SSC CHSL 2025 PYQs

Concept: The passage asks for a two-sided remedy: technical security + voter awareness.

1. Suggested steps: stronger cybersecurity protocols, transparent verification, digital literacy among voters.
2. Option B combines 'strengthening security' and 'digital awareness'.
3. Banning online communication or limiting access is never proposed.

Trick: Reject extreme options (eliminate, limit, reduce) – passages rarely suggest bans.

Answer: (B) Strengthening security and promoting digital awareness

Concept: 'Credible' = able to be believed / trustworthy.

1. The passage wants elections that are 'secure and credible in practice' – i.e. trusted by the public.
2. Believable fits exactly.
3. 'Questionable' is the opposite; 'temporary' and 'complicated' are unrelated.

Trick: Latin 'credere' = to believe → credit, credential, credible.

Answer: (B) Believable

Concept: A 'sweetener' is an extra benefit added to make an offer more tempting.

1. Just as sugar makes food tastier, a sweetener makes a deal more attractive.
2. Example: a free year of service was added as a sweetener to the contract.
3. Candy, drink and flattery are literal or off-track meanings.

Trick: 'Sweeten the deal' = add a bonus – remember the idiom through this phrase.

Answer: (B) An incentive or additional benefit offered to make a deal more attractive

Concept: Flogging a dead horse = putting effort into something that is already hopeless.

1. Beating a dead horse can never make it run – the effort is useless.
2. So the idiom means wasting energy on a matter with no chance of success.
3. Option A (revive) is the opposite; D is the literal meaning – a trap.

Trick: In idiom questions, the literal meaning (like option D) is almost always wrong.

Answer: (B) To waste effort on something where there is no chance of succeeding.

Concept: Explicit = clearly and directly stated; opposite = vague (not clear).

1. Clear, precise and obvious all mean nearly the same as explicit – synonyms.
2. Vague = unclear, not definite → opposite.

Trick: Explicit ↔ implicit / vague; precise ↔ vague – both pairs point to 'vague'.

Answer: (C) Vague

Concept: A substance that removes the feeling of pain = anaesthetic.

1. an- (without) + aesthesia (feeling) → 'without sensation'.
2. Stimulant = increases activity; pyretic = causing fever; antacid = neutralises stomach acid.

Trick: Prefix 'an-/a-' = without: anaemia, anarchy, anaesthetic.

Answer: (A) Anaesthetic

Concept: Inauspicious = unlucky, signalling failure; antonym = propitious (favourable).

1. Unpromising, ominous, threatening – all carry the same bad-sign meaning.
2. Propitious = favourable, indicating success → opposite.

Trick: Inauspicious = in + auspicious; drop the negative idea → auspicious ≈ propitious.

Answer: (C) Propitious

Concept: One who gazes (looks) at the stars = stargazer.

1. star + gazer (one who looks steadily) = Stargazer.
2. Prophet, soothsayer and oracle all predict the future – not about watching stars.

Trick: Split compound options – 'star + gaze' literally answers the definition.

Answer: (B) Stargazer

Concept: 'X was thought to have been done by Y' → 'People thought that Y had done X'.

1. 'was thought' (no doer) → active with general subject: People thought.
2. 'to have been hidden by ancient pirates' → 'that ancient pirates had hidden' (earlier past = past perfect).
3. Result: People thought that ancient pirates had hidden the mysterious treasure chest.

Trick: Options C and D still contain a passive ('had been hidden', 'were thought') – reject at once.

Answer: (B) People thought that ancient pirates had hidden the mysterious treasure chest.

Concept: Wh-question in indirect speech: keep the wh-word, use statement order, backshift the tense.

1. 'you' (listener) → 'I' when reported from the narrator's side; 'your' → 'my'.
2. Past simple 'did … leave' → past perfect 'had left'.
3. No 'did', no question mark: He inquired where I had left my keys.

Trick: Option with 'did' in reported speech (C) is wrong; with no tense change (D) is wrong.

Answer: (B) He inquired where I had left my keys.

Concept: Plural amounts of distance, time, money or weight seen as one whole take a singular verb.

1. 'Ten miles' here means one total distance.
2. So the verb is singular: 'Ten miles is a long distance…'.
3. 'has' changes the meaning; 'were' is plural past.

Trick: Test with 'a distance of ten miles' – it obviously takes 'is'.

Answer: (B) is a long distance

Concept: Present perfect active (has/have + V3) → passive: has/have + been + V3.

1. Object 'a new subatomic particle' (singular) becomes subject → 'has'.
2. have discovered → has been discovered; 'recently' sits after has.
3. A changes tense (was), B misses 'been', D changes tense (is).

Trick: Passive of perfect tense always contains 'been' – only C has 'has been'.

Answer: (C) A new subatomic particle has recently been discovered in their advanced laboratory by the brilliant scientists.

Concept: To go back to direct speech, reverse the tense shift: was → is, had been → have been.

1. Drop 'that' and put the expert's words in quotes.
2. Clause 1: was → is (still true).
3. Clause 2: had been … revealing → have been … revealing. Only D carries both changes.

Trick: Reverse each tense one step forward; check both clauses – A, B, C each fix only one or none.

Answer: (D) Option D – uses 'is' and 'have been'

Concept: The sentence naming the person comes first; pronoun sentences follow in logical order.

1. Q gives the full name 'Dr. Aris Thorne' → opener.
2. S states his research goal (biosignatures) – what he aimed for.
3. R describes how he worked (nights at the observatory), and P praises the skill used in that work → Q S R P.

Trick: Only options starting with Q survive (A, B); S must follow Q to define the research, so A.

Answer: (A) QSRP

Concept: Steps of producing a play follow time order: script → rehearsal → guiding actors → performance.

1. R: writing the script – first step.
2. P: rehearsing the scenes repeatedly, then S: guiding actors and correcting timing during those rehearsals.
3. Q: the final performance and praise – last. Order R P S Q.

Trick: Fix first (R) and last (Q); only P/S order remains – P introduces rehearsals that S refers to.

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

Concept: Ownership by a noun is shown with 's (apostrophe + s).

1. The script belongs to one director → possessive form needed.
2. 'directors final script' ✗ → 'director's final script' ✓
3. B, C, D are fine: 'contains' agrees with singular 'script', 'confuse' with plural 'scenes'.

Trick: Ask 'whose?' – if a noun answers it (whose script? the director's), it must carry 's.

Answer: (A) The directors final script

Concept: 'Reason' already means cause, so it is followed by 'that', not 'because'.

1. 'The reason … is because' says the cause twice – redundant.
2. Fix part B: replace 'because' with 'that' → '…delay is that it rained…'

Trick: Fixed pairs: reason … that; return … (no 'back'); cope … with. Spot 'reason' + 'because' together → error.

Answer: (B) is because it

Concept: Terminate = to bring to an end, stop.

1. Cease = stop / come to an end → same meaning.
2. Initiate, Commence, Start = begin → these are antonyms.

Trick: Three options mean the same thing (begin) – the odd one out (Cease) is the answer.

Answer: (B) Cease

Concept: Choose the phrasal verb that means 'inspect / check'.

1. A safety officer checks tools before work → look over = examine quickly.
2. give in = surrender; call off = cancel; fall back = retreat/rely on.

Trick: Put each meaning in the blank: 'will cancel every tool' or 'will surrender every tool' make no sense – only 'examine' fits.

Answer: (A) look over

Concept: Obstinate = refusing to change one's mind; unyielding.

1. Stubborn = same fixed, inflexible attitude ✓
2. Flexible, Pliable, Yielding = easily bent or persuaded → opposite.

Yaad rakhein: Obstinate, stubborn, adamant, headstrong, obdurate – one family of words.

Answer: (C) Stubborn