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

Concept: Open your heart = to share your deepest feelings and thoughts with someone.

1. She opened her heart to her friend = told her true feelings → Share your deepest feelings.
2. ‘Immediately think of something’ = spring to mind; ‘feel relieved’ = weight off your shoulders; ‘do easily’ = with eyes closed.

Yaad rakhein: Open your heart = pour your heart out.

Answer: (B) Share your deepest feelings

Concept: A list of sources used or referred to in a work = Bibliography.

1. biblio (book) + graphy (writing/list) = list of books/sources at the end of a thesis or book.
2. Bibliophile = book lover; Bibliotheca = a library/collection of books; Bibliomemoir = a memoir about books one has read.

Yaad rakhein: -graphy = list/record; -phile = lover.

Answer: (A) Bibliography

Concept: Flying high = being very successful.

1. ‘Initial problems, but now…’ signals a positive contrast → the company is flying high.
2. Fly the nest = leave home; fly a kite = test opinion with an idea; ‘flying like a rock’ = would fall (failure) – not fitting.

Trick: ‘but’ ke baad ulta (positive) bhav aayega – success wala idiom chuno.

Answer: (D) flying high

Concept: Burn one’s bridges = to act in a way that makes it impossible to go back to an earlier situation or relationship.

1. Burning the bridge you crossed leaves no way to return.
2. He insulted his boss while resigning – he burnt his bridges.
3. Other options describe hard work, sudden success or attack – not this idea.

Yaad rakhein: Burn bridges = no way back (also ‘burn one’s boats’).

Answer: (B) Impossible to return to an earlier state

Concept: The ability to do several things at the same time = Multitasking.

1. multi (many) + tasking = handling many tasks simultaneously.
2. Unitasking = doing one task at a time (opposite); Indictment = formal charge; Blasphemy = insulting God/sacred things.

Yaad rakhein: multi = many, uni = one.

Answer: (D) Multitasking

Concept: My hands are full = I am very busy, I have too much to do.

1. ‘Right now, my hands are full’ = I have no time for anything else → I’m very busy.
2. Literal meanings (hands filled up/swollen) are wrong; ‘very tired’ is a different idea.

Yaad rakhein: Have one’s hands full = be fully occupied.

Answer: (D) I’m very busy

Concept: Compare each word with its standard spelling.

1. Click, Caricature, Cumbersome – correct.
2. ‘Cumolative’ is wrong; correct spelling is Cumulative (increasing by successive additions).

Yaad rakhein: cumulative comes from ‘accumulate’ – keep the ‘u’: c-u-m-u-l-a-t-i-v-e.

Answer: (D) Cumolative

Concept: Credit = an amount entered as received/added to an account.

1. Opposite = Debit (an amount taken out of an account).
2. Litigate = take legal action; Install = set up; Impute = attribute blame – unrelated.

Yaad rakhein: Credit card ↔ Debit card – classic pair.

Answer: (C) Debit

Concept: Boil the ocean = to attempt something impossible or far too ambitious.

1. No one can heat an entire ocean – so the idiom means trying an impossible task.
2. ‘Something very big’ and ‘gets hot gradually’ are literal guesses; ‘make someone angry’ = make someone’s blood boil.

Yaad rakhein: Boil the ocean = impossible task; ‘make blood boil’ = anger (trap).

Answer: (C) Try to do something impossible

Concept: After the auxiliary did (do/does/did), the main verb takes its base form (V1).

1. ‘When did you completed …’ – past is already shown by ‘did’, so ‘completed’ is wrong.
2. Correct: When did you complete your graduation?
3. Other segments are fine.

Trick: do/does/did + V1 – tense ek hi jagah dikhaya jata hai.

Answer: (B) When did you completed your graduation?

Concept: Find the misspelt word in the sentence and choose its correct spelling.

1. Diplomats, believe, delays, inevitable – correctly spelt in the sentence.
2. ‘buraucratic’ is misspelt; correct: bureaucratic (from bureau + cracy).
3. ‘inivitable’, ‘burocratic’, ‘beleave’ are themselves wrong spellings.

Yaad rakhein: bureau-cratic: keep ‘bureau’ (b-u-r-e-a-u) intact.

Answer: (D) bureaucratic

Concept: The compulsion to tell lies or exaggerate = Mythomania.

1. mytho (myth/story) + mania (compulsion) = pathological lying.
2. Pyromania = urge to set fire; Megalomania = obsession with power/one’s greatness; Nymphomania = excessive sexual desire in women.

Yaad rakhein: pyro = fire, megalo = big/great, mytho = myths/lies.

Answer: (D) Mythomania

Concept: Hindrance = something that obstructs or causes difficulty; its opposite is help, ease or relief.

1. In the sentence, ‘relief from the summer heat’ means ease from a difficulty – opposite of a hindrance.
2. Bringing, Blew = verbs of action; Refreshing = describes the breeze – none is the opposite of an obstacle.

Trick: Antonym of a ‘problem’ word → look for the word that removes/eases the problem.

Answer: (D) Relief

Concept: Sense/linking verbs (taste, smell, look, feel, sound) are followed by an adjective, not an adverb.

1. ‘Neem tastes a little bitterly’ is wrong – the adjective describes neem’s taste.
2. Correct: Neem tastes a little bitter, but is very useful.
3. Other parts are correct.

Trick: tastes sweet, smells good, looks happy – linking verb ke baad adjective.

Answer: (A) a little bitterly

Concept: A person who pretends to have moral standards but secretly does the opposite = Hypocrite.

1. The key idea is pretence of virtue + hidden contrary behaviour.
2. Sinner = one who does wrong (no pretence); Actor = performer; Spy = secret agent gathering information.

Yaad rakhein: Hypocrite = says one thing, does another (double standards).

Answer: (D) Hypocrite

Concept: Burn the midnight oil = to work or study late into the night.

1. ‘to work late in the night’ → ‘to burn the midnight oil’.
2. Take a back seat = take a less active role; blow a fuse = lose one’s temper; look through coloured glasses = see things with bias.

Yaad rakhein: Earlier, people burnt oil lamps to work at midnight.

Answer: (B) to burn the midnight oil

Concept: A person who does not eat (or use) any animal product, including milk, eggs and honey = Vegan.

1. A vegetarian avoids meat/fish but may take milk and eggs; a vegan avoids all animal products.
2. Veggie = informal for vegetarian/vegetable; Non-vegetarian eats meat.

Yaad rakhein: Vegan = vegetarian minus dairy, eggs and honey.

Answer: (C) Vegan

Concept: Lie in the bed you have made = accept and face the unpleasant results of your own actions.

1. You created the situation, so you must bear its consequences.
2. Options about literally sleeping in a bed are word-for-word meanings; ‘be contented always’ is unrelated.

Yaad rakhein: You made your bed, now lie in it = suffer the consequences.

Answer: (A) Face the unpleasant consequences of your own acts

Concept: The fixed phrase for something done personally with hands is by hand.

1. ‘through hand’ is incorrect usage.
2. Correct: The postman delivers the letters by hand, door to door.
3. Other segments are correct.

Yaad rakhein: by hand, by post, by mail – means of delivery takes ‘by’.

Answer: (D) through hand

Concept: Demolish = to pull down or destroy a building/structure.

1. Opposite = Fabricate (to construct, build, manufacture).
2. Annihilate = destroy completely (synonym trap); Inferior = lower in quality; Unmethodical = disorganised.

Yaad rakhein: demolish ↔ build/construct/fabricate.

Answer: (D) Fabricate