Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: A seismograph records the ground vibrations (seismic waves) of an earthquake; its record (seismogram) is used to find magnitude and intensity.

1. Barometer – atmospheric pressure; Anemometer – wind speed; Tiltmeter – very small changes in ground slope (used near volcanoes).
2. Magnitude is expressed on the Richter/moment scale, intensity on the Mercalli scale – both derived from seismograph data.

Yaad rakhein: Seismo = earthquake (Greek seismos = shaking).

Answer: (D) Seismograph

Concept: UNDP's Human Development Report 2025 (released 6 May 2025) put India's HDI value for 2023 at 0.685, rank 130 of 193.

1. This is the "medium human development" category; the 2022 value was 0.676 (rank 133).
2. Report theme: "A matter of choice: People and possibilities in the age of AI".

Yaad rakhein: HDR 2025 → India 0.685, rank 130.

Answer: (A) 0.685

Concept: The Northern Plains are alluvial deposits of the three Himalayan river systems – Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra – and their tributaries.

1. They are divided into Punjab (Indus) plain, Ganga plain and Brahmaputra plain.
2. Narmada, Tapti, Kaveri, Mahanadi, Krishna, Godavari are Peninsular rivers – they do not build the Northern Plains.

Yaad rakhein: I-G-B = Indus, Ganga, Brahmaputra = Northern Plains.

Answer: (C) Indus, Ganga, Brahmaputra

Concept: Application software performs user tasks and runs on top of system software (OS); Microsoft Word is application software.

1. Linux Kernel and Ubuntu are operating systems (system software); BIOS is firmware that starts the computer.
2. Word cannot run without an OS such as Windows/macOS.

Yaad rakhein: System software = runs the machine; Application software = does your work (Word, Excel, browser).

Answer: (C) Microsoft Word

Concept: In Kautilya's Arthashastra, Sitadhyaksha is the superintendent of agriculture who managed cultivation of crown (sita) lands.

1. Panyadhyaksha – superintendent of commerce/trade; Samaharta – chief collector of revenue; Aksapataladhyaksha – accountant-general (records).

Yaad rakhein: "Sita" = furrow/crown land (as in Sita born from a furrow) → Sitadhyaksha = agriculture officer.

Answer: (D) Sitadhyaksha

Concept: Photosynthesis is the process in which green plants use sunlight, water and CO₂ to make glucose and release oxygen (in chloroplasts, using chlorophyll).

1. Transpiration – loss of water vapour from leaves; Respiration – breaking glucose to release energy; Fermentation – anaerobic respiration (yeast).

Yaad rakhein: Photo = light, synthesis = making → food-making with light.

Answer: (B) Photosynthesis

Concept: Jyotiba (Jyotirao) Phule founded the Satyashodhak Samaj (Truth-Seekers' Society) on 24 September 1873 at Pune.

1. Aim: liberate Shudras and Ati-Shudras from Brahmanical domination, promote education and oppose caste discrimination.
2. Phule and Savitribai also started the first girls' school in Pune (Bhide Wada, 1848).

Yaad rakhein: Phule = Pune (both start with P) = Satyashodhak Samaj 1873.

Answer: (A) Pune

Concept: Chandra Shekhar (PM 1990–91) was never a Chief Minister – he went straight from being a Lok Sabha MP (Ballia) to PM.

1. Morarji Desai – CM of Bombay State (1952–56); V. P. Singh – CM of Uttar Pradesh (1980–82); P. V. Narasimha Rao – CM of Andhra Pradesh (1971–73).

Yaad rakhein: "Young Turk" Chandra Shekhar – socialist, MP from Ballia, Bharat Yatra 1983, never a CM.

Answer: (C) Chandrashekhar

Concept: The Taj Mahal (built 1632–53) at Agra by Shah Jahan in memory of Mumtaz Mahal is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1983).

1. Safdarjung Tomb is in Delhi (1754); Sikandra is Akbar's tomb (built by Jahangir, 1613); Jama Masjid of Agra (1648) is not a World Heritage Site.
2. Agra has three UNESCO sites: Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Fatehpur Sikri.

Yaad rakhein: 17th century + Agra + Shah Jahan + UNESCO = Taj Mahal.

Answer: (D) Taj Mahal

Concept: The Pune Book Festival 2025 (third edition, 13–21 December 2025) was held at the Fergusson College Grounds, Pune, organised by the National Book Trust.

1. The 2023 and 2024 editions were also held at Fergusson College Grounds; the festival has set Guinness records for mass reading events.

Yaad rakhein: Pune Book Festival → NBT → Fergusson College Grounds → December.

Answer: (C) Fergusson College Grounds

Concept: Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah (SWAPO) was sworn in on 21 March 2025 as Namibia's first woman President.

1. She won the November 2024 election; earlier she was Vice-President and Foreign Minister.
2. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf – Liberia (Africa's first elected woman president, 2006); Joyce Banda – Malawi; Saara Kuugongelwa – Namibia's former PM.

Yaad rakhein: Namibia 2025 → "NNN" – Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.

Answer: (C) Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah

Concept: Malayalam was first written in Vatteluttu, then Grantha-based scripts and Kolezhuthu (Malayanma), before evolving into the modern Malayalam script (Arya-ezhuthu).

1. Malayalam got Classical Language status in 2013.
2. Tamil uses the Tamil script; Kannada and Odia scripts developed from the Kadamba and Kalinga/Siddham scripts respectively.

Yaad rakhein: Kolezhuthu ("ezhuthu" = writing in Malayalam/Tamil) + Grantha → Malayalam.

Answer: (B) Malayalam

Concept: Pakistani economist Mahbub-ul-Haq introduced the concept of human development and created the first Human Development Report (UNDP, 1990).

1. Amartya Sen contributed the capability approach and worked with Haq on the HDI, but the concept/HDR is credited to Haq.
2. Griffith Taylor – "Stop and Go" determinism; Humboldt – father of modern geography.

Yaad rakhein: Haq = HDI/HDR (1990); Sen = Capability.

Answer: (A) Mahbub-ul-Haq

Concept: RAM is "Random Access" because any memory location can be reached directly in the same time, regardless of its position – unlike sequential media (magnetic tape).

1. RAM is volatile – data is lost when power goes off, so "permanently stored" is wrong.
2. Data is stored in addressed cells, not "randomly without structure".

Yaad rakhein: Random access = direct access to any address; sequential access = tape.

Answer: (D) Data can be accessed directly from any location

Concept: Crude Birth Rate (CBR) = number of live births in a year per 1,000 of the mid-year population.

1. $\text{CBR}=\frac{\text{live births}}{\text{population}}\times 1000$.
2. Deaths per 1,000 is the Crude Death Rate (CDR); CBR − CDR = natural growth rate.

Yaad rakhein: All "crude" rates are per thousand, per year.

Answer: (D) Number of live births per thousand annually

Concept: A glacier moving down an old river valley widens, deepens and smooths it into a U-shaped valley (glacial trough).

1. Rivers cut narrow V-shaped valleys and gorges by vertical erosion; floodplains are depositional.
2. The ice scours the valley floor flat and the walls steep – hence the "U".

Yaad rakhein: River = V, Glacier = U.

Answer: (B) U-shaped valley

Concept: The gold-foil α-particle scattering experiment (1909) was performed by Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden under Ernest Rutherford at Manchester.

1. Result (1911): most α-particles passed straight, a few deflected sharply → tiny, dense, positive nucleus – Rutherford's nuclear model.
2. Bohr later refined this model (1913); Dalton gave the atomic theory (1808).

Yaad rakhein: Geiger–Marsden experiment = Rutherford's gold-foil experiment.

Answer: (A) Ernest Rutherford

Concept: A tangent is perpendicular to the radius at the point of contact, so $△OBA$ is right-angled at B. Also $OB=OC$, so $△OBC$ is isosceles.

1. In $△OBA$: $\sin \angle OAB=\frac{OB}{OA}=\frac{3}{6}=\frac{1}{2}\Rightarrow \angle OAB={30}^{\circ }$, so $\angle AOB={60}^{\circ }$.
2. By symmetry $\angle AOC={60}^{\circ }$, hence $\angle BOC={120}^{\circ }$.
3. In isosceles $△OBC$: $\angle OBC=\angle OCB=\frac{{180}^{\circ }-{120}^{\circ }}{2}={30}^{\circ }$.

Trick: When the external point is at distance $2r$ from the centre, the two tangents make ${60}^{\circ }$ with each other, the central angle is ${120}^{\circ }$ and each base angle of $△OBC$ is ${30}^{\circ }$.

Answer: (A) ${30}^{\circ }$

Concept: $\frac{M_1{T}_1}{W_1}=\frac{M_2{T}_2}{W_2}$ (men × time ∝ work).

1. $\frac{9\times 3}{117}=\frac{M_2\times 1}{208}$
2. $M_2=\frac{27\times 208}{117}=\frac{27\times 208}{117}$; since $117=9\times 13$ and $208=16\times 13$: $M_2=\frac{27\times 16}{9}=48$.

Trick: One student makes $\frac{117}{27}=\frac{13}{3}$ charts per hour, so $208÷\frac{13}{3}=16\times 3=48$ students.

Answer: (B) 48 students

Concept: The mean proportional between $a$ and $b$ is $\sqrt{ab}$, i.e. $m^2=ab$.

1. ${18}^2=x\times 36$
2. $x=\frac{324}{36}=9$

Trick: $x:18=18:36$; the right ratio is $1:2$, so $x=\frac{18}{2}=9$.

Answer: (C) 9