SSC CHSL 2025 PYQs

Concept: Follow the natural order of a medical visit.

1. S: patient describes symptoms, doctor listens (start).
2. Q: doctor orders scans and blood tests.
3. R: reviews all details (the results).
4. P: explains assessment and suggests treatment (end).

Trick: Listen → test → review → treat. P (treatment) is always last; S introduces both persons, so it's first.

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

Concept: Bluff = to deceive by acting confident or knowing more than one really does.

1. 'Pretending' = acting as if something is true when it is not → same sense.
2. describing, demonstrating, confessing do not carry the idea of faking.

Trick: Bluff in card games = acting as if you have a strong hand → pretend.

Answer: (B) pretending

Concept: Pick the pair where each word fits its own blank.

1. Blank 1: a person who declares 'the destined one' → oracle (a prophet/priest giving divine answers).
2. Blank 2: a body part with a scar → auricle (outer part of the ear).
3. Other pairs (moral/morale, capital/capitol, aural/oral) don't fit either blank sensibly.

Trick: Test blank 2 first – only 'auricle' is a body part.

Answer: (B) oracle, auricle

Concept: Check each word with its standard spelling.

1. 'archiac' is wrong; correct is archaic (very old/out of date).
2. underline, obfuscated, enchant are correct.

Trick: Archaic: think 'arch-A-I-c' – the 'a' comes before the 'i'.

Answer: (B) archiac

Concept: Protein made in blood that destroys germs = Antibody.

1. Antibodies are made by B-cells (white blood cells) against antigens.
2. Antidote – medicine against a poison; Antivenom – against snake/insect venom; Antitoxin – neutralises a particular toxin.

Trick: Key word 'protein produced in the blood' → antibody (body makes it); the others are given from outside.

Answer: (A) Antibody

Concept: 'Break a leg' is a theatre idiom used to wish a performer success.

1. The speaker first praises the preparation, then adds 'break a leg' – a cheerful send-off before the show.
2. So it simply means 'good luck!'; it is never meant literally.
3. Options (b), (c), (d) all go against the encouraging tone of the line.

Trick: Stage people thought saying 'good luck' directly brings bad luck, so they said the opposite – 'break a leg'.

Answer: (A) Say Good Luck to someone

Concept: To 'throw caution to the wind' is to stop being careful and act boldly despite danger.

1. Caution = carefulness; throwing it into the wind = getting rid of it.
2. Hence the phrase means 'take risks'.
3. (a) is the exact opposite; (b) and (d) have nothing to do with risk.

Trick: Picture tossing your 'careful' cap into a storm – what is left is risk-taking.

Answer: (C) Take risks

Concept: 'Either of / Neither of / One of / Each of + plural noun' takes a singular verb.

1. In (b) the subject is 'either' (one of two) – singular.
2. So 'seem' is wrong; correct: 'Either of the solutions seems to cause serious problems.'
3. (c) correctly uses 'One of the houses … is'; (a) and (d) are fine.

Trick: The verb agrees with the word before 'of', not the noun after it.

Answer: (B) Either of the solutions seem to cause serious problems.

Concept: To ask for information on a matter we use 'inquire about'.

1. The inspector wanted information regarding the witness's movements → 'inquired about'.
2. 'Inquire into' = officially investigate a matter; 'inquire after' = ask about someone's health.
3. 'in', 'at', 'of' do not pair with 'inquire' here.

Trick: inquire about (topic) | inquire into (case) | inquire after (health) | inquire of (person asked).

Answer: (C) about

Concept: Synonym = word with the same meaning.

1. Unimportance = lack of value or significance.
2. Insignificance = the quality of not mattering → same meaning.
3. Strength, Power, Clout (influence) all suggest importance – the opposite idea.

Trick: Prefix match: un-importantce ↔ in-significantce – both 'not + important'.

Answer: (C) Insignificance

Concept: Spot the word whose spelling is wrong.

1. Receive, definitely, separate are standard spellings.
2. 'Uninamous' is wrong – the right form is Unanimous (u-n-a-n-i-m-o-u-s).
3. Unanimous = agreed by all; from Latin 'unus' (one) + 'animus' (mind).

Trick: Una + nimous → 'una' = one; one mind = all agree.

Answer: (C) Uninamous

Concept: Spot the word whose spelling is faulty.

1. behaviour, meeting, surprised are all correct.
2. 'Abberant' is wrong; correct: Aberrant – single 'b', double 'r'.
3. Aberrant = deviating from normal behaviour (ab- 'away' + errare 'to stray').

Trick: It is linked to 'error' – keep the double 'rr' of error, and only one 'b'.

Answer: (A) Abberant

Concept: The adjective 'worried' takes 'about' before the cause of worry.

1. 'Worried at the outcome' is non-standard.
2. Correct: 'She was worried about the outcome.'
3. 'on'/'for' do not express the cause of anxiety here, so a substitution is needed.

Trick: worried / anxious / concerned + about (thing). 'Worried for' is used for a person's safety.

Answer: (B) about the outcome

Concept: Homonyms: same spelling and sound, different meaning.

1. In the given line, 'deal' (noun) = an agreement/bargain.
2. In (a), 'deal the cards' (verb) = hand out cards – a totally different meaning.
3. (b), (c), (d) all keep 'deal' as agreement/bargain – same sense, so not homonyms.

Trick: Look for the option where the word changes its part of speech or meaning – here noun → verb.

Answer: (A) It was my turn to deal the cards in the game.

Concept: A blank followed by a definition is filled by the term being defined.

1. Clue: 'different crops are grown alternately to improve soil health'.
2. Growing crops in turn on the same land = crop rotation.
3. Harvest, soil testing, seed selection do not involve alternating crops.

Trick: 'Alternately' ≈ 'rotation' – match the key word of the clue.

Answer: (A) Crop rotation

Concept: The example given after 'such as' tells the type of method.

1. Example: 'using natural compost' → methods are natural.
2. 'Chemical' contradicts organic farming.
3. 'Mechanical' and 'temporary' do not fit compost or ecological balance.

Trick: The answer word is already hidden in the example – 'natural compost'.

Answer: (C) Natural

Concept: Lower costs + something increases → logically, profit.

1. 'Lower costs and increase their ___' – a gain must rise when cost falls.
2. Profits fits; 'expenses' would mean costs again.
3. Efforts and risks rising is not a benefit, so they break the positive sense.

Trick: Cost ↓ ⇒ Profit ↑ – a standard pair in such passages.

Answer: (B) Profits

Concept: Only people/organisations can 'collaborate'.

1. List: governments, institutions and ___ must collaborate.
2. The third item must also be human → individuals.
3. Machines, crops, buildings cannot work together by choice.

Trick: Keep list items of the same kind – government (people), institution (people), individuals (people).

Answer: (A) Individuals

Concept: Words joined by 'and' should share the same (positive) tone.

1. 'efficient and ___' – a positive quality is needed.
2. Resilient = able to bear shocks and bounce back.
3. Fragile, ineffective, unstable are negative words.

Trick: Eliminate the three negatives – the only positive left is the answer.

Answer: (B) Resilient

Concept: Antonym = opposite meaning.

1. Polite = well-mannered, courteous.
2. Discourteous = rude, lacking manners → opposite.
3. Euphemism (mild expression), ambiguity (unclear meaning), obscurity (being unknown/unclear) are unrelated.

Trick: dis + courteous = not courteous; courteous is a synonym of polite.

Answer: (D) discourteous