Skip to content
GK24

CDS GK Questions 2026

Static GK carries most of the 100 marks of the CDS General Knowledge paper. Of the 120 questions in the CDS (II) 2026 paper, about 20 were on Indian Polity, about 20 on the History of India, about 15 on Geography and the environment, about 10 on the Indian Economy and about 37 on Physics, Chemistry and Biology, which makes CDS the most science-heavy General Knowledge paper among the major recruitment exams. Polity questions test writs, the NHRC, electoral systems, disqualification of legislators, GST and delimitation. History runs from the Upanishads and the Shunga dynasty to Vijayanagara, temple architecture, the Sylhet referendum and the SNDP Yogam. Geography asks about the atmosphere, earthquakes and tsunamis, Ramsar sites, mangroves and World Heritage sites. Science stays at school level but expects reasoning: a lens problem, a magnetic field direction, molarity versus molality, what cooking soda is, how enzymes act. This page holds GK24's topic-wise GK notes for CDS, written as short facts and tables so that a topic can be revised in one sitting. Read a topic, then solve its previous-year questions and quiz on this site to check what stayed with you.

CDS GK Questions with Answers

Q5383.Art & CultureMedium

The fourth Buddhist Council, after which Buddhism divided into the Hinayana and Mahayana schools, was held under the patronage of which ruler?

  1. A.Ajatashatru
  2. B.Ashoka
  3. C.Kalashoka
  4. D.Kanishka
Show answer
Correct answer: D. Kanishka

The fourth Buddhist council met in Kashmir under the patronage of the Kushana ruler Kanishka, and it is remembered because the assembly divided into the Hinayana and Mahayana schools; the proceedings were in Sanskrit, and Vasumitra presided with Ashvaghosha associated with it.

Q5384.Art & CultureEasy

Advaita Vedanta, the doctrine that Brahman alone is real and the world is maya, was propounded by whom?

  1. A.Shankaracharya
  2. B.Ramanuja
  3. C.Madhvacharya
  4. D.Nimbarka
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Shankaracharya

Shankaracharya expounded Advaita or non dualism, in which Brahman alone is real, the world of appearance is maya and the individual soul is not different from Brahman; he wrote commentaries on the Brahma Sutra, the principal Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, and is credited with establishing monastic centres in the…

Q5386.Art & CultureAsked in: SSC MTS · 11 May, 2023, Shift 1Medium

The Ahmadiyya forms a sect of Islam which originated from India. It was founded by ______ in 1889.

  1. A.Mir Nisar Ali
  2. B.Haji Shariatullah
  3. C.Shah Walliullah
  4. D.Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
Show answer
Correct answer: D. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad

The Ahmadiyya movement was founded in 1889 at Qadian in the Punjab by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, and it is one of the religious movements of modern India that grew out of the reformist debates of the nineteenth century, drawing on both Islamic tradition and the liberal ideas of the age.

Q5387.Art & CultureMedium

The Vaisheshika school of Indian philosophy, known for its atomic theory of matter, was founded by whom?

  1. A.Kapila
  2. B.Kanada
  3. C.Jaimini
  4. D.Patanjali
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Kanada

Kanada, also called Uluka, composed the Vaisheshika Sutra and taught that the material world is built of indivisible atoms called paramanu, which combine to form the objects of experience; the school also classifies reality into categories or padarthas and is treated as the companion of Nyaya in logic and physics.

Q5388.Art & CultureAsked in: Uttar Pradesh · 16 Aug 2020Hard

Match List-I with List-II and select the correct answer from the codes given below. List-I (Philosophy): A. Nyaya Darshan, B. Mimamsa Darshan, C. Sankhya Darshan, D. Vedanta Darshan. List-II (Method to achieve salvation): 1. Acquisition of real knowledge, 2. Knowledge of self, 3. Performing Vedic rituals, 4. Logical thinking

  1. A.A-2, B-4, C-1, D-3
  2. B.A-4, B-3, C-1, D-2
  3. C.A-1, B-4, C-2, D-3
  4. D.A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2
Show answer
Correct answer: B. A-4, B-3, C-1, D-2

Nyaya is the school of logic and holds that liberation follows from correct reasoning, so it pairs with logical thinking.

Q5389.Art & CultureAsked in: Delhi · 1 Dec 2020, Shift 1Easy

Who among the following propounded the philosophy of Ashtangika marga, the Eightfold Path?

  1. A.Shankaracharya
  2. B.Mahavir Swami
  3. C.Ramanuja
  4. D.Gautam Buddha
Show answer
Correct answer: D. Gautam Buddha

The eightfold path or ashtangika marga is the fourth of the noble truths preached by the Buddha in his first sermon at Sarnath, and it names the middle way between indulgence and mortification: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.

Q5391.Art & CultureAsked in: Uttar Pradesh · 12 June 2022Hard

Match List-I with List-II and select the correct answer from the code given below the lists. List-I (Philosopher): A. Ramanuja, B. Madhavacharya, C. Nimbarka, D. Vallabhacharya. List-II (Philosophy): 1. Suddhadvait, 2. Dvaitadvait, 3. Dvaita, 4. Vishishtadvaita

  1. A.A - 2, B - 4, C - 1, D - 3
  2. B.A - 3, B - 1, C - 4, D - 2
  3. C.A - 1, B - 2, C - 3, D - 4
  4. D.A - 4, B - 3, C - 2, D - 1
Show answer
Correct answer: D. A - 4, B - 3, C - 2, D - 1

Ramanuja taught Vishishtadvaita or qualified non dualism, in which souls and matter are real but exist as attributes of Brahman.

Q5392.General ScienceEasy

Who is credited with the discovery of the circulation of blood in the human body?

  1. A.William Harvey
  2. B.Karl Landsteiner
  3. C.Edward Jenner
  4. D.Robert Koch
Show answer
Correct answer: A. William Harvey

The English physician William Harvey showed by experiment and measurement that blood is not made afresh and used up in the tissues, as was then believed, but moves in a closed circuit, driven by the heart acting as a pump, and he published this in 1628 in his book on…

Q5393.General ScienceMedium

The valve present between the left atrium and the left ventricle of the human heart is called the ______.

  1. A.Tricuspid valve
  2. B.Bicuspid valve
  3. C.Pulmonary semilunar valve
  4. D.Aortic semilunar valve
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Bicuspid valve

The opening between the left atrium and the left ventricle is guarded by a valve with two flaps or cusps, which is why it is called the bicuspid valve; it is also known as the mitral valve because its shape resembles a bishop's mitre.

Q5398.General ScienceMedium

The pacemaker of the human heart is the ______.

  1. A.Atrio-ventricular node
  2. B.Sino-atrial node
  3. C.Bundle of His
  4. D.Purkinje fibres
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Sino-atrial node

The heartbeat is not started by a nerve from the brain; the heart generates its own rhythm, and the patch of specialised tissue that does so fastest sets the pace for the rest.