Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Taboo = a social or cultural prohibition on an action or topic.

1. The passage calls open discussion 'a taboo' and then a 'cultural restriction'.
2. So it is a custom that forbids or limits a practice – option C.
3. Nothing is celebrated, religious or legal here.

Trick: Look at the next sentence – passages often restate a hard word ('cultural restriction').

Answer: (C) A social custom that prohibits or restricts a particular practice

Concept: Suffer in silence = bear pain or trouble without complaining or asking for help.

1. Girls face shame and lack of products, so they endure it alone.
2. Option B states exactly this.
3. Celebrating, studying or speaking softly have no link with suffering.

Trick: Keep the core verb – 'suffer' means pain; only option B contains a pain idea.

Answer: (B) To endure pain or distress without complaining or seeking assistance

Concept: Factual questions are answered from the exact line in the passage.

1. Para 2: activists call education 'the most effective tool to dismantle these outdated perceptions'.
2. Financial aid, strict laws and rituals are not offered as the tool.

Trick: Search the passage for the question's key word ('dismantle') – the answer sits in that sentence.

Answer: (B) Education

Concept: Abiding = lasting, enduring, permanent.

1. Perennial = lasting for a very long time / recurring year after year → synonym.
2. Perishable, momentary, evanescent all mean short-lived – opposites.

Trick: Three options mean 'short-lived'; the odd one out is the synonym of a 'long-lasting' word.

Answer: (D) Perennial

Concept: Correct spelling: umbilical (related to the navel).

1. Option A 'Umbilecal' has 'e' in place of 'i'.
2. Precious, Empirical, Fractured are correct.

Trick: um-bi-li-cal: every vowel after 'b' is 'i' except the last 'a'.

Answer: (A) Umbilecal

Concept: Swap symbols for real signs, then solve by BODMAS.

1. & = ×, * = −, % = + → $11\times 15-30+3$
2. $11\times 15=165$
3. $165-30+3=$ 138

Trick: Unit-digit check: $1\times 5=5$, then $5-0+3=8$ → only 138 ends in 8.

Answer: (D) 138

Concept: With only ÷ and ×, work left to right (or write as one fraction).

1. ^ = ÷, % = × → $8÷27\times 9\times 4$
2. $=\frac{8\times 9\times 4}{27}=\frac{288}{27}$
3. $=$ $\frac{32}{3}$

Trick: Put the number after ÷ in the denominator and cancel: $\frac{9}{27}=\frac{1}{3}$, so $8\times \frac{4}{3}=\frac{32}{3}$.

Answer: (A) 32/3

Concept: Maternal uncle = brother of the mother.

1. Option D: M × Q → M is brother of Q.
2. Q − P → Q is wife of P; P + N → P is father of N.
3. So Q is N's mother and M is her brother → maternal uncle.
4. A gives father's brother; B makes M a daughter; C puts N first.

Trick: Expression must start with M and end with N, and M's sign must be × (brother) – this alone removes B and C.

Answer: (D) $M\times Q-P+N$

Concept: Some A are B + All B are C ⟹ Some A are C.

1. Some teachers are honest, all honest are hardworking → some teachers are hardworking. I follows.
2. II reverses 'All honest are hardworking'; a hardworking teacher need not be honest. II does not follow.

Trick: 'All B are C' cannot be read backwards as 'All C are B' – any conclusion that does this is out.

Answer: (A) Only conclusion I follow.

Concept: Convert both positions to the same end, then between = difference − 1.

1. B from left = 75 − 25 + 1 = 51
2. A from left = 20
3. Trees between = 51 − 20 − 1 = 30

Trick: Between = Total − (left rank + right rank) when they don't overlap: 75 − (20 + 25) = 30.

Answer: (A) 30

Concept: A vertical mirror swaps left and right; top and bottom stay the same.

1. Top row: the left-pointing triangle comes to the left and points right; the grid with black top-right cell goes right with the black cell at top-left.
2. Bottom row: the solid up-arrow comes to the left, the hollow down-arrow goes to the right – both still point the same way vertically.
3. Only option B shows all these.

Trick: Check one asymmetric detail first (the black cell of the grid) – it moves from top-right to top-left; reject options that miss it.

Answer: (B) (figure option)

Concept: Vertical mirror: left ↔ right; up–down features don't change.

1. Circle (lower half black) moves to the left, still lower half black.
2. Hexagon (black on right) moves to the right with black on its left.
3. Up-arrow still points up; triangle black on left becomes black on right.
4. Option A matches.

Trick: Shading that is top/bottom never changes in a left-right mirror; only left/right shading flips.

Answer: (A) (figure option)

Concept: Two folds → 4 layers, so each cut appears 4 times; unfold in reverse order, reflecting across each fold line.

1. Unfold the last fold first, then the diagonal fold.
2. The rectangle cut on the folded edge opens as a notch in the middle of each of the 4 sides.
3. The triangles appear 4 times pointing towards the centre/sides as reflected, and the small circles appear in two opposite corners.
4. This pattern is option C.

Trick: Count first: every shape must appear 4 times (2 folds) – option B shows rectangles not notches, so drop it straight away.

Answer: (C) (figure option)

Concept: Split the digit string into two-digit numbers and find the pattern.

1. 3052749? → 30, 52, 74, 9?
2. Differences: +22, +22 → next = 74 + 22 = 96
3. Missing digit = 6

Trick: When a long digit string is given, try pairs – a constant difference usually appears at once.

Answer: (A) 6

Concept: Each letter shifts one place back in the alphabet (A → Z wraps round).

1. LAMB → KZLA: L−1=K, A−1=Z, M−1=L, B−1=A.
2. GOAT → G−1=F, O−1=N, A−1=Z, T−1=S → FNZS.

Trick: Check only the last letter: T − 1 = S → only A and C end in S; 2nd letter O − 1 = N → A.

Answer: (A) FNZS

Concept: Treat 1st, 2nd and 3rd letters as three separate series.

1. 1st: E, G, I (+2) → K
2. 2nd: N, O, P (+1) → Q
3. 3rd: S, R, P (−1, −2) → next −3 → M
4. Answer: KQM

Trick: All options start with KQ, so only the 3rd letter matters – find its gap pattern.

Answer: (B) KQM

Concept: The correct candidate must match every word, full stop, comma and number.

1. A drops the full stop after 'No'.
2. B shortens 'Extension' to 'Extn.'.
3. D matches the master address exactly.

Trick: Compare in chunks (Flat No. / Block / locality / city - PIN) and strike off an option at its first mismatch.

Answer: (D) Flat No. 12B, Block A, Green Park Extension, New Delhi - 110016

Concept: Look for small changes: hyphens, full stops and abbreviations.

1. A: 'Sector 5' – hyphen missing.
2. B: 'Flat No 18A' – full stop missing.
3. D: 'Hosp.' – word shortened.
4. C is an exact copy.

Trick: Typical traps are punctuation (- and .) and short forms – scan those spots first.

Answer: (C) Sector-5, Flat No. 18A, Shanti Nagar, Near City Hospital, Bhopal - 462003

Concept: Every row of the grid follows the same operation; find it from a complete row.

1. Try a rule (sum, product, difference, square etc.) on Row 1.
2. Confirm the same rule on Row 3.
3. Apply it to Row 2 → missing number = 24.

Trick: Always verify the rule on a second complete row before applying it – one row can fit many rules.

Answer: (A) 24

Concept: The same row-rule holds for all rows of the grid.

1. Frame the rule from the first complete row.
2. Check it on the other complete row.
3. Applying it to the row with '?' gives 34.

Trick: If a sum rule fails, try $(a\times b)\pm c$ or $a^2\pm b$ – these are the most common matrix rules in SSC.

Answer: (C) 34