SSC CGL 2025 PYQs

Concept: Svaravalis are basic practice exercises of Carnatic music.

1. They are note patterns built from the seven swaras: Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni.
2. They train voice and pitch; they are not instruments (A), compositions in a tala (B) or dance (D).

Yaad rakhein: Carnatic learning order (Purandara Dasa's system): Svaravali → Janta varisai → Alankaras → Geetham.

Answer: (C) A melody composed using the seven basic notes of the scale

Concept: The old, block-faulted peninsular plateau shows spurs, block mountains and tors.

1. Block mountains: e.g. Satpura, standing between rift valleys of Narmada and Tapi.
2. Tors: weathered granite rock piles common on the plateau; spurs project from its hill ranges.
3. Hoggar is a highland in the Sahara (Algeria), not in India → exclude 1.

Trick: Eliminate the 'foreign' item first: removing Hoggar leaves only options (B), (C), (D); since tors are typical of the plateau, (D).

Answer: (D) 2, 3 and 4

Concept: Purana Qila is a 16th-century fort (Humayun / Sher Shah Suri).

1. Its walls and the Qila-i-Kuhna mosque are of red sandstone with white marble (and coloured stone) decoration.
2. Concrete-steel, glass are modern; wood-bamboo don't make a stone fort.

Yaad rakhein: Sher Shah Suri's Sher Mandal inside Purana Qila is said to be where Humayun fell from the stairs and died.

Answer: (A) Sandstone and marble

Concept: Solung is the agricultural festival of the Adi tribe of Arunachal Pradesh.

1. Apong is a home-brewed rice beer of the Adi and other Arunachal tribes.
2. Sharing apong is part of the festival's rituals and hospitality.
3. Soma is a Vedic ritual drink — a distractor.

Yaad rakhein: Other Arunachal festivals: Losar (Monpa), Dree (Apatani), Nyokum (Nyishi).

Answer: (D) Apong

Concept: Harappan cities had a planned underground-style drainage network.

1. House drains joined street drains made of burnt bricks.
2. Street drains were covered with bricks/stone slabs and had inspection holes for cleaning.

Yaad rakhein: Mohenjodaro also had the Great Bath and the Great Granary; it lies on the Indus in Sindh (Pakistan).

Answer: (B) A covered street drain

Concept: Know what each card means and how a tie is broken.

1. Cards: Green = warning, Yellow = temporary (2-min) suspension, Red = sent off. So (B) and (C) are wrong.
2. A tie after extra time goes to 5 raids each; if still tied, a fresh toss decides who takes the Golden Raid → (D).
3. Golden Raid is only a tie-breaker, not 'three per match' → (A) wrong.

Trick: Card colours rise like traffic signals: Green (go easy/warning) → Yellow (pause) → Red (stop/out).

Answer: (D) A fresh toss is taken if the match is tied even after 5-5 raids.

Concept: Chola farming depended heavily on irrigation in the Kaveri delta.

1. Rain was seasonal, so assured water was the key problem.
2. Cholas built tanks, wells, canals and the Kaveri embankments to store and divert water.

Yaad rakhein: The Grand Anicut (Kallanai) on the Kaveri is attributed to Karikala Chola (early Chola ruler).

Answer: (B) Availability of irrigation water

Concept: Both statements match the reported results.

1. 74th Senior National (Men): Tamil Nadu champions; Punjab runner-up; Indian Railways third → 1 is correct.
2. 39th Youth National: Rajasthan won the boys' title and Karnataka the girls' title → 2 is correct.

Yaad rakhein: For 'both' type sports questions, check winner + position of each team named — one wrong name makes the statement false.

Answer: (C) Both 1 and 2 are correct

Concept: Kaladan links Kolkata to Mizoram through Myanmar.

1. Sea route: Kolkata port → Sittwe port (Rakhine, Myanmar).
2. Then river (Kaladan) to Paletwa and road to Zorinpui in Mizoram.
3. It bypasses the narrow Siliguri ('Chicken's Neck') corridor.

Yaad rakhein: India–Myanmar–Thailand Trilateral Highway is another link to South-East Asia under the Act East Policy.

Answer: (C) Myanmar

Concept: 'The Namesake' (2003) is by Jhumpa Lahiri.

1. It tells the story of a Bengali immigrant family and their son Gogol in America.
2. Lahiri won the Pulitzer Prize for 'Interpreter of Maladies'.

Yaad rakhein: Chetan Bhagat – Five Point Someone; Anita Desai – Fire on the Mountain; Ruskin Bond – The Room on the Roof.

Answer: (D) Jhumpa Lahiri

Concept: Population is stable when births ≈ deaths, so natural growth is close to zero.

1. Zero fertility would make population fall to nothing — (A) wrong.
2. Births far above deaths means fast growth — (B) wrong; doubling (D) is also growth.

Yaad rakhein: Replacement-level fertility ≈ TFR 2.1; it leads to stabilisation over time.

Answer: (C) Stabilization occurs when birth and death rates are nearly equal

Concept: NSA serves at the PM's pleasure with Cabinet-rank status.

1. Ajit Doval was reappointed NSA in June 2024 (third term); he has been NSA since 2014.
2. His term runs co-terminus with the PM; he holds Cabinet Minister rank (raised from Cabinet Secretary rank in 2019).
3. The NSC is chaired by the Prime Minister, not the NSA — (C) wrong.

Yaad rakhein: Doval is India's 5th NSA; the first was Brajesh Mishra (1998).

Answer: (D) Reappointed in June 2024, his tenure is co-terminus with the Prime Minister, and he holds the rank of a Cabinet Minister.

Concept: Match each athlete with the event they actually compete in.

1. Parul Chaudhary – 3000 m steeplechase specialist; Jyothi Yarraji – 100 m hurdles national record holder. Both won these events → (C).
2. Lovlina Borgohain is a boxer; Swapnil Kusale and Sarabjot Singh are shooters; Amoj Jacob is a 400 m runner — so (A), (B), (D) mix up sports.

Trick: Eliminate by sport: any option pairing a boxer/shooter with athletics or a sprinter with wrestling is wrong at once.

Answer: (C) Parul Chaudhary won the 3000m steeplechase, and Jyothi Yarraji won the 100 m hurdles.

Concept: Art. 258A lets a State hand over its functions to the Union, with the Union's consent.

1. With the consent of the Government of India, the Governor may entrust State executive functions to the Union or its officers.
2. It was inserted by the 7th Amendment, 1956.
3. Article 258 is the reverse: the President entrusts Union functions to a State (with its consent).

Trick: 258 = Union → State; 258A ('A' for 'Also the other way') = State → Union.

Answer: (D) The State Government, with the Union's consent, may entrust Union functions to its own officers.

Concept: Photon energy depends on frequency (E = hν); intensity only means more photons.

1. Einstein explained the effect with photons → particle nature of light. 1 ✓
2. Below threshold frequency no electrons come out, however bright the light. 2 ✓
3. Max KE = hν − φ depends on frequency, not intensity; intensity raises the number of electrons (current). 3 ✗

Trick: Remember: Frequency → energy (KE); Intensity → number (current).

Answer: (C) 1 and 2 only

Concept: Ghoomar is a women's circular folk dance of Rajasthan.

1. It began with the Bhil tribe as worship of Goddess Saraswati, later taken up by Rajput royal families.
2. The name comes from 'ghoomna' — the twirling of the long ghaghara.

Yaad rakhein: Other Rajasthani dances: Kalbeliya (snake charmers), Kachchhi Ghodi, Chari, Terah Taali.

Answer: (B) Goddess Saraswati

Concept: LPI 2023 added data-based (big data) measures alongside the usual survey.

1. Earlier LPIs were built only from surveys of logistics professionals.
2. 2023 edition used shipment tracking data (containers, air cargo, parcels) to measure real speed and delays.

Yaad rakhein: In LPI 2023 India ranked 38th out of 139 countries, up from 44th in 2018.

Answer: (D) Integration of big data to track shipment speed and reliability

Concept: Pensilungpa Glacier (Zanskar) is studied by the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology.

1. WIHG, Dehradun, is an autonomous institute under the Department of Science & Technology.
2. Its studies record retreat and mass loss of the glacier linked to warming and less winter snow.
3. NCPOR (Goa) works mainly on Antarctic/Arctic and ocean research.

Yaad rakhein: WIHG – Dehradun; NCPOR – Goa; IIRS – Dehradun (under ISRO).

Answer: (C) Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG)

Concept: The Kármán line marks the conventional edge of space.

1. It is at about 100 km above sea level (accepted by the FAI).
2. Above this height air is too thin for wings to give lift.

Yaad rakhein: The US Air Force/NASA use 50 miles (≈ 80 km) for astronaut wings — a different convention.

Answer: (C) 100 km

Concept: Art. 300 makes the government a legal person that can sue and be sued.

1. The Government of India sues/is sued in the name 'Union of India'; a State in the name of that State.
2. So both Union and State governments can be taken to court → 1 ✓.
3. This treats the government as a legal (juristic) entity → 2 ✓.

Yaad rakhein: Art. 299 = government contracts; Art. 300 = suits by/against government; Art. 300A = right to property.

Answer: (C) Both 1 and 2