Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Multinational military exercises in 2025.

1. Talisman Sabre is a biennial exercise led by Australia with the USA; the 2025 edition (July) was the largest ever with 19 nations, including India.
2. Other 2025 exercises: Yudh Abhyas (India–USA), Indra (India–Russia), Ajeya Warrior (India–UK).

Yaad rakhein: Talisman Sabre → Australia; Malabar → Quad navies.

Answer: (C) Australia

Concept: Medieval Indian literature.

1. Tughlaq Nama was written by Amir Khusrau (on Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq's rise), not Abul Fazl – so option B is the incorrect pair.
2. Abul Fazl wrote Akbarnama and Ain-i-Akbari.
3. Prithviraj Raso – Chand Bardai; Gita Govinda – Jayadeva; Baburnama (Tuzuk-i-Baburi) – Babur.

Yaad rakhein: Khusrau = Khazain-ul-Futuh, Tughlaq Nama, Nuh Sipihr; Abul Fazl = Akbar.

Answer: (B) Tughlaq Nama – Abul Fazal

Concept: Constitutional remedies for Fundamental Rights.

1. Article 32 empowers the Supreme Court and Article 226 empowers the High Courts to issue writs (habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, certiorari, quo warranto).
2. Article 32 is itself a Fundamental Right – Ambedkar called it the 'heart and soul' of the Constitution.
3. District/Session courts and Lok Adalats have no writ power.

Yaad rakhein: 32 → SC (only FRs); 226 → HC (FRs + other legal rights, wider).

Answer: (D) Supreme Court and High Courts

Concept: Flagship fisheries scheme of the Government of India.

1. PMMSY was launched on 10 September 2020 by PM Modi (virtually, from Bihar) with an outlay of ₹20,050 crore for 2020-21 to 2024-25 – the 'Blue Revolution' scheme.
2. Aim: raise fish production to 22 million tonnes and double fishers' income.

Yaad rakhein: PMMSY – 2020; PM Kisan – 2019; PM Fasal Bima – 2016.

Answer: (A) 2020

Concept: Pallava structural temples.

1. The Kailasanatha Temple at Kanchipuram (built by Narasimhavarman II 'Rajasimha', early 8th century) is the earliest large structural temple of the Pallavas, built mainly of sandstone with a granite base.
2. Do not confuse with the Kailasa temple at Ellora (rock-cut basalt, Rashtrakuta) or Brihadeeswara at Thanjavur (granite, Chola).

Yaad rakhein: Kanchi Kailasanatha → sandstone; Thanjavur → granite; Ellora → rock-cut.

Answer: (A) Sandstone

Concept: Role of iron technology in the later Vedic / Iron Age (c. 1000 BCE onwards).

1. Iron axes helped clear the dense forests of the Ganga valley and iron ploughshares could turn the heavy, wet alluvial soils – making rice cultivation possible.
2. Stone microliths belong to the Mesolithic; copper/bronze tools were too soft for heavy soils.

Yaad rakhein: Iron (krishna ayas) + Ganga plains = second urbanisation.

Answer: (D) Iron ploughshares and axes

Concept: Folk songs and their home states.

1. Panihari – Rajasthan (songs of women fetching water); Khongjom Parba – Manipur (ballad of the 1891 Khongjom battle).
2. Wanawan – Jammu & Kashmir (wedding songs); Baul – West Bengal (mystic minstrels).
3. Hence 1-b, 2-d, 3-c, 4-a.

Yaad rakhein: Pani (water) → desert Rajasthan; Khongjom → Manipur; Baul → Bengal.

Answer: (B) 1-b, 2-d, 3-c, 4-a

Concept: Gas laws relate pressure, volume and temperature.

1. Boyle's law: at constant temperature, $PV=\text{constant}$ – pressure and volume are inversely proportional.
2. Charles's law – volume and temperature; Gay-Lussac's law – pressure and temperature.

Yaad rakhein: Boyle → P-V; Charles → V-T; Gay-Lussac → P-T.

Answer: (D) Volume And Pressure

Concept: PNGRB (Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board) reforms of 2025.

1. In December 2025 PNGRB notified amended unified natural-gas pipeline tariff rules, moving CGD supplies to the lowest tariff zone (Zone 1) irrespective of distance.
2. The revamp was expected to save city gas distributors about ₹1,000 crore a year in transport costs, making CNG and piped gas cheaper.

Yaad rakhein: PNGRB tariff revamp (Dec 2025) → CGD savings ≈ ₹1,000 crore/year.

Answer: (C) 1,000 crore

Concept: Devices are classified by the direction of data flow.

1. A printer takes processed data from the computer and presents it to the user (hard copy) – so it is an output device.
2. Input devices (keyboard, mouse, scanner) send data to the computer; primary memory is RAM/ROM.

Yaad rakhein: Monitor, printer, speaker, plotter = output; keyboard, mouse, scanner, mic = input.

Answer: (B) Output device

Concept: Tenth Schedule (52nd Amendment, 1985) grounds of disqualification.

1. An independent member is disqualified if he/she joins any political party after election.
2. A nominated member may join a party within 6 months; a party member is disqualified for voluntarily giving up membership or defying the whip (options A, C, D concern party members or are not grounds at all).

Yaad rakhein: Independent → joins party = out; Nominated → 6-month window.

Answer: (B) Joining any political party after their election

Concept: Raja Ram Mohan Roy's early organisations.

1. Atmiya Sabha was founded in 1815 at Calcutta by Raja Ram Mohan Roy to discuss monotheism and oppose idolatry and social evils – so '1824' is the incorrect statement.
2. It paved the way for the Brahmo Sabha (1828), later Brahmo Samaj.

Yaad rakhein: Atmiya Sabha 1815 → Brahmo Sabha 1828 → Sati abolished 1829.

Answer: (A) The Atmiya Sabha was established in 1824

Concept: Wildcards in Windows file search.

1. The asterisk * stands for any number of characters: e.g. report* finds report1.docx, report_final.pdf etc.
2. The question mark ? stands for exactly one character. @, $ and & have no wildcard meaning.

Yaad rakhein: * = many characters, ? = one character.

Answer: (C) asterisk *

Concept: How different storage media record bits.

1. A hard disk drive (HDD) stores data as tiny magnetised regions on spinning platters, read/written by a magnetic head.
2. CDs/DVDs use laser (optical) pits; SSDs/pen drives use solid-state flash memory (semiconductor chips); liquid crystal is a display technology.

Yaad rakhein: HDD = magnetic; CD/DVD/Blu-ray = optical; SSD = flash.

Answer: (A) magnetic field

Concept: Section 8 of the RTI Act lists exemptions from disclosure.

1. Exempt: information affecting sovereignty and integrity of India, security, breach of privilege of Parliament/legislature, cabinet papers, trade secrets, personal information etc.
2. Public interest is not a ground of exemption – on the contrary, Section 8(2) allows disclosure of even exempt information if public interest outweighs the harm.

Yaad rakhein: Public interest opens doors in RTI; it never closes them.

Answer: (D) Public Interest

Concept: System files are files the operating system needs to run.

1. .dll (Dynamic Link Library) files hold shared code used by Windows and programs – typical system files, along with .sys, .exe (in System32) and .ini.
2. .mp3 is audio, .docx a Word document, .zip a compressed archive – all user data files.

Yaad rakhein: .dll / .sys / .drv = system; .mp3 / .docx / .zip = user files.

Answer: (C) .dll

Concept: UNESCO's World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development.

1. MONDIACULT 2025 was held in Barcelona, Spain from 29 September to 1 October 2025 – the third edition after Mexico City (1982) and Mexico City (2022).
2. It called for culture to be a stand-alone goal in the post-2030 development agenda.

Yaad rakhein: MONDIACULT: 1982 Mexico, 2022 Mexico, 2025 Barcelona.

Answer: (B) Barcelona, Spain

Concept: One-day work = $\frac{1}{\text{days}}$; efficiency ratio gives the share of each worker.

1. A's 1-day work $=\frac{1}{54}-\frac{1}{56}=\frac{2}{3024}=\frac{1}{1512}$.
2. B is 75% more efficient: B $=\frac{7}{4}\times \frac{1}{1512}=\frac{1}{864}$, i.e. B alone takes 864 days.
3. Work done in 52 days $=\frac{52}{54}=\frac{26}{27}$; remaining $=\frac{1}{27}$.
4. B alone needs $\frac{1}{27}÷\frac{1}{864}=\frac{864}{27}=32$ days.

Trick: 75% more efficient means ratio B : A = 7 : 4 — multiply A's work by $\frac{7}{4}$, do not add 75 to days.

Answer: (D) 32 days

Concept: Write each decimal as a perfect cube: $0.216=(0.6{)}^3,0.001=(0.1{)}^3,0.008=(0.2{)}^3$.

1. $\sqrt[3]{0.216}=0.6$, $\sqrt[3]{0.001}=0.1$, $\sqrt[3]{0.008}=0.2$.
2. $0.6+0.1-0.2=0.5$.

Trick: For a cube root, the decimal places get divided by 3: three decimal places in 0.216 → one decimal place in 0.6.

Answer: (B) 0.5

Concept: $x^2+y^2=(x-y{)}^2+2xy$.

1. $x^2+y^2=5^2+2\times 21=25+42=67$.
2. $x^2+y^2+xy=67+21=88$.

Trick: Never solve for x and y; $(x-y{)}^2+3xy$ directly gives $25+63=88$.

Answer: (D) 88