In the following question a short passage is given with one of the lines in…
2025
In the following question a short passage is given with one of the lines in the passage missing and represented by a blank. Select the best out of the four answer choices given, to make the passage complete and coherent.
The USP of the CISCE was the freedom it afforded to every school to design its own curriculum till Standard VIII. Guidelines have been available in abundance and schools derived great pleasure in researching, comparing, collating and adopting best practices in India and abroad. Another instance of that freedom was in selecting textbooks. __________ Another plus point of the system was the ISC examination, which was an adaptation of the Cambridge or General Certificate of Education O' Level examination. So, in the good old days, the philosophy of not ranking students, not mentioning the aggregate or precise marks was strictly followed; only subject-wise points were indicated.
- A.
The ISC examination is considered to be the most testing challenge in a student's school academics.
- B.
Only literature texts were prescribed for the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education and Indian School Certificate (ISC) examinations.
- C.
Now, the textbooks have been done away with as well.
- D.
The ISC examination will be scrapped as well.
Attempted by 1 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
In a passage-completion (missing-sentence) question, the correct choice must do two things: continue the idea of the sentence immediately before the blank, and avoid stating anything that the sentence right after the blank is about to introduce as a fresh point. Pre-empting that upcoming point inside the blank creates redundancy and breaks the passage's logical flow.
Applying this to the passage: the sentence before the blank is about the freedom in selecting textbooks, and the sentence after the blank opens with "Another plus point of the system was the ISC examination" — so making the ISC examination itself the subject of a claim or judgement is off-limits for the blank (a sentence that merely names the ICSE/ISC board's exams while still talking about textbooks is different from making a claim about the ISC examination itself).
The sentence calling the ISC examination "the most testing challenge in a student's school academics" already evaluates the ISC examination — the very point the next sentence is about to introduce separately. This is a premature, redundant mention.
The sentence about only literature texts being prescribed for the ICSE and ISC examinations stays on the topic of the previous line (freedom in selecting textbooks) and gives a concrete instance of that freedom — it names the ICSE/ISC board's exams only as the context for which texts were prescribed, without making any claim or judgement about the ISC examination itself, so it bridges cleanly into the following, separate point about the exam.
The sentence claiming textbooks have since been done away with contradicts the passage, which is describing an active practice of schools exercising freedom in selecting textbooks — nothing suggests textbooks were later discontinued.
The sentence claiming the ISC examination will be scrapped again evaluates the ISC examination pre-emptively, and directly conflicts with the following sentence, which praises the ISC examination as "another plus point" of the system.
Reading the passage with the literature-texts sentence inserted confirms an unbroken flow: freedom in selecting textbooks, a concrete example of that freedom, then a separate point about the ISC examination. That completion keeps the passage coherent, so it is the correct choice.