TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you're given a question, a context passage, and four options which are terms from the passage. After reading a passage, you will get a brief understanding of the terms. Your job is to determine by searching and reading further information of which term you can answer the question. Indicate your choice as 'a', 'b', 'c', or 'd'. If you think more than one option is plausible, choose the more probable option to help you answer the question.
PROBLEM: Question: How old was the conqueror of Thanjavur in 1764? Passage:Thanjavur was successfully conquered in 1674 by Ekoji I (1675–84), the Maratha feudatory of the sultan of Bijapur and half-brother of Shivaji (1627/30-80) of the Bhonsle dynasty. Ekoji founded the Thanjavur Maratha kingdom which ruled Thanjavur till 1855. The Marathas exercised their sovereignty over Thanjavur throughout the last quarter of the 17th and the whole of the 18th century. The Maratha rulers patronized Carnatic music. In 1787, Amar Singh, the regent of Thanjavur, deposed the minor Raja, his nephew Serfoji II (1787–93) and captured the throne. Serfoji II was restored in 1799 with the assistance of the British, who induced him to relinquish the administration of the kingdom and left him in charge of Thanjavur fort and surrounding areas. The kingdom was eventually absorbed into British India in 1855 by the Doctrine of Lapse when Shivaji II (1832–55), the last Thanjavur Maratha ruler, died without a legitimate male heir. The British referred to the city as Tanjore in their records. Five years after its annexation, the British replaced Negapatam (modern-day Nagapattinam) with Thanjavur as the seat of the district administration. Under the British, Thanjavur emerged as an important regional centre. The 1871 India census recorded a population of 52,171, making Thanjavur the third largest city in the Madras Presidency. After India's independence, Thanjavur continued as the district headquarters.
 Links: a. Shivaji b. Ekoji I c. Doctrine of lapse d. Shivaji II

SOLUTION: b

PROBLEM: Question: How many years did the war last that coincided with Bracton's retirement? Passage:Plucknett describes Bracton in this way: "Two generations after Ranulf de Glanvill we come to the flower and crown of English jurisprudence – Bracton." Bracton was born around 1210 in Devon and had a great deal of preferment in the Church. He either derived from Bratton Fleming or Bratton Clovelly. Both villages are in Devon. It was only after his death that the family name appears as Bracton; during his life, he was known as Bratton, or Bretton. This originally may have been Bradton, meaning "Broad Town". Bracton first appeared as a justice in 1245. From 1248 until his death in 1268 he was steadily employed as a justice of the assize in the southwestern counties, especially Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. He was a member of the coram rege, also called the coram ipso rege, later to become the King's Court. He retired from this in 1257, shortly before the meeting of the Mad Parliament in 1258 at Oxford. It is unknown whether his retirement was related to politics. His leaving coincided with the onset of the notorious Second Barons' War in 1264. At that time Bracton was ordered to restore to the Treasury the large store of plea rolls (case records from previous trials) that had been in his possession. He was also forced to surrender the large number of rolls from his predecessors Martin Pateshull and William Raleigh, also known as William de Raley. It cannot be determined whether he disgraced the King or the barons in this affair, but it is speculated that some kind of political intrigue was involved. The practical result was that his major work, De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae ("The Laws and Customs of England"), was left unfinished. Even so, it exists in four large volumes today. He continued to follow the assizes in the southwest until 1267. In the last year of his life he filled another prominent role, as member of a commission of prelates, magnates and justices appointed to hear the complaints of the "disinherited" – those who had sided with Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester.
 Links: a. Second Barons' War b. Somerset c. Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester d. Second Barons' War

SOLUTION: a

PROBLEM: Question: Which of the rivers that Crevaux encountered was the longest? Passage:The interior of French Guiana was virtually unknown and Crevaux decided to lead an exploration into its depths. On July 8, 1877 Crevaux traveled up the Maroni River where he encountered the Galibi and the Bonis. He left the Maroni to follow a tributary, the Itany River, along the way he visited the Roucouyenne and then followed an Emerillon trail over the spine of the Tumuk Humak Mountains. He descended the other side of the mountains to the Jari River, a tributary of the Amazon. By December 1877 he had reached the Brazilian city of Belém. He was nearly naked and had lost or used most of his possessions, and was believed by the Brazilian inhabitants to be an escaped French prisoner and was refused any help. He was eventually aided by a fellow Frenchman who bought him passage on a ship back to France. Upon returning to France, Crevaux gave an account of his journey to the Société de Géographie and was made a "Knight" of the Légion d'honneur.
 Links: a. Maroni (river) b. Jari River c. Brazil d. Maroni (river)

SOLUTION:
a