AMCAT English Language Assessment

Directions: In the sentence given below, a group of words is italicised. There may be an error in it. The sentence can be made meaningful and correct by replacing the italicised part with one of the given options. The number of that option is the answer. If no correction is required, mark (4) as the answer.

He is in the good books of his boss.

Directions: Choose the most logical order of sentences to construct a coherent paragraph.

(A) Maybe it won’t.
(B) Why should it work any better now?
(C) The Arabs have been trying to do this for many years and it has never worked.
(D) The launching of an Arab Free Trade Area was greeted with more of a yawn than a cheer.

Which of the following statements is true?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows.

For most people, one of the biggest worries about getting older is losing memories. Indeed, memory loss has become so associated with ‘old age’ that having a ‘senior moment’ is the stuff of TV sitcoms. But memory has no limits, whatever the age. Many older people may take a little more time to remember things, yet once the memory is there, it seems as good as at any age.
Rather than expecting to have more and more episodes of forgetfulness as one grows older, one should remember just what can be achieved. There are plenty of examples of great mental longevity. Michelangelo’s greatest works date from his sixties and he was still creating masterly work when he died at the age of 89. Goethe completed his famous Faust at the age of 82, just nine months before his death. In more modern times, Vera Stravinsky was a professional painter whose personal philosophy was, ‘You work in this life.’ She painted every day until the day she died at 97 and remained as sharp as a tack to the end. The maxim is: ‘You’re not getting older, you’re getting better!’
Memory is many different things. It’s that recollection of a day spent on the beach in the rain as a child. It’s the ability to write a letter without thinking how to hold the pen and shape the letters. It’s what enables one to hold in mind, the beginning of this sentence even before reading the end. Infact, memory is involved in everything we ever learn or experience. Memories are being made, stored and reminisced every single moment of our life.
While reminiscing something, the brain does it by creating a new series of pathways of nerve connections, called a ‘memory trace’. It is forgotten – whenever it so happens, because the connections break down through lack of use. Memory is a complex, multi-layered task that draws in every part of brain. Some memories are restricted to particular parts of the brain, most draw in scores of interacting networks or even the whole brain at once. Even those that end up in a particular location, often link up to many different areas.
Originally, psychologists thought they would find that each memory had its own location in the brain. If they had the right tools, they thought that they could one day identify the group of neurons or even the single neuron where a memory was stored. Although, there are parts of the brain associated with particular skills, we now know that the site association of even these skills is far from rigid. Indeed, it seems likely that most memories stimulate the entire brain.
What’s more, most memories are very far from being unchanging records. Each time a memory is used, it changes slightly. When going out for a meal, for example, the front cortex, the logical part of brain, organises the physical details of the event into one kind of memory. Amygdala, the emotional centre, adds an emotional meaning to these memories. In reminiscing happy effects of that night of dinner, the memories get attached to a good feeling. Subsequently, it is found that the dinner partner has gone off with another person. On recalling the dinner one previously had, it has a very different emotional context. The memory gets a different tag and it is reminisced in a different way. The interconnections involved in the memory trace have shifted.

What purpose does the passage serve?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows.

For most people, one of the biggest worries about getting older is losing memories. Indeed, memory loss has become so associated with ‘old age’ that having a ‘senior moment’ is the stuff of TV sitcoms. But memory has no limits, whatever the age. Many older people may take a little more time to remember things, yet once the memory is there, it seems as good as at any age.
Rather than expecting to have more and more episodes of forgetfulness as one grows older, one should remember just what can be achieved. There are plenty of examples of great mental longevity. Michelangelo’s greatest works date from his sixties and he was still creating masterly work when he died at the age of 89. Goethe completed his famous Faust at the age of 82, just nine months before his death. In more modern times, Vera Stravinsky was a professional painter whose personal philosophy was, ‘You work in this life.’ She painted every day until the day she died at 97 and remained as sharp as a tack to the end. The maxim is: ‘You’re not getting older, you’re getting better!’
Memory is many different things. It’s that recollection of a day spent on the beach in the rain as a child. It’s the ability to write a letter without thinking how to hold the pen and shape the letters. It’s what enables one to hold in mind, the beginning of this sentence even before reading the end. Infact, memory is involved in everything we ever learn or experience. Memories are being made, stored and reminisced every single moment of our life.
While reminiscing something, the brain does it by creating a new series of pathways of nerve connections, called a ‘memory trace’. It is forgotten – whenever it so happens, because the connections break down through lack of use. Memory is a complex, multi-layered task that draws in every part of brain. Some memories are restricted to particular parts of the brain, most draw in scores of interacting networks or even the whole brain at once. Even those that end up in a particular location, often link up to many different areas.
Originally, psychologists thought they would find that each memory had its own location in the brain. If they had the right tools, they thought that they could one day identify the group of neurons or even the single neuron where a memory was stored. Although, there are parts of the brain associated with particular skills, we now know that the site association of even these skills is far from rigid. Indeed, it seems likely that most memories stimulate the entire brain.
What’s more, most memories are very far from being unchanging records. Each time a memory is used, it changes slightly. When going out for a meal, for example, the front cortex, the logical part of brain, organises the physical details of the event into one kind of memory. Amygdala, the emotional centre, adds an emotional meaning to these memories. In reminiscing happy effects of that night of dinner, the memories get attached to a good feeling. Subsequently, it is found that the dinner partner has gone off with another person. On recalling the dinner one previously had, it has a very different emotional context. The memory gets a different tag and it is reminisced in a different way. The interconnections involved in the memory trace have shifted.

What is the idea contained in the maxim: “You’re not getting older, you’re getting better”?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows.

For most people, one of the biggest worries about getting older is losing memories. Indeed, memory loss has become so associated with ‘old age’ that having a ‘senior moment’ is the stuff of TV sitcoms. But memory has no limits, whatever the age. Many older people may take a little more time to remember things, yet once the memory is there, it seems as good as at any age.
Rather than expecting to have more and more episodes of forgetfulness as one grows older, one should remember just what can be achieved. There are plenty of examples of great mental longevity. Michelangelo’s greatest works date from his sixties and he was still creating masterly work when he died at the age of 89. Goethe completed his famous Faust at the age of 82, just nine months before his death. In more modern times, Vera Stravinsky was a professional painter whose personal philosophy was, ‘You work in this life.’ She painted every day until the day she died at 97 and remained as sharp as a tack to the end. The maxim is: ‘You’re not getting older, you’re getting better!’
Memory is many different things. It’s that recollection of a day spent on the beach in the rain as a child. It’s the ability to write a letter without thinking how to hold the pen and shape the letters. It’s what enables one to hold in mind, the beginning of this sentence even before reading the end. Infact, memory is involved in everything we ever learn or experience. Memories are being made, stored and reminisced every single moment of our life.
While reminiscing something, the brain does it by creating a new series of pathways of nerve connections, called a ‘memory trace’. It is forgotten – whenever it so happens, because the connections break down through lack of use. Memory is a complex, multi-layered task that draws in every part of brain. Some memories are restricted to particular parts of the brain, most draw in scores of interacting networks or even the whole brain at once. Even those that end up in a particular location, often link up to many different areas.
Originally, psychologists thought they would find that each memory had its own location in the brain. If they had the right tools, they thought that they could one day identify the group of neurons or even the single neuron where a memory was stored. Although, there are parts of the brain associated with particular skills, we now know that the site association of even these skills is far from rigid. Indeed, it seems likely that most memories stimulate the entire brain.
What’s more, most memories are very far from being unchanging records. Each time a memory is used, it changes slightly. When going out for a meal, for example, the front cortex, the logical part of brain, organises the physical details of the event into one kind of memory. Amygdala, the emotional centre, adds an emotional meaning to these memories. In reminiscing happy effects of that night of dinner, the memories get attached to a good feeling. Subsequently, it is found that the dinner partner has gone off with another person. On recalling the dinner one previously had, it has a very different emotional context. The memory gets a different tag and it is reminisced in a different way. The interconnections involved in the memory trace have shifted.

What is the central idea of this passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows.

For most people, one of the biggest worries about getting older is losing memories. Indeed, memory loss has become so associated with ‘old age’ that having a ‘senior moment’ is the stuff of TV sitcoms. But memory has no limits, whatever the age. Many older people may take a little more time to remember things, yet once the memory is there, it seems as good as at any age.
Rather than expecting to have more and more episodes of forgetfulness as one grows older, one should remember just what can be achieved. There are plenty of examples of great mental longevity. Michelangelo’s greatest works date from his sixties and he was still creating masterly work when he died at the age of 89. Goethe completed his famous Faust at the age of 82, just nine months before his death. In more modern times, Vera Stravinsky was a professional painter whose personal philosophy was, ‘You work in this life.’ She painted every day until the day she died at 97 and remained as sharp as a tack to the end. The maxim is: ‘You’re not getting older, you’re getting better!’
Memory is many different things. It’s that recollection of a day spent on the beach in the rain as a child. It’s the ability to write a letter without thinking how to hold the pen and shape the letters. It’s what enables one to hold in mind, the beginning of this sentence even before reading the end. Infact, memory is involved in everything we ever learn or experience. Memories are being made, stored and reminisced every single moment of our life.
While reminiscing something, the brain does it by creating a new series of pathways of nerve connections, called a ‘memory trace’. It is forgotten – whenever it so happens, because the connections break down through lack of use. Memory is a complex, multi-layered task that draws in every part of brain. Some memories are restricted to particular parts of the brain, most draw in scores of interacting networks or even the whole brain at once. Even those that end up in a particular location, often link up to many different areas.
Originally, psychologists thought they would find that each memory had its own location in the brain. If they had the right tools, they thought that they could one day identify the group of neurons or even the single neuron where a memory was stored. Although, there are parts of the brain associated with particular skills, we now know that the site association of even these skills is far from rigid. Indeed, it seems likely that most memories stimulate the entire brain.
What’s more, most memories are very far from being unchanging records. Each time a memory is used, it changes slightly. When going out for a meal, for example, the front cortex, the logical part of brain, organises the physical details of the event into one kind of memory. Amygdala, the emotional centre, adds an emotional meaning to these memories. In reminiscing happy effects of that night of dinner, the memories get attached to a good feeling. Subsequently, it is found that the dinner partner has gone off with another person. On recalling the dinner one previously had, it has a very different emotional context. The memory gets a different tag and it is reminisced in a different way. The interconnections involved in the memory trace have shifted.

What is the author’s opinion?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows.

For most people, one of the biggest worries about getting older is losing memories. Indeed, memory loss has become so associated with ‘old age’ that having a ‘senior moment’ is the stuff of TV sitcoms. But memory has no limits, whatever the age. Many older people may take a little more time to remember things, yet once the memory is there, it seems as good as at any age.
Rather than expecting to have more and more episodes of forgetfulness as one grows older, one should remember just what can be achieved. There are plenty of examples of great mental longevity. Michelangelo’s greatest works date from his sixties and he was still creating masterly work when he died at the age of 89. Goethe completed his famous Faust at the age of 82, just nine months before his death. In more modern times, Vera Stravinsky was a professional painter whose personal philosophy was, ‘You work in this life.’ She painted every day until the day she died at 97 and remained as sharp as a tack to the end. The maxim is: ‘You’re not getting older, you’re getting better!’
Memory is many different things. It’s that recollection of a day spent on the beach in the rain as a child. It’s the ability to write a letter without thinking how to hold the pen and shape the letters. It’s what enables one to hold in mind, the beginning of this sentence even before reading the end. Infact, memory is involved in everything we ever learn or experience. Memories are being made, stored and reminisced every single moment of our life.
While reminiscing something, the brain does it by creating a new series of pathways of nerve connections, called a ‘memory trace’. It is forgotten – whenever it so happens, because the connections break down through lack of use. Memory is a complex, multi-layered task that draws in every part of brain. Some memories are restricted to particular parts of the brain, most draw in scores of interacting networks or even the whole brain at once. Even those that end up in a particular location, often link up to many different areas.
Originally, psychologists thought they would find that each memory had its own location in the brain. If they had the right tools, they thought that they could one day identify the group of neurons or even the single neuron where a memory was stored. Although, there are parts of the brain associated with particular skills, we now know that the site association of even these skills is far from rigid. Indeed, it seems likely that most memories stimulate the entire brain.
What’s more, most memories are very far from being unchanging records. Each time a memory is used, it changes slightly. When going out for a meal, for example, the front cortex, the logical part of brain, organises the physical details of the event into one kind of memory. Amygdala, the emotional centre, adds an emotional meaning to these memories. In reminiscing happy effects of that night of dinner, the memories get attached to a good feeling. Subsequently, it is found that the dinner partner has gone off with another person. On recalling the dinner one previously had, it has a very different emotional context. The memory gets a different tag and it is reminisced in a different way. The interconnections involved in the memory trace have shifted.