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Journalism of Courage
Dear UPSC aspirants,
You must start practicing CSAT now in a balanced manner. Are you struggling with comprehension, reasoning, or maths? Identify your weak area and focus on improving it with this CSAT Practice Set 3, as UPSC Prelims 2025 approaches. If you haven’t yet, don’t forget to check out CSAT Practice Set 1 (click here) and Practice Set 2 (click here) for more prep.
—Mudit Gupta
Travelling to distant lands often reveals the intricate balance between what is unique to a culture and what is shared across humanity. The traveller learns that virtues like compassion, integrity, and respect are cherished universally, yet their expressions may vary widely. A gesture of kindness in one culture might be a simple nod, while in another, it could be an elaborate ritual. The true art of travel lies in recognizing these shared values beneath the surface of cultural differences, allowing one to connect deeply with people from all walks of life. This understanding fosters not only personal growth but also a sense of global unity.
When we interact with people from different cultures during our travels, we learn to distinguish between:
A. Traditions and innovations
B. Individual preferences and collective norms
C. Superficial customs and core human values
D. Temporary trends and timeless principles
The paragraph is trying to differentiate between the core values and the superficial gestures. The paragraph is trying to convey that the core values of compassion, integrity, and respect might be same across the cultures, but how they are presented in a society will vary from place to place. People at one place may show respect through one gesture and the people at the other place may show the same respect but through a different gesture. Core values are same, but the way of representing them can vary from place to place.
Therefore, C is the correct answer.
What is the smallest number greater than 1000 that when divided by any of the numbers 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 leaves a remainder of 3?
A. 1063
B. 1073
C. 1083
D. 1183
This question was asked by UPSC in CSAT 2022.
The first hint to solve such questions is: Whenever you are asked to find out the smallest or the least number, we have to shift our focus towards finding the LCM.
In this question, we have to find out the least number which when divided by 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 leaves a remainder of 3. However, it comes with a twist, such a least possible number should be greater than 1000.
First of all, let us find out the LCM of 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18, i.e. 180. It means that 180 is completely divisible by all the aforementioned numbers. If 180 is divisible by 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18, then all the higher multiples of 180 will also be divisible by these numbers. So, we can say that 180x, for any x>=1 will be divisible by 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18.
Putting different values of for x, x= 6 we get that 1080 will be divisible by 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18. Also, 1080 is the first number after 1000 that is divisible by 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18.
As per the requirement of the question, we want a remainder of 3 whenever the number is divided by 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18, so we add 3 to 1080, and the answer becomes 1083.
Therefore, C (1083) is the correct answer.
A contract on a construction job specifies a penalty for delay in completion of the work beyond a certain data as follows Rs. 200 for the first day, Rs. 250 for the second day, Rs. 300 for the third day etc., the penalty for each succeeding day being Rs. 50 more than that of the proceeding day. How much penalty should the contractor pay, if he delays the work by 10 days?
A. Rs. 4950
B. Rs. 4250
C. Rs. 3600
D. Rs. 650
If the work is delayed by 10 days, then the total penalty will be: Penalty of Day 1 + Penalty of Day 2 + …….. + Penalty of Day 10
It means that to find out the total penalty, we have to add the penalty of all 10 days. We are given that the penalty of every successive day is more by Rs. 50 vis-à-vis the previous day. Ex: Penalty for Day 1 = Rs. 200, Penalty for Day 2 = Rs. 250,….. and so on.
Since the penalty is increasing uniformly every day, we can simply use the formula of Sum of n terms of an Arithmetic Progression to find out the total penalty.
Substituting the value we get:
Therefore, B (Rs. 4,250) is the correct answer.
A man, a woman, and a girl worked for a contractor for the same period. A man is twice efficient as a woman and a woman is thrice efficient as a girl. Rupees 10,000 were given to all of them. What is the sum of money received by a woman and a girl together?
A. 5500
B. 4500
C. 4000
D. 6000
Let the efficiency of the girl be 1/x
Since the efficiency of the woman is thrice the efficiency of the girl, the efficiency of the woman becomes 3/x
Since the efficiency of the man is twice the efficiency of the woman, the efficiency of the man becomes 6/x
The question says that we need to divide Rs. 10,000 among the man, the woman, and the girl. The money will be distributed in the ratio of their efficiencies i.e. more is the efficiency, more will be the money received by the person.
So, the ratio of the efficiency of the man, the woman and the girl will be (6/x):(3/x):(1/x)
Ratios of efficiencies of Man : Woman : Girl = 6 : 3 : 1
Since the ratio of the efficiencies is 6:3:1, the ratio of the money received by them will also be 6:3:1.
Dividing Rs. 10,000 in the ratio 6:3:1 we derive that the man will get Rs. 6,000, the woman will get Rs. 3,000 and the girl will get Rs. 1,000.
The sum of money received by the woman and the girl together will be Rs. 3,000 + Rs. 1,000 = Rs. 4,000
Therefore, C (Rs. 4,000) is the correct answer.
If in a certain code, ‘POT’ is written as ATOP and ‘TRAP’ is written as APART, then how is ‘ARENA’ written in that code?
A. AARENA
B. AANREA
C. AANEAR
D. AANERA
If we reverse the word POT to TOP and add ‘A’ as a prefix, we will get ATOP.
Likewise, if we reverse the word TRAP to PART and add a prefix of A to it, we get APART.
Reversing the word ARENA we get ANERA. Adding a prefix ‘A’ to it we get AANERA.
Therefore, D (AANERA) is the correct answer.
(About our Expert: Mudit Gupta has been a mentor and faculty for the UPSC Civil Services exam for 8 years with expertise in CSAT, Polity, International Relations, and Current Affairs. He is known to break complex concepts into simpler ones that allow UPSC aspirants to develop a grip over the subject matter.)
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