IPMAT Indore 2023 · Verbal Ability · RC passage 1: Passage 1 – Sleep, fitness and the cost of insomnia

Where the passage says it. Paragraph 3:

“It leaves the brain exhausted, affecting the natural functioning of the body.”

That is mental exhaustion, stated almost word for word.

Why the others fail:

(b) hunger satiation — the exact reverse. Sleep deprivation raises ghrelin, “the hunger hormone”, and lowers leptin, “the satiety hormone”. So it produces hunger, not satiation.

(c) metabolism loss — leptin “stabilises metabolism and appetite” and its level drops, but the passage never says metabolism is lost. Destabilised is not the same as lost.

(d) terminal illness — the passage names cholesterol problems, diabetes and obesity. None is described as terminal, and that word appears nowhere.

Answer: Option 1

Shortcut. Two of the four wrong options are simple reversals built from the passage’s own hormone pair: leptin (satiety) falls, ghrelin (hunger) rises. Anything claiming satiation is backwards.

The habit: when a passage names a pair of opposites — here two hormones moving in opposite directions — expect at least one option to swap them. Fix the direction of each in your head as you read, and the swap is visible instantly.

This is a NOT question: three options are supported, one is contradicted.

(a) ✔ “This can also lead to obesity, if left unchecked.”

(b) ✔ “irregular sleep patterns… not only disturb one’s daily routine, but can also hamper one’s health.”

(d) ✔ “Proper relaxation of body and mind before sleeping means that one should keep the mobile phone aside…”

(c) ✘ Contradicted by the opening lines. The passage begins: “The general idea of being fit is usually assumed to be exercising regularly and having a healthy diet. It’s true to some extent. But this is not always the case. People don’t realise that sleep also plays a crucial part.”

The whole passage exists to deny that diet and exercise alone are enough.

Answer: Option 3

Shortcut. The answer is the passage’s own thesis, inverted. The first paragraph sets up exactly this misconception in order to knock it down, so option (c) restates the belief the writer is arguing against.

The word doing the damage is “alone.” In a NOT question, scan for the absolute qualifier — alone, only, always, never — before reading for content. Here it points straight at the answer.

Where the passage says it. Paragraph 3 opens:

“Sleep helps your body and mind repair and recharge themselves.”

“Repair and recharge” is exactly “replenish its resources”. The passage also calls sleep “a restorative process” in paragraph 1 — the same idea.

Why the others fail:

(a) Regularising a daily routine — close, but it inverts the causation. The passage says a definite sleeping pattern helps maintain “a cycle of rest and activity”; the routine serves the sleep, not the other way round. It is also a secondary point, not how sleep contributes to well-being.

(b) Power and strength to the muscles — never mentioned. The passage is about hormones, cholesterol and metabolism, not muscle building.

(c) Increasing appetite — the reverse of a benefit. Sleep deprivation increases hunger via ghrelin, which the passage treats as a problem.

Answer: Option 4

Shortcut. “Restorative” in line four is the whole answer. The passage uses it of sleep before any question is asked, and “replenish its resources” is its plain-English paraphrase.

Option (a) is the designed near-miss: it uses a true detail from the last paragraph but reverses the direction of the relationship. When two options are both supported by the text, prefer the one that answers the question actually asked — here, what sleep does for well-being.

Where the passage says it. The final paragraph:

“Just like any other routine, having a definite sleeping pattern can help a person maintain a cycle of rest and activity. Sleeping at the same time every day and waking up on time will encourage quality sleep.”

Why the others fail:

(a) Raise ghrelin — ghrelin is “the hunger hormone”, and the passage treats its rise as a consequence of sleep deprivation, leading to junk food and obesity. Raising it is the opposite of advice.

(b) Read a good book every night — a genuine trap, because reading is mentioned. But the passage offers it as one optional aid among several: “one can always read a good book or listen to soothing music.” An option is not a requirement, and “every night” is the writer’s word for none of it.

(c) Snack frequently — directly against the passage, which warns about “unhealthy snacks and junk food high in carbs and sugar.”

Answer: Option 4

Shortcut. Only one option is stated as a general prescription. The question asks what one must do, so look for the passage’s own imperative — and the last paragraph gives exactly one: keep a definite sleeping pattern.

Option (b) is the classic “true but optional” distractor. The passage says can always read a book or listen to music — an either/or suggestion, not a requirement. Whenever a detail appears after can, might or or, it is a suggestion, and suggestions never answer a “must” question.

Step 1 — look at how the passage ends. The final paragraph is a string of recommendations: keep a definite sleeping pattern, sleep and wake at the same time, put the phone aside half an hour before bed, keep the room dark and quiet, read or listen to music. That is advice.

Step 2 — test the near-misses.

(b) Provide medical input — the strongest distractor, since the passage does cite the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and name hormones. But medical facts are used in support of the recommendations; the passage is written for a general reader, not to inform clinically. The destination is behaviour, not knowledge.

(a) Psychological insights — the passage is physiological (cholesterol, leptin, ghrelin, blood sugar), not psychological.

(d) Expose the reader to disinformation — an accusation the passage gives no ground for. It cites a recognised professional body.

Answer: Option 3

Shortcut. Ask where the passage finishes, not where it starts. It opens with facts and ends with a list of things to do — and a text’s purpose is carried by its destination.

Rule of thumb for purpose questions: if the last paragraph tells the reader what to do, the purpose is to advise; if it summarises findings, the purpose is to inform. Option (d) can be dismissed on sight — an option accusing the author of bad faith is almost never correct.

Apply the scope test. A main-idea option must cover the whole passage, not one paragraph.

(b) Cholesterol and diabetes — these are consequences the passage uses as evidence. It is not about managing them; it never discusses treating either.

(c) Leptin and ghrelin — one mechanism inside paragraph 4. Far too narrow, and the passage is about their destabilisation, not their stability.

(d) Junk food — one link in one causal chain (late nights → snacking → diabetes). A single sentence.

(a) Perils of insomnia and irregular sleep patterns ✔ — this is the thread running through every paragraph: what irregular sleep is, what it does to the body, and how to fix it.

Answer: Option 1

Shortcut. Count paragraphs per option. Three options each sit inside a single paragraph; one runs through all five. That settles it before you weigh any wording.

Then confirm with the first and last paragraphs, which bracket a passage’s central claim. Here paragraph 1 introduces sleep as essential to well-being and the last gives the remedy for poor sleep — both about sleep patterns, which only option (a) names.