In each of the following questions, sentences are given with blanks to be filled in with an appropriate word (s). Four alternatives are suggested for each question. Choose the correct alternative out of the four and indicate your choice for the correct answer.

I'm not very good ______ repairing things.

Direction: In the following questions, out of the four alternatives, choose the one which can be substituted for the given sentence.

An inscription on a tomb

Directions: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words/phrases have been printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.
 A new analysis has determined that the threat of global warming can still be greatly diminished if nations cut emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases by 70% this century. The analysis was done by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). While global temperatures would rise, the most dangerous potential aspects of climate change, including massive losses of Arctic sea ice and permafrost and significant sea-level rise, could be partially avoided.
 “This research indicates that we can no longer avoid significant warming during this century,” said NCAR scientist Warren Washington, the study paper's lead author. “But, if the world were to implement this level of emission cuts, we could stabilize the threat of climate change", he added.
 Average global temperatures have warmed by close to 1 degree Celsius since the pre-industrial era. Much of the warming is due to human-produced emissions of greenhouse gases, predominantly carbon dioxide. This heat-trapping gas has increased from a pre-industrial level of about 284 parts per million ( ppm ) in the atmosphere to more than 380 ppm today. With research showing that additional warming of about 1 degree C may be the threshold for dangerous – climate change, the European Union has called for dramatic cuts in emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
 To examine the impact of such cuts on the world's climate, Washing ton and his colleagues ran a series of global studies with the NCAR - based Community Climate System Model (CCSM). They assumed that carbon dioxide levels could be held to 450 ppm at the end of this century. In contrast, emissions are now on track to reach about 750 ppm by 2100 if unchecked. The team's results showed that if carbon dioxide were held to 450 ppm, global temperatures would increase by 0.6 degrees Celsius above current readings by the end of the century. In contrast, the study showed that temperatures would rise by almost four times that amount to 2.2 degrees Celsius above current readings if emissions were allowed to continue on their present course. Holding carbon dioxide levels to 450 ppm would have other impacts, according to the climate modeling study.
 Sea-level rise due to thermal expansion as water temperatures warmed would be 14 centimeters about (5.5 inches) instead of 22 centimeters (8.7 inches). Also, Arctic ice in the summertime would shrink by about a quarter in volume and stabilize by 2100, as opposed to shrinking at least three quarters and continuing to melt, and Arctic warming would be reduced by almost half.

Direction: Choose the word which is most opposite in meaning to the word printed in bold as used in the passage.
Q. Significant

In the following question, four alternatives are given for the idiom/phrase. Choose the alternative which best expresses the meaning of the idiom/phrase and mark it in the Answer-Sheet.
To play second fiddle

Directions: In question four alternatives are given for the Idiom/Phrase underlined in the sentences. Choose the alternative which best expresses the meaning of the Idiom/Phrase and mark it is the Answer Sheet.

I enjoyed visiting Nainital but it was a far cry from the ideal hill station I expected.

Directions: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words/phrases have been printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.
 A new analysis has determined that the threat of global warming can still be greatly diminished if nations cut emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases by 70% this century. The analysis was done by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). While global temperatures would rise, the most dangerous potential aspects of climate change, including massive losses of Arctic sea ice and permafrost and significant sea-level rise, could be partially avoided.
 “This research indicates that we can no longer avoid significant warming during this century,” said NCAR scientist Warren Washington, the study paper's lead author. “But, if the world were to implement this level of emission cuts, we could stabilize the threat of climate change", he added.
 Average global temperatures have warmed by close to 1 degree Celsius since the pre-industrial era. Much of the warming is due to human-produced emissions of greenhouse gases, predominantly carbon dioxide. This heat-trapping gas has increased from a pre-industrial level of about 284 parts per million ( ppm ) in the atmosphere to more than 380 ppm today. With research showing that additional warming of about 1 degree C may be the threshold for dangerous – climate change, the European Union has called for dramatic cuts in emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
 To examine the impact of such cuts on the world's climate, Washing ton and his colleagues ran a series of global studies with the NCAR - based Community Climate System Model (CCSM). They assumed that carbon dioxide levels could be held to 450 ppm at the end of this century. In contrast, emissions are now on track to reach about 750 ppm by 2100 if unchecked. The team's results showed that if carbon dioxide were held to 450 ppm, global temperatures would increase by 0.6 degrees Celsius above current readings by the end of the century. In contrast, the study showed that temperatures would rise by almost four times that amount to 2.2 degrees Celsius above current readings if emissions were allowed to continue on their present course. Holding carbon dioxide levels to 450 ppm would have other impacts, according to the climate modeling study.
 Sea-level rise due to thermal expansion as water temperatures warmed would be 14 centimeters about (5.5 inches) instead of 22 centimeters (8.7 inches). Also, Arctic ice in the summertime would shrink by about a quarter in volume and stabilize by 2100, as opposed to shrinking at least three quarters and continuing to melt, and Arctic warming would be reduced by almost half.

Direction: Choose the word which is most similar in meaning to the word printed in bold as used in the passage.
Q. DRAMATIC

Directions: In the following questions, sentences are given with blanks to be filled in with an appropriate word(s). Four alternatives are suggested for each question. Choose the correct alternative out of the four as your answer.

The demonstration passed off without any _______. 

Directions: Read the following. passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words/phrases have been printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions. 

In February 2010 the Medical Council of India announced a major change in the regulation governing the establishment of medical colleges. With this change, corporate entities were permitted to open medical colleges. The new regulation also carried the following warning: "permission shall be withdrawn if the colleges resort to commercialization". Since the regulation does not elaborate on what constitutes "resorting to commercialisation", this will presumably be a matter left to the discretion of the Government. 

A basic requirement for a new medical college is a preexisting hospital that will serve as a teaching hospital. Corporate entities have hospitals in the major metros and that is where they will have to locate medical colleges.The earlier mandated land requirement for a medical college campus, minimum of 25 acres of contiguous land, cannot be fulfilled in the metros. Not surprisingly, yet another tweak has been made in the regulation, prescribing 10 acres as the new minimum campus size for 9 cities including the main metros. With this, the stage is set for corporate entities to enter the medical education market. 

Until now, medical education in India has been projected as a not-for- profit activity to be organised for the public good. While private bodies can run medical colleges, these can only be societies or trusts, legally non-profit organizations. In opening the door to corporate colleges, thus, a major policy change has been effected without changing the law or even a discussion in Parliament, but by simply getting a compliant MCI to change the regulation on establishment of medical colleges. This and other changes have been justified in the name of addressing the shortage of doctors. At the same time, over 50, existing medical colleges, including 15 run by the government, have been prohibited from ad- mitting students in 2010 for having failed to meet the basic standards prescribed. Ninety per cent of these colleges have come up in the last 5 years. Particularly shocking is the phenomenon of government colleges falling short of standards approved by the Government. Why are state government institutions not able to meet the requirements that have been approved by the central government? A severe problem faced by government-run in- situations is attracting and retaining teaching faculty, and this is likely to be among the major reasons for these colleges failing to satisfy the MCI norms. The crisis building up on the faculty front has been flagged by various commissions looking into problems of medical education over the years.

An indicator of the crisis is the attempt to conjure up faculty when MCI carries out inspections of new colleges, one of its regulatory functions. Judging by news reports, the practice of presenting fake faculty-students or private medical practitioners hired for the day -during MCI inspections in private colleges is common. What is interesting is that even government colleges are adopting unscrupulous methods. Another indicator is the extraordinary scheme, verging on the ridiculous that is being put in place by the MCI to make inspections 'foolproof. Faculty in all medical colleges are to be issued an RFID based smart card by the MCI with a unique Faculty Number. The Card, it is argued, will eliminate the possibility of a teacher being shown on the faculty of more than one college and establish if the qualifications of a teacher are genuine. In the future it is projected that biometric RFID readers will be installed in the colleges that will enable a Faculty from within the college and even remotely from MCI headquarters.

The picture above does not even start to reveal the true and pathetic situation of medical care especially in rural India. Only a fraction of the doctors and nursing professionals serve rural areas where 70 per cent of our population lives. The Health Ministry, with the help of the MCI, has been active in proposing yet another 'innovative' solution to the problem of lack of doctors in the rural areas. The proposal is for a three-and-a-half year course to obtain the degree of Bachelor of Rural Medicine and Surgery (BRMS). Only rural candidates would be able to join this course. The study and training would happen at two different levels -Community Health Centers for 18 months, and sub-divisional hospitals for a further period of 2 years and be conducted by retired professors. After completion of training, they would only be able to serve in their own state in district hospitals, community health centers, and primary health centers.

The BRMS proposal has invited sharp criticism from some doctors' organisations on the grounds that it is discriminatory to have two different standards of health care -one for urban and the other for rural areas, and that the health care provided by such graduates will be compromised. At the other end is the opinion expressed by some that "something is better than nothing", that since doctors do not want to serve in rural areas, the government may as well create a new cadre of medics who will be obliged to serve there. The debate will surely pick up after the government formally lays out its plans. What is apparent is that neither this proposal nor the various stopgap measures adopted so far address the root of the problem of health care. The far larger issue is government policy, the low priority attached by the government to the social sector in particular, evidenced in the paltry allocations for maintaining and upgrading medical infrastructure and medical education and for looking after precious human resoureces. 

Why have some existing medical colleges been prohibited from admitting students?