CAT 2017 Slot 2VARC Question 30

Mixed PracticeEasy

The five sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) given in this question, when properly sequenced, from a coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labelled with a number. Decide on the proper order for the sentences and key in this sequence of five numbers as your answer.

  1. This has huge implications for the health care system as it operates today, where depleted resources and time lead to patients rotating in and out of doctor’s offices, oftentimes receiving minimal care or concern (what is company referred to as “bed side manner) from doctors.
  2. The placebo effect is when as individual’s medical condition or pain shows signs of improvement based on a fake intervention that has been presented to them as a real one and used to be regularly dismissed by researchers as a psychological effect.
  3. The placebo effect is not solely based on believing in treatment, however as the clinical setting in which treatment are administered is also paramount.
  4. That the mind has the power to trigger biochemical changes the individual believes that a given drug or intervention will be effective could empower chronic patients through the notion of our bodies capacity for self-healing.
  5. Placebo effects are now studied not just as foils for real interventions but as a potential into the self-healing powers of the body.

Answer & solution

Correct answer: 25431

Answer: 25431

Solution

Easy

This is a five-sentence rearrangement. Find the sentence that introduces the topic (the opener), then chain the rest using definitions, pronoun references ("this"), and the natural flow from idea to implication. The topic here is the placebo effect.

1

Find the opener. Sentence 2 first defines what the placebo effect is ("The placebo effect is when an individual's medical condition... shows signs of improvement based on a fake intervention"). A definition is the natural starting point, so the paragraph opens with 2.

2

What comes after the definition. Sentence 5 widens the frame: placebo effects "are now studied... as a potential into the self-healing powers of the body." This points the discussion toward self-healing and follows naturally from the definition. Sequence so far: 2, 5.

3

Develop the self-healing thread. Sentence 4 picks up that thread — "the mind has the power to trigger biochemical changes... could empower chronic patients through the notion of our body's capacity for self-healing." It elaborates on the self-healing idea introduced in 5. Sequence: 2, 5, 4.

4

Link 4 to 3. Sentence 4 says the individual believes the drug will work; sentence 3 qualifies this — "The placebo effect is not solely based on believing in treatment, however, as the clinical setting... is also paramount." The "however" directly responds to the belief idea in 4, so 3 follows 4. Sequence: 2, 5, 4, 3.

5

Close with the implication. Sentence 3 raises the "clinical setting"; sentence 1 begins with "This has huge implications for the health care system" and goes on to discuss doctors' offices and bedside manner — a direct extension of the clinical-setting point. So 1 is the closer. Final sequence: 2, 5, 4, 3, 1.

The coherent order is 2 → 5 → 4 → 3 → 1. Key in 25431.

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CAT 2017 Slot 2 VARC Q30: The five sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) given in this question, when properly sequenced, from a coherent p — Solution | TheCATExam