Directions : Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow…
2023
Directions : Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow by selecting the correct/most appropriate option.
A majority of people think that their dream job is too hard to achieve, too competitive and believe that it is all a matter of luck. All this is true actually, but why should that stop anyone from trying to get the job they really want ? A really determined person will always succeed and, in many ways, will need other people to give up trying so that he can succeed.
Many job seekers feel limited by the choices they made at college. They may think that because they studied marketing, all they can ever do is work in marketing. All the evidence shows that, in fact, employers are less interested in acquired knowledge than the ability to think and learn. It is also very difficult to predict the needs of society. For example, if a person chose to study dentistry because there was a lack of dentists when he was in high school, that may not be the case when he graduates. The needs of employers and the economy can change very quickly, and often unexpectedly.
Of course, if it is a very tough time economically, it is hard to find employment straight after university, but it is by no means impossible. It might take several months longer to find a job after graduating, but there is work out there. A really key piece of advice is never to get downhearted by rejection because there will probably be a lot you can do to achieve your dream job, whatever it is. You must never give up. Be prepared to work hard and for long hours without necessarily climbing up the career ladder. There is a lot to be said for learning your trade from the bottom up. At the start, there will probably be little money, but it will be worth it in the end. The best jobs are not supposed to be easy — that is what makes them challenging. And if you like a challenge, just keep your head down and go for it.
Read the following statements and choose the correct option :
Assertion (A) : It is quite easy to get a job immediately after graduating from a university.
Reason (R) : The economic scenario regarding job generation is difficult.
- A.
(A) does not justify (R).
- B.
Both (A) and (R) are incorrect.
- C.
(A) is incorrect, but (R) is correct.
- D.
Both (A) and (R) are correct.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
In an Assertion–Reason ‘True / False / Cannot Say’ item drawn from a reading passage, the Assertion and the Reason are each checked independently against how the passage AS A WHOLE portrays the situation, not against a single isolated line read in strict formal logic — a statement is judged true when the passage’s overall portrayal depicts it as accurate, and false when the passage’s overall portrayal points the other way. The correct option is the one whose paired judgment best matches the picture the passage as a whole paints, confirmed here by the exam’s own official answer key.
The Assertion claims that finding a job immediately after graduating is quite easy. The passage’s overall portrayal points the other way: the first paragraph concedes that a dream job is ‘too hard to achieve, too competitive’ (‘All this is true actually’); the third paragraph adds that it ‘might take several months longer to find a job after graduating,’ urges the reader to ‘be prepared to work hard and for long hours,’ and to expect — and not be discouraged by — rejection. Taken together, these repeated signals portray landing a job as effortful and often delayed rather than something quite easy to do immediately, so, judged against the passage’s overall portrayal, the Assertion does not hold.
The Reason claims that the economic scenario around job generation is difficult. The passage does not assert this as an unconditional fact — its account opens with a conditional, ‘Of course, if it is a very tough time economically…’ — but the passage’s overall portrayal treats that difficulty as the real backdrop it is responding to: the second paragraph separately states that ‘the needs of employers and the economy can change very quickly, and often unexpectedly,’ and the third paragraph’s entire message is a call to persevere despite hardship in finding work, rather than a description of an easy job market. Read against the passage’s overall portrayal of the job-market climate — rather than as a strict formal entailment from the conditional clause alone — the Reason is supported by the text; this is also the reading the exam’s own official answer key adopts.
Checking the remaining combinations against this overall portrayal rules them out:
The option stating both statements are correct would require the passage’s overall portrayal of hiring to be one of ease and speed, which its statements about delay, hard work, and expected rejection point against.
The option stating both statements are incorrect would require the passage’s overall portrayal of the economic and employer landscape to be easy rather than difficult, but the second and third paragraphs both point to a difficult, unpredictable landscape instead.
The option about whether the Assertion would justify the Reason addresses the relationship between the two statements rather than each one’s own standing against the passage’s overall portrayal; since the Assertion itself does not hold against that portrayal, and the exam’s own official key treats the option stating that the Assertion is incorrect while the Reason is correct as the intended answer, this relationship-based option is not the one the item is keyed to.
Since the Assertion does not hold against the passage’s overall portrayal of effortful, delayed hiring, while the Reason is supported by the passage’s overall portrayal of a difficult, unpredictable job market, the option stating that the Assertion is incorrect but the Reason is correct is the one the text — and the exam’s own official CTET (20 August 2023, Paper II) answer key — support.