GS: Hindi / English · Language questions stay in their original language.
120 questions · 120 marks · 2 hours
Choose one option per question.
Tap an option to check it, or open “See answer”.
Correct answer: (C) Troposphere
All weather happens in the troposphere, which is where the water vapour and dust are.
Correct answer: (B) Sirocco
The hot wind blowing from the Sahara across North Africa towards the Mediterranean is the Sirocco.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
Water vapour turning straight into ice is deposition; sublimation is the change from solid to vapour—so the answer is ‘None of the above’.
Correct answer: (A) Its position in the food chain or food web
The trophic level gives an organism's position in the food chain or food web.
Correct answer: (C) An irregular surface with sharp pinnacles, grooves and ridges
‘Lappies’ is the irregular karst surface with sharp pinnacles, grooves and hollows.
Correct answer: (A) 200 feet to 300 feet
The ideal depth for the growth of coral reefs is 200 to 300 feet, where enough light reaches.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
Resources take in the natural elements of the environment, money and financial assets, and human skill and knowledge alike, so the answer is ‘more than one’.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
The climate of temperate grasslands is continental—hot summers, severe winters and moderate rain. No option says that, so the answer is ‘None of the above’.
Correct answer: (A) Cretaceous period
The dispersion and migration of flowering plants began in the Cretaceous period.
Correct answer: (A) Mineral
A mineral once used up is not formed again, so minerals are non-renewable; forests and solar energy are renewable.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
The largest rice-producing continent is Asia, which is not among the options—so the answer is ‘None of the above’.
Correct answer: (B) Russia
The largest exporter of wheat in the world is Russia.
Correct answer: (A) Estuarine
The ecosystem at a river's mouth, where fresh water meets salt, is the estuarine ecosystem. ‘Lotic’ is the general name for running water and ‘lentic’ for still water.
The Commission's key gives ‘lotic’, but lotic means running water in general; the ecosystem of a river mouth is specifically called estuarine, so option 1 is taken here.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
The nitrogen and the sulphur cycle both have an atmospheric phase driven by solar energy, while the phosphorus cycle is sedimentary. So the answer is ‘more than one’.
Correct answer: (A) Shift from manual labor to mechanization
The chief mark of industrialization is just this—machines take the place of manual labour.
Correct answer: (C) Amartya Sen
The concept of human development was popularized by Amartya Sen, and the Human Development Index was built on it.
Correct answer: (A) Balancing economic growth with environmental conservation
Sustainable development means keeping a balance between economic growth and the conservation of the environment.
Correct answer: (B) Activity
The great difficulty in dividing urban from rural is the nature of the activity—where farming predominates and where non-farm work does.
Correct answer: (B) Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh
The Bundelkhand plateau spreads over parts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Correct answer: (B) Rainfall, temperature and cropped area
The Planning Commission's agro-climatic regionalization rests on rainfall, temperature and cropped area.
Correct answer: (C) The provision of services to consumers
Tertiary activities provide services to consumers—transport, trade, banking, education and the like.
Correct answer: (B) Village with compact houses
Settlements are dense where the farmland is fertile, so one finds the village of compact houses there.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
Overcrowding strains public services and lowers the quality of life—all three options say the opposite, so the answer is ‘None of the above’.
Correct answer: (B) Sundarbans
The Royal Bengal Tiger is found in the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
The Karakoram holds K2, rises from the Pamir Knot and contains the Siachen glacier—more than one statement is correct.
Correct answer: (C) Punjab
Punjab has both a low birth rate and a low death rate, so it is in the last stage of the demographic transition.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
World Conservation Day falls on 28 July, which is not among the options—so the answer is ‘None of the above’.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
Urban environmental degradation comes from suspended particulate matter, carbon dioxide and vehicular emission alike, so the answer is ‘more than one’.
Correct answer: (A) Up to 80-degree latitude
The polar regions are habitable up to about 80 degrees latitude; beyond that permanent settlement is not possible.
Correct answer: (C) 10%
Only about 10% of the world's land surface is under cultivation.
Correct answer: (B) Gujarat
The Kakrapar Atomic Power Plant is in Gujarat, and its third unit began commercial operation in December 2022.
Correct answer: (C) Rajasthan
‘Ramgarh Visdhari’, notified as a tiger reserve in May 2022, is in Rajasthan.
Correct answer: (A) Koraput
Koraput, in Odisha, is an important bauxite mine; Khetri is known for copper.
Correct answer: (C) Jharkhand
The Noamundi and Kiriburu iron ore mines are in Jharkhand.
Correct answer: (B) Tropical evergreen forest
The Western Ghats, the north-eastern hills and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands all have heavy rainfall, so tropical evergreen forest is found there.
Correct answer: (C) National Food Security Mission
NFSM stands for the National Food Security Mission.
Correct answer: (C) Bajra
Bajra stands drought and harsh weather best, which is why it is sown in dry regions.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
It was India that proposed 2023 be observed as the International Year of Millets, which is not among the options—so the answer is ‘None of the above’.
Correct answer: (B) Natural region
Relief, climate, vegetation and soils are physical bases, and the regions marked out by them are called natural regions.
The Commission's key gives ‘specific region’, but in geography a division made on these four physical bases is called a natural region, so option 2 is taken here.
Correct answer: (C) Arunachal Pradesh
The Shivalik Hills are known as the Abor hills in Arunachal Pradesh.
Correct answer: (A) A. Hettner
A. Hettner called geography a chorological science, the study of the differentiation of places.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
A volcanic eruption owes to magma forming as the melting point falls, to gases and vapour expanding on heating, and to plate movements alike, so the answer is ‘more than one’.
Correct answer: (C) Underground caves and doline
Karst topography is marked by underground caves and dolines, formed as limestone dissolves.
Correct answer: (C) Monsoon
The monsoon blows with the seasonal reversal of the pressure belts, which is why it runs one way in summer and the other in winter.
Correct answer: (B) Subpolar low-pressure belt
Around 60 degrees latitude in both hemispheres lies the subpolar low-pressure belt, where cold and warm air meet.
Correct answer: (C) Lifting of air by mountains or hills
When air is forced up by a mountain or hill, cools and rains, the rain is called orographic.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
The hydrological cycle helps maintain the balance of global temperature, of atmospheric pressure and of ocean salinity alike, so the answer is ‘more than one’.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
The submerged mountain ranges running through the oceans are the mid-oceanic ridges, which are not among the options—so the answer is ‘None of the above’.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
The Coriolis effect deflects the currents—to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern. No option says that, so the answer is ‘None of the above’.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
Burning fossil fuels raises greenhouse gas emissions and brings air pollution and climate change too, so the answer is ‘more than one’.