NDA (II) 2018 General Ability Test · Question 7 of 146

Correct — B, 'firm beliefs'. A conviction is a belief held with certainty, held firmly enough to act on. The sentence speaks of convictions deep enough to show in the speaker's work, and 'firm beliefs' says precisely that.

• (a)ideas and opinions — Too weak — an opinion may be held lightly and dropped tomorrow, while a conviction is held with certainty.
• (c)prejudices — A prejudice is an unfavourable judgement made before the evidence is in; a conviction need be neither unfavourable nor unreasoned.
• (d)biases — A bias is a leaning to one side, usually an unfair one, not a settled belief about what is true.

'Conviction' names a belief held with certainty. The choices around it are all weaker or more negative words for what a person thinks.

The four options sit on two different scales. Opinions and convictions differ in strength; prejudices and biases differ in fairness. Nothing in the sentence suggests unfairness, so the two negative words drop away, and between the remaining pair the word 'deepest' has already signalled the strength that 'firm beliefs' supplies. The booklet prints 'I had some deepest convictions', which reads oddly — the sense wants 'my deepest convictions' — but the printed slip does not touch the word under test.

• 'Conviction' has a second sense, a court's finding of guilt; the meaning wanted here is the settled-belief one.
• 'Prejudice' comes from the Latin praejudicium, a judgement made in advance.
• 'Bias' is a leaning or slant; a biased person is not necessarily wrong, only tilted.

• Choosing 'ideas and opinions' because it is the broadest option.
• Reading 'conviction' in its courtroom sense.

Asked as a synonym item on the underlined word.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which word is nearest in meaning to 'tenet'?

  • (a)tenant
  • (b)principle
  • (c)tendency
  • (d)contract

  Answer(b) principle — a tenet is a principle held by a person or a group.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  In 'He spoke with conviction', the underlined word means

  • (a)a court sentence
  • (b)certainty
  • (c)confusion
  • (d)politeness

  Answer(b) certainty — to speak with conviction is to speak as one who is sure.