CAT para summary practice: 10 questions with answers

The method

1. Write the point first. Before reading the options, write one line: the author argues that... because...
2. Match. Pick the option closest to your line.
3. Eliminate the traps. Detail, extreme language, out of scope and partial summary.
4. Keep the contrast. If two options survive, choose the one that keeps the author’s turn or condition.

Para summary: the full method with a worked example →

Practice set: 10 questions

1. Question 1

   The spread of cheap smartphones has made cameras ubiquitous. Yet the number of photographs people print or revisit has fallen. We now photograph experiences less to remember them than to share them in the moment. The photograph has shifted from being an archive to being a message.

   ACheap smartphones have increased how many photographs we take but have reduced their quality.BPhotographs today serve more as instant communication than as records kept for memory.CPeople should print their photographs again if they want to preserve their memories.DSharing photographs online has become far more popular than printing them in an album.
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2. Question 2

   Cities often respond to traffic congestion by building wider roads. For a while, journeys become faster. But faster roads attract drivers who previously took other routes, travelled at other times, or did not travel at all. Within a few years congestion usually returns to its earlier level. Economists call this induced demand.

   AWidening roads attracts new traffic, so the relief it brings is usually temporary.BWider roads make journeys faster, which is the reason cities keep on building them.CCities ought to invest in public transport instead of building ever-wider roads.DEconomists still disagree about whether building new roads reduces congestion.
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3. Question 3

   Many early inventions were dismissed as toys. The telephone was seen as a novelty, the personal computer as a hobbyist’s gadget. What looks trivial at first often lacks only the infrastructure and habits that will later make it essential. Judging a technology by its first form is judging a seed by its size.

   AInventors are usually misunderstood and undervalued by the people of their own time.BThe telephone and the personal computer were both first dismissed as mere toys.CAn invention’s first, trivial form says little about its later importance.DNew technologies succeed only once governments build the infrastructure they need.
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4. Question 4

   Students who reread their notes feel confident because the material looks familiar. But familiarity is not the same as the ability to recall. Testing yourself, by trying to retrieve answers without looking, feels harder and less productive. Yet it produces far stronger long-term memory.

   ARereading notes is a waste of time, and serious students should avoid it entirely.BStudents feel more confident after rereading their notes than after testing themselves.CLong-term memory depends more on familiarity with material than on active recall.DSelf-testing feels less effective than rereading but builds much stronger memory.
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5. Question 5

   Endangered languages are often described as dying of natural causes. In fact, most decline because speakers are made to feel that their language is a barrier to success. Parents stop passing it on, not because it has stopped working, but because they want their children to get ahead. Language loss is usually a social choice made under pressure.

   ALanguages mostly die when pressured speakers stop passing them on.BEndangered languages die of natural causes, in much the same way as species do.CParents should make sure that their children learn to speak their mother tongue.DMost of the world’s endangered languages will disappear within a generation.
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6. Question 6

   Forest fires are usually seen only as disasters. Yet many forests evolved with periodic fire, which clears undergrowth and releases seeds. Decades of suppressing every fire allowed fuel to accumulate, making the eventual fires far larger. Managing forests may mean allowing, or even setting, smaller fires.

   AForest fires are natural disasters that must be prevented by every means available.BBecause many forests rely on fire, suppressing every fire can make later ones worse.CMany kinds of forest release their seeds only after the heat of a passing fire.DGovernments have spent far too much money on fighting forest fires in recent decades.
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7. Question 7

   We often think of boredom as wasted time. Psychologists increasingly argue that it is a signal: a sign that our current activity no longer engages us. Like hunger, it prompts us to look for something more meaningful. Constantly removing boredom with phones may silence a useful message.

   ABoredom is a sign of an unhealthy and unproductive way of spending one’s time.BPeople tend to reach for their phones as soon as they begin to feel bored.CPsychologists have only recently begun to take boredom seriously as a subject.DBoredom is a useful signal to seek meaning, which phones may silence.
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8. Question 8

   The printing press is credited with spreading knowledge. It also spread misinformation: pamphlets full of rumours and forgeries circulated as quickly as scholarly works. Societies took generations to develop institutions, such as editors and reputable publishers, that helped readers tell the two apart. Every new medium of information seems to need such filters before its benefits are secure.

   AThe printing press did more harm than good, because it spread rumours so widely.BEditors and publishers were first created specifically to stop the spread of rumours.CNew media spread falsehood too, until filtering institutions emerge.DSocial media today is simply the modern equivalent of the early printing press.
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9. Question 9

   A team of stars does not always beat a team of good players. When everyone expects to be the decisive figure, cooperation suffers. Studies of football and basketball teams suggest that beyond a certain point, adding top talent lowers performance. Teams need roles, not just quality.

   ATeams perform best when all of their players have roughly the same level of skill.BFootball and basketball teams are a popular subject for research on performance.CToo many stars can hurt a team, because every team needs players with defined roles.DStar players are usually selfish, so coaches would do better to avoid signing them.
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10. Question 10

    Writing by hand is slower than typing. That slowness is often treated as its main weakness. But students who take notes by hand must summarise rather than transcribe, and this processing seems to improve understanding. The inefficiency is part of the benefit.

    AHandwriting’s slowness forces summarising, which aids understanding, so it is useful.BTyping is much faster than handwriting, which is why most students now prefer it.CSchools should ban laptops in classrooms so that students take notes only by hand.DNotes taken by hand are always more accurate than notes typed on a laptop.
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