Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Major sporting events and their host countries.

1. The 2023 FIH Men's Hockey World Cup (15th edition) was hosted by India in Odisha, at Bhubaneswar (Kalinga Stadium) and Rourkela (Birsa Munda Stadium), from 13 to 29 January 2023.
2. Germany won the title, beating Belgium in the final on penalties; India finished 9th.
3. India had also hosted the previous edition in 2018 (Bhubaneswar), making it the first country to host two consecutive editions.

Yaad rakhein: Hockey World Cup 2018 and 2023 – both in Odisha, India; winners Belgium (2018) and Germany (2023).

Answer: (D) India

Concept: Key allocations of the Interim Union Budget 2024-25 (presented 1 February 2024).

1. Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan – the integrated school-education scheme (pre-school to class 12) – was allocated ₹37,500 crore for FY 2024-25, up from about ₹33,000 crore in the previous year.
2. The Department of School Education received about ₹73,000 crore in total, of which Samagra Shiksha is the largest component, followed by PM-POSHAN (₹12,467 crore).

Yaad rakhein: Interim Budget 2024-25: Samagra Shiksha ₹37,500 cr; PM-POSHAN ₹12,467 cr; PM SHRI ₹6,050 cr.

Answer: (D) ₹37,500 crore

Concept: Important inaugurations in the energy sector, 2024.

1. On 4 March 2024, Union Minister of Steel and Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya M. Scindia virtually inaugurated India's first off-grid green hydrogen plant in the stainless-steel sector at Jindal Stainless Ltd, Hisar (Haryana).
2. The plant, set up by Hygenco, is also the world's first green hydrogen plant in the stainless-steel industry and is expected to cut about 2,700 tonnes of CO₂ per year.

Yaad rakhein: Hisar green hydrogen plant (Jindal Stainless, March 2024) – inaugurated by Steel Minister Scindia; H.D. Kumaraswamy became Steel Minister only in June 2024.

Answer: (D) Jyotiraditya M Scindia

Concept: Facts from UNDP's Human Development Report 2020 (data for 2019).

1. India's HDI value rose from 0.429 in 1990 to 0.645 in 2019 – an increase of about 50%.
2. This corresponds to an average annual HDI growth of 1.42% over 1990–2019, among the faster rates in the medium-human-development group.
3. India ranked 131 out of 189 countries in HDR 2020.

Yaad rakhein: HDR 2020: India HDI 0.645, rank 131, 1990–2019 average annual growth 1.42%.

Answer: (A) 1.42

Concept: Article 47 (Directive Principles, Part IV) directs the State to raise the level of nutrition and standard of living and to improve public health; it also calls for prohibition of intoxicating drinks and drugs.

1. Article 42: just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief.
2. Article 44: Uniform Civil Code; Article 51: promotion of international peace.

Yaad rakhein: 47 = nutrition, health, prohibition.

Answer: (D) Article 47

Concept: Khetri and Kolihan (Jhunjhunu district, Rajasthan) are India's best-known copper belts, mined by Hindustan Copper Ltd.

1. Singareni (Telangana), Singrauli (MP), Pench-Kanhan (MP) and Jharia-Raniganj (Jharkhand/West Bengal) are all coal fields.
2. Other copper areas: Malanjkhand (MP) and Singhbhum (Jharkhand).

Yaad rakhein: Khetri = copper (Rajasthan); Jharia = coal.

Answer: (D) Khetri and Kolihan

Concept: Jio Space Fiber is Reliance Jio's satellite-based gigabit broadband service, unveiled at the India Mobile Congress 2023 (New Delhi, October 2023).

1. It uses the medium-earth-orbit (MEO) satellite constellation of SES to reach remote areas with no fibre or mobile coverage.
2. Jio Fiber is the existing wired broadband; DSL and mobile broadband are generic technologies, not Jio services.

Yaad rakhein: 'Space' in the name → satellite broadband.

Answer: (C) Jio Space Fiber

Concept: In the circular flow model, money entering the flow from outside is an injection; money leaving it is a leakage (withdrawal).

1. Injections: Investment (I), Government spending (G), Exports (X).
2. Leakages: Savings (S), Taxes (T), Imports (M).
3. Exports bring foreign spending into the domestic economy → injection.

Yaad rakhein: Injections = I + G + X; Leakages = S + T + M.

Answer: (A) injection

Concept: The question asks which of the given works is a Dharmashastra – a text on dharma (righteous conduct and duty). Options: Meghaduta, Bhagavad Gita, Shakuntala, Arthashastra.

1. The Bhagavad Gita (part of the Mahabharata) is a scripture of dharma – Krishna's teaching on duty (svadharma), karma and righteous action.
2. Meghaduta and Abhijnanashakuntalam are Kalidasa's poetry and drama (kavya); Arthashastra of Kautilya deals with statecraft and economics, not dharma.

Yaad rakhein: Kalidasa → kavya; Kautilya → artha; Gita → dharma.

Answer: (B) Bhagavad Gita (பகவத்கீதை)

Concept: Pitt's India Act was passed in 1784 by the British Parliament under PM William Pitt the Younger to remove defects of the Regulating Act of 1773.

1. It created a Board of Control for political affairs, leaving commercial affairs to the Court of Directors – 'dual government' of the Company.
2. 1773 = Regulating Act; 1853 = last Charter Act; 1857 = Revolt.

Yaad rakhein: 1773 Regulating → 1784 Pitt's → 1793, 1813, 1833, 1853 Charter Acts.

Answer: (A) 1784

Concept: Build the family tree step by step from the given relations and then read off the required relation.

1. K is the husband of S, and S is the mother of B → K is the father of B.
2. B is the sister of T → T is also a child of S and K.
3. T is the brother of E → T is male.
4. So T is the male child of K, i.e. T is the son of K. (E and Q are not needed for the answer.)

Trick: First find the gender of the person asked about (brother → male), then find the parent link; "male child of a man" = son.

Answer: (C) Son

Concept: Replace the signs as instructed, then apply BODMAS (division and multiplication before addition and subtraction, left to right).

1. Interchange $+\leftrightarrow -$ and $\times \leftrightarrow ÷$: $15÷5\times 7+8-9$.
2. $15÷5=3$; $3\times 7=21$.
3. $21+8-9=20$.

Trick: Rewrite the whole expression with new signs first, then solve – never mix the two steps.

Answer: (B) 20

Concept: The same operation must convert X into 40 and 60 into Y. Test each option with the whole number.

1. Option C: $32\times \frac{5}{4}=40$ and $60\times \frac{5}{4}=75$ → same operation (multiply by $1.25$) ✓.
2. Option A: $32+8=40$ but $60+10=70$ – different additions.
3. Option B: $36+4=40$, $60+8=68$ – no common rule; Option D: $30+10=40$, $60+15=75$ – different additions/ratios ($\frac{4}{3}$ vs $\frac{5}{4}$).

Trick: Check ratios first: $\frac{40}{32}=\frac{75}{60}=\frac{5}{4}$.

Answer: (C) X=32, Y=75

Concept: Find one rule that maps X → 35 and 8 → Y; test the options with whole numbers.

1. Option B: $7\times 5=35$ and $8\times 6=48$, i.e. $n\times (n-2)$ or $n^2-2n$: $49-14=35$, $64-16=48$ ✓.
2. Option A: $10\to 35$ ($+25$ or $\times 3.5$) but $8\to 20$ ($+12$ or $\times 2.5$) – no common rule.
3. Options C and D: $3\to 35$ and $6\to 35$ have no natural rule that also gives $8\to 74$ or $8\to 68$.

Trick: $n(n-2)$ pairs: $7\to 35$, $8\to 48$, $9\to 63$ – a common pattern in these questions.

Answer: (B) X = 7, Y = 48

Concept: Look at the differences between consecutive terms.

1. $1024-1023=1$, $1027-1024=3$, $1032-1027=5$, $1039-1032=7$.
2. Differences are consecutive odd numbers $1,3,5,7,\dots$; the next difference is $9$.
3. $1039+9=1048$.

Trick: Differences $1,3,5,7,9$ – term $n$ equals $1023+(n-1{)}^2$; for $n=6$: $1023+25=1048$.

Answer: (B) 1048

Concept: Draw the Venn diagram of the statements and accept a conclusion only if it is true in every possible diagram.

1. "All parks are grounds" – parks circle lies inside grounds. "Some grounds are museums" – museums overlaps grounds. "No museum is a theatre" – museums and theatre are separate.
2. Conclusion I "All museums are parks": museums only partly overlap grounds and need not touch parks at all → does not follow.
3. Conclusion II "No ground is a theatre": only museums are separated from theatre; the part of grounds that is not museum can still overlap theatre → does not follow.

Trick: "Some A are B" + "No B is C" gives only "Some A are not C" – never "No A is C".

Answer: (B) Neither conclusion I nor II follows.

Concept: Test each statement alone, then together; the question is "answerable" only when the arrangement fixes the required person uniquely.

1. Statement I alone: V at an end with Y, X next → V Y X _ _ (or mirror). Positions of Z and W are not fixed → not sufficient.
2. Statement II alone: W at an end and Z immediately left of W → W at the right end, Z at 4th place. The 3rd place could be V, X or Y → not sufficient.
3. Together: Places 4, 5 = Z, W, so V Y X occupy 1–3: V Y X Z W. Immediate left of Z is X → answer found.

Trick: "Immediate left" of someone facing north = the position with the smaller number from the left end.

Answer: (C) Data in statements I and II together are sufficient to answer the question.

Concept: An argument strengthens a statement if it gives a sound reason that supports the action recommended in it.

1. Statement: the government urges citizens to invest in rainwater harvesting (with subsidies).
2. Argument I: ground water is depleting → harvested rainwater recharges ground water and reduces dependence on it → strong reason to harvest → strengthens.
3. Argument II: heavy monsoon rain causes flooding → plenty of rainwater is available to collect, and capturing it reduces run-off and flooding → also supports harvesting → strengthens.

Trick: Ask "does this fact make the recommended action more sensible?" Both facts (scarcity below, abundance above) say yes.

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

Concept: Locate every number in the series and check its left neighbour (must be a symbol) and right neighbour (must be a letter).

1. Series: + 2 $ Q = Y L A S S X L / % 9 T \ = X H 6 ?
2. 2: left "+", right "$" (symbol) → fails the "followed by a letter" condition.
3. 9: left "%" (symbol), right "T" (letter) → ✓.
4. 6: left "H" (letter) → fails. So only one such number.

Trick: Mark the numbers first (here 2, 9, 6), then check neighbours – it takes seconds.

Answer: (B) One

Concept: Start from the fixed clue, place the people with "immediately before/after" clues, then use the counting clues.

1. E = Friday; J immediately after E → J = Saturday.
2. Exactly one person between E and D → D = Wednesday or Sunday. H is immediately after D, so D cannot be Sunday → D = Wednesday, H = Thursday.
3. F immediately before D → F = Tuesday.
4. Two people between H (Thu) and G → G = Monday or Sunday. I is not on Monday → I = Sunday, G = Monday.
5. Order: G(Mon) F(Tue) D(Wed) H(Thu) E(Fri) J(Sat) I(Sun). Between J (Sat) and F (Tue): Wed, Thu, Fri → three people.

Trick: Draw the 7 boxes Mon–Sun and fill the definite clue (E = Fri) first; chains like F-D-H then drop in place.

Answer: (C) Three