SSC CHSL 2025 PYQs

Concept: In direct speech, undo the tense back-shift and restore question form.

1. 'whether' → drop it; use inverted question: 'Is the train expected…?'
2. was → is (back-shift removed); the second idea needs its own verb: 'or will it be delayed further?'
3. (B) changes the words ('shortly', 'more'); (C) has broken grammar; (D) keeps past 'Was'.

Trick: Reverse indirect → direct: past becomes present, 'whether/if' disappears, add '?' with helping verb first.

Answer: (A) They asked, "Is the train expected to arrive on time or will it be delayed further?"

Concept: Check each listed word against the sentence.

1. 'cruicial' has an extra 'i'; correct spelling: crucial (very important).
2. medicine and patient are correct; 'serious' appears as 'seriously' and is spelt correctly.

Trick: crucial = CRU + CIAL (like 'cru-cial', no 'i' before the first 'c').

Answer: (B) cruicial

Concept: Past reporting verb → change pronoun, tense and time words.

1. Pronoun: 'we' (the colleagues) → they.
2. Tense: will organize → would organize.
3. Time: next weekend → the next weekend (the following weekend).
4. Only (C) makes all three changes.

Trick: Check the three P-T-T changes – Pronoun, Tense, Time word; eliminate any option missing one.

Answer: (C) My colleagues told me that they would organize a trip the next weekend.

Concept: 'had been being + V3' (passive) ↔ 'had been + V-ing' (active).

1. No doer is named, so use the general subject they.
2. Keep the question form: Had + they + been carrying out + object…?
3. (B) is not a question, (C) makes the library the doer, (D) changes the tense.

Trick: In voice change, tense and sentence type (question) never change – only check the option that keeps both.

Answer: (A) Had they been carrying out the renovation work on the old library for weeks before she arrived?

Concept: After a preposition we need a noun: breath (noun), not breathe (verb).

1. The fixed expression is 'out of breath' = panting, short of air.
2. 'out of air', 'out of breathing', 'out of breaths' are not idiomatic.

Trick: breath (noun, short 'e' sound) – take a breath; breathe (verb, ends in 'e') – breathe deeply.

Answer: (C) out of breath

Concept: Present perfect passive = has/have + been + V3.

1. Object 'the keys' (plural) becomes the subject → have been.
2. V3 of misplace = misplaced; 'by someone' is dropped.
3. (A) past, (C) present, (D) past perfect – wrong tenses.

Trick: Find the tense of the active verb first ('has misplaced' = present perfect), then pick the option in the same tense.

Answer: (B) The keys have been misplaced.

Concept: An abstract noun names an action, process, state or idea that cannot be touched.

1. 'Deforestation' = the act/process of cutting down forests.
2. It is not a physical object (concrete), not a specific name (proper), not a group (collective).

Trick: Nouns ending in -tion, -ness, -ity, -ment are usually abstract (education, kindness, equality).

Answer: (B) Abstract noun

Concept: A clause starting with who/which/that and describing a noun is a relative clause.

1. 'which once functioned as … species' begins with the relative pronoun which.
2. It gives extra information about the noun 'Forests' and is set off by commas (non-defining).
3. So the keyed name is relative clause; it is not an adverb or noun clause.

Yaad rakhein: Commas around a 'which' clause = non-defining relative clause; it can be removed without breaking the sentence.

Answer: (D) Relative clause

Concept: Find the passage word meaning 'to make worse'.

1. Para 1: deforestation 'exacerbates the fragile ecosystem's vulnerability' – makes it worse.
2. Alleviates and Mitigates mean reduce/ease (opposite); Initiates = begins.

Trick: Alleviate/Mitigate = lighten; Exacerbate/Aggravate = worsen – learn them as pairs.

Answer: (B) Exacerbates

Concept: Break the phrase into words: sanctity = sacredness/purity that must not be harmed.

1. 'ecological' = of the natural environment; so ecological sanctity = purity and inviolability of nature.
2. The passage ends by saying the imbalance endangers the region's ecological sanctity.
3. Other options name problems, places or people – not purity.

Trick: 'Sanctity' comes from 'sanct' = holy (sanctuary, saint) – it alone carries 'purity'.

Answer: (A) ecological sanctity

Concept: NOT-type question: match each option with the causes listed in the passage.

1. Deforestation (para 1), construction along riverbanks (para 2), careless waste disposal (para 2) are all named as causes.
2. The passage blames the lack of effective regulations; strict implementation would protect, not damage.

Trick: In 'NOT' questions, the option that sounds like a solution, not a problem, is usually the answer.

Answer: (D) Strict implementation of environmental regulations

Concept: Follow the natural sequence of making and drinking coffee.

1. P: machine hisses – sets the morning scene (start).
2. Q: water poured over grounds – brewing.
3. R: cream added – after brewing.
4. S: first sip – the end.

Trick: S ('first sip') must be last – only option (A) ends with S and starts logically.

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

Concept: Arrange the trial in the order it actually happens.

1. P: patients enrolled – introduces 'a large group' (first).
2. S: split into new-medicine and old-medicine groups.
3. R: monitoring for several weeks.
4. Q: 'At the end of the study' – evaluation (last).

Trick: 'a group' (new info) opens; 'At the end' closes → P…Q; only (B) fits.

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

Concept: Attentively = with full, close attention.

1. Intently = with concentrated attention – same meaning; fits guards watching all night.
2. Carelessly, Casually, Negligently all mean without proper attention – opposites.

Trick: Three options share the 'careless' idea; the lone different word is the synonym.

Answer: (B) Intently

Concept: A state where power rests with the people's elected representatives and the head is elected, not hereditary = republic.

1. Theocracy = rule by religious authority; Utopia = an imagined perfect society.
2. Democracy = rule by the people in general; the term specifically tied to elected representatives and an elected head is republic (keyed answer).

Yaad rakhein: India is a 'Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic' – republic because the President is elected.

Answer: (C) Republic

Concept: Pick the word that fits the sense of a compulsory requirement.

1. Forms ask for address and phone as a must, not as a choice.
2. Mandatory = compulsory, required by rule → 'it is mandatory to provide…'
3. 'Unnecessary' gives the opposite idea; 'customary' = usual by habit; 'choice' is a noun and does not fit after 'it is'.

Trick: After 'it is ___ to do something', you need an adjective; 'choice' (noun) is out at once.

Answer: (A) mandatory

Concept: Idiom meaning from context.

1. At sixes and sevens = confused, in disorder, unable to decide.
2. The speaker could not choose a university until the scholarship came – a clear case of confusion.
3. 'Nervous' is close but the idiom stresses muddle, not fear.

Trick: Six and seven – two numbers, mind stuck between them = confusion.

Answer: (C) in a state of confusion

Concept: A singular subject takes a singular verb.

1. Subject 'the condition' is singular.
2. With it, 'are improving' is wrong; correct: if the condition is improving (or 'the conditions are').
3. Other parts are fine.

Trick: Check the noun just before is/are/was/were – singular noun + plural verb is the commonest SSC error.

Answer: (B) if the condition are improving,

Concept: Use active voice when the subject performs the action.

1. Subject: 'adopting relaxation techniques, exercise or other similar practices'.
2. These practices do the helping, so the verb must be active: can help.
3. 'Can be helped' wrongly makes them receivers of help.

Trick: Ask: does the subject do the action or receive it? Doer → active.

Answer: (B) can be helped

Concept: Fixed phrase for giving a reason.

1. The phrase is on (the) grounds of = because of.
2. So the blank takes on: cancelled on grounds of …
3. at/in/over are not used with 'grounds' in this sense.

Trick: Reason for a decision → 'on grounds of', 'on account of', 'on the basis of' – all take 'on'.

Answer: (B) on