Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: India's first indigenous dengue vaccine, DengiAll, entered Phase 3 trials in August 2024.

1. ICMR and Panacea Biotec launched the Phase 3 trial of the tetravalent dengue vaccine DengiAll on 14 August 2024; the first participant was enrolled at PGIMS Rohtak.
2. The trial covers all four dengue serotypes across 19 sites in 18 states/UTs.

Yaad rakhein: DengiAll = Dengue + Panacea Biotec + ICMR (Aug 2024).

Answer: (A) Dengue

Concept: The Directive Principles of State Policy (Part IV, Articles 36–51) were borrowed from the Constitution of Ireland (1937).

1. Ireland itself took the idea from the Spanish Constitution.
2. Other borrowings: Fundamental Rights and judicial review – USA; Concurrent List – Australia; Republic ideals (liberty, equality, fraternity) – France.

Yaad rakhein: DPSP – Ireland; President's election method – also Ireland.

Answer: (A) Irish Constitution

Concept: Mainland India lies entirely in the Northern Hemisphere.

1. Latitudinal extent: $8^{\circ }{4}^{\prime }$ N (Kanyakumari) to ${37}^{\circ }{6}^{\prime }$ N (Indira Col, Ladakh).
2. Longitudinal extent: ${68}^{\circ }{7}^{\prime }$ E to ${97}^{\circ }{25}^{\prime }$ E; the Tropic of Cancer (${23}^{\circ }{30}^{\prime }$ N) divides the country almost in half.

Yaad rakhein: "8-4 to 37-6 North" — never South.

Answer: (D) 8°4’ North to 37°6’ North latitudes

Concept: NITI Aayog released the 4th edition of the SDG India Index (2023-24) on 12 July 2024; it scores states on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

1. Top performers: Uttarakhand and Kerala (score 79), followed by Tamil Nadu (78) and Goa (77).
2. Bottom of the table: Bihar (57), then Jharkhand (62) and Nagaland (63).
3. India's overall score rose to 71 from 66 in 2020-21.

Yaad rakhein: SDG Index 2023-24 – top Uttarakhand & Kerala, bottom Bihar.

Answer: (A) Bihar

Concept: The first Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar (RVP) were presented on 22 August 2024 in four categories – Vigyan Ratna, Vigyan Shri, Vigyan Yuva-SSB and Vigyan Team.

1. Vigyan Shri 2024 (13 awardees) included Prof. Rohit Srivastava (IIT Bombay, biomedical technology), along with names like Annapurni Subramaniam, Umesh Varshney and Jayant Udgaonkar.
2. Vivek Polshettiwar, Purabi Saikia and Bappi Paul received the Vigyan Yuva-SSB award (for scientists under 45); Govindarajan Padmanabhan got the Vigyan Ratna.

Yaad rakhein: Vigyan Shri 2024 → Rohit Srivastava; Polshettiwar/Saikia/Paul → Vigyan Yuva.

Answer: (D) Rohit Srivastava

Concept: The Performance Grading Index (PGI), launched by the Ministry of Education in 2019, grades states/UTs on school education.

1. The index has 70 indicators grouped under 2 categories (Outcomes; Governance & Management) and 5 domains, with a total of 1000 points.
2. The later PGI 2.0 version (2021-22 onward) uses 73 indicators, but the original framework asked here comprises 70 indicators.

Yaad rakhein: PGI – 70 indicators, 1000 points, 5 domains.

Answer: (B) 70

Concept: India hosted the FIH Men's Hockey World Cup 2023 in Odisha from 13 to 29 January 2023.

1. Venues: Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar and the new Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium, Rourkela (the world's largest hockey stadium).
2. Germany beat Belgium in the final; India had also hosted the 2018 edition in Bhubaneswar alone.

Yaad rakhein: Hockey World Cup 2023 → Odisha (Bhubaneswar + Rourkela) → champion Germany.

Answer: (D) 2023 Bhubaneswar and Rourkela

Concept: The First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–26) began when the British declared war on Burma on 5 March 1824.

1. A British naval-military force under Commodore Charles Grant and General Archibald Campbell sailed up the Irrawaddy and captured Rangoon on 11 May 1824 without resistance.
2. The war ended with the Treaty of Yandabo (February 1826), by which Burma ceded Assam, Manipur, Arakan and Tenasserim.

Yaad rakhein: Rangoon captured May 1824 → Treaty of Yandabo Feb 1826.

Answer: (C) May 1824

Concept: A foreign exchange market is stable when any disturbance from the equilibrium exchange rate sets up automatic forces (changes in demand and supply of currency) that push the rate back to equilibrium.

1. Example: if the rupee depreciates below equilibrium, exports become cheaper and imports dearer, raising the demand for rupees and pulling the rate back.
2. In an unstable market the forces push the rate further away; a fixed market is one where the government pegs the rate – it is a policy regime, not the self-correcting property described.
3. "Elastic" only describes how strongly quantities respond to price.

Yaad rakhein: Self-correcting back to equilibrium = stable; runaway = unstable; pegged by government = fixed.

Answer: (A) stable foreign exchange market

Concept: The Bhagavad Gita (700 verses, Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata) is Krishna's discourse to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.

1. Arjuna's dilemma is about his duty as a warrior; the Gita resolves it by giving an integrated view of dharma – combining karma (action), jnana (knowledge) and bhakti (devotion).
2. Moksha and happiness are discussed, but the central purpose is to establish the right understanding of dharma.

Yaad rakhein: Gita = Dharma-sandesh of the Mahabharata.

Answer: (C) Dharma

Concept: An argument strengthens a statement if it gives a genuine reason supporting it.

1. Statement: shifting to clean energy is an obvious choice.
2. I – rising air pollution gives an environmental reason to move to clean energy → strengthens.
3. II – rising prices of coal and gas give an economic reason to shift → strengthens.

Trick: Ask "does this fact make the decision more sensible?" — both do, so both strengthen.

Answer: (A) Both I and II strengthen the statement.

Concept: Vowel → 2nd letter after it (A→C, E→G, I→K); consonant → the letter just before it.

1. CAB → B C A = BCA; BIT → A K S = AKS; YET → X G S = XGS; AFT → C E S = CES.
2. Only CES contains a vowel (E).
3. BCA, AKS and XGS have no vowel → 3 clusters.

Trick: Vowel +2 gives C, G, K, Q, W — all consonants; a new vowel can arise only from a consonant −1 (F→E, B→A, J→I, P→O, V→U). Only F in AFT does that.

Answer: (B) Three

Concept: Build the family tree step by step.

1. Q is the daughter of R; R is the husband of S → R and S are Q's parents.
2. P is Q's brother → P is the son of R and S.
3. S is the sister of T → P is the son of T's sister.

Trick: Trace from the person asked (T): T's sister is S; S's son is P.

Answer: (D) Sister's son

Concept: Decode each symbol from left to right and draw the tree.

1. K + M: K is brother of M; M @ A: M is son of A → K and M are sons of A.
2. A ÷ F: A is father of F → F is K's sister.
3. F × P: F is wife of P; P ÷ L: P is father of L; L – T: L is sister of T → F and P are parents of L and T.
4. K is the brother of F, who is T's mother → Mother's brother.

Trick: Siblings K, M, F share father A; F is T's mother, so K is the maternal uncle.

Answer: (D) Mother's brother

Concept: Find the differences between consecutive terms.

1. $718-708=10,729-718=11,741-729=12,754-741=13$.
2. Differences increase by 1, so the next difference is $14$.
3. $754+14=768$.

Trick: Differences $10,11,12,13,14$ — a simple increasing step.

Answer: (D) 768

Concept: Five people facing north; "right" means towards the higher position number (1 = extreme left).

1. Statement I: equal people on both sides of A → A at position 3. One person between A and B → B at 1 or 5. D immediately left of B is impossible if B is at 1, so B = 5, D = 4. Second to the right of A = position 5 = B. Sufficient.
2. Statement II: E at 1, one between E and A → A at 3. D–B adjacent with B to the right of D → D = 4, B = 5 (C = 2). Second right of A = B. Sufficient.

Trick: Fix A in the middle first; the D-B pair must then fit at 4–5.

Answer: (D) Data in either statement I alone or statement II alone are sufficient to answer the question.

Concept: Compare the gaps between consecutive letters (positions A=1 … Z=26).

1. UXEK: U(21)→X(24) $+3$, X→E $+7$ (wrapping past Z), E(5)→K(11) $+6$.
2. JMTZ: $+3,+7,+6$; CFMS: $+3,+7,+6$ — same pattern.
3. QXEG: Q(17)→X(24) $+7$, X→E $+7$, E→G $+2$ — different.

Trick: Check only the first gap: $+3,+3,+3$ vs $+7$ — QXEG breaks it.

Answer: (D) QXEG

Concept: Track the position on a grid; take Y as $(0,0)$, North $=+y$, East $=+x$.

1. N 16 → $(0,16)$; right (E) 28 → $(28,16)$; right (S) 31 → $(28,-15)$; right (W) 13 → $(15,-15)$.
2. Right (N) 41 → $(15,26)$; left (W) 15 → $(0,26)$; right (N) 8 → $(0,34)$ = Z.
3. Z is directly north of Y by 34 km → he must drive 34 km South.

Trick: East–West: $28-13-15=0$; North–South: $16-31+41+8=34$ (north) → go 34 km South.

Answer: (A) 34 km towards South

Concept: Treat the letter pair and the number as separate patterns.

1. First letters: I, K, M, O → $+2$ each → next Q.
2. Second letters: O, Q, S, U → $+2$ each → next W.
3. Numbers: $19,30,41,52$ → $+11$ each → $63$.
4. Next term: QW63.

Trick: Letters jump by 2, number by 11 — eliminate QX and 64 immediately.

Answer: (B) QW63

Concept: Find the position shift applied to each letter (A=1 … Z=26, wrapping after Z).

1. EDSP → NMBY: E(5)+9=N(14), D(4)+9=M(13), S(19)+9=B(28−26=2), P(16)+9=Y(25). Every letter moves $+9$.
2. Check ONCZ → XWLI: O+9=X, N+9=W, C+9=L, Z+9=I ✓.
3. PODA: P+9=Y, O+9=X, D+9=M, A+9=J → YXMJ.

Trick: Same shift for all letters – test only the first letter (P→Y) and the last (A→J) to pick the option quickly.

Answer: (C) YXMJ