Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: A page break only moves text to a new page; a section break starts a new section with its own layout settings.

1. With section breaks you can use different page numbering, headers/footers, orientation, margins or columns in one document.
2. A table of contents is made from heading styles (References tab), not from section breaks; section breaks do not reduce file size.

Trick: Need landscape page or new numbering in the middle of a document? → Layout › Breaks › Section Break (Next Page).

Answer: (B) Section breaks allow for different page numbering schemes, headers, and footers within the same document, while page breaks only force content to the next page.

Concept: H5N1 avian influenza (bird flu) cases in humans are closely tracked worldwide.

1. In November 2024, Canada reported its first presumptive domestically acquired human H5 bird-flu case – a teenager in British Columbia.
2. The United States had already reported human H5N1 cases earlier in 2024 (dairy and poultry workers), so it was not a "first-ever" case.

Yaad rakhein: Canada – British Columbia teen – November 2024 – first H5 human case acquired in Canada.

Answer: (D) Canada

Concept: The Union Budget 2025-26 announced several measures for shipbuilding and the maritime sector.

1. A Maritime Development Fund with a corpus of ₹25,000 crore was announced for long-term financing of the maritime industry.
2. Up to 49% of the fund is to be contributed by the Government; the rest is to be mobilised from ports and the private sector.

Yaad rakhein: Maritime Development Fund = ₹25,000 crore (Budget 2025-26).

Answer: (C) ₹25,000 crore

Concept: In March 2025 the Indian Navy carried out a medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) from the merchant vessel MV Heilan Star off Goa.

1. The vessel was west of Goa after a fire/explosion; a Sea King helicopter from INS Vikrant airlifted three injured crew (two Chinese, one Indonesian).
2. They were flown to INS Hansa, Goa, and shifted to a civil hospital – so statements 1, 2 and 4 are correct.
3. Statement 3 is wrong: it was a Navy operation (INS Vikrant's helicopter), not a joint Navy–Air Force operation.

Yaad rakhein: Heilan Star → Sea King from INS Vikrant → INS Hansa (Goa).

Answer: (C) Only 1, 2 and 4

Concept: Some Linux distributions are built for specific jobs.

1. Kali Linux (Debian-based, by Offensive Security) comes with hundreds of pre-installed penetration-testing and security tools such as Nmap, Metasploit, Wireshark and John the Ripper.
2. Ubuntu LTS, Windows 10 and macOS are general-purpose systems without such a built-in toolkit.

Yaad rakhein: Kali = hacking/pen-testing; Ubuntu = general Linux desktop/server.

Answer: (A) Kali Linux

Concept: The Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 classified rural households as excluded, automatically included (poorest of the poor) and deprived.

1. Automatically included households – destitute/living on alms, manual scavengers, primitive tribal groups, legally released bonded labourers – are treated as the poorest of the poor.
2. They formed about 0.89% of the households surveyed.

Yaad rakhein: SECC 2011: automatically included ("poorest of the poor") ≈ 0.89% households.

Answer: (A) $0.89\%$

Concept: India imports a large share of its pulses (tur, urad, masoor), so self-reliance in pulses is a policy priority.

1. In the Union Budget of 1 February 2025, the government announced a six-year "Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses".
2. It focuses on tur (arhar), urad and masoor, with NAFED and NCCF procuring these pulses from farmers for four years.

Yaad rakhein: Six-year mission, Budget 2025 → Pulses (tur, urad, masoor).

Answer: (C) Pulses

Concept: Harappan cities were planned towns.

1. Streets ran north–south and east–west, cutting each other at right angles – a grid (chessboard) pattern dividing the town into blocks.
2. They also had covered drains, standard burnt bricks and a citadel with a lower town; no temples or circular forts have been found, and housing was orderly, not irregular.

Yaad rakhein: Harappan town planning = grid streets + covered drains + standard bricks.

Answer: (D) Grid pattern streets

Concept: Dholavira (Kachchh, Gujarat) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2021).

1. It is famous for its elaborate water-management system – reservoirs cut in rock, dams and channels to store rainwater in a dry region.
2. It also had a three-part city (citadel, middle town, lower town) and a large signboard of Indus script, but water conservation is its most distinctive feature.

Yaad rakhein: Dholavira = water harvesting; Lothal = dockyard; Kalibangan = ploughed field.

Answer: (B) Water conservation systems

Concept: India shares land borders with Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

1. Sri Lanka is an island separated from India by the Palk Strait and Gulf of Mannar – it shares only a maritime boundary.
2. Afghanistan borders India through the Ladakh region (Gilgit-Baltistan, part of Indian territory), so India counts it as a land neighbour.

Yaad rakhein: Land neighbours = 7 (Pak, Afg, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar); maritime only = Sri Lanka, Maldives.

Answer: (C) Sri Lanka

Concept: Sambhar Lake in Rajasthan (near Jaipur–Ajmer) is India's largest inland saline (salt-water) lake/wetland.

1. It is a Ramsar site (1990) and a major source of salt; it attracts flamingos in winter.
2. Chilika (Odisha) is the largest brackish-water coastal lagoon, Pulicat is a brackish lagoon on the AP–TN coast, and Wular (J&K) is a large freshwater lake.

Yaad rakhein: Largest saline inland = Sambhar; largest brackish lagoon = Chilika; largest freshwater = Wular.

Answer: (C) Sambhar Lake

Concept: The IMF releases its World Economic Outlook (WEO) in April and October, with updates in January and July.

1. In the April 2025 WEO, the IMF projected US GDP growth for 2025 at 1.8%, down from 2.7% projected in January 2025.
2. The cut was mainly due to higher tariffs and policy uncertainty.

Yaad rakhein: IMF April 2025: US 1.8% (2025); global growth 2.8%.

Answer: (D) $1.8\%$

Concept: The Economic Survey 2024-25 was tabled in Parliament on 31 January 2025.

1. It reported India's foreign exchange reserves at about US$640.3 billion at the end of December 2024.
2. These reserves covered roughly 90% of India's external debt and about 10–11 months of imports.

Yaad rakhein: Forex reserves (end-Dec 2024, Economic Survey) ≈ US$640 billion.

Answer: (D) $640.3 billion

Concept: The modern periodic table has 7 periods (rows) and 18 groups (columns).

1. The first period has only 2 elements (H and He) – so "first period contains 8 elements" is NOT correct.
2. Periods 2 and 3 have 8 elements each; lanthanoids and actinoids are shown in two separate rows at the bottom.

Yaad rakhein: Elements per period: 2, 8, 8, 18, 18, 32, 32.

Answer: (A) The first period contains 8 elements.

Concept: Penicillin was the first true antibiotic.

1. Alexander Fleming noticed in 1928 that Penicillium notatum mould killed Staphylococcus bacteria; he published the finding in 1929.
2. He shared the 1945 Nobel Prize with Florey and Chain. Leeuwenhoek first saw microbes, Paul Ehrlich made Salvarsan, Marie Curie worked on radioactivity.

Yaad rakhein: Fleming – Penicillin (1928–29); Ehrlich – "magic bullet" Salvarsan.

Answer: (D) Alexander Fleming

Concept: If $\frac{x}{a}=\frac{b}{x}$, then $x^2=ab$.

1. $x^2=56\times 504$.
2. $56\times 504=28224$.
3. $x=\sqrt{28224}=168$ (positive).

Trick: $56\times 504=56\times 56\times 9$, so $x=56\times 3=168$.

Answer: (C) $168$

Concept: Area $=L\times B$, Perimeter $=2(L+B)$.

1. Let longer side $=L$, shorter $=L-21$.
2. $L(L-21)=5\times 2(2L-21)=20L-210$.
3. $L^2-41L+210=0\Rightarrow (L-35)(L-6)=0$.
4. $L=6$ gives a negative breadth, so $L=35\text{cm}$ (check: $35\times 14=490=5\times 98$).

Trick: Test options: $35\times 14=490$ and $5\times 2(35+14)=490$ ✔.

Answer: (C) $35$

Concept: Net rate = filling rate − leak rate.

1. Pump rate $=\frac{1}{6}$ per hour; with leak the net rate $=\frac{1}{7.5}=\frac{2}{15}$ per hour.
2. Leak rate $=\frac{1}{6}-\frac{2}{15}=\frac{5-4}{30}=\frac{1}{30}$.
3. Leak empties the full tank in $30$ hours.

Trick: Leak time $=\frac{ab}{b-a}=\frac{6\times 7.5}{1.5}=30$ hours.

Answer: (C) $30$ hours

Concept: Take total work = LCM of days, then find one-day work.

1. Total work $=\text{LCM}(15,17)=255$ units.
2. A+B $=17$ units/day, A $=15$ units/day, so B $=2$ units/day.
3. $\frac{2}{3}$ of work $=170$ units; time $=\frac{170}{2}=85$ days.

Trick: B alone $=\frac{15\times 17}{17-15}=127.5$ days; $\frac{2}{3}\times 127.5=85$.

Answer: (A) $85$

Concept: Maximum marks $=\frac{\text{marks}}{\text{percent}}\times 100$.

1. Maximum marks $=\frac{621}{69}\times 100=900$.
2. Sudha's percentage $=\frac{522}{900}\times 100=58\%$.

Trick: Ratio method: $\frac{522}{621}\times 69\%=58\%$.

Answer: (A) $58\%$