TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

ADMISSION TEST 2008–2010

Admission for various Master’s Degree Programmes
Admission Test Date: 20th January, 2008

PART-I

SAMPLE QUESTIONS
Part-I of the Admission Test will assess analytical reasoning, quantitative ability and
awareness about contemporary social iss ues. It will consist of 50 questions to be
completed in ONE HOUR. All questions will be compulsory and will carry equal marks.
Details about Part-I are given below:

SECTION I: Analytical Reasoning and Quantitative Ability

This section will test analytical reasoning and quantitative ability. The total number of
questions will be 20. You are expected to select the correct answer from the given options.
1. The difference between two numbers x and y is 50. Seven times the smaller number
is twice the greater number. Find the numbers.
(a) 70, 20 (b) 75, 25
(c) 55, 5 (d) 15, 65

2. The figure below gives the distribution of a variety of resource materials in a library.
If there are 3000 resources kept in the libra ry, what is the number of print materials
in the library?
Audio
Cassettes
Film CDs 5% Books
10% 20%

Magazines
10%

Journals
55%

(a) 2450 (b) 2550

(c) 2575 (d) 2500
 14
3. Solve 15m + 29 =
m
7 5 7 2
(a) , (b) – ,
3 2 3 5
7 −2 −3 5
(c) , (d) ,
3 5 7 2
4. The distance between two opposite corners of a rectangle field is 34 m and the
length of the field exceeds its breadth by 14 m. Find the area of the field.
(a) 420 sq.m. (b) 490 sq.m.
(c) 410 sq.m. (d) 480 sq.m.

Answers: 1. – (a) 2. – (b)

3. – (b) 4. – (d)

SECTION II: Verbal Reasoning

This section, consisting of 20 questions, will assess verbal reasoning. You are required to
select the most appropriate answer from the given options.

1. We began our journey _____ daybreak in order to reach Ooty by night.

(a) on (b) from
(c) at (d) in

2. We all should learn to eschew violence. The word eschew means

(a) avoid (b) fight
(c) oppose (d) negate

3. Sword: fight as pen: ________

(a) paper (b) novel
(c) ink (d) write

4. It is always better to speak one’s mind even if this sometimes lands one in trouble.
(a) be silent (b) speak the truth
(c) say what one really feels (d) do not offend people

5. Match the words in the first column to their meanings in the second.
1. atheist A. one who claims that ultimate reality is
unknowable
2. arsonist B. one who does not believe in God
3. agnostic C. one who does selfless work
 4. altruist D. one who is ambitious
E. one who deliberately sets fire to property
(a) 1– B 2– E 3–A 4– C
(b) 1– D 2– C 3–B 4– A
(c) 1– B 2– A 3–C 4– D
(d) 1– C 2– B 3–D 4– A

Comprehension Passage
“Words are only ‘symbols’ of things — they are not the things themselves. (This, by the
way, is one of the basic tenets of semantics.) But many people identify the word and the
thing so closely that they fear to use certain words that symbolise things that are
unpleasant to them. I know this is confusing, so let me illustrate.
Words to do with death, sex, certain portions of the anatomy, excretion, etc., are avoided
by certain people. These people prefer circumlocutions — words that ‘talk around’ an
idea or that mean or imply something but don’t c ome right out and say so directly.”

6. According to the passage, people use circumlocutions because

(a) they like to avoid saying things directly
(b) they like to say things in a circular manner
(c) they like to use complex language
(d) they avoid words that symbolise unpleasant things

7. When people don’t say things directly we can say

(a) they do not call a spade a spade
(b) they do not talk in a direct tone
(c) they use symbolic language
(d) they use scholarly language

Answers: 1. – (c) 2. – (a) 3. – (d)

4. – (c) 5. – (a) 6. – (d)
7. – (a)
 SECTION III: Awareness about Contemporary Social Issues

This section will test awareness and knowledge about contemporary social issues. There
will be 10 questions in this section. You are required to select the most appropriate
answer from the given options.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS:

1. The mid-day meal scheme is meant to ensure

(a) children eat tasty meals (b) children attend schools
(c) children get nutrition (d) children are happy

2. Which organisation shared the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 jointly with Al Gore?
(a) International Panel on Climate Change
(b) Interna tional Political Consortium on Climate
(c) Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change
(d) None of the Above

3. India’s problems can be said to be mainly linked to

(a) our population growth (b) unequal distribution of resources
(c) religious orthodoxy (d) diversity of our population

Answers: 1. – (b) 2. – (c) 3. – (b)

 TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ADMISSION TEST 2008–2010
Admission Test Date: 20th January, 2008

M.A. HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AND

LABOUR RELATIONS
PART–II:
BUSINESS KNOWLEDGE, ANALYTICAL ABILITY AND QUANTITATIVE
ABLITLY (Revised)

There will be questions from Business, Trade, Industry, Economy, General Management
and Basic Human Resource Management.
A total of 50 questions will be asked and all questions will be compulsory. Read each
question and record the appropriate answer on the given OMR Sheet. The total time will
be ONE HOUR.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS

1. Which agency regulates the stock market in India?

(a) Planning Commission (b) Finance Commission
(c) SEBI (d) None of the above

2. F.W. Taylor is known for his work on:

(a) Scientific Management (b) Linking Pin
(c) Hawthorne Experiments (d) Principles of Administration

3. EPZ stands for:

(a) Electronic Processing Zone (b) Export Planning Zone
(c) Export Processing Zone (d) Electronic Promotion Zone

4. The process of studying and collecting information relating to a specific job is

known as:
(a) Job Specification (b) Job Analysis
(c) Motion Study (d) Job Description

5. A set of performance simulation tests designed to evaluate a candidate’s managerial

potential is known as:
(a) Work Sampling (b) Assessment Centre
(c) 360° Appraisal (d) None of the above
The short Case/Passage related to Human Resource Management / General Management
/ Business followed by a set of questions drawn from the Case/ Passage. Record the
appropriate answer on the OMR Sheet given.
 SAMPLE CASE:
McMillan Auto Parts Ltd. has increased its production rate considerably over the last
three years. In view of that it has recruited additional staff to keep pace with the growing
demand. The Human Resource Manager has noticed that the candidates he selects as
successful applicants for different positions either do not match up with his expectations
while on the job, or leave after a brief period of employment.

6. Which of the following is the most likely explanation for this situation?
(a) The starting salary for the new hires was not competitive with that of the rest of
the industry.
(b) The new hires lacked the basic skills required to learn the job.
(c) The training process to prepare the new hires for their assigned tasks was
inadequate.
(d) The health benefits provided by the company were not competitive with those
of the rest of the industry.

7. Which of the following process would help McMillan Auto Parts Ltd. in its process
of recruitment?
(a) Performance appraisal (b) Job evaluation
(c) Job analysis (d) Potential appraisal

8. A Woman travelled from point A to point B at 3 kmph. She took rest for 30 minutes
at point B and then returned to point A at 5 kmph. If the tital time taken was 3 hours
26 minutes, what is the distance between point A and B ?
(a) 4.5 kms (b) 5.5 kms
(c) 8 kms (d) 10 kms

9. A rectangular play field is 120 m by 50 m. If students are standing along its diagonal
at 10 m interval, how many students are standing along the diagonal?
(a) 12 (b) 16
(c) 14 (d) 10

Answers:
1. – (c) 2. – (a)
3. – (c) 4. – (b)
5. – (b)
6. – (c) 7. – (c)
8. – (b) 9. – (c)
TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ADMISSION TEST 2008–2010
Admission Test Date: 20th January, 2008

M.A. SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

PART-II

The questions in this SECTION will attempt to assess the candidate’s awareness of
issues related to entrepreneurship. A total of 50 questions will be asked and all questions
will be compulsory. You will be required to read each question and record the
appropriate answer on the OMR Sheet given. Total time for this Section will be ONE
HOUR.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS

1. Social entrepreneurs are highly effective in creating

(a) social value (b) economic value
(c) both of the above (d) none of the above

2. Who pioneered the term ‘Social Entrepreneurship’?

(a) Bill Drayton (b) Mohammed Yunus
(c) Ela Bhat (d) Bijay Mahajan

3. NABARD has promoted

(a) SHG-Commercial Bank Linkage Programme
(b) SHG-Bank Linkage Programme
(c) SHG-Cooperative Bank Linkage Programme
(d) None of the above

4. Social Enterprises can be set up by

(a) Government (b) NGOs
(c) Corporate (d) All of the above

5. Micro-credit has emerged as a

(a) poverty alleviation tool (b) gender equality tool
(c) income equality tool (d) none of the above

Answers: 1 – (c) 2. – (a)

3. – (b) 4. – (d)
5. – (a)
 TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ADMISSION TEST 2008–2010
Admission Test Date: 20th January, 2008

M.A. GLOBALISATION AND LABOUR

PART-II

The questions in this SECTION will attempt to assess the candidate’s awareness of
issues related to globalisation, labour and society. A total of 50 questions will be asked
and all questions will be compulsory. You will be required to read each question and
record the appropriate answer on the OMR Sheet given. Total time for this Section will
be ONE HOUR.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS

1. “Another World is Possible” is the slogan of:

(a) United Nations (b) International Labour Organization
(c) World Economic Forum (d) World Social Forum

2. The term “informal sector’ was coined by:

(a) Keith Hart (b) Hernando De Sotto
(c) Manual Castells (d) Victor Tokman

3. The author of “The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid” is

(a) Hernando De Sotto (b) Mohammed Yunus
(c) C.K. Prahalad (d) Ela Bhatt

4. Self-Employed Women’s Association is:

(a) An NGO working among women doctors, lawyers and professionals in Ahmedabad.
(b) A trade union of women workers in the informal sector.
(c) An NGO working among the urban poor.
(d) A group of Gandhians who believe in performing service to the poor.

Answers: 1 – (d) 2 – (a)

3 – (c) 4 – (b)
 TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ADMISSION TEST 2008–2010
Admission Test Date: 20th January, 2008

MASTERS OF HEALTH AND HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATION

PART-II

This part of the test will be descriptive in nature and will assess, awareness about issues
related to health and development. Candidates will be expected to write TWO ESSAYS
of 1500 to 2000 words each out of a total of four topics given. The topics will deal with
social and/or broad health-related issues. Evaluation will be done on the basis of content,
topical relevance and some illustrations.

SAMPLE TOPICS

1. Health and well-being of children depends largely on the health and resources of the
mother. Comment

2. India’s health problems are persisting because doctors on the whole prefer to work
in the city rather than in the rural areas. Comment

3. Communicable diseases combined with malnutrition are the main causes of death
and ill-health in poor countries. Comment
 TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ADMISSION TEST 2008–2010
Admission Test Date: 20th January, 2008

M.A. DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

PART-II

This test is divided into TWO SECTIONS: Section-I is on Verbal Reasoning and
Ability, and Section-II is on Quantitative Ability and Reasoning.

SECTION I: Verbal Reasoning

Section-I has a comprehension passage, followed by a few questions based on the
passage, this requires you to remember main ideas and details. This is followed by a few
synonyms where you will be required to identify the word closest in meaning to the word
first given. The synonyms section will be followed by an opposite section, where you
will be required to identify the word meaning the opposite of the word first given. The
last set of items in this section is completion, where you will be expected to choose the
words that best complete the meaning of the sentence given.

Synonyms: From the four choices given to you, identify the word that comes closest in
meaning to the word first given. Use the Answer-Sheet given to record your answers.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS

1. Succulent
(a) Juicy (b) Prolific
(c) Arid (d) Burdensome

2. Calumny
(a) Ceremonial pipe (b) Slander
(c) Evil (d) Gossip

Answers: 1. – (a) 2. – (b)

Opposite: From the four choices given to you, select the word that is opposite in
meaning to the word first given. Use the Answer-Sheet given to record your answers.
3. Obviate
(a) Make necessary (b) Simplify
(c) Grasp (d) Reform
 4. Dilatory
(a) Hairy (b) Punctual
(c) Ruined (d) Happy-go-lucky
Answers: 3. – (a) 4. – (b)

Completion: Select from the set of words that word which best completes the meaning
of the statement as a whole. Use the Answer-Sheet given to record your answers.
5. The hot, humid day made me feel completely ______________________; I sank
back weakly into the chair.
(a) Sapient (b) Energetic
(c) Enervated (d) Protracted

6. The consequences of the establishment of the colonies were a rapid and careless
_______________________ of natural resources, and ________________________
human suffering.
(a) Depletion — appalling (b) Disappearance — planned
(c) Cancellation — remarkable (d) Development — unfailing
Answers: 5. – (c) 6. – (a)

SECTION-II: Quantitative Ability and Reasoning

This section has items which require quantitative reasoning. You are required to select
the correct answer from the given options.
In a survey of 250 Indian travellers, 93 have travelled to Africa, 155 have travelled to
other parts of Asia, and 70 have travelled to both of these continents as shown in the
Venn diagram below.

Africa Asia
93 70 155

1. How many travellers have travelled to Africa but not to Asia?

(a) 23 (b) 26
(c) 32 (d) Is not possible to determine from the
data given

2. How many travellers have travelled to at least one of the continents, Africa and
Asia?
(a) 166 (b) 158
(c) 178 (d) Is not possible to determine from the
data given
 3. How many have travelled neither to Africa nor to Asia?
(a) 76 (b) 85
(c) 72 (d) 56

Answers: 1. – (a) 2. – (c)

3. – (c)
 TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ADMISSION TEST 2008–2010
Admission Test Date: 20th January, 2008

M.A. MEDIA AND CULTURAL STUDIES

PART-II

This paper will consist of THREE passages, with FOUR questions asked after each
passage. Candidates will have to choose TWO out of THREE passages provided and
answer the questions that follow. A sample of two passages and the questions is given
below:

SAMPLE PASSAGES

THE LOOK
Excerpt from: Rosalind Coward, Female Desire, Paladin, 1984, pp 80 - 82
Advertising in this society builds precisely on the creation of an anxiety to the effect that,
unless we measure up, we will not be loved. We are set to work on an ever increasing
number of areas of the body, labouring to perfect and eroticise an ever-increasing number
of erotogenic zones. Every minute region of the body is now exposed to this scrutiny by
the ideal.
This is not only the strict grip of the cultural ideal; it is also the multiplication of areas of
the body accessible to marketing. Here, areas not previously seen as a sexual have been
sexualised. And being sexualised, they come under the scrutiny of the ideal. New areas
constructed as sensitive and sexual, capable of stimulation and excitation, capable of
attracting attention, are new areas requiring work and products. Advertisements set in
motion work and the desire for products.
Where women’s behaviour was previously controlled directly by state, family or church,
control of women is now also effected through the scrutiny of women by individual
ideals. Photography, film and television offer themselves as transparent recordings of
reality. But it is in these media where the definitions are tightest, where the female body
is most carefully scripted with the prevailing ideals. Women internalise the damage
created by these media; it is the damage of being the differentiated and therefore the
defined sex. Women become the sex, the sex differentiated from the norm which is
masculine. Women are the sex which is constantly questioned, explained, defined. And as
the defined sex, women are put to work by the images. The command created by an
image-obsessed culture is ‘Do some work! Transform yourself! Look better! Be more
erotic!’ And through this command to meet the ideal, out society writes one message loud
and clear across the female body. Do not act. Do not desire. Wait for men’s attention.
1. How does the author see social control over women’s bodies as being exercised in
present day society?
2. What role do the media play in this exercise of social control?
 3. How does this benefit the beauty and other related industries?
4. How relevant do you think this analysis is to the Indian context? Substantiate with
examples.

GOOGLE'S SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE IN TROUBLE

10 Oct 2006
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2136970.cms

AURANGABAD: The Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court has directed the
Maharashtra government to issue notice to Google for the alleged spread of hatred about
India by its social network service ‘Orkut'.
The order was issued by Justice A P Deshpande and Justice R M Borde Monday in
response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by local Advocate Yugant R
Marlapalle.
A picture of burning the national tricolour, bearing anti-India message, has been put on
www.orkut.com and a community "We Hate India" has been created on the site, the
petition said.
The petition has also appealed to the government to appoint a `controller' under the
Information Technology Act-2000 to regulate all such communities being in operation on
the internet.
Orkut is an online community that connects people through a network of friends. The
website is providing an online meeting place to socialise, make new acquaintances and
find others with common interests.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled after six weeks.
1. Is regulation of on-line web content possible and or desirable? Please give reasons
for your choice
2. How do social networking sites redefine the idea of community?
3. Do you think that a site like this is a threat to the idea of India?
4. Does the Internet democratize the flows of information? Please substantiate your
view.
 TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ADMISSION TEST 2008–2010
Admission Test Date: 20th January, 2008

M.A. EDUCATION (ELEMENTARY)

PART-II
This part of the test consists of four sections. All questions are compulsory, and carry
different marks which are indicated against each question. The total duration of this test
is one hour.
Candidates will be expected to be conversant with issues in education, such as those
relating to broader debates in the Indian context, educational aims and goals, school
curriculum and pedagogy. It should be noted that this test in not intended to test language
skills but to test abilities to reflect critically on situations and articulate positions.
Section I consists of an essay question, in which you will be asked to select one topic out
of the three given to write an essay of about 750 words. The topics will pertain to current
debates in education in the Indian context. (e.g., ‘The need to revamp teacher education’.)
Section II will involve writing short comments to the given 5-6 statements that deal with
schooling and the practice of teaching and learning. (e.g., ‘The teacher should teach the
correct methods and answers in the classroom.’)
Section III describes a real-life classroom situation which you have to comment on with
respect to a question that is posed.
Section IV is a comprehension passage followed by two questions.
 TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ADMISSION TEST 2008–2010
Admission Test Date: 20th January, 2008

M.A./M.Sc. DISASTER MANAGEMENT

PART-II

This test will be divided into TWO SECTIONS, A and B. Candidates will be required to
choose one question from each section. Each section carries equal marks and the word
limit for each answer is 750 words.

In both sections, one question has to be answered out of the two given options.
Time: One Hour.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
SECTION A
(25 Marks)
1. “Possession of Nuclear bomb will solve the security problems faced by India today”.
Do you agree with this? Justify your answer.

SECTION B
(25 Marks)
1. The flood waters in villages of Bihar where you work have receded after three days
of heavy downpour. People who were evacuated are to return. Briefly describe the
situation in evacuation sites and discuss how would you lead the entire process of
returning to one’s homes?