article 371(D)?
Q.22 Who among the following was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay award in 2019?
Q.23 Which organization funded the Indian Cricket League?
Q.24 Match the following foreign travelers with the rulers of that period:
Q.25 Match the following authors with their works:
Q.26 Which Indian state has different capitals in summer and winter?
XAT 2020 Questions and Answers – Quantitative Aptitude
Q.1 Nalini has received a total of 600 WhatsApp messages from four friends Anita, Bina, Chaitra and Divya. Bina and Divya have respectively sent 30% and 20% of these messages, while Anita has sent an equal number of messages as Chaitra. Moreover, Nalini finds that of Anita’s, Bina’s, Chaitra’s and Divya’s messages, 60%, 40%, 80% and 50% respectively are jokes. What percentage of the jokes, received by Nalini, have been sent neither by Divya nor by Bina?
Q.2
Q.3 Two friends, Ram and Shyam, start at the same point, at the same time. Ram travels straight north at a speed of 10km/hr, while Shyam travels straight east at twice the speed of Ram. After 15 minutes, Shyam messages Ram that he is just passing by a large telephone tower and after another 15 minutes Ram messages Shyam that he is just passing by an old banyan tree. After some more time has elapsed, Ram and Shyam stop. They stop at the same point of time. If the straight-line distance between Ram and Shyam now is 50 km, how far is Shyam from the banyan tree (in km)? (Assume that Ram and Shyam travel on a flat surface.)
Q.4 Two lighthouses, located at points A and B on the earth, are 60 feet and 40 feet tall respectively. Each lighthouse is perfectly vertical and the land connecting A and B is perfectly flat. The topmost point of the lighthouse at A is A’ and of the lighthouse at B is B’. Draw line segments A’B and B’A, and let them intersect at point C’. Drop a perpendicular from C’ to touch the earth at point C. What is the length of CC’ in feet?
Q.5 A man is laying stones, from start to end, along the two sides of a 200-meterwalkway. The stones are to be laid 5 meters apart from each other. When he begins, all the stones are present at the start of the walkway. He places the first stone on each side at the walkway’s start. For all the other stones, the man lays the stones first along one of the walkway’s sides, then along the other side in an exactly similar fashion. However, he can carry only one stone at a time. To lay each stone, the man walks to the spot, lays the stone, and then walks back to pick another. After laying all the stones, the man walks back to the start, which marks the end of his work. What is the total distance that the man walks in executing this work? Assume that the width of the walkway is negligible.
Q.6 A rectangular swimming pool is 50 meters long and 25 meters wide. Its depth is always the same along its width but linearly increases along its length from 1 meter at one end to 4 meters at the other end. How much water (in cubic meters) is needed to completely fill the pool?
Q.7 A shop sells bags in three sizes: small, medium and large. A large bag costs Rs.1000, a medium bag costs Rs.200, and a small bag costs Rs.50. Three buyers, Ashish, Banti and Chintu, independently buy some numbers of these types of bags. The respective amounts spent by Ashish, Banti and Chintu are equal. Put together, the shop sells 1 large bag, 15 small bags and some medium bags to these three buyers. What is the minimum number of medium bags that the shop sells to them?
Q.8 In the figure given below, the circle has a chord AB of length 12 cm, which makes an angle of 60∘ at the center of the circle, O. ABCD, as shown in the diagram, is a rectangle. OQ is the perpendicular bisector of AB, intersecting the chord AB at P, the arc AB at M and CD at Q. OM = MQ. The area of the region enclosed by the line segments AQ and QB,and the arc BMA, is closest to (in cm^2):
Q.9 A box contains 6 cricket balls, 5 tennis balls and 4 rubber balls. Of these, some balls are defective. The proportion of defective cricket balls is more than the proportion of defective tennis balls but less than the proportion of defective rubber balls. Moreover, the overall proportion of defective balls is twice the proportion of defective tennis balls. What BEST can be said about the number of defective rubber balls in the box?
Q.10 When expressed in a decimal form, which of the following numbers will be non – terminating as well as non-repeating?
Q.11 A rectangular field is 40 meters long and 30 meters wide. Draw diagonals on this field and then draw circles of radius 1.25 meters, with centers only on the diagonals. Each circle must fall completely within the field. Any two circles can touch each other but should not overlap. What is the maximum number of such circles that can be drawn in the field?
Q.12 A hare and a tortoise run between points O and P located exactly 6 km from each other on a straight line. They start together at O, go straight to P and then return to O along the same line. They run at constant speeds of 12 km/hr and 1 km/hr respectively. Since the tortoise is slower than the hare, the hare shuttles between O and P until the tortoise goes once to P and returns to O. During the run, how many times are the hare and the tortoise separated by an exact distance of 1 km from each other?
Q. 13 Consider the four variables A, B, C and D and a function Z of these variables, Z = 15A^2 − 3B^4 + C + 0.5D It is given that A, B, C and D must be non-negative integers and that all of the following relationships must hold:…
Q.14 XYZ is an equilateral triangle, inscribed in a circle. P is a point on the arc YZ such that X and P are on opposite sides of the chord YZ. Which of the following MUST always be true?
Q.15 X, Y and Z start a web-based venture together. X invests Rs. 2.5 lakhs, Y invests Rs. 3.5 lakhs, and Z invests Rs. 4 lakhs. In the first year, the venture makes a profit of Rs. 2 lakhs. A part of the profit is shared between Y and Z in the ratio of 2:3, and the remaining profit is divided among X, Y and Z in the ratio of their initial investments. The amount that Z receives is four times the amount that X receives. How much amount does Y receive?
Q.16 Mohanlal, a prosperous farmer, has a square land of side 2 km. For the current season, he decides to have some fun. He marks two distinct points on one of the diagonals of the land. Using these points as centers, he constructs two circles. Each of these circles falls completely within the land, and touches at least two sides of the land. To his surprise, the radii of both the circles are exactly equal to 2/3 km. Mohanlal plants potatoes on the overlapping portion of these circles. Calculate the area on which Mohanlal planted potatoes (in sq. km).
Q.17 Ashok has a bag containing 40 cards, numbered with the integers from 1 to 40. No two cards are numbered with the same integer. Likewise, his sister Shilpa has another bag containing only five cards that are numbered with the integers from 1 to 5, with no integer repeating. Their mother, Latha, randomly draws one card each from Ashok’s and Shilpa’s bags and notes down their respective numbers. If Latha divides the number obtained from Ashok’s bag by the number obtained from Shilpa’s, what is the probability that the remainder will not be greater than 2?
Q.18 X, Y, and Z are three software experts, who work on upgrading the software in a number of identical systems. X takes a day off after every 3 days of work, Y takes a day off after every 4 days of work and Z takes a day off after every 5 days of work. Starting afresh after a common day off,…
Q.19 What is the remainder if 1920 − 2019 is divided by 7?
Q.20 Six drums are used to store water. Five drums are of equal capacity, while the sixth drum has double the capacity of each of these five drums. On one morning, three drums are found half full, two are found two-thirds full and one is found completely full. It is attempted to transfer all the water to the smaller drums. How many smaller drums are adequate to store the water?
Q.21 190 students have to choose at least one elective and at most two electives from a list of three electives: E1, E2 and E3. It is found that the number of students choosing E1 is half the number of students choosing E2, and one third the number of students choosing E3. Moreover, the number of students choosing two electives is 50.