CAT 2023 Slot 2 · VARC · Question 2

CAT 2023 Slot 2 previous year question on Para Summary, with the answer and a step-by-step solution.

Para SummaryVerbal AbilityMultiple choiceMedium

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

Heatwaves are becoming longer, frequent and intense due to climate change. The impacts of extreme heat are unevenly experienced; with older people and young children, those with pre-existing medical conditions and on low incomes significantly more vulnerable. Adaptation to heatwaves is a significant public policy concern. Research conducted among at-risk people in the UK reveals that even vulnerable people do not perceive themselves as at risk of extreme heat; therefore, early warnings of extreme heat events do not perform as intended. This suggests that understanding how extreme heat is narrated is very important. The news media play a central role in this process and can help warn people about the potential danger, as well as about impacts on infrastructure and society.

  1. A

    Heatwaves pose an enormous risk; the media plays a pivotal role in alerting people to this danger.

  2. B

    People are vulnerable to heatwaves caused due to climate change, measures taken are ineffective.

  3. C

    Protection from heat waves is important but current reports and public policies seem ineffective.

  4. D

    News stories help in warning about heatwaves, but they have to become more effective.

Pick an option, then check.
Answer & solution

Answer: Option A

The passage: heatwaves are getting worse and hit vulnerable groups hardest; vulnerable people don't see themselves at risk, so warnings fail; how heat is narrated matters, and the news media play 'a central role' in warning people.

Option 1 – heatwaves pose a big risk, and the media play a pivotal role in alerting people – captures the risk and the passage's conclusion about the media.

Option 2 says 'measures taken are ineffective' in general; the passage says only that early warnings do not work as intended, and it leaves out the media.

Option 3 says current reports and public policies are ineffective – too broad, and it misses the media's role.

Option 4 says news stories 'have to become more effective', a prescription the passage does not make.

Shortcut: a summary must keep the passage's final point. Here it ends on the media's central role, so drop options that leave the media out or criticise them.

Hence, the answer is option 1.

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