CAT 2024 Slot 2 · VARC · Question 2

CAT 2024 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.

Recent important scientific findings have emerged from crossing the boundaries of scientific fields. They stem from physicists collaborating with biologists, sociologists and others, to answer questions about our world. But physicists and their potential collaborators often find their cultures out of sync. For one, physicists often discard a lot of information while extracting broad patterns; for other scientists, information is not readily disposed. Further, many non-physicists are uncomfortable with mathematical models. Still, the desire to work on something new and different is real, and there are clear benefits from the collision of views.

  1. A
    Large data sets and mathematical models in physics research combined with the research methods of non-physicist collaborators have yielded important scientific findings.
  2. B
    The desire to diversify their research and answer important questions has led to several collaborations between physicists and other social scientists.
  3. C
    Despite differences in their research styles, physicists' research collaborations with scholars from other disciplines have yielded important research findings.
  4. D
    Physicists have successfully buried their differences on research methods applied in other fields in their desire to find answers to baffling scientific questions.
Pick an option, then check.
Answer & solution

Answer: Option C

The passage has three parts: physicists' collaborations with other fields have produced important findings; their research cultures are out of sync (physicists discard information to find patterns, others don't; many non-physicists dislike mathematical models); still, the collaborations go on and bring clear benefits.

Option 3 holds all three: despite differences in research styles, the collaborations have yielded important findings.

Option 1 credits 'large data sets' and the combination of methods. The passage never mentions large data sets, and it stresses the clash of methods, not their smooth combination.

Option 2 leaves out the cultural differences, which are the centre of the passage, and calls the collaborators 'other social scientists' though biologists are among them.

Option 4 says physicists 'have successfully buried their differences'. The passage says the differences remain; the benefit comes from the 'collision of views'.

Shortcut: in a 'but... still' passage, the summary must keep the tension. An option that drops the obstacle or says it has been removed is wrong.

Hence, the answer is option 3.

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