SSC CPO Paper I 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024 PYQs

Concept: Check each listed word from the sentence.

1. Volcano, ashes and blizzard are spelt correctly.
2. 'erapts' is wrong; the correct word is erupts (from erupt – to burst out).
3. Hence 'Erapts' is the incorrectly spelt word.

Trick: Erupt → eruption (e-r-u-pt), like 'rupture' (to burst).

Answer: (A) Erapts

Concept: Suspend means to stop something temporarily (e.g. classes were suspended).

1. The opposite of stopping temporarily is to start again = Resume.
2. Terminate means to end permanently (not opposite).
3. Extend and Project are unrelated.

Trick: Suspend ↔ Resume / Continue; Suspend ≈ Halt, Pause.

Answer: (D) Resume

Concept: A traitor is a person who betrays his own country, friends or cause.

1. 'A man who betrayed his own country' = Traitor.
2. Gangster = member of a criminal gang; Terrorist = one who uses violence to spread fear; Conman = one who cheats people by tricks.

Trick: Traitor = betrays country; Mercenary = fights for money; Renegade = deserts his side.

Answer: (C) Traitor

Concept: Beat around the bush means to avoid speaking directly about the main point.

1. E.g. "Stop beating around the bush and tell me what happened."
2. The speaker talks round the topic instead of coming to the point.
3. Option (D) 'without any hesitation' is the opposite.

Trick: Beat around the bush ↔ Come to the point / Not mince words.

Answer: (A) To avoid talking about what is important

Concept: Enigmatic means mysterious and difficult to understand.

1. The abstract painting was hard for viewers to understand.
2. The opposite = easy to understand = Clear.
3. Mysterious is a synonym; Instigating (provoking) and Thrilling (exciting) are unrelated.

Trick: Enigma = puzzle → Enigmatic = puzzling ↔ Clear, Obvious.

Answer: (C) Clear

Concept: Through thick and thin means in good times and bad times; loyally, despite all difficulties.

1. E.g. "She stood by her friend through thick and thin."
2. The idiom stresses loyal support in spite of problems.
3. (C) and (D) are too narrow; (B) is a literal reading.

Trick: Through thick and thin = in all circumstances, with loyalty.

Answer: (A) Always supporting someone even if there are problems or difficulties

Concept: The structure too + adjective + (for someone) + to-infinitive already has a negative meaning; it is never followed by 'that … cannot'.

1. 'too busy … that they cannot cross' mixes two structures – wrong.
2. Correct: "The road is too busy for elderly people to cross safely."
3. Options (A), (C), (D) keep the wrong 'that' clause after 'too'.

Trick: Too … to (negative sense); So … that … cannot – never 'too … that'.

Answer: (B) to cross safely.

Concept: Peekaboo is the game played with babies in which one hides the face and then reappears.

1. It comes from peek (to look quickly) + boo.
2. So the correct spelling is peekaboo – 'pee-ka-boo'.
3. 'peakaboo' uses 'peak' (top), and 'pikaboo', 'pekaboo' are wrong.

Trick: Peek (झाँकना) + a + boo = peekaboo.

Answer: (C) peekaboo

Concept: Third conditional (unreal past): If + had + V3 (or inverted 'Had + subject + V3'), subject + would have + V3.

1. The 'if' clause is inverted: 'Had you been working regularly' – correct.
2. Main clause must be 'you would have completed', not 'you had completed'.
3. Correct: "Had you been working regularly, you would have completed the project yesterday."

Trick: Had + V3 … , would have + V3.

Answer: (C) you had completed

Concept: In reported questions about advice or correct choice, we use the modal should; in reported speech the verb must agree with the past reporting verb 'asked'.

1. 'she write' is ungrammatical (third person needs 'writes' and the clause needs a modal).
2. She was asking for the teacher's advice → "whether she should write with a pen or a pencil."
3. 'can' breaks the past sequence; 'wrote'/'did write' refer to a finished action, not the choice before beginning.

Trick: Asking for advice/instruction → should (Should I write…? → whether she should write).

Answer: (C) she should write

Concept: The blank describes the kind of life children lead because they are 'free from worries, tensions and stresses'.

1. Free from worries → life without care = carefree.
2. Stressful contradicts the sentence; careful and cautious mean watchful, which does not follow from 'free from worries'.

Trick: Carefree = without worry; Careful = with care/caution – do not confuse.

Answer: (A) carefree

Concept: The blank describes how 'golden and beautiful memories' are treated in adulthood.

1. Beautiful memories are valued and remembered with love = cherished.
2. Blocked, dumped and neglected are negative and clash with 'golden and beautiful'.

Trick: Positive memories → cherished / treasured.

Answer: (A) cherished

Concept: The sentence says parents must shape the child's future because the child 'can drift in any direction'.

1. A child drifts easily because he is simple, naive and unaware of right and wrong = innocent.
2. Mature would not drift; crafty (cunning) and guilty are negative and do not fit a child's nature here.

Trick: Look at the clue after 'and' – 'can drift in any direction' → innocent/naive.

Answer: (B) innocent

Concept: The blank says what we should do about children's mistakes 'instead of misbehaving with them'.

1. Mistakes should be corrected = rectify.
2. Damage is negative; create and design mistakes make no sense.

Trick: Mistake/error/fault + rectify / correct.

Answer: (D) rectify

Concept: The blank describes how our behaviour stays 'on their minds' and reflects later.

1. Something fixed permanently in the mind is imprinted on it.
2. Published (printed for public), bleached (whitened) and coloured do not collocate with 'on their minds'.

Trick: Imprinted on the mind / memory = deeply fixed.

Answer: (C) imprinted

Concept: Find the passage word meaning 'difficult to stay or live in'.

1. The passage says without soil Earth would be like 'the barren and inhospitable surface of the Moon or Mars'.
2. Inhospitable = harsh, unfit for living.
3. Barren = unable to produce plants; Dense = thick; Essential = necessary.

Trick: In-hospitable = not welcoming (no hospitality) → hard to live in.

Answer: (A) Inhospitable

Concept: Direct fact from the second paragraph of the passage.

1. "Chop a forest down and it might grow back in 50 years, but lose 10 cm of soil and get ready to wait 1,000 years to get it back."
2. So renewing 10 cm of lost soil takes about 1,000 years.
3. 50 years refers to forests, not soil.

Yaad rakhein: Forest regrowth – 50 years; 10 cm soil – 1,000 years.

Answer: (B) 1,000

Concept: Tone = the author's attitude, judged from word choice.

1. The author warns that soil is 'very fragile', that our 'very survival' depends on it, and that lost soil takes 1,000 years to return.
2. This raises concern and urgency → Alarming (warning) tone.
3. There is no mockery (derisive, sarcastic) or rigid opinion-pushing (dogmatic).

Trick: Look for warning words (fragile, survival, wait 1,000 years) → alarming.

Answer: (D) Alarming

Concept: A good title covers the central theme of the whole passage.

1. The passage begins with 'the dirt under your feet', calls soils 'the best mysteries' needing digging, and lists unanswered questions about soil.
2. So Mysteries Under Man’s Feet sums it up.
3. Moon and Mars are mentioned only as a comparison; mining and the 'uninhabitable universe' are not the topic.

Trick: Title = theme found at the start and end of the passage (soil underfoot, its mysteries).

Answer: (D) Mysteries Under Man’s Feet

Concept: Locate the line about human survival.

1. "Our very survival as humans – and life on this planet – is intimately linked with the health of a thin layer of soil enveloping the earth."
2. Soil also gives food, feed, fibre and raw materials.
3. Celestial bodies appear only in da Vinci's quote; inventions and reproduction are not mentioned.

Trick: Match the key phrase 'survival' in the question with the same word in the passage.

Answer: (C) soil