Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Vikram Seth's The Golden Gate (1986), set in San Francisco, tells its story wholly in verse.

1. Statement 1: it consists of about 590 sonnets in the Onegin stanza of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin – correct.
2. Statement 2: it never won the Booker Prize – wrong.
3. Statement 3: Seth has not received the Jnanpith Award; The Golden Gate won the Sahitya Akademi Award (English) in 1988 – wrong.

Trick: The Golden Gate – Sahitya Akademi 1988; A Suitable Boy (1993) – one of the longest single-volume English novels.

Answer: (B) Only statement 1 is correct

Concept: Current affairs – venue of the national ranking event for para paddlers.

1. The 2nd Para Table Tennis National Ranking Championships 2024-25 were held in Vadodara, Gujarat.
2. Para sports in India are governed under the Paralympic Committee of India.

Yaad rakhein: Bhavina Patel (Gujarat) won India's first Paralympic table-tennis medal – silver at Tokyo 2020.

Answer: (D) Vadodara, Gujarat

Concept: Mass number A = protons + neutrons; atomic number Z = protons.

1. β⁻ decay: a neutron turns into a proton + electron → Z rises by 1, A unchanged.
2. α decay: Z falls by 2 and A by 4.
3. γ decay: only energy is released – Z and A both unchanged.

Trick: Beta = 'Badle Z, A same'; Alpha = A − 4, Z − 2; Gamma = no change.

Answer: (A) Beta decay

Concept: Dumhal is a folk dance of the Wattal community of Kashmir, performed by men.

1. Dancers wear long, colourful robes and tall conical caps decorated with beads and shells.
2. They dance around a banner fixed in the ground, singing in chorus with drum beats.

Yaad rakhein: Other J&K dances: Rouf (women, harvest/Eid), Bhand Pather (folk theatre), Hikat.

Answer: (B) Colourful robes

Concept: Revenue deficit = Revenue expenditure − Revenue receipts.

1. Revenue spending (salaries, interest, subsidies) creates no assets.
2. If it exceeds revenue income, the government borrows just to meet current expenses – debt rises without future returns.
3. So it reduces, not increases, investment and capital formation.

Yaad rakhein: Fiscal deficit = total borrowing; primary deficit = fiscal deficit − interest payments.

Answer: (D) It indicates borrowing for current expenditure

Concept: The IMD (Lausanne, Switzerland) World Competitiveness Ranking measures how well a country supports business competitiveness.

1. Four factors: economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.
2. It judges the environment that lets firms compete and grow – not tourism, culture or only natural resources.

Yaad rakhein: WEF's Global Competitiveness Report is a different, similar-sounding index – read the name carefully.

Answer: (A) Create and sustain an environment where enterprises can compete effectively

Concept: IPR 1956 (Second Plan period) made the public sector the leader of industrialisation.

1. Industries were put in three schedules; Schedule A (17 industries) was reserved for the State.
2. Goal: socialistic pattern of society with the public sector at the 'commanding heights'.
3. Licensing actually grew afterwards; de-licensing and privatisation came only in 1991.

Yaad rakhein: IPR 1956 is called the 'Economic Constitution of India'.

Answer: (C) Expansion and strengthening of the public sector

Concept: Ulgulan ('great tumult') was the Munda uprising of 1899–1900 in Chotanagpur.

1. Birsa Munda led it against British rule, landlords (dikus) and the breakdown of the khuntkatti land system.
2. It led to the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908.
3. Sidhu–Kanhu Murmu led the Santhal Hul (1855); Tilka Manjhi rebelled in the 1780s.

Yaad rakhein: Birsa's birth anniversary, 15 November, is Janjatiya Gaurav Divas and also Jharkhand Foundation Day.

Answer: (D) Birsa Munda

Concept: Tessy Thomas is a DRDO scientist known for India's Agni missiles.

1. She was Project Director of Agni-V (and earlier Agni-IV) – India's first woman to lead a missile programme.
2. She later became Director General (Aeronautical Systems), DRDO.
3. (A) is false – no woman has yet headed ISRO as its chairman.

Yaad rakhein: Her other title: 'Agniputri'. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam is the 'Missile Man of India'.

Answer: (B) For leading the Agni-V project, having begun her career at DRDO

Concept: Check A and R separately, then ask: does R answer 'why A?'

1. A true: the 1991 New Industrial Policy abolished licensing for most industries, removing entry/expansion barriers.
2. R true: the licence raj needed permission to start, expand or change products, choking private enterprise.
3. Liberalisation was done precisely to remove those curbs → R explains A.

Trick: Read A + 'because' + R as one sentence – if it sounds logical, R is the explanation.

Answer: (A) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A

Concept: Ratio = students of the required height in A : sum of all students in A.

1. Section A at 1.68 m → 8 students.
2. Section A total = 5 + 9 + 8 + 15 + 8 + 6 + 4 = 55.
3. Required ratio = 8 : 55.

Trick: Only (A) starts with 8 (the 1.68 m entry) – you can pick it even before adding the total.

Answer: (A) 8 : 55

Concept: Order: Division and Multiplication (left to right) before Addition and Subtraction.

1. $225÷15=15$.
2. $4\times 15=60$.
3. $60+25-4=81$.

Trick: $4\times 225÷15=900÷15=60$ – same result either way since × and ÷ are done left to right.

Answer: (A) $\sqrt{81}$

Concept: Under SI, interest is equal every year; extra amount ÷ extra years = 1-year interest.

1. Interest for $4-2=2$ years $=6200-5800=$ ₹400 → ₹200 per year.
2. Principal = $5800-2\times 200=$ ₹5400.
3. Rate = $\frac{200}{5400}\times 100=3.7\%$ (approx.).

Trick: $R=\frac{(A_2-A_1)\times 100}{A_1{t}_2-A_2{t}_1}=\frac{400\times 100}{5800\times 4-6200\times 2}=\frac{40000}{10800}\approx 3.7\%$.

Answer: (C) 3.7%

Concept: Distance = (product of speeds ÷ difference of speeds) × time difference.

1. Time difference = 6 min $=\frac{1}{10}$ h.
2. $\frac{D}{14}-\frac{D}{16}=\frac{1}{10}$ → $D\times \frac{2}{224}=\frac{1}{10}$.
3. $D=\frac{224}{20}=11.2$ km.

Trick: $D=\frac{16\times 14}{16-14}\times \frac{1}{10}=112\times 0.1=11.2$ km.

Answer: (D) 11.2 km

Concept: Height is opposite the angle and the string is the hypotenuse → use sin.

1. $\sin {30}^{\circ }$ = height/string $=\frac{45}{L}$.
2. $\frac{1}{2}=\frac{45}{L}$.
3. $L=90$ m.

Trick: At 30°, the side opposite is half the hypotenuse – just double the height: $2\times 45=90$ m.

Answer: (C) 90 m

Concept: Rise in level = volume of objects dropped ÷ base area of the tank.

1. One sphere = $\frac{4}{3}\pi \times 5^3=\frac{500\pi }{3}$ cm³; four spheres $=\frac{2000\pi }{3}$ cm³.
2. Base area = $80\times 60=4800$ cm².
3. Rise = $\frac{2000\pi }{3}÷4800=\frac{2000\pi }{14400}=\frac{5\pi }{36}$ cm.

Trick: Water height (25 cm) is extra data – the rise depends only on volume and base area.

Answer: (B) $\frac{5\pi }{36}$ cm

Concept: Profit ratio = (capital × months) of each partner.

1. Capital-months of X : Y = (40 thousand × 8) : (60 thousand × 6).
2. = 320 : 360 (in thousands).
3. Divide by 40 → 8 : 9.

Trick: Drop zeros first: $(4\times 8):(6\times 6)=32:36=8:9$.

Answer: (B) 8 : 9

Concept: Interior + exterior = 180°; number of sides = 360° ÷ exterior angle.

1. $I+E={180}^{\circ }$, $I-E={60}^{\circ }$.
2. Subtracting: $2E={120}^{\circ }$ → $E={60}^{\circ }$.
3. Sides = $360÷60=6$.

Trick: $E=\frac{180-\text{difference}}{2}=\frac{180-60}{2}={60}^{\circ }$ → $n=6$ (a hexagon).

Answer: (A) 6

Concept: Required decrease = $\frac{r}{100+r}\times 100\%$.

1. Let value = 100 → after 10% rise = 110.
2. To return to 100, fall = 10 on a base of 110.
3. Decrease = $\frac{10}{110}\times 100=\frac{100}{11}\approx 9.09\%$.

Trick: $\frac{1}{11}=9.09\%$ – remember the fraction table: a 10% rise is cancelled by a $\frac{1}{11}$ fall.

Answer: (A) 9.09%

Concept: Area of a square = $\frac{d^2}{2}$ (no need to find the side).

1. Diagonal $d=\sqrt{48}$ m (the root sign is lost in print; 48 m would give 1152 m², not in options).
2. $d^2=48$.
3. Area = $\frac{48}{2}=24$ m².

Trick: Side $=\frac{d}{\sqrt{2}}$, so side${}^2=\frac{d^2}{2}$ – one-line formula for any diagonal question.

Answer: (B) 24 m²