2024 CSAT, all questions

UPSC Prelims 2024 · CSAT

Question 32: Reading Comprehension

Passage—1 · as printed by UPSC
Passage beginning ““The history of science is the…”

Based on the above passage, the following assumptions have been made :

  1. 1.The horrors of modern life are the inevitable result of the progress of science.
  2. 2.The aspect of truth likely to be overlooked is that science is what man has made it.

Which of the assumptions given above is/are correct?

a1 only
b2 only
cBoth 1 and 2
dNeither 1 nor 2

AnswerUPSC’s answer is (b).

Assumption 2 is valid: the passage says the aspect of truth easily overlooked is how closely science and mankind are tied, and that science is wrongly treated as a separate third party; this matches the idea that science is what people make of it. Assumption 1 is not: the passage raises the inevitability of war's horrors only as a question and hints that the fault may lie elsewhere, so it does not assert that they are an inevitable result of scientific progress.

  • 1. The passage only asks whether the horrors are inevitable; it does not say so.
  • 2. The overlooked point is that science is not separate from mankind but shaped by it.

How you could have got this

  1. If you were sure statement 1 is not correct, (a) and (c) go: each of them includes 1.

    What you needed to know: The passage only asks whether the horrors are inevitable; it does not say so.

  2. Then, if you were sure statement 2 is correct, (d) goes: it leaves 2 out.

    What you needed to know: The overlooked point is that science is not separate from mankind but shaped by it.

Only (b) is left. This one needs every statement.

Which options go is worked out from UPSC’s key and the options, not by a model.

Why each option is right or wrong
  • (a) Wrong. The passage raises the inevitability of horrors only as a question and does not assert it.
  • (b) Right. The overlooked aspect is the close tie between science and mankind.
  • (c) Wrong. Assumption 1 is not asserted by the passage.
  • (d) Wrong. Assumption 2 matches the passage.

Answer: UPSC’s key. Explanation: written by UPSC Grade, not by UPSC.

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Source: UPSC, Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2024, General Studies Paper II (CSAT), Series A. The paper on upsc.gov.in.