Why a line, example or reference is in the passage — science and technology passages

CAT has tested this idea 16 times across 10 papers, from 2017 to 2025. Solve one, and the others are the same method with different numbers or wording, which is why repeated concepts are the most efficient thing to practise.

QuestionWhat it asksAnswer
CAT 2017 Slot 1 · VARC Q21speciation; why mayr, ehrlich and raven are discussed togetherC
CAT 2017 Slot 2 · VARC Q10the subnivium; what the crowberry and alpine azalea examples demonstrateD
CAT 2017 Slot 2 · VARC Q12the subnivium; what the blanket in paragraph 1 is used as a device forC
CAT 2018 Slot 1 · VARC Q10elephant aggression; what the 'fabric of elephant society frayed' phrase doesD
CAT 2018 Slot 1 · VARC Q21epigenetics vs natural selection; what the dog-walker metaphor is there to argueA
CAT 2018 Slot 1 · VARC Q3single-use plastic; what the author's word 'lie' refers toA
CAT 2018 Slot 1 · VARC Q4single-use plastic; force of 'hammering a nail to halt a falling skyscraper'C
CAT 2018 Slot 2 · VARC Q20saturn's rings and moons after cassini; what the laundry-and-smokestack image explainsC
CAT 2018 Slot 2 · VARC Q8grove snails; what makes the author rule out convergent evolutionA
CAT 2019 Slot 1 · VARC Q12emperor penguin plumage; why the author calls the heat mechanism 'paradoxically'B
CAT 2021 Slot 3 · VARC Q5accuracy and entropy in clocks; purpose of the fuel-use-in-a-car exampleA
CAT 2022 Slot 3 · VARC Q5bios and technos converging; explain 'part of this bionic convergence is a matter of words'D
CAT 2022 Slot 3 · VARC Q8the organic and the manufactured as one being; restate the point of the quoted lineA
CAT 2024 Slot 1 · VARC Q6wild deserts preserve; why the text uses the word 'exclosures'D
CAT 2024 Slot 2 · VARC Q13unintended consequences; what the carrier, babbage and edison examples illustrateA
CAT 2025 Slot 2 · VARC Q8cavefish eye loss; what explains why the 'apparent inefficiency' is unavoidableA

Part of RC · Science & Technology (138 questions since 2017).