IPMAT Indore 2024 · Verbal Ability · Question 45

Step 1 — find the opener. Sentence 3 names the subject for the first time and gives its names across the region: “Called yaqona in Fiji, ’ava in Samoa and sakau in Micronesia, kava has occupied a sacred role in Pacific countries for centuries.”

It also introduces “the region” and “Pacific countries”, which sentence 1 then refers back to with “throughout the region”. A definite article pointing at an unintroduced noun is impossible, so 3 precedes 1.

Step 2 — describe the drink. Sentence 1 explains what kava physically is (“made by grinding the kava plant’s roots…”) and reinforces its cultural role. It follows 3 naturally: name and status first, substance second.

Step 3 — the experience. Sentence 4 moves from what kava is to what it does: “A swig… can lead to profound relaxation, a sort of numbness…”. This is the first mention of the effect.

Step 4 — the closer. Sentence 2 refers to “this blissful state” — which must be the relaxation described in 4. It then characterises how regular drinkers describe it, deepening rather than introducing.

The sequence:

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

Answer: 3142

Shortcut. The chain of references orders this almost mechanically:

3 introduces the region $$ 1 says “throughout the region”

4 introduces profound relaxation $$ 2 says “this blissful state”

Two backward references, two fixed pairs: $3 $ and $4 .Since3istheonlysentencenamingkavaforthefirsttime,theblocksassembleas\$3\to 1 then $4 $.

The underlying structure is also a standard one: what it is called \to what it is made of \to what it does \to how it feels. Moving from the objective to the subjective is a very common paragraph shape, and recognising it confirms the order in seconds.