Sentences of a paragraph are given below in jumbled order. Select the option that arranges the sentences in the correct order to form a meaningful and coherent paragraph. A. Summative assessment is the assignment of the student’s performance at the end of the academic term. B. This new pattern ensures that besides just textbook teaching and learning, effective child-teacher interaction is encouraged. C. The CBSE envisages two types of examinations, Formative and Summative. D. Formative assessment is a part of the teaching-learning process and is done through conversation, quizzes, interviews, projects, assignments, etc.

Correct — A. C opens: it introduces both terms — 'The CBSE envisages two types of examinations, Formative and Summative' — and needs nothing before it.

C names Formative first, so D, which defines Formative, follows, and A, which defines Summative, comes after D.

B closes: 'This new pattern' points back at the whole two-part scheme, so it can only stand once both parts have been described.

That is C, D, A, B — option (a).

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  A, B, C, D — A, B, C, D defines Summative before C has said that two types exist, and it puts B second, where 'This new pattern' has no pattern behind it to point at.
• (c)
  B, C, A, D — B, C, A, D opens on This new pattern, but nothing has yet described a pattern — C, D and A all still lie ahead, so the phrase names something the reader has not been given.
• (d)
  D, A, C, B — D, A, C, B defines both types and only then introduces them. C is the sentence that names Formative and Summative, so it cannot arrive after their definitions.

A jumbled-paragraph item is solved on links, not on subject knowledge. Three links decide this one.

First, find the sentence that needs nothing before it. C introduces the CBSE and names both examination types, so it opens.

Second, follow the order of naming: the sentence that names Formative before Summative sets up the definitions in that order, which is D then A.

Third, put the backward-pointing sentence last. This new pattern in B names the two-part scheme, and no sentence before it in any other order supplies that scheme — C introduces the two types and D and A describe them.

Key facts

• In a jumble, a demonstrative phrase that names something specific — 'this new pattern' — has to follow the sentences that supply it.
• When one sentence names two items in an order, the sentences defining them usually keep that order.
• In this paragraph, Formative assessment runs through the teaching-learning process while Summative assessment comes at the end of the academic term.

Common traps

• Starting with A because it carries the label A, when the labels are not the sequence.
• Placing B second because it reads like a general opening line, though 'This new pattern' points backwards.
• Ordering D and A by which sounds more important instead of by the order C names them in.

No directly related past PYQ was found.