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.
Twinkling of stars is primarily due to the atmospheric
Starlight is bent again and again as it passes through layers of air whose temperature and density keep changing, so the star seems to flicker in brightness and position.
Read the full explanation →The volume of a sealed packet is 1 litre and its mass is 800 g. The packet is first put inside water with density 1 g cm⁻³ and then in another liquid B with density 1.5 g cm⁻³. Then which one of the following statements holds true?
The packet’s density is 800 g divided by 1,000 cm³, which is 0.8 g/cm³, less than the density of both liquids.
Read the full explanation →Which one among the following states was NOT impacted by the Land Boundary Agreement Treaty between India and Bangladesh (2015)?
Arunachal Pradesh does not share a border with Bangladesh, so the 2015 land boundary settlement did not touch it.
Read the full explanation →Consider the following Women’s Associations and their important associates in early twentieth century India :
1. Women’s Indian Association of 1917 : Margaret Cousins
2. National Council of Women in India of 1925 : Sarala Devi Chaudhurani
3. Bharat Stree Mahamandal of 1910 : Lady Meherbai Tata
Which of the above pairs is/are correctly matched ?
Margaret Cousins was a founder of the Women’s Indian Association, but pairs 2 and 3 have their associates swapped. The Women’s Indian Association was founded at Adyar, Madras, in 1917 by Annie Besant, Margaret Cousins, Dorothy Jinarajadasa and others; it campaigned for women’s franchise and education.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following is found in appreciable amount in Laterite soil in India ?
Indian laterite soils are poor in organic matter, nitrogen, phosphate and calcium, while iron oxide and potash are present in excess.
Read the full explanation →An object is placed between infinity and the pole (P) of a convex mirror. The position of the image is
For any position of a real object in front of a convex mirror, the image forms behind the mirror between P and F. A convex mirror bulges outward, and its focus and centre of curvature lie behind it.
Read the full explanation →The headquarters of World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is located at
The World Meteorological Organization has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The WMO is a specialised agency of the United Nations for weather, climate, water resources and related sciences.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following inscriptions records the history of a guild of silk weavers?
This fifth-century Sanskrit inscription from Mandasor in western Madhya Pradesh tells how a guild of silk weavers migrated from Lata (south Gujarat) to Dashapura and built a temple of the Sun.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements about Renaissance Humanist culture is NOT true ?
Renaissance humanists did not condemn wealth, power and glory; they saw them as worthy human aims, so this statement is the one that is not true.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following is the Official Mascot of the FIFA World Cup, 2018?
The mascot of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, held in Russia, was a wolf named Zabivaka, a Russian word meaning "the one who scores".
Read the full explanation →The provisions of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of India shall not apply to the administration and control of the Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes in
1. Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha
2. Assam and Tripura
3. Meghalaya and Mizoram
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
The Fifth Schedule covers Scheduled Areas in every State except Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, whose tribal areas come under the Sixth Schedule instead.
Read the full explanation →Light of uniform intensity impinges perpendicularly on a totally reflecting surface. If the area of the surface is halved, the radiation force on it will become
The force exerted by light depends on how much light falls on the surface, so with the same intensity, half the area receives half the light and feels half the force.
Read the full explanation →A large body of magmatic material that cools in the deeper depth of the Earth’s crust and develops in the form of large domes is known as
A batholith is a huge mass of magma that cools and hardens deep inside the crust, usually as granite, and takes the form of large domes.
Read the full explanation →Tyndall effect is a phenomenon of
Particles in a colloid are large enough to scatter a beam of light, which makes the path of the beam visible.
Read the full explanation →Nisarga, Gati, Nivar, Tauktae and Yaas are names of
All five are tropical cyclones of the North Indian Ocean, named from the list kept by the WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones.
Read the full explanation →The refractive index of crown glass is close to 3/2. If the speed of light in air is c, then the speed of light in the crown glass will be close to
Refractive index is the ratio of the speed of light in air to its speed in the medium, so the speed in glass is c divided by 3/2, which is (2/3)c. The absolute refractive index of a medium is n = c/v, where c is the speed of light in…
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following is found in the innermost part of the Earth ?
It separates the liquid outer core from the solid inner core at a depth of about 5,150 km, making it the deepest of the four boundaries.
Read the full explanation →Which among the following statements regarding the election of non-permanent members to the United Nations Security Council is/are correct ?
1. Five members coming from Africa and Asia, one from Eastern Europe, two from Latin America and two from Western Europe and other states
2. Six members are elected each year by the General Assembly for two year term
Select the correct answer using the code given below :
The ten non-permanent seats are shared by region as statement 1 says, but only five of them are filled each year, not six.
Read the full explanation →Consider the following statements about the arrival of tobacco in India :
1. Tobacco plant arrived first in the Deccan.
2. Tobacco spread to northern India in the early years of the seventeenth century.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
Tobacco, a New World plant brought to India by the Portuguese, first reached the Deccan and then spread to northern India in the early seventeenth century.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following tributaries is/are correctly matched with the Deccan Rivers ?
Tributary — River
1. Bhavani — Krishna
2. Kabini — Kaveri
3. Manjra — Godavari
4. Bhima — Mahanadi
Select the answer using the code given below:
The Kabini is a tributary of the Kaveri and the Manjra is a tributary of the Godavari, so only pairs 2 and 3 are correct.
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