Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Each basketball team plays with five players on court.

1. 5 per side: point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward, centre.
2. Volleyball has 6, so option C is the common trap.

Yaad rakhein: Team sizes: basketball 5, volleyball 6, kabaddi 7, hockey/football/cricket 11.

Answer: (B) 5

Concept: The Act created dual control over the East India Company's Indian affairs.

1. A Board of Control (British Government) was set up to supervise civil, military and revenue affairs.
2. The Court of Directors kept trade matters but became answerable to this Board — dual government lasted till 1858.

Yaad rakhein: Regulating Act 1773 → first control; Pitt's India Act 1784 → Board of Control (dual system); GoI Act 1858 → Crown rule.

Answer: (B) They became accountable to the British Government for civil and military matters

Concept: 'The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History' is by Sanjeev Sanyal.

1. Sanyal is an economist (member, PM's Economic Advisory Council) who writes popular history.
2. Tony Joseph wrote 'Early Indians'; Devdutt Pattanaik writes on mythology.

Yaad rakhein: Sanyal's other books: 'Land of the Seven Rivers', 'Revolutionaries'.

Answer: (B) Sanjeev Sanyal

Concept: The National Games began as the 'Indian Olympic Games' in 1924.

1. Statement 1 ✓: first held at Lahore in 1924, organised by Dr A.G. Noehren and H.C. Buck.
2. Statement 2 ✗: the name 'National Games' was adopted at the Bombay meet (9th edition), not a 10th meet in Delhi.

Trick: In two-statement questions, one wrong detail (number or city) is enough to make the whole statement false.

Answer: (A) 1 only

Concept: All India Services (Art. 312) serve both Centre and States and are controlled jointly.

1. Three AIS: IAS, IPS, Indian Forest Service. Officers are recruited by UPSC and allotted to State cadres.
2. IRS and Central Secretariat Service are Central services; State Civil Service is purely state-level.

Trick: AIS = 'IAS, IPS, IFoS'. Any service with 'Revenue', 'Secretariat' or 'State' in the name is not an AIS.

Answer: (D) Indian Administrative Service (IAS)

Concept: On 9 August 1942, after top Congress leaders were arrested, Aruna Asaf Ali unfurled the tricolour at Gowalia Tank, Bombay.

1. The ground is now called August Kranti Maidan.
2. She went underground and is called the 'Grand Old Lady' of the freedom movement; later she became Delhi's first Mayor.

Yaad rakhein: Quit India resolution was passed at Gowalia Tank on 8 Aug 1942 — 'Do or Die' slogan.

Answer: (C) Aruna Asaf Ali

Concept: The first phase of the Green Revolution helped only irrigated wheat areas.

1. HYV seeds needed assured irrigation and fertiliser — available in Punjab, Haryana, western UP.
2. Bihar had weak irrigation and small fragmented holdings, so it gained the least.

Trick: First phase = wheat + north-west India; rice and eastern states benefited only in the later phase.

Answer: (B) Bihar

Concept: LPG = Liberalisation, Privatisation, Globalisation — the New Economic Policy of 1991.

1. 'P' = Privatisation: reducing government ownership/control and giving a bigger role to the private sector (e.g., disinvestment).
2. Poverty, Publicity, Planning are not part of the acronym.

Yaad rakhein: 1991 reforms: PM P.V. Narasimha Rao, Finance Minister Manmohan Singh.

Answer: (D) Privatisation

Concept: Aditya-L1 is ISRO's first solar observatory, placed in a halo orbit around Sun–Earth L1.

1. Launched on 2 September 2023 (PSLV-C57); reached the halo orbit on 6 January 2024.
2. Sept 2 → Jan 6 ≈ 127 days; L1 is about 1.5 million km from Earth.

Trick: Count quickly: Sep (28) + Oct (31) + Nov (30) + Dec (31) + Jan (6) ≈ 126–127 days.

Answer: (C) 127

Concept: Article 123 lets the President promulgate ordinances when Parliament (either House) is not in session.

1. Legally, an ordinance works just like a law passed by Parliament.
2. It must be laid before Parliament and lapses 6 weeks after Parliament reassembles unless approved earlier (or withdrawn).

Trick: Art. 123 → President; Art. 213 → Governor. Max life of an ordinance ≈ 6 months + 6 weeks.

Answer: (D) Article 123; till Parliament meets again or up to 6 weeks after reassembly

Concept: Find each square root separately, subtract, then multiply by $\frac{1}{6}$.

1. $\sqrt{6241}=79$ (${79}^2=6241$).
2. $\sqrt{1260.25}=35.5$ (${35.5}^2=1260.25$).
3. $(79-35.5)\times \frac{1}{6}=43.5÷6=7.25$.

Trick: A number ending in .25 has a square root ending in .5; 1260.25 lies between ${35}^2=1225$ and ${36}^2=1296$ → 35.5.

Answer: (C) 7.25

Concept: Under annual compounding, each year's amount = previous amount $\times (1+\frac{R}{100})$.

1. Amount after 2 yrs = ₹1,800; after 3 yrs = ₹2,160.
2. Interest in 3rd year = $2,160-1,800=$ ₹360 (earned on ₹1,800).
3. $R=\frac{360}{1,800}\times 100=20\%$.

Trick: Ratio method: $\frac{2160}{1800}=\frac{6}{5}=1.2$ ⇒ rate = 20% in one glance.

Answer: (D) 20%

Concept: To get the time for $S+N+A$, we need the combined one-day work of all three.

1. I: $N+A=\frac{1}{10}$ per day. II: $S+A=\frac{1}{15}$ per day.
2. Adding gives $S+N+2A=\frac{1}{6}$ — Ashish is counted twice; his share is unknown.
3. Two equations, three unknowns ⇒ $S+N+A$ cannot be found.

Trick: When both statements contain the same person, adding them double-counts that person — data is usually insufficient.

Answer: (D) Even when combined, the information in both Statements is not enough

Concept: After n replacements: milk left = initial × ${(1-\frac{x}{V})}^n$.

1. $V=100$ L, $x=10$ L, $n=3$.
2. Milk = $100\times {\left(\frac{9}{10}\right)}^3=100\times \frac{729}{1000}=72.9$ L.
3. $72.9=\frac{7291}{10}$ litres ≈ 72.9 L.

Trick: Each step keeps 90%: 100 → 90 → 81 → 72.9. Just take 10% off three times.

Answer: (D) 72$\frac{9}{10}$ litres

Concept: The yearly SI is fully shared among the three awards.

1. Yearly SI = $10,00,000\times \frac{8}{100}=$ ₹80,000.
2. Second + third awards = ₹45,000.
3. First award = ₹80,000 − ₹45,000 = ₹35,000.

Trick: 8% of 10 lakh = 80 thousand — just shift the decimal; then subtract the known awards.

Answer: (C) ₹35,000

Concept: At constant speed, time is proportional to distance.

1. Speed = $150÷2=75$ km/h.
2. Time = $125÷75=\frac{5}{3}$ h $=1$ h $+\frac{2}{3}$ h $=1$ h 40 min.

Trick: Unitary: 150 km → 120 min, so 125 km → $120\times \frac{125}{150}=100$ min = 1 h 40 min.

Answer: (B) 1 hour 40 min

Concept: TSA = $2(lb+bh+hl)$; volume = $l\times b\times h$.

1. Sides $x$, $3x$, $5x$: $lb+bh+hl=3x^2+15x^2+5x^2=23x^2$, so TSA $=2\times 23x^2$.
2. $2\times 23x^2=736\Rightarrow 23x^2=368\Rightarrow x^2=16$, $x=4$; sides 4, 12, 20.
3. Volume = $4\times 12\times 20=960{\text{cm}}^3$.

Trick: Volume must be $15x^3$ — a multiple of 15. Only 960 ($=15\times 64$) is divisible by 15.

Answer: (A) 960 cm³

Concept: Volume of a pyramid = $\frac{1}{3}\times$ base area $\times$ height.

1. One turret = $\frac{1}{3}\times 5^2\times 7=\frac{175}{3}{\text{m}}^3$.
2. Four turrets = $\frac{700}{3}{\text{m}}^3$.
3. Fill = $1.5\times \frac{700}{3}=\frac{3}{2}\times \frac{700}{3}=350{\text{m}}^3$.

Trick: $1.5\times \frac{1}{3}=\frac{1}{2}$, so fill = $4\times 25\times 7÷2=350$ directly.

Answer: (A) 350 m³

Concept: Savings = Income − Expenditure; work with income = 100.

1. Old: $I=100$, $E=70$, $S=30$.
2. New: $I=115$, $E=70\times 1.1=77$, $S=38$.
3. Increase = $\frac{8}{30}\times 100=26.67\%$.

Trick: Weighted change: $100\times 15\%-70\times 10\%=15-7=8$ extra savings on 30 → 26.67%.

Answer: (A) 26.67%

Concept: New average = (total − removed value) ÷ (new count).

1. Total = $20\times 43=860$.
2. After removing 115: 745 runs in 19 innings.
3. New average = $745÷19\approx 39.21$.

Trick: Deviation method: 115 is 72 above 43; spread over 19 innings → $43-\frac{72}{19}\approx 43-3.79=39.21$.

Answer: (C) 39.21