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

Concept: Summer Olympic host cities around the year 2000.

1. The 2000 Summer Olympics (Games of the XXVII Olympiad) were held in Sydney, Australia.
2. Seoul hosted 1988, Athens 2004, Paris 1900, 1924 and 2024.
3. Karnam Malleswari won India's bronze in weightlifting at Sydney 2000 – the first Olympic medal by an Indian woman.

Yaad rakhein: 1988 Seoul → 1992 Barcelona → 1996 Atlanta → 2000 Sydney → 2004 Athens.

Answer: (D) Sydney

Concept: LTTE was the militant group that fought for a separate Tamil state in Sri Lanka.

1. LTTE = Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
2. So the first 'T' = Tigers, the second 'T' = Tamil.
3. It was founded by V. Prabhakaran (1976) and defeated in 2009.

Trick: L-T-T-E: Liberation → Tigers → Tamil → Eelam (order matters).

Answer: (A) Tigers

Concept: GST is a destination-based indirect tax introduced by the 101st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2016.

1. It was launched at a midnight session of Parliament and came into effect on 1 July 2017.
2. It subsumed VAT, central excise, service tax and other indirect taxes.
3. 1 July is now observed as GST Day.

Yaad rakhein: GST Day = 1 July; 101st Amendment; Art. 279A = GST Council.

Answer: (A) 1 July 2017

Concept: The Infosys Prize is given by the Infosys Science Foundation; it began in 2009.

1. The first Infosys Prize in Social Sciences – History (2009) went to historian Upinder Singh of Delhi University.
2. She is known for 'A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India'.
3. She is the daughter of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Yaad rakhein: Infosys Prize 2009 History → Upinder Singh (ancient India).

Answer: (C) Upinder Singh

Concept: A true solution is a homogeneous mixture with solute particles smaller than about 1 nm.

1. Particles are too small to be seen, do not scatter light (no Tyndall effect) and pass through filter paper.
2. A solution is stable: the solute particles do not settle on standing.
3. Settling on standing is a property of a suspension, so statement C is NOT true.

Trick: Settles down → suspension; scatters light but does not settle → colloid; neither → true solution.

Answer: (C) The particles of the solute settle down at the bottom when the solution is kept undisturbed.

Concept: The Silent Valley Movement opposed a hydroelectric dam on the Kunthipuzha river.

1. Silent Valley is in Palakkad district of Kerala, an evergreen tropical forest home to the lion-tailed macaque.
2. The movement (from 1973) was led by the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad and others; the project was dropped and Silent Valley National Park was declared in 1984.
3. Chipko (1973) was in Uttarakhand, Appiko (1983) in Karnataka.

Yaad rakhein: Silent Valley – Kerala – lion-tailed macaque – Kunthipuzha.

Answer: (B) Kerala

Concept: Sathish Kumar Sivalingam is an Indian athlete from Vellore, Tamil Nadu.

1. He is a weightlifter in the 77 kg category.
2. He won gold at the 2014 Glasgow and 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
3. He received the Arjuna Award in 2017.

Yaad rakhein: CWG weightlifting golds 2018: Mirabai Chanu, Sanjita Chanu, Sathish Sivalingam, Venkat Rahul, Punam Yadav.

Answer: (A) Weightlifting

Concept: The Global March Against Child Labour (1998) was a worldwide movement against child labour.

1. It was founded and led by Kailash Satyarthi, who also founded Bachpan Bachao Andolan (1980).
2. He shared the Nobel Peace Prize 2014 with Malala Yousafzai.
3. Anna Hazare – anti-corruption; Kiran Bedi – police reforms; Baba Amte – leprosy patients (Anandwan).

Yaad rakhein: Satyarthi = children: Bachpan Bachao Andolan + Global March + Nobel 2014.

Answer: (C) Kailash Satyarthi

Concept: Leukaemia is a cancer of the blood-forming tissue (bone marrow).

1. The bone marrow produces a huge number of abnormal white blood cells (leukocytes).
2. These crowd out normal blood cells, leading to anaemia, infections and bleeding.
3. Lung, uterus and skin cancers are carcinomas/melanomas, not leukaemia.

Trick: Leuko = white, haima = blood → 'white blood' → blood cancer.

Answer: (D) blood

Concept: Algae are classified into three main classes by their pigments.

1. Phaeophyceae = brown algae, with the brown pigment fucoxanthin (e.g. Laminaria, Sargassum, Fucus).
2. Chlorophyceae = green algae (chlorophyll a, b); Rhodophyceae = red algae (r-phycoerythrin).
3. There is no class called 'white algae'.

Trick: Phaeo = dusky/brown; Rhodo = red; Chloro = green.

Answer: (C) brown algae

Concept: Itimad-ud-Daulah's tomb is often called the 'Baby Taj'.

1. It was built (1622–28) by Empress Nur Jahan for her father Mirza Ghiyas Beg (Itimad-ud-Daulah).
2. It stands on the bank of the Yamuna at Agra.
3. It is the first Mughal building faced in white marble with pietra dura inlay – a forerunner of the Taj Mahal.

Yaad rakhein: Baby Taj → Agra → Nur Jahan → first pietra dura; 'Bibi ka Maqbara' (Aurangabad) is the 'Taj of the Deccan'.

Answer: (B) Agra

Concept: Only one of the listed terms belongs to the circulatory system; the rest are parts of the brain.

1. The aorta is the largest artery; it arises from the left ventricle and carries oxygenated blood to the body.
2. Cerebrum, cerebellum and medulla (oblongata) are parts of the brain.
3. Hence aorta is associated with the heart.

Yaad rakhein: Brain trio: Cerebrum (thinking), Cerebellum (balance), Medulla (involuntary actions).

Answer: (B) Aorta

Concept: Horse power (hp) is a non-SI unit of power; the SI unit is the watt.

1. $1\text{hp}=746\text{W}\approx 750\text{W}$.
2. Watt $=\frac{\text{joule}}{\text{second}}$, so 1 hp is about 0.75 kW.
3. Hence the nearest option is 750.

Trick: $1\text{hp}\approx \frac{3}{4}\text{kW}$.

Answer: (C) 750

Concept: Kathasaritsagara ('Ocean of the Streams of Stories') is a famous 11th-century Sanskrit collection of tales.

1. It was written by Somadeva, a Kashmiri Brahmin, for Queen Suryamati, wife of King Ananta of Kashmir.
2. It is based on Gunadhya's lost Brihatkatha.
3. Kalidasa – Abhijnanashakuntalam; Jayadeva – Gita Govinda; Bhasa – Svapnavasavadatta.

Yaad rakhein: Katha + Sagar → Somadeva (Kashmir); Gita Govinda → Jayadeva.

Answer: (A) Somadeva

Concept: Groundnut is a kharif oilseed that grows well in sandy-loam soil with moderate rainfall.

1. Gujarat (Saurashtra region) is the largest groundnut producer in India, as reported in the 2018 groundnut crop survey.
2. Other major producers are Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
3. West Bengal, Haryana and Bihar are minor producers.

Yaad rakhein: Groundnut – Gujarat (Saurashtra); Junagadh has the Directorate of Groundnut Research.

Answer: (C) Gujarat

Concept: Natural satellites (moons) vary from planet to planet.

1. Mercury and Venus have no natural satellite.
2. Earth has 1 (the Moon) and Mars has 2 (Phobos and Deimos).
3. Hence Venus has 0 moons.

Yaad rakhein: Moonless pair = the two inner planets: Mercury & Venus.

Answer: (D) 0

Concept: SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) was formed at its first summit.

1. The first SAARC summit was held at Dhaka on 7–8 December 1985, where the Charter was signed.
2. Founding members: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives; Afghanistan joined in 2007.
3. Secretariat: Kathmandu (1987).

Yaad rakhein: SAARC: Dhaka 1985, 8 Dec = SAARC Charter Day, HQ Kathmandu.

Answer: (A) 1985

Concept: Precise voluntary movements need coordination of muscles and balance of the body.

1. The cerebellum (hind-brain) coordinates voluntary movements and maintains posture and balance – e.g. bending and picking up a pencil.
2. The cerebrum initiates the decision (thinking, voluntary control), but the precision and balance of the action come from the cerebellum.
3. The cranium is the skull bone; the hypothalamus controls hunger, thirst and temperature.

Yaad rakhein: Cerebellum = 'little brain' for balance & coordination (walking straight, riding a bicycle, picking up objects).

Answer: (D) Cerebellum

Concept: Shadow length depends on the Sun's altitude: the higher the Sun, the shorter the shadow ($\text{length}=\frac{h}{\tan \theta }$).

1. In the morning (07:00, 09:00) the Sun is low in the east, so the shadow is long and points west.
2. Around 12:00 (local noon) the Sun is highest in the sky, so the shadow is the shortest.
3. In the afternoon (15:00) the Sun is low in the west again and the shadow lengthens towards the east.

Trick: Higher Sun → shorter shadow; the Sun is highest at noon.

Answer: (D) 12:00

Concept: The ${90}^{\circ }\text{E}$ meridian runs through the north-eastern part of the subcontinent.

1. It passes through Bhutan, the western edge of Meghalaya/Assam (near Dhubri – Garo Hills) and Bangladesh, and reaches the Bay of Bengal.
2. Sikkim lies between about ${88}^{\circ }\text{E}$ and ${89}^{\circ }\text{E}$ – west of ${90}^{\circ }\text{E}$.
3. So the meridian does not pass through Sikkim.

Yaad rakhein: Sikkim ≈ ${88.5}^{\circ }\text{E}$; Bhutan–Dhubri–Garo Hills ≈ ${90}^{\circ }\text{E}$.

Answer: (A) Sikkim