Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: The World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) is the annual flagship event of TERI, New Delhi.

1. WSDS 2025 (24th edition, March 2025) had the theme "Partnerships for Accelerating Sustainable Development and Climate Solutions".
2. Other options change "Accelerating" or "Solutions" and are distractors.

Yaad rakhein: WSDS 2025 keyword = Accelerating.

Answer: (C) Partnership for Accelerating Sustainable Development and Climate Solutions

Concept: During PM Modi's visit to France in February 2025, he and President Emmanuel Macron inaugurated the new Consulate General of India in Marseille.

1. Marseille is a Mediterranean port city linked to India through WWI history (Mazargues War Cemetery) and Savarkar's escape attempt (1910).
2. The two leaders also visited ITER at Cadarache near Marseille.

Yaad rakhein: Marseille = Savarkar's famous jump + new consulate 2025.

Answer: (B) Marseille

Concept: The first INC session at Bombay (1885), presided over by W.C. Bonnerjee, passed 9 resolutions.

1. One resolution demanded simultaneous ICS examinations in England and India and a higher age limit – i.e. Indianisation of the services.
2. Calcutta (1886), Madras (1887) and Allahabad (1888) sessions repeated these demands later.

Yaad rakhein: First session, first demands – Bombay 1885, 72 delegates.

Answer: (B) Bombay Session, 1885

Concept: Multilevel lists (1, 1.1, 1.1.1 …) are made from Home → Paragraph → Multilevel List.

1. "Define New Multilevel List" lets you set the numbering format for each level, e.g. 1.1, 1.2.
2. Format Painter copies formatting; Increase Indent only shifts text; Change Styles alters style sets.

Yaad rakhein: Levels like 1.1 → "Multilevel List".

Answer: (A) Define New Multilevel List

Concept: Ordnance Factories Day is observed on 18 March every year.

1. It marks the founding of India's first ordnance factory at Cossipore, Kolkata, in 1801 (Gun & Shell Factory).
2. The 2025 observance marked 224 years of the ordnance factories.

Yaad rakhein: 18 March 1801 – Cossipore, Kolkata.

Answer: (D) Cossipore

Concept: Mixed farming = growing crops and rearing livestock on the same farm.

1. Crops provide fodder for animals; animals give manure, milk and draught power – the two support each other.
2. Plantation = single cash crop on large estates; terrace = steps on slopes; subsistence = for family needs.

Yaad rakhein: Mixed = crops + cattle.

Answer: (D) Mixed farming

Concept: "Sunlight on a Broken Column" (1961) is the only novel of Attia Hosain.

1. It shows the decline of a Lucknow taluqdar (feudal) family through Laila's eyes during Partition.
2. Midnight's Children – Salman Rushdie; Clear Light of Day – Anita Desai; Ice Candy Man – Bapsi Sidhwa.

Yaad rakhein: Attia Hosain – Lucknow – Broken Column.

Answer: (C) Sunlight on the Broken Column

Concept: After the 2024 J&K Assembly elections, Omar Abdullah (JKNC) became Chief Minister on 16 October 2024.

1. Surinder Kumar Choudhary of the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister.
2. He had defeated BJP state chief Ravinder Raina in Nowshera – so option C is a trap.

Yaad rakhein: Omar Abdullah (CM) + Surinder Choudhary (Dy CM) – both JKNC.

Answer: (D) Surinder Kumar Choudhary, Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (JKNC)

Concept: The 14th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1962 added Puducherry (Pondicherry) as a Union Territory.

1. The former French settlements were transferred to India de jure in 1962.
2. Goa, Daman and Diu were added by the 12th Amendment (1962); Lakshadweep was a UT from 1956.

Yaad rakhein: 12th → Goa, Daman, Diu; 14th → Puducherry.

Answer: (A) Puducherry

Concept: Chandragupta I (c. 319–335 CE), the real founder of Gupta power, assumed the title "Maharajadhiraja" (king of kings).

1. His predecessors Sri Gupta and Ghatotkacha used only the title "Maharaja".
2. He started the Gupta Era in 319–320 CE and married the Lichchhavi princess Kumaradevi.

Yaad rakhein: Maharaja (Sri Gupta) → Maharajadhiraja (Chandragupta I).

Answer: (B) Maharajadhiraja

Concept: The Union Cabinet is the highest policy-making body and coordinates key national policies.

1. Matters of national security and external affairs – Defence and Foreign Relations – are handled directly at Cabinet level (e.g., Cabinet Committee on Security).
2. Agriculture, health, education, tourism are handled mainly by individual ministries and states.

Yaad rakhein: CCS = PM + Defence + External Affairs + Home + Finance.

Answer: (D) Foreign Relations and Defence

Concept: COP29 of the UNFCCC was held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 11 to 22 November 2024.

1. It was called the "Finance COP" – it set the New Collective Quantified Goal of USD 300 billion a year by 2035.
2. COP28 (2023) was in Dubai, UAE; COP30 (2025) in Belém, Brazil.

Yaad rakhein: Dubai 28 → Baku 29 → Belém 30.

Answer: (C) COP29

Concept: Haryana Assembly has 90 seats, so the majority mark is 46.

1. BJP won 48 seats and formed the government for a third consecutive term (Nayab Singh Saini as CM) – statement 1 correct.
2. INLD won 2 seats – statement 2 correct.
3. Independents won only 3 seats (not more than 5) and the majority mark was 46, not 48 – statements 3 and 4 wrong.

Yaad rakhein: 90 seats → majority $=\frac{90}{2}+1=46$.

Answer: (C) Only 1 and 2

Concept: The Chamber of Princes (Narendra Mandal) was set up in 1921 under the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms (Govt. of India Act, 1919).

1. It was inaugurated by the Duke of Connaught on 8 February 1921 as a consultative/deliberative forum of the princely states.
2. It had only advisory powers and was dissolved in 1947.

Yaad rakhein: Princes 1921 = Narendra Mandal (Mont-Ford reforms).

Answer: (D) Chamber of Princes

Concept: A number is divisible by 87 if dividing it by 87 leaves remainder 0; use a nearby multiple of 87.

1. $87\times 92=8004$ → 8004 is divisible by 87.
2. $87\times 93=8091$, so 8088 leaves remainder $87-3=84$.
3. $87\times 82=7134$ → 7150 leaves 16; $87\times 90=7830$ → 7835 leaves 5.

Trick: $87\times 100=8700$; subtract $87\times 8=696$ → $8004$.

Answer: (A) 8004

Concept: In a right triangle the largest side is the hypotenuse: $x^2=(x-5{)}^2+(x-10{)}^2$.

1. $x^2=2x^2-30x+125\Rightarrow x^2-30x+125=0$.
2. $(x-25)(x-5)=0\Rightarrow x=25$ (x = 5 gives a negative side).
3. Sides: 20, 15, 25 cm.
4. Area $=\frac{1}{2}\times 20\times 15=150{\text{cm}}^2$.

Trick: 15, 20, 25 is the 3-4-5 triplet scaled by 5.

Answer: (A) 150

Concept: Let a chair cost $c$ and a table $t$; solve the two linear equations.

1. $4c+14t=4000$ and $16c+12t=5000$.
2. Multiply the first by 4: $16c+56t=16000$; subtract: $44t=11000\Rightarrow t=250$.
3. $4c=4000-3500=500\Rightarrow c=125$.
4. $8c+4t=1000+1000=2000$.

Trick: Elimination: make the chair coefficients equal and subtract.

Answer: (D) ₹2,000

Concept: Total = average × number; the remaining total divided by the remaining count gives their average.

1. Total of 30 students $=30\times 75=2250$.
2. Total of 20 students $=20\times 80=1600$.
3. Remaining 10 students $=2250-1600=650$ → average $=\frac{650}{10}=65$.

Trick: Deviation method: 20 students are $+5$ each $=+100$, so the other 10 are $-10$ each → $75-10=65$.

Answer: (A) 65

Concept: If $c$ is the third proportional of $a$ and $b$, then $a:b=b:c$, i.e. $b^2=ac$.

1. $81:Z=Z:9$.
2. $Z^2=81\times 9=729$.
3. $Z=\sqrt{729}=27$ (positive value).

Trick: $Z=\sqrt{81\times 9}=9\times 3=27$ — the middle term is the geometric mean.

Answer: (C) 27

Concept: Total weight of the 4 people = $4\times 65=260$ kg; express M in terms of the friends' total.

1. Let friends' total $=F$, so $M=\frac{F}{3}+8$ and $M+F=260$.
2. $M=\frac{260-M}{3}+8\Rightarrow 3M=260-M+24$.
3. $4M=284\Rightarrow M=71$ kg.

Trick: M is 8 above the friends' average, so M is $\frac{3}{4}\times 8=6$ above the overall average: $65+6=71$.

Answer: (B) 71