CAT 2024 Slot 3 · VARC · Question 5

CAT 2024 Slot 3 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.

Humans have managed to tweak the underlying biology of various plants and animals to produce high-tech crops and microbes. But regulating these entities is complicated, as the framework of policies and procedures are outdated and not flexible enough to adapt to emerging technology. The question is whether regulation will ever be able to keep up with human innovation, to regulate living things, which are apt to be unpredictable and unique; to capture all the potential risks when new biological entities are introduced, or when they pass on variations of their genes?

  1. A
    The mercurial nature of biological entities calls for scientists to shape the regulations governing emerging technology, with regular calibration to handle variations in the field.
  2. B
    A new framework of rules and procedures for regulating the most recent research emerging from biotechnology is urgently needed, to keep up with this rapidly changing discipline.
  3. C
    Current regulation of biotechnology is outdated, but it is debatable if we can create a framework, imaginative and flexible, to cover all contingencies in this fast-changing area.
  4. D
    The problem with formulating regulation for innovation in the scientific arena it that it is impossible to imagine the outcomes or risks related to the outcomes of all the research.
Pick an option, then check.
Answer & solution

Answer: Option C

The passage makes two points: current regulation is outdated and not flexible enough for biotechnology; and it is an open question whether regulation can ever keep up with living things that are unpredictable and unique.

Option 3 keeps both: regulation is outdated, and it is debatable whether a flexible framework can cover all contingencies.

Option 1 says scientists should shape regulation. The passage never says who should write the rules.

Option 2 says a new framework is 'urgently needed'. The passage does not prescribe; it ends with a question about whether regulation can keep up at all.

Option 4 says it is 'impossible' to foresee the risks. The passage only asks whether regulation can keep up; it does not declare it impossible.

Shortcut: when a passage ends with a question, the right summary keeps the doubt ('debatable', 'uncertain'). Options that turn the question into a firm answer – 'urgently needed', 'impossible' – are wrong.

Hence, the answer is option 3.

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