Comprehension
It is ___(46) to read a book about our planet by an author who does not allow facts to be ___(47) by politics: well aware of the political disputes about the effects of human activities on climate and biodiversity, this author does not permit them to ___(48) his comprehensive description of what we know about our biosphere. He emphasizes the enormous gaps in our knowledge, the ___(49) of our observations, and the ___(50) of our theories, calling attention to the many aspects of planetary evolution that must be better understood before we can accurately diagnose the condition of our planet.
Question: 1

Choose the best word for blank (46) in the passage above.

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Think about the overall tone the writer wants to convey about the author's honesty in the face of political controversy.
Updated On: Jul 21, 2026
  • Refreshing
  • Stimulating
  • Boring
  • Dreary
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The Correct Option is A

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Understanding the Question:
We need to fill blank (46) with a word that fits the tone of a sentence describing a book about our planet, written by an author who keeps facts separate from politics.

Step 2: Key Formula or Approach:
In cloze passages, the clause after a colon usually explains or justifies the word before it. Here, the colon is followed by praise for the author's honesty, so the missing word should carry a positive, approving sense.

Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
"Refreshing" means pleasantly different from what one expects, which matches an author who does not let politics twist the facts.
"Stimulating" suggests intellectual excitement, which is close but does not capture the specific relief from political bias that the sentence describes.
"Boring" and "Dreary" are both negative words, and they contradict the clearly approving tone of the sentence.
Only "Refreshing" lines up with both the meaning and the tone of the passage.

Step 4: Final Answer:
The word that best fits blank (46) is "Refreshing".
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Question: 2

Choose the best word for blank (47) in the passage above.

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Consider what happens to facts when political concerns take precedence over them.
Updated On: Jul 21, 2026
  • Invalidated
  • Overshadowed
  • Illuminated
  • Interfered
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The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
The sentence says the author does not allow facts to be affected by politics in some negative way. We need the word that best names this effect.

Step 2: Key Formula or Approach:
Look at the collocation "facts to be ___ by politics". The natural pairing is a word meaning eclipsed, sidelined, or made less visible, since politics often pushes real facts into the background rather than proving them false.

Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
"Overshadowed" fits this collocation exactly, since it means put in the shadow of something else, losing prominence.
"Invalidated" is too strong, since it means proven false, which is not what political pressure typically does to facts.
"Illuminated" means the opposite, it would mean politics makes facts clearer, which contradicts the sentence.
"Interfered" is grammatically awkward here and does not carry the same precise meaning of facts being sidelined.

Step 4: Final Answer:
The word that best fits blank (47) is "Overshadowed".
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Question: 3

Choose the best word for blank (48) in the passage above.

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Think about what political disputes might do to a clear, factual description if left unchecked.
Updated On: Jul 21, 2026
  • Analyse
  • Garble
  • Obscure
  • Enhance
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The Correct Option is C

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Understanding the Question:
We need a verb for what the author refuses to let the political disputes do to his description of the biosphere.

Step 2: Key Formula or Approach:
Since the passage praises the author for keeping his account "comprehensive" and clear despite disputes, the blocked action must be something that would have made the description unclear or incomplete.

Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
"Obscure" means to hide or make unclear, so "does not permit them to obscure his description" means the author keeps his account clear despite the disputes, which matches the passage well.
"Analyse" carries no negative or blocking sense and does not fit a sentence about protecting clarity.
"Garble" is close in meaning but is usually reserved for scrambled messages or transmitted signals, not a full written description.
"Enhance" is a positive word, and the sentence needs a negative effect that the author is preventing, so it does not fit.

Step 4: Final Answer:
The word that best fits blank (48) is "Obscure".
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Question: 4

Choose the best word for blank (49) in the passage above.

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The sentence lists three related shortcomings: gaps, then a lack of data, then a lack of depth.
Updated On: Jul 21, 2026
  • Leanness
  • Neatness
  • Tidiness
  • Sparseness
Show Solution

The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
The sentence builds a list of three problems: gaps in knowledge, an issue with our observations, and an issue with our theories. We need the noun that best names the problem with observations.

Step 2: Key Formula or Approach:
Since the sentence already used "gaps" to describe missing knowledge, the next item in the list should continue that same negative, "not enough" idea, applied this time to observations.

Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
"Sparseness" means scarce and thinly spread, so "the sparseness of our observations" means we simply have too few data points, which continues the "gaps" idea smoothly.
"Leanness" is usually used for a lack of fat or a minimal style, and it does not pair naturally with "observations".
"Neatness" and "Tidiness" both describe good organisation, a positive quality, not a shortage of data, so neither fits a list of weaknesses.

Step 4: Final Answer:
The word that best fits blank (49) is "Sparseness".
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Question: 5

Choose the best word for blank (50) in the passage above.

Show Hint

The theories are being criticized for lacking depth, not for being wrong.
Updated On: Jul 21, 2026
  • Showiness
  • Resistance
  • Certainty
  • Superficiality
Show Solution

The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Understanding the Question:
We need to complete the list "gaps in our knowledge, the sparseness of our observations, and the ___ of our theories" with a word describing a weakness in our current theories.

Step 2: Key Formula or Approach:
The sentence that follows says many aspects of planetary evolution "must be better understood", which tells us the missing word should mean the theories do not go deep enough yet.

Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
"Superficiality" means staying only on the surface, lacking depth, so "the superficiality of our theories" matches the idea that our theories are not yet deep or complete.
"Showiness" is about flashiness, not depth, and does not belong with the other weaknesses in the list.
"Resistance" means opposing something, which is not a quality that applies to a theory being incomplete.
"Certainty" is the opposite of the intended meaning, since the passage is stressing how much remains uncertain and poorly understood.

Step 4: Final Answer:
The word that best fits blank (50) is "Superficiality".
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Top Questions on Fill in the Blanks

Questions Asked in IBSAT exam

Although cynics may like to see the government’s policy for women in terms of the party’s internal power struggles, it will nevertheless be churlish to deny that it represents a pioneering effort aimed at bringing about sweeping social reforms. In its language, scope and strategies, the policy document displays a degree of understanding of women’s needs that is uncommon in government pronouncements. This is due in large part to the participatory process that marked its formulation, seeking the active involvement right from the start of women’s groups, academic institutions and non-government organizations with grass roots experience.
The result is not just a lofty declaration of principles but a blueprint for a practical programme of action. The policy delineates a series of concrete measures to accord women a decision-making role in the political domain and greater control over their economic status. Of especially far-reaching impact are the devolution of control of economic infrastructure to women, notably at the gram panchayat level, and the amendments proposed in the Hindu Succession Act of 1956 to give women coparcenary rights.
 An enlightened aspect of the policy is its recognition that actual change in the status of women cannot be brought about by the mere enactment of socially progressive legislation. Accordingly, it focuses on reorienting development programmes and sensitizing administrations to address specific situations as, for instance, the growing number of households headed by women, which is a consequence of rural-urban migration. The proposal to create an equal-opportunity police force and give women greater control of police stations is an acknowledgement of the biases and callousness displayed by the generally all-male lawenforcement authorities in cases of dowry and domestic violence. While the mere enunciation of such a policy has the salutary effect of sensitizing the administration as a whole, it does not make the task of its implementation any easier. 
This is because the changes it envisages in the political and economic status of women strike at the root of power structures in society and the basis of man woman relationships. There is also the danger that reservation for women in public life, while necessary for their greater visibility, could lapse into tokenism or become a tool in the hands of vote seeking politicians. Much will depend on the dissemination of the policy and the ability of elected representatives and government agencies to reorder their priorities.
  • IBSAT
  • Reading Comprehension
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Generally, people experience stress in their day-to-day lives, but more than thirty million Americans suffer from something more intense than that. Anxiety disorders are the second-most-common mental health problem in the country, and they can be paralyzing. Sometimes, day-to-day stress and anxiety are hard to tell apart, but the easiest way to distinguish them is that stress is brought on by actual events, and then dissipates, whereas anxiety is a more pervasive worry, that often attaches itself to specific areas of your life, like your relationship, job or health, says psychologist Terry Mooney.
This anxiety does not dissipate, and in fact, it can increase to the level where it begins to change your behavior. That’s when it’s characterized as an anxiety disorder. Anxiety can keep you safe, helping you recognize danger, and cope with it, says Mooney. But if you begin to see danger lurking around every corner, or worry over and over again about the same events, then you might be dealing with something more substantial, like an anxiety disorder. 
People with anxiety disorders often begin to avoid activities or circumstances that make them anxious, said John Forsyth, associate professor of Psychology at the State University of New York at Albany and director of the Anxiety Disorders Research Programme at the university. People may stop driving, or stop going to parties. They may stop travelling or even avoid leaving the house. It’s this curtailing of activities that causes the suffering, Forsyth said, making you feel that ‘life is shrinking around you.’
 Anxiety disorders come in a variety of forms and manifest themselves in different ways. Generalized anxiety disorder is characterized by ongoing worry about everyday tasks, even when there is no clear reason to worry. People with social anxiety disorder experience intense worry over social interactions, and often feel judged by people or worry that they will embarrass themselves. Post-traumatic stress disorder, which is characterized by people re-living a frightening event over and over again, is also considered an anxiety disorder. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is when people take on obsessive rituals that help them maintain the illusion of control. Often repetitive in nature, obsessive compulsive rituals can include cleaning, checking and rechecking something, counting or endlessly reviewing conversations in their mind. Treatment is available for anxiety disorders. People can use a variety of approaches, including therapy, medication and exercise.
  • IBSAT
  • Reading Comprehension
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I am the family face; flesh perishes. I live on, projecting trait and trace through time to times anon, and leaping from place to place over oblivion.
So wrote Thomas Hardy in his poem, Heredity, describing direct descent of life from one generation to the next. Indeed, the poem reflects the DNA in our genome. Dr.Drew Endy of MIT quoted this when he described how people at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) bypass nature’s constraint of direct descent. Scientists there have used chemistry and biochemistry to produce the first synthetic genome in the laboratory. They chemically synthesized many fragments of the DNA, encoding the 582,970-units-long genome of a bacterium called Mycoplasma genitalium. Next, they assembled these fragments in perfect order to generate the genome of the bacterium.
The DNA sequence of the synthetic one was confirmed to be identical to the natural one. While the DNA pieces were synthesized chemically, the stitching together was done using the biochemical machinery of a host cell. About 100 pieces of the genome, each 5000-7000 units long in DNA sequence, were first joined to produce 25 sub-assemblies, each about 24000 base pairs long. These were then introduced into the bacterium E. coli to produce sufficient DNA for the next steps. Next, they repeated the procedure to generate large fragments comprising l/4th of the whole genome of M.genitalium.
Now, they used the clever trick of exploiting the process called homologous recombination. This is a basic essential process in every cell, which physically rearranges the two strands of DN The JCVI researchers inserted the synthesized DNA fragments into yeast and utilized its homologous recombination ability to generate the whole 580,000 long genome of M.genitalium in one step. 
This is clearly a landmark work that leads into the brave new world of synthesizing life itself in the laboratory. It was hardly 200 years ago when Friedrich Wohler synthesized urea, an organic molecule, in the chemical laboratory, thus throwing out the notion of ‘vital forces’ involved in the components of living organisms. What is the next step, making life itself in the lab, bypassing nature? With single cell organisms like M.genitalium, it might not be far away. It is now possible in the lab to do so, by inserting the genome into a ‘host’ cell and asking the latter to make the bacterium of your choice. If only we find a way to insert the bacterial genome into this proto-cell, and somehow trigger it to make the bacterium itself! We would have chemically created life in the la This is not a pipedream; JCVI scientists are already on the job, and my bet is they will do it within a few years. 
This surely raises ethical questions, a matter that JCVI is keenly aware of and is already engaged in with ethicists. Even their present work on M.genitalium was done with prior approval of ethical experts. But then, today it is M.genitalium, tomorrow it could be a more advanced, multi-cellular organism, and that could flummox even the ethicist. Assisted reproduction, which is the other side of the coin and truly a recently initiated technology, has become ethically and morally acceptable. Cloning of Dolly, the sheep, has not raised any outrage, but cloning a human certainly does.
  • IBSAT
  • Reading Comprehension
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