SSC CHSL 2025 PYQs

Concept: Check double letters and vowel order.

1. Correct: A-bb-re-vi-a-tion (double b, 'brev' = short).
2. A swaps 'vi' to 'iv'; C changes vowels to 'a/e'; D drops the 'e' after 'br'.

Trick: Think 'brief' → Latin brevis: ab + BREV + iation.

Answer: (B) Abbreviation

Concept: Root-based spelling: mille (thousand) + annus (year).

1. Double l from mille, double n from annus, ending -ium.
2. Correct: Millennium.
3. Others: extra u (A), 'a' for 'e' (C), '-uim' ending (D).

Trick: Rule of 2 + 2: LL and NN – Mi-LL-e-NN-ium.

Answer: (B) Millennium

Concept: 'At' marks a point of time, not a gap of time.

1. Meaning: they met again once a long period had passed.
2. Idiomatic phrase: after a long time.
3. 'till/before a long time' do not convey a gap that has ended.

Yaad rakhein: At + clock time (at 6 pm); after/for + duration (after a long time, for two years).

Answer: (B) after a long time

Concept: One is married to a person.

1. Wrong: married with a man.
2. Right: She is married to a man…
3. 'Married with' is used only for what one has: married with two kids.

Yaad rakhein: Married TO a person, engaged TO a person, divorced FROM a person.

Answer: (B) Married to

Concept: Past reporting verb → present tense shifts to simple past; pronouns change by speaker.

1. is → was (both 'there is' and 'which is filled').
2. 'our' (speaker's group) → their.
3. A wrongly uses 'had been', B 'there had been', D 'your'.

Trick: Simple present only goes one step back → simple past; never jump two steps to past perfect.

Answer: (C) The teacher said that there was a library near their school which was filled with different kinds of books.

Concept: Tense must stay the same; an unnamed agent becomes 'people/someone'.

1. 'was being believed' = past continuous passive.
2. Active past continuous = was/were + V-ing → people were believing.
3. A drops the verb, B is simple past, D is present perfect.

Trick: Match the helper: 'being' in passive ⇒ '-ing' form in active.

Answer: (C) People were believing that the decision would be beneficial.

Concept: Reverse the back-shift; 'requested' becomes an imperative with 'Please'.

1. he was afraid → "I am afraid…"
2. requested … to stay with him → "Please stay with me."
3. B, D keep 'was'; C turns the request into a question.

Trick: Requested/begged → 'Please'; ordered → plain imperative.

Answer: (A) The boy said, "I am afraid of the darkness. Please stay with me."

Concept: Compare the same word across all sentences.

1. Correct spelling: concrete (ends in -ete).
2. Sentence D writes concreet – wrong.

Trick: When one word repeats in all options, just compare that word letter by letter.

Answer: (D) In the absence of concreet proof, the theory remains purely speculative.

Concept: Simple past active → was/were + V3; the relative clause stays unchanged.

1. Main clause: the group … published their findings (simple past).
2. Object 'their findings' (plural) → were published by the group.
3. B (had been) and C (have been) change the tense; D reverses the meaning.

Trick: Ignore the 'who…' clause first, convert the core sentence, then reattach it.

Answer: (A) Their findings were finally published by the dedicated group of scientists, who had been examining the data for a long time.

Concept: A simple sentence has only one finite verb (one independent clause).

1. Only finite verb: contributes.
2. 'such as …' is a phrase; 'reflecting …' is a participle phrase, not a clause.
3. No conjunction or subordinate clause → simple sentence.

Trick: Count finite verbs: 1 = simple; 2+ joined by and/but = compound; with who/that/because = complex.

Answer: (A) Simple sentence

Concept: Repeated events and general facts use the present simple.

1. 'observed every year on 23rd December' = yearly, repeated event.
2. Full sentence uses 'commemorates' – present simple.
3. Past continuous, present perfect, future do not express a fixed habit.

Trick: 'every year/day/always' → present simple.

Answer: (C) Present Simple - because it states a general fact

Concept: Read the phrase with the passage's theme.

1. Passage links agriculture to less chemical use and chemically-free farming.
2. So 'environmental health' = well-being and sustainability of nature.
3. Crop distribution, rich–poor balance, pricing laws are not discussed in that sense.

Trick: 'Environment' always points to nature; drop options about economics or law.

Answer: (C) Well-being and sustainability of nature

Concept: Match the idiom to 'one action, many benefits'.

1. One action: buying local produce.
2. Gains: sustains industry + boosts incomes + encourages chemical-free farming.
3. Kill two birds with one stone = achieve two (or more) results with one effort.

Yaad rakhein: Burn the midnight oil = work late; Add fuel to the fire = worsen; Let the cat out of the bag = reveal a secret.

Answer: (B) Kill two birds with one stone

Concept: Main purpose is usually stated in the opening lines.

1. Para 1 says the day stresses how important farming is for India.
2. Last para: buying local supports farmers' incomes.
3. Hence: highlight agriculture and support farmers.

Trick: Options pushing imports, leaving villages or robots contradict the passage – eliminate at once.

Answer: (C) To highlight the value of agriculture and support farmers

Concept: Arrange the steps of car painting in work order.

1. P – sand off old coating (preparation, first).
2. R – mask windows and trims before spraying.
3. Q – apply thin layers and let them dry.
4. S – final result: car looks brand new.

Trick: S is clearly the result, so it is last; only A, B, D remain – P must precede painting → P R Q S.

Answer: (B) P, R, Q, S

Concept: Find the word meaning 'using very few words'.

1. Wordy = using more words than needed.
2. Laconic = brief, using very few words → opposite.
3. Redundant, verbose, inflated all mean excess → synonyms, not antonyms.

Trick: Three options mean the same thing (excess); the odd one out is the antonym.

Answer: (B) Laconic

Concept: Ghastly = horrifying, shocking.

1. Context: crime scene description made everyone uneasy.
2. Gruesome = causing horror → same meaning.
3. Cheerful, ordinary, mild are near-opposites.

Trick: 'Ghastly' sounds like 'ghost' – something frightening.

Answer: (C) Gruesome

Concept: List the accepted noun and verb meanings of 'condition'.

1. Noun: state of a person/thing (B); a requirement to be met (D).
2. Verb: to train someone to behave a certain way (C).
3. 'To make stronger or more flexible' is not the tested sense here.

Yaad rakhein: 'Conditioned reflex' (Pavlov) uses the verb sense 'to train behaviour'.

Answer: (A) To make something stronger or more flexible

Concept: Cortege = a solemn funeral procession.

1. Cortege – mourners following a coffin.
2. Claque = hired applauders; Assembly = any gathering; Carousal = drunken party.

Yaad rakhein: Cortège (French) – also used for any formal procession of attendants.

Answer: (C) Cortege

Concept: A person who rejects all authority and rules = anarchist.

1. Description: resists authority, control and traditional norms.
2. Anarchist – opposes all imposed authority.
3. Conformist and traditionalist accept rules; optimist is unrelated.

Trick: an-archy = 'without a ruler' (Greek an = without, archos = ruler).

Answer: (D) Anarchist