CAT 2024 Question Paper and Answer Key PDF (Nov 24, 2024) (Slot 2)

CAT 2024 Slot 2 Question Paper PDF with Answer Key and Detailed Solutions is available here for free download and online test practice. CAT 2024 Slot 2 was held on November 24, 2024, from 12:30 PM to 2:30 PM, conducted by IIM Calcutta. The examination consisted of 68 questions across VARC, DILR, and Quantitative Aptitude, carrying a maximum of 204 marks.

CAT 2024 Nov 24 Slot 2 Question Paper and Answer Key PDF

(DIRECTIONS for questions 1- 4)

The passage below is accompanied by four questions. Based on the passage, choose the best answer for each question.

The history of any major technological or industrial advance is inevitably shadowed by a less predictable history of unintended consequences and secondary effects — what economists sometimes call “externalities.” Sometimes those consequences are innocuous ones, or even beneficial. Gutenberg invents the printing press, and literacy rates rise, which causes a significant part of the reading public to require spectacles for the first time, which creates a surge of investment in lens-making across Europe, which leads to the invention of the telescope and the microscope. Read More

1. We can assume that the author would support all of the following views EXCEPT:

(1) The by-products of leaded fuel, rather than the fuel itself, were responsible for the build-up of carbon-related gases in the atmosphere.

(2) It has become far easier for people today to bring out innovations with dire worldwide consequences than it was earlier.

(3) While technological advances in the past have had innocuous or beneficial outcomes, more recent advances have the potential to be more threatening globally.

(4) The emissions caused by the large-scale use of leaded fuel ought to have been addressed earlier than they were.

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2. The author lists all of the following examples as “externalities” of major technical advances EXCEPT:

(1) extension of the phonograph to large-scale recording of music

(2) build-up of chlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere

(3) application of the Jacquard loom to modern IT programming

(4) cooling and de-humidifying of factories through air-conditioning

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3. Carrier, Babbage, and Edison are mentioned in the passage to illustrate the author’s point that

(1) the secondary effect of past inventions mostly resulted in the creation of new inventions.

(2) despite the original intention, the unintended consequences of their inventions were largely beneficial.

(3) these inventors could not have visualised the eventual impact of their inventions on society.

(4) inventions typically end up being used for entirely different purposes than the intended ones.

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4. Which of the following best conveys the main point of the first paragraph?

(1) The entire impact of a technological advance should be evaluated by the boost its secondary effects gives to generating further technological advances.

(2) The full impact of technological advances cannot be estimated in the short run as the ripple effects often extend far beyond the original intent.

(3) It is important to judge an invention not by its immediate outcomes, but by the holistic impact of its secondary effects.

(4) The secondary effects of most major technological advances in the past, especially if they were unintended, have turned out to be beneficial.

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(DIRECTIONS for questions 5-8)

The passage below is accompanied by four questions. Based on the passage, choose the best answer for each question.

(. . .) There are three other common drivers for carnivore-human attacks, some of which are more preventable than others. Natural aggression-based conflicts – such as those involving females protecting their young or animals protecting a food source – can often be avoided as long as people stay away from those animals and their food. Read More

5. According to the passage, which of the following scenarios would MOST likely exacerbate the frequency of carnivore-human conflicts?

(1) Implementing 'food waste' management strategies to prevent wild animals being attracted to human food sources.

(2) Addressing the impact of climate change on the availability of resources for wildlife.

(3) Attempting to photograph wild animals from within secured viewing areas in national parks and protected zones.

(4) Unleashing dogs by pet owners in areas with known high concentrations of large carnivores.

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6. Given the insights provided by Penteriani’s research and Wilkinson’s statement, which of the following conclusions can be drawn about the relationship between landscape heterogeneity and human-carnivore conflicts?

(1) The diversity and interspersion of working landscapes with carnivore habitats in rural areas increase the statistical probability of encounters between humans and carnivores.

(2) Homogeneous landscapes with uniform agricultural practices are more likely to experience high rates of human-carnivore conflicts due to the predictability of resources.

(3) Low-income countries with vast, contiguous wilderness areas are less prone to human-carnivore conflicts because these areas lack the human presence necessary for such encounters.

(4) Landscape heterogeneity, characterized by a mix of farmland and natural habitats, inherently reduces the chances of human-carnivore conflicts by providing more refuge for wildlife away from human activity.

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7. According to the passage, what is a significant factor that contributes to the habituation of carnivores to human presence?

(1) The increased scarcity of resources due to climate change, forcing carnivores to venture outside their natural habitats in search of sustenance.

(2) The reduction in carnivores’ instinctive fear response, resulting from their reliance upon human-provided food.

(3) The natural aggression exhibited by carnivores, exacerbated by human interference, particularly when they are safeguarding their offspring or food sources.

(4) The predatory perception of humans as potential prey within the carnivores’ food chain.

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8. Which of the following statements, if false, would be inconsistent with the concerns raised in the passage regarding the drivers of carnivore-human conflicts?

(1) Carnivores lose their instinctive fear of humans, when consistently exposed to human food sources.

(2) Human efforts to avoid risky behaviours around large carnivores have proven effective in reducing conflict incidents.

(3) Climate change has had negligible effects on the frequency of carnivore-human interactions in affected regions.

(4) Predatory attacks by carnivores are a common occurrence and have steadily increased over the past few decades.

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9. Five jumbled up sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5), related to a topic, are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd sentence and key in the number of that sentence as your answer.

(1) No known real researcher of human behaviour would say that gender is all nature or all nurture.

(2) The evidence for a biological basis for gender certainly doesn’t mean we should be complacent in the face of sexism.

(3) Many people are uncomfortable with the idea that gender is not purely a social construct.

(4) Despite this empirical truth, researchers who study the biological basis of gender often face political pushback.

(5) There’s a political preference for gender to be only a reflection of social factors and so entirely malleable.

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(DIRECTIONS for questions 10-13)

The passage below is accompanied by four questions. Based on the passage, choose the best answer for each question.

The job of a peer reviewer is thankless. Collectively, academics spend around 70 million hours every year evaluating each other’s manuscripts on the behalf of scholarly journals — and they usually receive no monetary compensation and little if any recognition for their effort. Some do it as a way to keep abreast with developments in their field; some simply see it as a duty to the discipline. Either way, academic publishing would likely crumble without them. Read More

10. According to the passage, which of the following is the only reason NOT given in favour of making peer review data public?

(1) It can tackle the problem of selecting appropriately qualified reviewers for academic writing.

(2) It could address various inefficiencies and fraudulent practices that continue in academic publishing process.

(3) It will deal with peer review fraud such as authors publishing bogus reviews of their work.

(4) It would highlight the gender and race biases currently existing in the selection of reviewers.

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11. According to the passage, some are opposed to making peer reviews public for all the following reasons EXCEPT that it

(1) makes reviewers reluctant to review manuscripts, especially if these are critical of the submitted work.

(2) leaves the reviewers unexposed to unwarranted and unjustified criticism or comments from others.

(3) delays the manuscript evaluation process as reviewers would take longer to write their reviews.

(4) deters reviewers from producing honest, if critical, reviews that are vital to the sound publishing process.

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12. All of the following are listed as reasons why academics choose to review other scholars’ work EXCEPT:

(1) Some use this as an opportunity to publicise their own review work.

(2) It is seen as an opportunity to expand their influence in the academic community.

(3) It helps them keep current with cutting-edge ideas in their academic disciplines.

(4) It is seen as a form of service to the academic community.

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13. Based on the passage we can infer that the author would most probably support

(1) greater transparency across the peer review process in academic publishing.

(2) publicising peer review data rather than the publication of actual reviews.

(3) more careful screening to ensure the recruitment of content-familiar peer reviewers.

(4) preserving the anonymity of reviewers to protect them from criticism.

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14. There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide where (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.
Sentence: Science has officially crowned us superior to our early-rising brethren.
Paragraph: My fellow night owls, grab a strong cup of coffee and gather around: I have great news. ___(1)___. For a long time, our kind has been unfairly maligned. Stereotyped as lazy and undisciplined. Told we ought to be morning larks. Advised to go to bed early so we can wake before 5am and run a marathon before breakfast like all high-flyers seem to do. Now, however, we are having the last laugh. ___(2)___. It may be a tad more complicated than that. A study published last week, which you may have already seen while scrolling at 1am, suggests that staying up late could be good for brain power. ___(3)___. Is this study a thinly veiled PR exercise conducted by a caffeine-pill company? Nope, it’s legit. ___(4)___. Research led by academics at Imperial College London studied data on more than 26,000 people and found that “self-declared ‘night owls’ generally tend to have higher cognitive scores”.

(1) Option 1

(2) Option 4

(3) Option 3

(4) Option 2

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15. There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide where (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.
Sentence: Yet each day the flock produced eggs with calcareous shells though they apparently had not ingested any calcium from land which was entirely lacking in limestone.
Paragraph: Early in this century a young Breton schoolboy who preparing himself for a scientific career began to notice a strange fact about hens in his father's poultry yard. ___(1) ___. As they scratched the soil they constantly seemed to be pecking at specks of mica, a siliceous material dotting the ground. ___(2)___. No one could explain to Louis Kervran why the chickens selected the mica, or why each time a bird was killed for the family cooking pot no trace of the mica could be found in its gizzard. ___(3) ___. It took Kervran many years to establish that the chickens were transmuting one element into another. ___(4)___.

(1) Option 3

(2) Option 1

(3) Option 2

(4) Option 4

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(DIRECTIONS for questions 16-19)

The passage below is accompanied by four questions. Based on the passage, choose the best answer for each question.

[S]pices were a global commodity centuries before European voyages. There was a complex chain of relations, yet consumers had little knowledge of producers and vice versa. Desire for spices helped fuel European colonial empires to create political, military and commercial networks under a single power.

Historians know a fair amount about the supply of spices in Europe during the medieval period – the origins, methods of transportation, the prices – but less about demand. Read More

16. If a trader brought white peppercorns from India to medieval Europe, all of the following are unlikely to happen, EXCEPT:

(1) the price of spices would decrease.

(2) medieval maps would be used as navigational aids.

(3) pepper would no longer be considered exotic.

(4) Europeans would doubt the story of pepper harvesting.

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17. In the context of the passage, which one of the following conclusions CANNOT be reached?

(1) India was colonised for its spices and gold.

(2) Colonialism was motivated by the demand for spices.

(3) The spice trade was a driver of colonial expansion.

(4) Tobacco was more marketable than spices.

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18. It can be inferred that all of the following contributed to a decline in the allure of spices, EXCEPT:

(1) increase in the availability of spices.

(2) changes in European cuisine.

(3) the development of refrigeration techniques.

(4) changes in the system of medical treatment.

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19. In the context of the passage, the people who heard the story of pepper trees being guarded by snakes would be least likely to arrive at the conclusion that

(1) this is why pepper is so hot.

(2) it is no surprise that the pepper supply is so limited.

(3) pepper is costly for good reason.

(4) it is not advisable to go to India to harvest the pepper themselves.

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20. The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Recent important scientific findings have emerged from crossing the boundaries of scientific fields. They stem from physicists collaborating with biologists, sociologists and others, to answer questions about our world. But physicists and their potential collaborators often find their cultures out of sync. For one, physicists often discard a lot of information while extracting broad patterns; for other scientists, information is not readily disposed. Further, many non-physicists are uncomfortable with mathematical models. Still, the desire to work on something new and different is real, and there are clear benefits from the collision of views.

(1) Large data sets and mathematical models in physics research combined with the research methods of non-physicist collaborators have yielded important scientific findings.

(2) The desire to diversify their research and answer important questions has led to several collaborations between physicists and other social scientists.

(3) Physicists have successfully buried their differences on research methods applied in other fields in their desire to find answers to baffling scientific questions.

(4) Despite differences in their research styles, physicists’ research collaborations with scholars from other disciplines have yielded important research findings.

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21. The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Different from individuals, states conduct warfare operations using the DIME model— “diplomacy, information, military, and economics.” Most states do everything they can to inflict pain and confusion on their enemies before deploying the military. In fact, attacks on vectors of information are a well-worn tactic of war and usually are the first target when the charge begins. It’s common for telecom data and communications networks to be routinely monitored by governments, which is why the open data policies of the web are so concerning to many advocates of privacy and human rights. With the worldwide adoption of social media, more governments are getting involved in low-grade information warfare through the use of cyber troops. According to a study by the Oxford Internet Institute in 2020, cyber troops are “government or political party actors tasked with manipulating public opinion online.” The Oxford research group was able to identify 81 countries with active cyber troop operations utilizing many different strategies to spread false information, including spending millions on online advertising.

(1) Governments primarily use the DIME model to deploy cyber troops who practise low-grade information warfare, seeking to manipulate public opinion with the objective of inflicting pain and confusion on their enemies.

(2) Using the DIME model, together with military operations, many governments simultaneously conduct information warfare with the help of cyber troops and routinely monitor telecom data and communications networks.

(3) Following the DIME model, many governments have taken advantage of open data policies of the web to deploy cyber troops who manipulate domestic public opinion, using advertising and other strategies to spread false information.

(4) As part of conducting information warfare as per the DIME model, many governments routinely monitor telecom data and communications networks, and use cyber troops on social media to manipulate public opinion.

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22. The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
John Cleese told Fox News Digital that comedians do not have the freedom to be funny in 2022. “There’s always been limitations on what they’re allowed to say,” Cleese said. “I think it’s particularly worrying at the moment because you can only create in an atmosphere of freedom, where you’re not checking everything you say critically before you move on. What you have to be able to do is to build without knowing where you’re going because you’ve never been there before. That’s what creativity is — you have to be allowed to build. And a lot of comedians now are sitting there and when they think of something, they say something like, ‘Can I get away with it? I don’t think so. So and so got into trouble, and he said that, oh, she said that.’ You see what I mean? And that’s the death of creativity.”

(1) Comedians must not check what they think and say. They must go where no one has gone before.

(2) Freedom and creativity are essential for comedy. Fear about offending people hinders originality.

(3) Creativity and critical thinking cannot work together. Comedians must first be creative, and later be critical.

(4) Comedians are being prevented from saying what they want and that is the death of this art form.

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23. There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide where (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.
Sentence: [T]he Europeans did not invent globalization.
Paragraph: The first phase of globalization occurred long before the introduction of either steam or electric power…Chinese consumers at all social levels consumed vast quantities of spices, fragrant woods and unusual plants. The peoples of Southeast Asia who lived in forests gave up their traditional livelihoods and completely reoriented their economies to supply Chinese consumers….___(1)___. These exchanges of the year 1000 opened some of the routes through which goods and peoples continued to travel after Columbus traversed the mid-Atlantic. ___(2)___. Yet the world of 1000 differed from that of 1492 in important ways….the travellers who encountered one another in the year 1000 were much closer technologically. ___(3)___. They changed and augmented what was already there since 1000. ___(4)___. If globalization hadn’t yet begun, Europeans wouldn’t have been able to penetrate the markets in so many places as quickly as they did after 1492.

(1) Option 3

(2) Option 2

(3) Option 4

(4) Option 1

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24. Five jumbled up sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5), related to a topic, are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd sentence and key in the number of that sentence as your answer.

(1) The UK is a world leader in developing cultivated meat and the approval of a cultivated pet food is an important milestone.

(2) If we’re to realise the full potential benefits of cultivated meat the government must invest in research and infrastructure.

(3) The first UK applications for cultivated meat produced for humans remain under assessment with the Food Standards Agency.

(4) The previous UK government had been looking at fast-tracking the approval of cultivated meat for human consumption.

(5) It underscores the potential for new innovation to help reduce the negative impacts of intensive animal agriculture.

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CAT 2024 Slot 2 Exam Pattern and Marking Scheme

CAT 2024 Slot 2 followed a computer-based examination pattern with a total duration of 120 minutes. Each section had a fixed time limit of 40 minutes, and candidates could not switch between sections.

Candidates can calculate their raw scores by awarding three marks for each correct answer and deducting one mark for each incorrect MCQ.

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What Was Asked in CAT 2024 Slot 2?

CAT 2024 Slot 2 included a combination of conceptual, analytical, and calculation-based questions. The overall difficulty level was moderate, although some Quantitative Aptitude and DILR questions required additional time.

The section-wise important areas were:

The VARC section included 16 Reading Comprehension questions and 8 Verbal Ability questions. DILR featured five sets, while Arithmetic remained an important component of Quantitative Aptitude.

How to Use CAT 2024 Slot 2 Question Paper for Preparation?

The CAT 2024 Slot 2 question paper is useful for candidates preparing for upcoming CAT examinations. It helps identify areas that need improvement and provides experience with actual CAT-level questions.

1. Solve the paper within two hours: Follow the actual CAT sectional time limits to practise under examination conditions.
2. Check answers using the PDF: Compare your responses with the CAT 2024 Slot 2 answer key to identify incorrect attempts.
3. Focus on calculation accuracy: Revise Arithmetic and Algebra concepts to reduce mistakes in Quantitative Aptitude.
4. Practise DILR set selection: Learn to identify manageable sets before attempting lengthy logical reasoning questions.
5. Review detailed solutions: Understand alternative solving approaches and improve time management.

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