NinetynineCAT 2023 Slot 3 VARC Q24 Para Summary
Question 24 of the Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) section, CAT 2023 Slot 3, with CAT's official answer and a worked solution.
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
The weight of society's expectations is hardly a new phenomenon but it has become particularly draining over recent decades, perhaps because expectations themselves are so multifarious and contradictory. The perfectionism of the 1950s was rooted in the norms of mass culture and captured in famous advertising images of the ideal white American family that now seem self-satirising. In that era, perfectionism meant seamlessly conforming to values, behaviour and appearance: chiselled confidence for men, demure graciousness for women. The perfectionist was under pressure to look like everyone else, only more so. The perfectionists of today, by contrast, feel an obligation to stand out through their idiosyncratic style and wit if they are to gain a foothold in the attention economy.
The weight of society's expectations is hardly a new phenomenon but it has become particularly draining over recent decades, perhaps because expectations themselves are so multifarious and contradictory. The perfectionism of the 1950s was rooted in the norms of mass culture and captured in famous advertising images of the ideal white American family that now seem self-satirising. In that era, perfectionism meant seamlessly conforming to values, behaviour and appearance: chiselled confidence for men, demure graciousness for women. The perfectionist was under pressure to look like everyone else, only more so. The perfectionists of today, by contrast, feel an obligation to stand out through their idiosyncratic style and wit if they are to gain a foothold in the attention economy.
- AThough long-standing, the pressure to appear perfect and thereby attract attention, has evolved over time from one of conformism to one of non-conformism.
- BThe pressure to appear perfect has been the cause of tension and conflict because the idea itself has been in a state of flux and hard to define.
- CThe desire to attract attention is so deep-rooted in individual consciousness that people are willing to go to any lengths to achieve it.
- DThe image of perfectionism is reflected in and perpetuated by the media; and people do their best to adhere to these ideals.
Answer: (A) Though long-standing, the pressure to appear perfect and thereby attract attention, has evolved over time from one of conformism to one of non-conformism. Para Summary MCQ
Solution
- Core: pressure to be perfect is old, but it has changed from 1950s conformity ('look like everyone else, only more so') to today's need to stand out.
- A states that shift from conformism to non-conformism. B and D miss the change over time; C exaggerates the desire for attention.