Oracle Financial Services Campus Recruitment - Aptitude Questions - Written English

Oracle Financial Services Campus Recruitment - 2012

Aptitude Questions

Written English (Basic): (4/4) 

This is the Basic level of the Written English assessment. It is composed of 25 questions divided into 4 sections used to evaluate your English language communication skills. You will have 25 minutes to complete this assessment. Please note that once you have completed a question you will NOT be able to return to it in order to make changes. no points will be deducted for wrong answers.

Assessment Breakdown

Section	Time	Questions
Sentence Structure	5 Minutes	10
Grammatical Usage	5 Minutes	5
Written Expression	7 Minutes	5
Reading Comprehension	8 Minutes	5
Total	25 Minutes	25 Questions

Reading Comprehension Section

This is the Reading Comprehension section. It is designed to test your ability to understand the English language in its written form as well as draw logical conclusions based on the information presented in a general reading passage. This section has 1 reading passage and 5 questions pertaining to the passage that you must answer. You will have 8 minutes to complete this section.

Please carefully read the following: 

Polyphony

        Polyphony is a type of music which features two or more independent melodic voices. In the West, it is used to describe the music of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Polyphony during this time was usually pitch-against-pitch, point-against-point, or sustained-pitch in one part with melismas (changing the pitch or note of a single syllable of the music’s text while it is being sung) in other parts. The concept of the music was similar to Margaret Bent’s description of dyadic counterpoint, with each part written against another part and all parts modified at the end if needed.

      In Europe polyphony came from the melismatic organum, or early harmonizing of the chant. The organum had been introduced centuries before, but during the twelfth century it was developed with the addition of a third or fourth voice to the then-homophonic chant. Composers continued experimenting during the thirteenth century with the polyphony, altering and hiding the sacred texts with secular tunes. Sacred texts might be obscured by love poetry sung above it as a trope, or the texts might be placed within a popular secular melody.

      The rise of polyphony was concurrent with the Western Schism of the Church. The seat of the antipopes in Avignon was a centre of secular music-making, which heavily influenced sacred polyphony. Polyphony itself was not offensive, but the merging of secular and sacred music which intruded even into the papal court was offensive. The resulting music for the church was far different, more jocular in the performance, than the previously solemn service performances. Even within the antipapal court at Avignon, the use and attitude towards polyphony varied during the period of its use. Harmony was seen as impious and lascivious, obscuring the listener from clearly hearing the words. The dissonant clashing of notes fueled the argument that polyphony was the devil”s music. Pope John XXII banished polyphony from the Liturgy in 1322. However, in 1364 the first polyphonic composition of the mass was created by the composer and priest Guillaume de Mauchaut. His Les Messe de Notre Dame was the first officially Church-sanctioned polyphony in sacred music.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphony

Question Number 1

 According to the passage above, how was polyphony tied to the Western Schism of the Church?

a. The criticism of music in the Church, including polyphonic music, resulted in the Western Schism of the Church

b. Polyphony was tied to the Western Schism of the Church because the antipapal seat, Avignon, was also a center of secular music composition, and the two movements, religious and musical, met at Avignon

c. The Popes at Avignon faced criticism because of their attitudes regarding polyphony

d. Polyphony was tied to the Western Schism of the Church when the services were changed from solemn to the more jovial attitude created by the polyphonic music; the arguments over polyphonic music spurred on the Western Schism

Question Number 2

According to the passage above, what might the word trope (to change or alter) mean in this context?

a. Trope means an addition to pre-existing music

b. Trope refers to putting a love poem to music

c. Trope means to alter a song by adding so many layers of singers that the original meaning and words are no longer clear to the listener

d. Trope means to change the meaning of a song by removing from its setting and placing it in a completely different context

Question Number 3

According to the passage above, why did some medieval listeners criticise polyphony in the church?

a. Some medieval listeners criticized polyphony because they thought that it had been invented by the devil

b. Some medieval listeners criticized polyphony because it was a combination of secular and religious music which began in the secular world

c. Some medieval listeners criticized polyphony because it disrupted the previously solemn church services

d. Some medieval listeners criticized polyphony because of the merger of secular and sacred music, in which the words were not clearly heard and the notes clashed, were seen as being the devil’s music

Question Number 4

According to the passage above, if polyphony means a music with two or more independent voices, what type of music might monophony be? 

a. Monophony might be music with only one independent voice

b. Monophony might be music with three independent voices

c. Monophony is a melody with two or more simultaneous songs sung at once

d. Monophony is a melody with another accompanying melody

Question Number 5

According to the passage above, what does “dyadic counterpoint” refer to?

a. “Dyadic counterpoint” refers to a change in the pitch or note of a single syllable of the music’s text while it is being sung

b. “Dyadic counterpoint” is a term invented by Margaret Bent to describe Guillame de Mauchat’s composition in 1364 of the mass in polyphonic music

c. “Dyadic counterpoint” refers to pitch-against-pitch singing with melismas interwoven into the music

d. “Dyadic counterpoint” refers to music in which each part is written against another part and all the parts can be modified at the end