IPMAT Indore 2024 · Verbal Ability · Question 43

Step 1 — find the thesis. Sentence 2 states the paragraph’s central claim: “The striking feature of the new social media is that they are no longer very social.” Everything else is evidence for or consequence of that claim. It also has no backward reference, so it is the opener.

Step 2 — first evidence. Sentence 5 explains how they became less social: feeds are now driven by AI and viewing behaviour “not their social connections”. That last phrase directly supports “no longer very social”.

Step 3 — second evidence. Sentence 1 opens with “Meanwhile” — a parallel development, adding that people are also posting less. The word meanwhile requires a prior trend to run alongside, which 5 supplies.

Step 4 — third evidence. Sentence 4 completes the picture: debate has migrated to closed platforms. Together, 5, 1 and 4 give three strands of the same decline.

Step 5 — the turn. Sentence 3 begins “Some of the consequences of this are welcome.” The pronoun this must refer to the whole shift described above, so 3 closes the paragraph by evaluating it.

The sequence:

\$2\to 5\to 1\to 4\to 3$

Answer: 25143

Shortcut. Open with the thesis, close with the evaluation. Sentence 2 is a general claim; sentence 3 judges consequences (“Some of the consequences of this”). Those two bookends are identifiable before you order anything in between.

Then use “Meanwhile” (1) — it cannot be first, since it needs a parallel trend already running.

A broader structural pattern worth recognising: many jumbles follow claim \to evidence \to evidence \to evidence \to consequence. Find the one abstract sentence (the claim) and the one evaluative sentence (the consequence), and the concrete examples sort themselves in the middle.