GS: Hindi / English · Language questions stay in their original language.
150 questions · 150 marks · 2 hours 30 minutes
Choose one option per question.
Tap an option to check it, or open “See answer”.
Correct answer: (B) Irrigation
Most of India's water goes to irrigation—the largest share of total consumption is used in farming.
Correct answer: (B) Diffusion of auxins towards the shady side of the shoot
In light the auxin diffuses towards the shady side of the shoot, where the cells then grow longer, and the stem appears to bend towards the light.
Correct answer: (C) Khambhat Bay
Tidal and wave energy need a high tidal range, and the highest tides in India occur in the Gulf of Khambhat.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
The formation of the Simon Commission was announced on 8 November 1927, which is not among the options.
Correct answer: (C) 336
The ratio is 14 : 25, so the difference equals 11 parts: 11 parts = 264, that is, one part = 24. The smaller number is 14 × 24 = 336.
Correct answer: (B) Morena (M.P.)
The Gharial Breeding Centre was set up at Morena in Madhya Pradesh, on the bank of the Chambal.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
The four airmen chosen for Gaganyaan are Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair, Ajit Krishnan, Angad Pratap and Shubhanshu Shukla. All three names given are from that list, so ‘None of the above’ is the right answer.
Correct answer: (A) Batukeshwar Dutt
In 1929 Batukeshwar Dutt, with Bhagat Singh, threw harmless bombs in the Central Legislative Assembly—meant not to kill but to draw attention.
Correct answer: (A) 8
Let xy = p. Then x² + y² = 1 − 2p, so x⁴ + y⁴ = (1 − 2p)² − 2p² = 2p² − 4p + 1. Setting that equal to 17 gives 2p² − 4p = 16, that is, p² − 2p = 8—which is the value asked for.
Correct answer: (B) Calcutta Public Library in March 1836
The National Library of India traces its beginning to the Calcutta Public Library, opened in March 1836.
Correct answer: (B) Cricket ‘Bat’
A ruling of the Peshawar High Court in January 2024 restored to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf its election symbol, the cricket bat.
Correct answer: (B) 10√2 meters
The longest pole equals the room's diagonal: √(8² + 6² + 10²) = √200 = 10√2 metres.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
Manganese is used in making batteries, in the matchbox industry and in photography, so more than one option is correct.
Correct answer: (D) More than one of the above
Balance is kept by the cerebellum and the inner ear working together. The semicircular canals of the ear report tilt and the cerebellum steadies the muscles on that information, so more than one option is correct.
Correct answer: (A) Rajiv Ranjan Sinha
Under the Government of India Act 1935 the first elected Chairman of the Bihar Legislative Council was Rajiv Ranjan Sinha.
Correct answer: (C) 23rd August—National Space Day
The ‘Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar’ ceremony will be held every year on 23 August—National Space Day—the date Chandrayaan-3 landed on the Moon.
Correct answer: (B) 0.25
0.008 = 1/125 = (1/5)³, so 3x = 3 and x = 1. Then (0.25)¹ = 0.25.
Correct answer: (C) 1968
The African Convention for the Conservation of Natural Resources was held in 1968.
Correct answer: (B) Torch bulb
A torch bulb's resistance changes as it heats, so current and voltage no longer keep to a straight line—that is non-ohmic resistance.
Correct answer: (B) Kali
The Kali river forms the boundary between India and Nepal; in Uttarakhand it is also called the Sharda.
Correct answer: (A) Arthur Conan Doyle
Sherlock Holmes was created by Arthur Conan Doyle, and the famous line belongs to his character.
Correct answer: (C) Oxymoron
‘Darkness visible’ sets two contrary ideas side by side—darkness and being seen. Such a turn of phrase is called an oxymoron.
Correct answer: (A) Robert Browning
‘Andrea Del Sarto’ and ‘Fra Lippo Lippi’ were both written by Robert Browning, who is famous for the dramatic monologue.
Correct answer: (A) William Golding
‘Lord of the Flies’ is a novel by William Golding, for which he also won the Nobel Prize.
Correct answer: (B) Boz
Charles Dickens wrote his early work under the pen name ‘Boz’.
Correct answer: (A) S. T. Coleridge
S. T. Coleridge drew this distinction between fancy, primary imagination and secondary imagination in ‘Biographia Literaria’.
Correct answer: (C) D. H. Lawrence
‘Sons and Lovers’ is D. H. Lawrence's autobiographical novel.
Correct answer: (B) Gulliver’s Travels
The ‘Yahoos’ appear in the fourth part of Jonathan Swift's ‘Gulliver's Travels’.
Correct answer: (A) Thomas De Quincey
‘Confessions of an English Opium Eater’ is the well-known essay of Thomas De Quincey.
Correct answer: (B) Jane Austen
‘Emma’ is a novel by Jane Austen.
Correct answer: (B) Arthur Miller
‘Death of a Salesman’ was written by the American playwright Arthur Miller.
Correct answer: (B) Christopher Marlowe
‘The Jew of Malta’ is a play by Christopher Marlowe.
Correct answer: (B) Agatha Christie
Miss Marple is the detective created by Agatha Christie.
Correct answer: (C) Thomas Kyd
‘The Spanish Tragedy’ is a play by Thomas Kyd, taken to be the beginning of English revenge tragedy.
Correct answer: (C) James Joyce
Leopold Bloom of ‘Ulysses’ was created by James Joyce.
Correct answer: (C) Henry L. Derozio
‘The Fakir of Jungheera’ is a poem by Henry Louis Vivian Derozio.
Correct answer: (C) David Copperfield
Mr Micawber is a character in Charles Dickens's ‘David Copperfield’.
Correct answer: (B) Harold Pinter
‘The Birthday Party’ is a play by Harold Pinter.
Correct answer: (C) Salman Rushdie
Saleem Sinai is the narrator of Salman Rushdie's ‘Midnight's Children’.
Correct answer: (C) To His Coy Mistress
The lines are from Andrew Marvell's poem ‘To His Coy Mistress’, which carries the sense of time hurrying by.
Correct answer: (A) E. M. Forster
Dr Aziz is a character in E. M. Forster's novel ‘A Passage to India’.
Correct answer: (B) An Elegy
A poem written in mourning for a person or a thing is an elegy. An ode is a poem of praise.
Correct answer: (C) Matthew Arnold
The lines are from Matthew Arnold's poem ‘Dover Beach’.
Correct answer: (C) Lord Alfred Tennyson
‘Break, break, break’ is a poem by Lord Alfred Tennyson.
Correct answer: (C) Pride and Prejudice
Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy are characters in Jane Austen's ‘Pride and Prejudice’.
Correct answer: (B) R. K. Narayan
Raju of ‘The Guide’ was created by R. K. Narayan.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
‘On His Blindness’ is a sonnet by John Milton, who is not among the options.
Correct answer: (A) Anticlimax
A sudden fall from the lofty to the ridiculous is called anticlimax, also known as bathos.
Correct answer: (B) The Tempest
Caliban is a character in Shakespeare's ‘The Tempest’.
Correct answer: (C) John Keats
The term ‘negative capability’ was used by John Keats in his letters.