CAT 2023 Slot 3 — VARC Question 22
The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) given below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer.
1. Centuries later formal learning is still mostly based on reading, even with the widespread use of other possible education-affecting technologies such as film, radio, and television.
2. One of the immediate and recognisable impacts of the printing press was on how people learned; in the scribal culture it primarily involved listening, so memorization was paramount.
3. The transformation of learners from listeners to readers was a complex social and cultural phenomenon, and it was not until the industrial era that the concept of universal literacy took root.
4. The printing press shifted the learning process, as listening and memorisation gradually gave way to reading and learning no longer required the presence of a mentor; it could be done privately.
Answer & solution
Answer: 2431
Easy
Para-jumble: identify the introductory sentence, then trace the historical sequence — scribal listening → printing press → long transformation → present day.
Opener = 2. Sentence 2 introduces the topic in full: the printing press’s impact on learning, contrasted with the earlier scribal culture of listening and memorization. It supplies the context the other lines build on.
2 → 4. Sentence 4 develops the same point: the printing press shifted learning so that listening/memorising "gradually gave way to reading," which could now be done privately. 24 is a strong pair.
4 → 3. Sentence 3 labels this "transformation of learners from listeners to readers" as a complex phenomenon that took until the industrial era to mature into universal literacy — carrying the timeline forward.
3 → 1. Sentence 1 ("Centuries later…") concludes in the present: formal learning is still mostly reading-based, even after film, radio and TV. The closing sentence.
2431 — intro (2) → the shift (4) → the long transformation (3) → present day (1).