CSAT Solved Papers/ 2021/Q51
2021 CSAT — Q51
Passage
The best universities like Harvard and MIT, despite having the luxury of having some truly excellent teachers on their payroll, are increasingly embracing the “flipped classroom” format, where students listen to video lectures at home, and spend class time applying their knowledge, solving problems, discussing examples, etc. Professors guide that discussion and fill in wherever necessary, explaining those bits that seem to be eluding the students and throwing in advanced ideas that happen to be topical. These universities have made their video lectures available free for anyone in the world. They are also encouraging colleges and universities all over the world to integrate these online courses into their own pedagogy, picking the pieces that are appropriate for their needs and building a package around them.
Which one of the following statements best reflects the central idea of the passage given above?
Thinking pathway
Locate. This asks for the central idea: find the option that fits the whole passage. The passage: top universities use the “flipped classroom,” and crucially “have made their video lectures available free for anyone in the world” and encourage others to integrate these courses. The thrust is access plus quality.
Test (thesis-vs-detail + scope-fit). The central idea is that quality higher education can be made easier and cheaper to access without diluting content (excellent teachers, free lectures, integrated by colleges worldwide). (b) states that. Test the rivals: (a) ranks online above conventional, but the passage describes a blend (flipped: video at home + applied class time), not a verdict that online is superior; (c) claims no infrastructure investment is needed, never stated; (d) predicts coaching/private institutes thriving, off-topic.
Eliminate by anatomy. (a) is too strong for what the passage says — “efficacy… better in online mode” turns a blended model into a superiority claim. (c) is not in the passage — “need not invest much in infrastructure” is extraneous. (d) is not in the passage — coaching institutes “thriving” is not the passage’s point. The transferable rule: the central idea inherits the passage’s balance — here, wider, cheaper access without diluting content. Key: (b).
Evidence in the text
“These universities have made their video lectures available free for anyone in the world. They are also encouraging colleges and universities all over the world to integrate these online courses into their own pedagogy, picking the pieces that are appropriate for their needs and building a package around them.” — free, high-quality lectures from top universities, integrated by others, make higher education cheaper and more accessible without losing quality → (b). (a) over-claims online is “better” than conventional (the passage describes a blended flipped model, not a ranking); (c) “need not invest in infrastructure” is unstated; (d) coaching/private institutes “thriving” is out of scope.
Worked rationale
The passage shows elite universities flipping the classroom and giving away their video lectures free, encouraging colleges everywhere to integrate them — making good higher education cheaper and more widely available without sacrificing quality.
- (b) captures that: education made easier and cheaper without diluting content. Correct.
- (a) over-claims online superiority; the model is blended, not “online is better.”
- (c) invents a no-infrastructure claim.
- (d) shifts to coaching/private institutes thriving, off the passage’s theme.
Answer: (b).
Why the other options miss
- A too strong for what the passage says: “efficacy… better in online mode… as compared to conventional” recasts a flipped/blended model as a ranking favouring online, which the passage does not assert.
- C not in the passage: “need not invest much in infrastructure” is a claim the passage never makes.
- D not in the passage: the fate of coaching/private institutes is not the passage’s subject.
Specialist insight
The seductive distractor is (a): the passage is enthusiastic about online lectures, so “online is better” feels endorsed. But read precisely — the model is a flip (video at home, application in class), a blend, not a contest won by online. (b) keeps the passage’s actual claim: access made easier and cheaper without diluting content. On central-idea items, a passage’s enthusiasm for a tool does not license an option that ranks that tool above the alternative unless the passage makes the comparison.
The passage describes a blended flipped model, not "online beats conventional" (a); its idea is cheaper, wider access without diluting content, so (b).