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XAT 2017 — VARC Question 1

Opening & Closing SentenceEasy
Passage / Data

Read the following statements and answer the question that follows:

  1. This is Russia’s Wild West, though the mountains lie to the south of Moscow and St. Petersburg.
  2. The Caucasus range has throughout history held Russians, especially fierce nationalists like Solzhenitsyn, in fear and awe.
  3. Here, between the Black and Caspian seas, is a land bridge where Europe gradually vanishes amid a six-hundred-mile chain of mountains as high as eighteen thousand feet – mesmerizing in their spangled beauty, especially after the yawning and flat mileage of the steppe lands to the north.
  4. Here, since the seventeenth century, Russian colonizers have tried to subdue congeries of proud peoples: Chechens, Ingush, Ossetes, Daghestanis, Abkhaz, Kartvelians, Kakhetians, Armenians, Azeris, and others.
  5. Here, the Russians encountered Islam in both its moderation and implacability.

Which of the following options is the best logical order of the above statements?

Answer & solution

  • A

    1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  • 2, 3, 1, 4, 5

  • C

    2, 4, 3, 1, 5

  • D

    3, 1, 2, 4, 5

  • E

    4, 5, 3, 1, 2

Solution

Since all the sentences except 2 use “here” and “this” referring to the subject of the paragraph, we can assume that sentence 2 introduces the subject of discussion. Thus, options 1, 4 and 5 can be eliminated. Sentence 3 follows as it describes the Caucasus range in detail. Sentences 3-1 form a link as 3 mentions “a six-hundred-mile chain of mountains” and 1 refers to these mountains. Further, sentences 4-5 in that order conclude the paragraph.
Hence, the correct answer is option 2.

XAT 2017 VARC Q1: Which of the following options is the best logical order of the above statements? — Solution | TheCATExam