SSC CHSL 2025 PYQs

Concept: Find the safety risk linked with germline editing.

1. Passage: editing the germline may lead to unforeseen mutations or effects that cannot be reversed.
2. Population decline, politics, or drug-industry profit are not mentioned as safety risks.

Trick: Options that match the passage word for word (unforeseen, irreversible) are usually the answer in factual RC.

Answer: (B) GE's editing of the germline could result in unforeseen mutations or irreversible biological consequences.

Concept: Idioms carry a figurative, not literal, meaning.

1. See eye to eye = to agree; to hold the same view.
2. The sentence contrasts 'different backgrounds' with agreement on all big decisions.

Trick: Literal-meaning options (looking into eyes) are traps in idiom questions — skip them first.

Answer: (B) To have the same opinions or views

Concept: Light (weight) ↔ heavy.

1. Ponderous = very heavy, slow and clumsy — opposite of light.
2. Fragile, petite, slender all suggest smallness/delicacy — closer to 'light'.

Trick: 'Ponder-' comes from Latin pondus = weight (also in 'pound').

Answer: (B) Ponderous

Concept: Match the job with the vehicle.

1. One who flies an aircraft = Pilot.
2. Captain commands a ship, Sailor works on a ship (option misspelt 'Salior'), Mason works with stone.

Trick: Aircraft → pilot; ship → captain/sailor; car → driver; horse → rider/jockey.

Answer: (B) Pilot

Concept: Exceptional skill in one field = expert/scholar.

1. Savant = a person with remarkable knowledge or talent in a specific area.
2. Layman, dilettante, amateur all describe non-experts — the opposite idea.

Trick: Three options mean 'non-expert' → the odd one out (Savant) is the answer.

Answer: (D) Savant

Concept: are/is + V3 (passive) → V1/V1+s (active); add a doer.

1. No agent given → use 'They' as subject.
2. 'are sold' (simple present) → sell; 'Fresh vegetables' becomes the object.
3. Active: They sell fresh vegetables … every Sunday.

Trick: Tense never changes in voice change — (C) continuous and (D) perfect are out at once.

Answer: (B) They sell fresh vegetables at the market every Sunday morning.

Concept: Oppose = resist/go against.

1. Connive = to secretly go along with or allow something wrong — the reverse of opposing.
2. Resist, reject, protest all mean the same as oppose (synonyms).

Trick: When three options are synonyms of the word, the fourth is the antonym.

Answer: (C) Connive

Concept: Past reporting verb → back-shift every tense.

1. Simple past 'cooked' → past perfect had cooked.
2. Past continuous 'was waiting' → had been waiting.
3. I → she; join with 'that'.

Trick: Both verbs must move one step back — pick the option where neither verb is left unchanged.

Answer: (B) She said that she had cooked the dinner and she had been waiting for the guests.

Concept: After 'a fraction of', the verb agrees with the noun after 'of'.

1. Students attended → active voice needed, not 'are attended'.
2. Noun after 'of' = 'the student body' (singular collective) → singular has attended.
3. 'A fractions' is ungrammatical.

Trick: Fraction/part/half/percentage of + singular noun → singular verb; + plural noun → plural verb.

Answer: (D) A fraction of the student body has attended

Concept: Simple future = will + V1 (base form).

1. 'will be prepare' mixes 'be' with a base verb — wrong.
2. Correct: Anita … will prepare the feast Sunday in Goa.
3. 'will preparing' / 'is prepare' are broken forms; 'in preparation' leaves no verb.

Trick: will/shall/can/must are always followed directly by V1 — no 'be' unless V1 is 'be' itself.

Answer: (A) will prepare

Concept: have/has + V3 → have/has + been + V3.

1. Active verb 'have developed' = present perfect.
2. New subject 'a new effective vaccine' is singular → has been developed.
3. Agent 'by the scientists' and the time phrase stay.

Trick: Spot the tense marker first: 'have/has' in active ⇒ 'been' must appear with have/has (not had) in passive.

Answer: (B) A new effective vaccine has been developed by the scientists after endless months of testing.

Concept: do/does + V1 (question) → is/are + subject + V3.

1. Object 'such a high tax' (singular) becomes subject → auxiliary is.
2. Question order: Why + is + subject + always + placed …
3. Result: Why is such a high tax always placed …?

Trick: In WH-question passives the helping verb comes before the subject — (B) is out; 'was/has been' change tense.

Answer: (A) Why is such a high tax always placed on imported goods?

Concept: Reverse the changes: could → can, he/his → I/my.

1. Reporting part keeps 'asked his boss'.
2. Reported question in quotes, tense restored: 'How can I finish my daily task?'

Trick: In direct speech the speaker talks about himself in first person — any option with 'he' inside quotes is wrong.

Answer: (D) The new clerk asked his boss, "How can I finish my daily task?"

Concept: Going to direct speech: past perfect → present perfect, simple past → simple present.

1. had been a breach → has been; had clearly shown → has clearly shown.
2. had been drawn (finished earlier) → was drawn.
3. he was safe → he is safe. Only (C) has all four.

Trick: Check the last clause first: only (C) and (D) say 'he is safe'; (D) wrongly has 'was a breach'.

Answer: (C) "…has been a breach … has clearly shown that he is safe …"

Concept: Follow the natural order: set-up → observation → analysis → conclusion.

1. P introduces 'the students' and starts the experiment.
2. Q's 'They' refers to the students; it records changes.
3. R analyses the recorded results; S gives the final proof. → P Q R S

Trick: Pronoun link: a sentence starting with 'They' can never be first — rules out (B).

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

Concept: When two past actions are told together, the one that happened first takes past perfect (had + V3).

1. Order of events: presentation finished first → lunch eaten later.
2. Earlier action → had finished; later action → ate (simple past) is fine.
3. Correct: After she had finished her presentation, she ate her lunch.

Trick: Spot two past verbs + 'after/before/when' → ask 'which came first?' — that one gets had.

Answer: (A) After she finished

Concept: Choose the idiom that means betrayal of someone who trusted you.

1. Clue: she pretended to be trustworthy, then showed her real intentions → betrayal.
2. Stab someone in the back = betray secretly.
3. Others: burn the midnight oil = work late; play one's cards right = act cleverly; take the bull by the horns = face a problem boldly.

Trick: Words like 'pretending', 'trust', 'real intentions' always point to a betrayal idiom.

Answer: (B) stabbed him in the back

Concept: Find the word with the same meaning as meticulous.

1. Meticulous = extremely careful about small details.
2. Fastidious = very particular about accuracy and detail → match.
3. Careless is the opposite; easygoing and indulgent mean relaxed/lenient.

Trick: Remove the antonym (Careless) first; of the rest, only one word is about 'detail'.

Answer: (C) Fastidious

Concept: Pick the idiom for something used to divert attention from the main issue.

1. Sentence says the explanation was meant 'to distract attention from the real issue'.
2. Red herring = a misleading clue that takes focus away from the real point.
3. Feather in the cap = achievement; can of worms = messy problem; slip of the tongue = speaking mistake.

Trick: Red herring was once dragged to throw hunting dogs off the scent — so think 'distraction'.

Answer: (B) red herring

Concept: Main-idea question: look at what the opening paragraph says creative media mainly does.

1. Para 1: it goes beyond visuals and focuses on communicating ideas, emotions and messages meaningfully.
2. So its core job = meaningful communication.
3. Decoration (A) and entertainment (C) are surface uses; replacing writing (D) is never said.

Trick: In main-idea questions, reject options that the passage itself calls 'surface-level'.

Answer: (B) To communicate ideas and messages in a meaningful way