Static GK decides most of the General Awareness score in SSC exams. The CGL, CHSL and CPO notices describe it in almost the same words: questions on India and its neighbouring countries in History, Culture, Geography, the Economic Scene, General Policy and Scientific Research, and on everyday observation in its scientific aspect. The GD notice adds Sports, General Polity and the Indian Constitution, and the MTS notice lists Social Studies, General Science and Environmental Studies up to the 10th Standard. This page brings together GK24's GK notes and practice questions tagged for all five SSC exams. The notes follow a subject-wise syllabus, one topic per note in English and Hindi: Indian Polity, Indian History, Geography, Indian Economy, General Science, Environment and Ecology, Art and Culture, Computer, Sports, Awards and Honours, Books and Authors, Days and Dates, and Static GK. Each note is written as short facts and tables so that a topic can be revised in one sitting, and each ends with multiple-choice questions and explanations. The level is what changes between exams: read MTS and GD topics at Class 10 depth, CHSL at Class 12 depth, and CGL and CPO at graduate depth, where questions ask for the article number or the year rather than the broad idea. Start with Polity, History and Geography, which fill the most questions in past papers in GK24's reading, then move to the Economy and Science. After each note, solve its questions here and your exam's previous-year questions on its own page.
How many squares are there on a standard chessboard?
A chessboard is a square divided into eight rows, called ranks, and eight columns, called files, so the number of squares is 8 multiplied by 8, that is 64.
Read the full explanation →Who was the first Indian woman to be awarded the Grandmaster title?
Humpy, from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, earned the open Grandmaster title in 2002 while in her teens, and at that time she was the youngest woman in the world to have done so.
Read the full explanation →Who became the first Grandmaster of India?
Anand, born in Mayiladuthurai and brought up in Chennai, earned the Grandmaster title in 1988 while still a teenager and became the first Indian to hold the highest lifetime title awarded by FIDE.
Read the full explanation →The modern game of chess is believed to have developed from which ancient Indian game?
Chaturanga was played in India in the Gupta age and its name means four limbs, standing for the four divisions of an ancient army: infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots.
Read the full explanation →International Nurses Day is observed on 12 May, the birth anniversary of:
Florence Nightingale was born on 12 May 1820 and became famous for organising nursing care during the Crimean War, where her rounds at night earned her the name the Lady with the Lamp.
Read the full explanation →World Braille Day is observed on 4 January every year, marking the birth anniversary of:
Louis Braille, born in France on 4 January 1809, lost his sight in childhood and devised the system of raised dots that allows blind and partially sighted people to read and write by touch.
Read the full explanation →National Education Day is observed in India on 11 November, the birth anniversary of:
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, born on 11 November 1888, was a scholar and freedom fighter who became independent India's first Minister of Education and set up the University Grants Commission and the early Indian Institutes of Technology.
Read the full explanation →Rashtriya Ekta Diwas, or National Unity Day, is observed on 31 October, the birth anniversary of:
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, born on 31 October 1875 at Nadiad in Gujarat, was independent India's first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister and is remembered as the Iron Man of India for merging more than five hundred princely states into the Union.
Read the full explanation →National Doctors' Day is observed in India on 1 July in memory of which person?
Dr B C Roy was a physician who became Chief Minister of West Bengal and was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1961.
Read the full explanation →National Sports Day is celebrated in India on 29 August, the birth anniversary of:
Major Dhyan Chand, the hockey player born on 29 August 1905, won Olympic gold with India in 1928, 1932 and 1936 and was so skilful with the ball that he was called the Wizard.
Read the full explanation →National Mathematics Day is observed on 22 December, the birth anniversary of:
The mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan was born on 22 December 1887 at Erode in Tamil Nadu and grew up in Kumbakonam, and although he had almost no formal training in the subject, his results on infinite series, partitions and continued fractions astonished mathematicians in England.
Read the full explanation →National Science Day is observed in India on 28 February to mark which achievement?
On 28 February 1928 the physicist C V Raman announced his discovery that light changes its wavelength when it is scattered by molecules, an effect that carries his name, and for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930, the first Nobel Prize in science won by an…
Read the full explanation →Engineers' Day is observed in India on 15 September in memory of which engineer?
Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was born on 15 September 1861 in Mysore state, and he is remembered for the Krishna Raja Sagara dam, the block system of irrigation gates and his years as Diwan of Mysore.
Read the full explanation →Children's Day is observed in India on 14 November because it is the birth anniversary of:
Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, was born on 14 November 1889, and because of his affection for children, who called him Chacha Nehru, the date was adopted as Children's Day or Bal Diwas.
Read the full explanation →Teachers' Day is celebrated in India on 5 September, the birth anniversary of:
Dr Radhakrishnan, philosopher, professor and the second President of India, was born on 5 September 1888. When students wished to celebrate his birthday in 1962, he suggested that the day be kept for teachers instead, and it has been Teachers' Day ever since.
Read the full explanation →National Youth Day is observed in India on 12 January, the birth anniversary of which personality?
Swami Vivekananda was born on 12 January 1863 at Kolkata, and the Government of India declared his birthday National Youth Day in 1984, first observed in 1985, because his writings and his address at the Parliament of Religions at Chicago in 1893 are held up as a model for young…
Read the full explanation →What is the largest unsigned decimal number that can be stored in one byte?
One byte holds eight bits, and each bit can be either 0 or 1, so the number of different patterns is 2 raised to the power 8, that is 256.
Read the full explanation →In the hexadecimal system, the symbol D stands for which decimal value?
Hexadecimal has base 16 and therefore needs sixteen different symbols. The digits 0 to 9 serve for the first ten values, and because no single digit exists for the values 10 to 15, the letters A to F are borrowed.
Read the full explanation →The 2's complement of the binary number 1010 is:
The 2's complement is found in two steps. First take the 1's complement by changing every 0 to 1 and every 1 to 0; for 1010 this gives 0101.
Read the full explanation →Standard ASCII uses how many bits to represent one character?
ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. In its standard form it is a seven-bit code, so it can represent 2 raised to the power 7, that is 128 different characters: the English capital and small letters, the ten digit symbols, punctuation marks and a set of control…
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