Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Article 280(1) directs the President to constitute a Finance Commission.

1. It is constituted every fifth year or at such earlier time as the President considers necessary – i.e. 'every five years or earlier'.
2. It has a Chairman and four other members; it recommends the sharing of taxes between the Union and States and grants-in-aid.
3. 16th Finance Commission (Chairman Arvind Panagariya) covers 2026–31.

Yaad rakhein: Art. 280 = Finance Commission = 5 years (or earlier); Art. 243-I = State Finance Commission.

Answer: (C) Every five years or earlier

Concept: The Vice President is elected by an electoral college of both Houses of Parliament (Article 66).

1. C. P. Radhakrishnan, former Governor of Maharashtra, was sworn in as the 15th Vice President of India on 12 September 2025 by President Droupadi Murmu.
2. He won the 9 September 2025 election (452 votes) against B. Sudershan Reddy, after Jagdeep Dhankhar (14th VP) resigned in July 2025.

Yaad rakhein: Dhankhar = 14th → C.P. Radhakrishnan = 15th (Sept 2025).

Answer: (B) 15th

Concept: Check each peak's standard height.

1. Kanchenjunga ≈ 8586 m (older texts give 8598 m) – acceptable; Dodabetta (Nilgiris) = 2637 m ✓; Anaimudi (highest in South India) = 2695 m ✓.
2. Nanga Parbat = 8126 m, the ninth-highest peak in the world (western anchor of the Himalayas, in PoK). '7026 m' is wrong by 1100 m, so this pair is mismatched.

Yaad rakhein: All Himalayan 8000-ers: Everest 8849, K2 8611, Kanchenjunga 8586, Nanga Parbat 8126 m.

Answer: (C) Nanga Parbat – 7026 m

Concept: The New Industrial Policy 1991 = Liberalisation, Privatisation, Globalisation (LPG).

1. Key steps: delicensing of most industries, abolition of the MRTP asset limit, opening to FDI (up to 51% automatic in many sectors), and reducing the industries reserved for the public sector from 17 to 8 (later 2–3).
2. 'Expansion of the public sector' was the pre-1991 (1956 policy) approach, not a 1991 reform – so it is the odd one out.

Yaad rakhein: 1991 = less licence, less MRTP, less public sector, more FDI.

Answer: (A) Expansion of the public sector in key industries

Concept: Replace the signs as told, then apply BODMAS.

1. Interchanging ‘+’↔‘−’ and ‘×’↔‘÷’: $297÷11+17\times 18-91$
2. $297÷11=27$ and $17\times 18=306$
3. $27+306-91=242$

Trick: Write the new expression first, then do ÷ and × before + and −.

Answer: (A) 242

Concept: Facing north, 'right' means towards the right end. Number the seats 1–6 from left.

1. Statement I: B is 4th right of C → C = 1 (F = 3, D = 6, B = 5) is the only fit. A and E can be at 2 or 4 → left of E not fixed. Not sufficient.
2. Statement II: C = 1, E = 4, A 4th left of D → A = 2, D = 6; B/F at 3 and 5 → left of E is B or F. Not sufficient.
3. Together: F = 3 (from I) → F is immediately left of E. Sufficient.

Trick: Fix the extreme-end person first; count how many unknowns remain next to the asked person.

Answer: (A) Both statements together are sufficient

Concept: Facing the centre, a person's left is clockwise and right is anticlockwise.

1. Start with D. Two people between C and D from D's left → going clockwise: D, _, _, C.
2. X is immediate right of D (anticlockwise seat). Three between D and E → E is opposite side: D, _, _, C, E.
3. Remaining three seats (two between D and C, one between E and X) take F, W, Y. F immediate right of W → W, F fill the two seats after D (clockwise W, then F nearer D). Y takes the seat between E and X.
4. From F's right: D, X, then Y → two people between.

Trick: Facing centre: left = clockwise. Place the person with most clues (D) first.

Answer: (D) Two

Concept: Check every symbol: left neighbour must be an odd number, right neighbour must NOT be an even number.

1. € : 3 before (odd), £ after (not an even number) → ✓
2. £ (before: €), ¥ (before: 6), $ (before: 8) → ✗
3. ◇ : 1 before, 1 after → ✓; ○ : 9 before but 2 after (even) → ✗; ☆ : 5 before, 7 after → ✓
4. Total = 3

Trick: 'Not followed by an even number' includes being followed by a symbol or an odd number.

Answer: (D) Three

Concept: Convert letters to positions and compare the gaps.

1. MHJ: 13, 8, 10 → $-5,+2$
2. RMO: 18, 13, 15 → $-5,+2$; TOQ: 20, 15, 17 → $-5,+2$
3. KEH: 11, 5, 8 → $-6,+3$ → different pattern

Trick: Memorise positions with EJOTY (E=5, J=10, O=15, T=20, Y=25) for quick counting.

Answer: (D) KEH

Concept: Decode each symbol step by step and build the family tree.

1. L + M: L is son of M; M ÷ N: M is father of N → L and N are siblings (L is N's brother).
2. N × O: N is wife of O; O − P: O is brother of P.
3. So from P: P's brother = O; O's wife = N; N's brother = L. L is P's brother's wife's brother.

Trick: Read the chain from the person asked about (P) backwards to L.

Answer: (D) Brother's wife's brother

Concept: A symbol qualifies only if both its neighbours are numbers.

1. Series: 9 1 @ $ 5 1 # 5 9 $ 1 & 4 + 7 = ! 5 & 4 ?
2. @ (next is $) ✗; $ (previous @) ✗; # (1…5) ✓; $ (9…1) ✓; & (1…4) ✓; + (4…7) ✓; = (next !) ✗; ! (previous =) ✗; & (5…4) ✓; ? (last) ✗
3. Count = 5

Trick: Two adjacent symbols can never both qualify – cross them out quickly.

Answer: (B) FIVE

Concept: Drop the digits and count from the left.

1. Numbers 5, 7, 3, 6, 1 are removed.
2. New series: F @ £ T Y € V D © € % X Z £ € G *
3. 6th from left = €

Trick: Strike the numbers on paper and count only the survivors – avoid counting in the head.

Answer: (B) €

Concept: Find how letter positions move in each step.

1. MAKE (1234) → MEKA: 2nd and 4th letters swap (1-4-3-2).
2. MEKA → AEMK: new order = (4, 2, 1, 3) of MEKA.
3. Check: LOAD → LDAO (swap 2,4) → ODLA (4,2,1,3) ✓.
4. WIND → WDNI (swap 2,4) → IDWN (4,2,1,3) ✓. Others fail at the first step (VIEW→WVIE, GROW→ROWG).

Trick: Test the first step only – most wrong options break there.

Answer: (A) WIND – WDNI – IDWN

Concept: Track the position as coordinates; a left turn from N→W→S→E→N.

1. A(0,0) → North 10 km → (0,10) → left = West 4 km → (−4,10)
2. Left = South 12 km → (−4,−2) → left = East 9 km → (5,−2)
3. Left = North 2 km → P(5, 0). P is 5 km east of A.
4. So he must drive 5 km towards the west to reach A.

Trick: Net east–west = $-4+9=5$ km east; net north–south = $10-12+2=0$ → return journey is straight west.

Answer: (D) 5 km to the west

Concept: Find one rule that fits both given pairs.

1. $10\times 2+2=22$ ✓
2. $24\times 2+2=50$ ✓
3. $6\times 2+2=14$

Trick: When the second number is a little more than double, test $2n+k$ first.

Answer: (C) 14

Concept: Fix the definite clue first, then use the 'immediately before' pair.

1. M = Wednesday. Two persons between M and Q → Q = Saturday (Sunday before Wednesday is impossible).
2. O–R are consecutive days, O not Thursday: only Mon–Tue is free → O = Monday, R = Tuesday.
3. Left: Thu, Fri, Sun for N, S, P. Two between N and S and N not on Sunday → N = Thursday, S = Sunday.
4. Hence P = Friday.

Trick: 'Two persons between' = 3 days apart; count the gaps on a 7-box strip.

Answer: (D) Friday

Concept: Apply the same shift to letters and the same change to the number.

1. LF 58 → ID 49: L−3 = I, F−2 = D, $58-9=49$
2. YK 36 → VI 27: Y−3 = V, K−2 = I, $36-9=27$ ✓
3. RO 61 → R−3 = O, O−2 = M, $61-9=52$ → OM 52

Trick: Check the number part first ($-9$) – it eliminates three options at once.

Answer: (A) OM 52

Concept: Compare first letters across the three pairs, and second letters separately.

1. HN–JF–MO: first letters H(8)→J(10)→M(13): $+2,+3$; second letters N(14)→F(6)→O(15): $-8,+9$.
2. MS–OK–RT: M(13)→O(15)→R(18): $+2,+3$; S(19)→K(11)→T(20): $-8,+9$ ✓
3. PV–RN–UW: P(16)→R(18)→U(21): $+2,+3$; V(22)→N(14)→W(23): $-8,+9$ ✓
4. Other options fail on the first letters (P→S is $+3$, O→S is $+4$).

Trick: Check only the first-letter chain ($+2,+3$) – it leaves a single option.

Answer: (C) PV-RN-UW

Concept: Find a rule of the form $an+b$ satisfying both pairs.

1. $19\times 3+7=64$ ✓
2. $28\times 3+7=91$ ✓
3. $44\times 3+7=132+7=139$

Trick: Differences: $64-19=45$, $91-28=63$ – both multiples of 9? No, but $(64-7)/19=3=(91-7)/28$; test ×3 when the result is about three times.

Answer: (D) 139

Concept: Reply and Forward differ in who receives the message.

1. Reply sends your response back to the original sender only (Reply All → sender + all recipients).
2. Forward sends a copy of the received mail (with attachments) to a new recipient of your choice.
3. Neither deletes, encrypts or broadcasts the mail – options B, C, D are wrong.

Yaad rakhein: Reply = back to sender; Forward = onward to someone new.

Answer: (A) Reply sends your response only to the original sender, while Forward sends the email to a new recipient.