1.

A sequence of real numbers {an }n≥1 has a peak at n if an ≥ ak

for all k ≥ n. Consider the following statements.

(I) No sequence of real numbers can have only finitely many

peaks.
(II) No sequence of real numbers can have infinitely many
peaks.
(III) Any sequence of real numbers having finitely many peaks
must have the property that an ≥ 0 for all n greater than
some k.

Then

(A) only (I) is true

(B) none of (I), (II) and (III) are true
(C) both (II) and (III) are true
(D) only (III) is true

2. Let C denote the set of complex numbers and let Im(z) denote
the imaginary part of z ∈ C. Consider the set

S = {s ∈ R : there exists z ∈ C such that Im(z) ̸= 0 and s = z 2 +2z−1}.

Then,

(A) S ̸= R, but contains infinitely many elements

(B) S is a non-empty finite set
(C) S = R
(D) S is the empty set

1
3. For a set S, let S c denote the complement of S. Also, for two
sets P and Q, let P \ Q = P ∩ Qc . Let A, B1 , B2 and B3 be four
sets. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

(A) (A ∪ B1 ∪ B2 ∪ B3 )c = Ac ∩ B1c ∩ B2c ∩ B3c

(B) (A \ B1 ) \ (B2 ∪ B3 ) = A \ (B1 ∪ B2 ∪ B3 )
(C) A \ (B1 ∪ B2 ∪ B3 ) = (A \ B1 ) ∪ (A \ B2 ) ∪ (A \ B3 )
(D) A ∩ (B1 ∪ B2 ∪ B3 ) = (A ∩ B1 ) ∪ (A ∩ B2 ) ∪ (A ∩ B3 )

4. For a complex number z, let z̄ be its complex conjugate. Then

the equation
z z̄ 2 + z 2 z̄ = 0

has

(A) exactly three roots

(B) exactly two roots
(C) infinitely many roots
(D) only real roots

5. Let f (x) = x2 + (2a + 1)x + (a2 + 2). The number of values of a

for which one of the roots of the equation f (x) = 0 is twice the
other root is

(A) more than 2 (B) 2 (C) 1 (D) 0

2
6. Let A be a finite set of real numbers having m (≥ 2) elements.
Define a function f : R → R, given by

f (x) = min{|a − x| : a ∈ A}.

Then,

(A) f is continuous everywhere

(B) f is continuous only at finitely many points
(C) f is discontinuous everywhere
(D) f has m discontinuities

7. Let A be the set of functions f : R → R for which |f (x)−f (y)| ≤

2|x − y|2 for all x, y ∈ R and f (0) = 0. Then, for any f ∈ A,

(A) the functions g(x) = P (f (x)) ∈ A for every polynomial P

(B) the function g(x) = x + f (x) ∈ A
(C) the function g(x) = xf (x) ∈ A
(D) the function g(x) = ef (x) ∈ A

8. The number of values of a for which the three lines

2x + y − 1 = 0, ax + 3y − 3 = 0, 3x + 2y − 2 = 0

are concurrent is

(A) more than 2 (B) 1 (C) 0 (D) 2

3
 9. For a non-constant geometric progression for which the second
term is 2 and the common ratio is an integer, the 10th, 20th and
30th terms are in arithmetic progression. Then, the fourth term
is

(A) −2 (B) −4 (C) 4 (D) 2

√ √
x + 8 − 8x + 1
10. lim √ √ equals
x→1 5 − x − 7x − 3

2 1 7
(A) does not exist (B) (C) (D)
3 2 12

11. The rank of the matrix

 
0 1 0 0 0
 
0 1 2 0 0
 
0 0 0 3 0
 .
 
0 1 0 a 0
1 0 0 0 b

(A) depends on the values of both a and b

(B) is independent of the values of both a and b
(C) depends on the value of a but not on the value of b
(D) depends on the value of b but not on the value of a

4
 !
a 1
12. If the matrix A = has 1 as an eigenvalue, then the
2 3
determinant of A is

(A) 5 (B) 2 (C) 4 (D) 3

13. Let a < 500 be a positive integer. Consider a box containing

balls numbered a, a+1, . . . , 500. Suppose that the ball numbered
x is picked with probability
2xa
for x = a, a + 1, . . . , 500.
(500 + a)(500 − a + 1)

Then the value of a is

(A) 251 (B) 1 (C) 499 (D) 2

14. Let f (x) = ax + b for some a, b ∈ R. Define fn (x) inductively

by setting
f1 (x) = f (x)

and
fn+1 (x) = f (fn (x)) for n > 1.

If f7 (x) = 128x + 381, then ab equals

1 1
(A) (B) 32 (C) (D) 8
8 32

5
15. Let n = aaaaaaaaabcd be a 12-digited number divisible by 45
where the digits a, b, c, d are not necessarily distinct and a ̸= 0.
How many such numbers are there?

(A) 216 (B) 207 (C) 189 (D) 198

16. Let a, b and c be the sides of a triangle such that c2 = a2 +b2 −ab.
Then which of the following is always true?

(A) a ≤ c and b ≤ c
(B) a ≤ c ≤ b or b ≤ c ≤ a
(C) c ≤ a and c ≤ b
(D) None of the above

17. Let X be a discrete random variable and Y be a continuous

random variable which is independent of X. Let U = X + Y
and V = XY . Choose the correct statement from the options
given below.

(A) Both U and V are continuous random variables

(B) U is a continuous random variable but V need not be
(C) U is a discrete random variable but V need not be a con-
tinuous random variable
(D) U is a discrete random variable and V is a continuous ran-
dom variable

6
18. Suppose that the sample mean and sample standard deviation
for a set of n observations x1 , x2 , . . . , xn are m and s (> 0),
respectively. These values are updated to m1 and s1 after one
more observation xn+1 is added to the data set.
Based on the above information, choose the correct statement
from the options given below.

(A) If m1 = m then s1 < s

(B) If m1 = m then s1 = s
(C) If m1 < m then s1 = s
(D) If m1 < m then s1 < s

19. Suppose that X1 , X2 , . . . , Xn are independent and identically

distributed random variables with probability density function

λe−λx if x ≥ 0,
fλ (x) =
0 otherwise,

where λ > 0. Let Y = X1 + X2 + · · · + Xn . Then the conditional

distribution of Xn given Y = 1 is

(A) uniform on (0, 1)

(B) exponential with mean 1
(C) beta with parameters n − 1 and 1
(D) beta with parameters 1 and n − 1

7
20. Let X1 , X2 , . . . be a sequence of random variables such that
1
E(Xi ) = 1, Var(Xi ) = 1 for all i and Cov(Xi , Xj ) = for
n
2
1X
all i ̸= j. Let Zn = Xi . Then, lim Var(Zn ) equals
n i=1 n→∞

1 1
(A) (B) (C) 0 (D) 1
2 4

21. Suppose that P(A|B) = 0.4 and P(Ac |B c ) = 0.6. Then, the two
equations are sufficient to find

(A) neither P(A) nor P(B)

(B) both P(A) and P(B)
(C) P(B) but not P(A)
(D) P(A) but not P(B)

22. Let X1 , . . . , Xn be independent and identically distributed nor-

mal random
√ variables with mean 0 and variance σ 2 > 0. Define
n Xn P P
Tn = where X n = n1 ni=1 Xi and Sn2 = n1 ni=1 Xi2 .
Sn
Then, the distribution of Tn is

(A) Student’s t with n degrees of freedom

(B) Student’s t with (n − 1) degrees of freedom
(C) normal with mean 0 and variance 1
(D) None of the above

8
 !
X −Y
23. Consider a matrix M = where X and Y are indepen-
Y X
dent standard normal random variables. Then the probability
that M is a non-singular matrix is

1 1
(A) 0 (B) 1 (C) √ (D)
2 2

24. Let (U, V ) be a point chosen uniformly at random from the unit
circle {(u, v) ∈ R2 : u2 + v 2 = 1}. Then Var(U ) is

1 1 1
(A) (B) (C) 1 (D)
3 2 4

25. Suppose that we choose 2 cards simultaneously at random from

a deck of 20 cards numbered 1, 2, . . . , 20. What is the probability
that the smaller of the two numbers divides the larger?

36 46 56 66
(A) (B) (C) (D)
190 190 190 190

9
26. Let X be a random variable with probability density function
displayed in the following graph.

0.20

0.15
Density f(x)

0.10

0.05

0.00

−10 −5 0 5 10

Match the following random variables with their respective prob-

ability density functions
X
(i) X + 3 (ii) X − 3 (iii) 2X (iv) .
2

(a) (b)
0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1
Density f(x)

0.0

(c) (d)
0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0.0

−10 −5 0 5 10 −10 −5 0 5 10

(A) (i)–(d), (ii)–(c), (iii)–(b), (iv)–(a)

(B) (i)–(d), (ii)–(c), (iii)–(a), (iv)–(b)
(C) (i)–(c), (ii)–(d), (iii)–(a), (iv)–(b)
(D) (i)–(c), (ii)–(d), (iii)–(b), (iv)–(a)

10
27. Suppose that we want to fit the regression model

y = β1 x + β2 x2 + ϵ

to 10 pairs of observations (x1 , y1 ), . . . , (x10 , y10 ) where xi ’s take

two values, 0 and 1. Which of the following can be estimated
using the method of least squares?

(A) Both β1 and β2

(B) β1 but not β2
(C) β2 but not β1
(D) β1 + β2

28. Consider a bivariate sample (X1 , Y1 ), . . . , (X9 , Y9 ) where Xi = i

for i = 1, 2, . . . , 9. The least squares regression line for this
dataset is obtained as y = 3 + 2x. Later it turns out that Y5 was
recorded wrongly. When the revised regression line is obtained
which of the following are possible?

(A) Intercept can change but slope cannot

(B) Slope can change but intercept cannot
(C) Both intercept and slope can change
(D) Neither intercept nor slope can change

11
29. Assume X1 , . . . , Xn are independent and identically distributed
N (µ, 1) random variables with µ ∈ R. We want to test H0 :
µ = 0 versus H1 : µ ̸= 0. Consider the following two one-sided
testing problems

H0,A : µ = 0 versus H1,A : µ > 0

and H0,B : µ = 0 versus H1,B : µ < 0.

Let ϕA,η (x) and ϕB,η (x) denote the most powerful tests of size
η ∈ (0, 1) for H0,A and H0,B , respectively. Then, for testing H0
versus H1 ,

(A) ϕ(x) = ϕA,η (x) + ϕB,η (x) is a test of size η

(B) ϕ(x) = ϕA,η (x) ϕB,η (x) is a test of size 2η
1 η
(C) ϕ(x) = max{ϕA,η (x), ϕB,η (x)} is a test of size 2
2
(D) ϕ(x) = ϕA,η (x) + ϕB,η (x) is a test of size 2η

12
30. Let ϕ denote the probability density function of the standard
normal distribution. Let fθ , for θ ∈ {0, 1}, be defined as

ϕ(x) if θ = 0,
fθ (x) =

 1 ϕ x−1 if θ = 1.
2 2

Assume that X1 , . . . , Xn are independent and identically dis-

tributed from the density fθ (x). Which of the following is a
sufficient statistic for θ?
n
X
(A) Xi
i=1
n n
!
X X
(B) Xi , Xi2
i=1 i=1
n
X
(C) Xi2
i=1
n n
!
X X
(D) Xi , 1(|Xi | ≥ 2)
i=1 i=1

13