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XAT 2022 — Decision Making Question 20

Reading ComprehensionEasy
Passage / Data

Read the following scenario and answer the THREE questions that follow.
Sundaresan was a professor of Corporate Responsibility at a premium management institution. As a requirement of his course, students had to synthesize sustainability challenges, faced by thermal power companies and submit an assignment on them. Though it was an individual assignment, some students
sought permission from Sundaresan to work on the assignment as a team. Sundaresan knew that collaboration fosters peer learning, and therefore, allowed them to work in teams. However, he mandated that a team should not exceed three members. While 15 students elected to work individually, another 15 formed teams of three each, and another 10 formed teams of two members each.

When Sundaresan was about to grade the assignments, he received a request from the class representative regarding the students who worked individually. The request was to give those students additional marks because they handled the entire workload. This would improve their course grade significantly.
Which of the following is the MOST appropriate action by Sundaresan to mark the assignments?

Answer & solution

Correct answer: Treat both individual work and team work equally

  • A

    Reduce marks for those who worked in teams by 10%

  • B

    Divide the total marks awarded to a team by the number of team members

  • C

    Give 10% extra marks to all those who worked individually

  • D

    Convert the assignment into a non-graded assignment because both the individuals and the teams worked on the same assignment

  • Treat both individual work and team work equally

Solution

Whether to complete the assignments individually or in a team was an individual choice that everyone made for themselves. Thus, giving additional marks to the people working alone would be unreasonable as they could have chosen to be in a team.
Hence, the answer is option E.

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XAT 2022 Decision Making Q20: When Sundaresan was about to grade the assignments, he received a request from the class representative regard — Solution | TheCATExam