Mockat CAT Prep

Reading Link for the Day - https://aeon.co/ideas/imagination-is-a-powerful-tool-why-is-philosophy-afraid-of-it 750+ articles and Author's POVs at https://mockat.com/verbal-ability/pov

Problem: crowds in airports is a frustrating experience Solution: Behavioural science can provide solutions through Agent-based modelling (ABM) to study human actions to stimuli and find problems (e.g. bottlenecks). Rather than consider people as a crowd, ABM looks at them as many rational agents in a specific situation, predicts the problems and recommends solutions (two lines to reduce crowding). It can also solve…

Reading Link for the Day - https://thedecisionlab.com/insights/consumer-insights/how-behavioral-science-can-make-airports-less-miserable 750+ articles and Author's POVs at https://mockat.com/verbal-ability/pov

The number of languages spoken by humans was at a peak from 1000 BCE to 1000 CE, with tens of thousands of languages spoken. Reason for spike: different tribes/groups of people spoke their own languages, and this expanded with agriculture enabling a rise in population. Reason for decline: rise of large societies (and eventually empires) which homogenised languages and imposed common ones. This is theorised to be as…

Reading Link for the Day - https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/humans-may-have-spoken-10-times-as-many-languages-2-000-years-ago/ 750+ articles and Author's POVs at https://mockat.com/verbal-ability/pov

Performance in IQ tests have been declining in the 21st century, as compared to the previous decades which showed a consistent increase (negative Flynn effect). But this does not mean that we are becoming less intelligent, it is because there are flaws in the test and the understanding that the IQ score is the same thing as intelligence: Issues with IQ tests - IQ and intelligence/cognitive ability are not the same t…

Reading Link for the Day - https://psyche.co/ideas/iq-scores-are-falling-but-no-were-not-growing-more-stupid 750+ articles and Author's POVs at https://mockat.com/verbal-ability/pov

Finding why young animals (including human children) play has been really hard for scientists, who consider this important to understand behaviour and development. This mystery is deepened by the fact that play is somewhat rare in animals, given that evolution usually only encourages behaviour that helps species survive or propagate. Possible benefits: 1) Prepare the brain to cope with the challenges and uncertainti…

Reading Link for the Day - https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/mind/2021/why-animals-play 750+ articles and Author's POVs at https://mockat.com/verbal-ability/pov

People in Western countries tend to cause a lot of carbon emissions, leading to global warming which causes loss of lives or livelihood, even shortening lives. They have a moral obligation to reduce this, especially as most people do not want to harm or kill others. Cause of high carbon emissions: driving cars, heating and cooling houses, flying Impact of carbon emissions: extreme weather which especially impacts fa…

Reading Link for the day - https://www.economist.com/christmas-specials/2023/12/20/what-responsibilities-do-individuals-have-to-stop-climate-change 750+ articles and Author's POVs at https://mockat.com/verbal-ability/pov

Modernisation actually amplifies cultural traditions instead of homogenising them (common belief). Cultural traditions and orientation persists and may widen over time, and modernisation (increasing urbanisation, wealth, connectivity and education) or developmental differences do not shift people’s orientation. People also do not become ‘more Western’ as their country develops (e.g. China). Evidence: study in China …