SSC Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is B, A = 1C/s. One ampere is the current that flows when one coulomb of charge passes a point in a circuit in one second. It comes straight from the formula I = Q/t, where I is current in amperes, Q is charge in coulombs and t is time in seconds. The ampere is one of the seven SI base units and is named after the French physicist André-Marie Ampère. One coulomb is the charge of roughly 6.25 × 10¹⁸ electrons, so a current of 1 ampere means that many electrons flowing past a point every second. Turned around, the same formula gives Q = I × t, which is why a coulomb is also called an ampere-second. A is wrong because 2 coulombs per second is a current of 2 amperes, not 1. C is wrong because charge is current multiplied by time, not current divided by time. D is wrong because an ampere multiplied by 2 seconds gives 2 coulombs, not the definition of 1 ampere. Exam tip: I = Q/t, so 1 A = 1 C/s and 1 C = 1 A × 1 s.

The correct answer is B, Potassium – Po. The symbol of potassium is K, from its Latin name kalium; Po is the symbol of polonium, the radioactive element discovered by Marie Curie in 1898 and named after Poland. Potassium has atomic number 19, sits in group 1 as an alkali metal, and is soft enough to cut with a knife. Several common elements carry symbols from Latin names rather than English ones, and examiners love them: sodium Na (natrium), iron Fe (ferrum), copper Cu (cuprum), silver Ag (argentum), gold Au (aurum), tin Sn (stannum), lead Pb (plumbum), mercury Hg (hydrargyrum) and tungsten W (wolfram). A is a correct pair because phosphorus is P, atomic number 15. C is a correct pair because iron is Fe from ferrum, atomic number 26. D is a correct pair because iodine is I, atomic number 53, a halogen. Exam tip: K is potassium and Po is polonium; when a symbol looks like the first two letters of the English name, check whether the element actually uses a Latin name.

The correct answer is B, Baking soda. Its chemical name is sodium hydrogen carbonate and its formula is NaHCO3. It is a mild, non-corrosive base made by the Solvay process, in which brine is treated with ammonia and carbon dioxide. When heated it gives off carbon dioxide, which is why it makes cakes rise; it is also used in antacids, soda-acid fire extinguishers and as a cleaning agent. Note the trap in this question: baking soda and baking powder are different things. A is wrong because baking powder is a mixture of baking soda with a mild edible acid such as tartaric acid, not a single compound. C is wrong because washing soda is sodium carbonate decahydrate, Na2CO3.10H2O, used to soften hard water and in glass and soap making. D is wrong because plaster of Paris is calcium sulphate hemihydrate, CaSO4.1/2H2O, used for casts and moulds. Exam tip: baking soda NaHCO3, washing soda Na2CO3.10H2O, plaster of Paris CaSO4.1/2H2O, bleaching powder CaOCl2.

The correct answer is B, Both I and II. Both pairs are wrong. Amyloplasts store starch, a carbohydrate, and aleuroplasts store proteins; oils and fats are stored by elaioplasts. Plastids are organelles found only in plant cells. Chloroplasts hold chlorophyll and do photosynthesis, chromoplasts hold the yellow, orange and red pigments of flowers and fruits, and leucoplasts are colourless storage plastids. The leucoplasts are named after what they keep: amyloplasts keep starch (amylum), as in potato tubers; elaioplasts keep oils (elaion means oil), as in castor seeds; aleuroplasts keep proteins (aleurone), as in the outer layer of wheat grains. A is wrong because it accepts pair II, which links aleuroplasts to carbohydrates instead of proteins. C is wrong because it treats both pairs as correct. D is wrong because it accepts pair I, which links amyloplasts to fats instead of starch. Exam tip: amylo = starch, elaio = oil, aleuro = protein; all three are leucoplasts.

The correct answer is B, 14 : 3. Ammonia is NH3, so one nitrogen atom of mass 14 is joined to three hydrogen atoms of mass 1 each, giving 14 : 3 by mass. This is the law of constant proportions given by Proust in 1799: a pure compound always contains the same elements in the same ratio by mass, whatever its source. The NCERT Class 9 chapter uses exactly these examples, water H2O with hydrogen to oxygen 1 : 8 and ammonia NH3 with nitrogen to hydrogen 14 : 3. Remember that the ratio by mass is not the ratio by atoms; by atoms ammonia is 1 : 3, by mass it is 14 : 3 because nitrogen is fourteen times heavier than hydrogen. A is wrong because 11 is not the atomic mass of nitrogen. C is wrong for the same reason, even though the hydrogen part is right. D is wrong because it counts only one hydrogen atom instead of three. Exam tip: water 1 : 8, ammonia 14 : 3, carbon dioxide 3 : 8, all by mass.

The correct answer is D, Gustav Robert Kirchhoff. This is Kirchhoff's first law, the current law or junction rule, which he stated in 1845. It says the total current entering a junction equals the total current leaving it, because charge cannot pile up or vanish at a point. So it is really the law of conservation of charge applied to a circuit node. Kirchhoff's second law, the voltage law or loop rule, says the algebraic sum of potential differences around any closed loop is zero, which follows from conservation of energy. Together the two laws let us solve circuits that Ohm's law alone cannot handle. A is wrong because Faraday's laws deal with electromagnetic induction and electrolysis, not junctions. B is wrong because Ohm's law relates voltage, current and resistance in a single conductor (V = IR). C is wrong because Victor Hess discovered cosmic rays and won the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physics. Exam tip: Kirchhoff current law = charge conserved at a junction; Kirchhoff voltage law = energy conserved around a loop.

The correct answer is B, KC Neogy. Kshitish Chandra Neogy chaired the First Finance Commission, set up by the President in November 1951, which gave its report in 1952 for the period 1952 to 1957. The Finance Commission is a constitutional body under Article 280. It is formed every five years, or earlier if needed, with a chairman and four other members, and it recommends how the taxes collected by the Union are shared with the States and how grants-in-aid are given. The qualifications of its members are laid down in the Finance Commission (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act of 1951. Neogy had earlier been a member of the Constituent Assembly and a minister in Nehru's first Cabinet. A is wrong because Ashok Kumar Chanda chaired the Third Finance Commission. C is wrong because K Santhanam chaired the Second Finance Commission. D is wrong because PV Rajamannar chaired the Fourth Finance Commission. Exam tip: the first four chairmen in order are Neogy, Santhanam, Chanda, Rajamannar; Article 280 is the Finance Commission article.

The correct answer is D, Progressive. In a progressive tax the rate rises as income rises, so each extra rupee is taxed at a higher rate than the rupees before it. The marginal rate is the tax on the last rupee earned, and the average rate is total tax divided by total income. When every new slab carries a higher rate, the marginal rate stays above the average. India's income tax, with slabs rising from nil to 30 percent, is the everyday example. A is wrong because a digressive tax is only mildly progressive: its rate rises slowly and then levels off at a flat rate, so it is treated as a diluted form, not the standard case. B is wrong because a proportional tax charges the same rate at every income, so the marginal and average rates are equal. C is wrong because in a regressive tax the rate falls as income rises, so the marginal rate is below the average. Exam tip: marginal above average means progressive, equal means proportional, below means regressive.

The correct answer is C, Second. The Second Five-Year Plan, 1956 to 1961, moved the focus from farming to rapid industrialisation, especially heavy and basic industries. It was built on the Mahalanobis model, drawn up by the statistician P. C. Mahalanobis, which argued that investing in machine-making and steel would give faster long-run growth. Three public-sector steel plants came up in this plan: Bhilai with Soviet help, Rourkela with West German help and Durgapur with British help. The First Plan, 1951 to 1956, had put agriculture, irrigation and power first, on the Harrod-Domar model. A is wrong because the Third Plan, 1961 to 1966, aimed at a self-reliant, self-generating economy and was hit by the wars of 1962 and 1965. B is wrong because the Fourth Plan, 1969 to 1974, aimed at growth with stability and progressive achievement of self-reliance. D is wrong because the Fifth Plan, 1974 to 1979, made removal of poverty its main goal. Exam tip: First plan farms, Second plan factories on the Mahalanobis model, Fifth plan Garibi Hatao.

The correct answer is B, Stalagmite. A stalagmite is a column of calcium carbonate that rises from the floor of a limestone cave. Rainwater with dissolved carbon dioxide slowly dissolves limestone and carries it as calcium bicarbonate. When this water drips inside a cave, carbon dioxide escapes and a thin layer of calcium carbonate is left behind, drop after drop, for thousands of years. The drop that hangs from the roof builds a stalactite, and the water that falls on the floor builds a stalagmite below it; when the two meet they form a pillar. Such cave landforms are part of karst topography, seen in India in the Borra Caves of Andhra Pradesh and the caves of Meghalaya. A is wrong because hatectite is not a standard cave term. C is wrong because a stalactite hangs down from the roof, the opposite of what the question describes. D is wrong because dripstone is the general name for all such drip deposits, stalactites and stalagmites alike, not the upward form alone. Exam tip: stalaCtite hangs from the Ceiling, stalaGmite rises from the Ground.

The correct answer is D, 74.04%. This is the overall literacy rate the Census of 2011 reported for India, the figure used in textbooks and exam papers. The Census counts a person aged seven or above who can read and write with understanding in any language as literate, so small children are left out. The same Census gave 82.14 percent for males and 65.46 percent for females, and the paper has cleverly put both of those numbers in the options. Kerala was the most literate state and Bihar the least. A is wrong because 16.68 is the gap between the male and female rates (82.14 minus 65.46), not a literacy rate at all. B is wrong because 65.46 percent is the female literacy rate of 2011, not the overall rate. C is wrong because 82.14 percent is the male literacy rate of 2011. Exam tip: Census 2011 literacy is 74.04 overall, 82.14 male and 65.46 female; the overall figure always lies between the two.

The correct answer is A, Yamuna. All three rivers join the Yamuna, the longest tributary of the Ganga, which rises at the Yamunotri glacier in Uttarakhand and meets the Ganga at Prayagraj. The Tons is its largest tributary and joins it in the hills of Uttarakhand. The Hindon rises in the Shivaliks near Saharanpur and joins it near Greater Noida. The Chambal rises near Mhow in Madhya Pradesh, flows through the Kota region of Rajasthan with its famous ravines, and joins the Yamuna in Uttar Pradesh. Other tributaries to remember are the Betwa, Ken and Sind from the south. B is wrong because the Mahanadi flows east through Chhattisgarh and Odisha and is fed by rivers like the Seonath, Hasdeo and Ib. C is wrong because the Kaveri of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu takes the Hemavati, Kabini and Bhavani. D is wrong because the Tapi flows west from Multai in Madhya Pradesh to the Gulf of Khambhat, with the Purna as a tributary. Exam tip: Yamuna tributaries from the south are Chambal, Sind, Betwa, Ken; from the north, Tons and Hindon.

The correct answer is B, Geology. Geology is the science of the solid Earth: the rocks it is made of, how it formed and changed over time, and the minerals, coal, oil and gas found inside it. The word comes from the Greek geo (earth) and logos (study). A geologist reads rock layers to date events, studies earthquakes and volcanoes, and maps where iron ore, coal or petroleum lie. In India this work is done by the Geological Survey of India, founded in 1851 at Kolkata, one of the oldest such bodies in the world. A is wrong because geophysics uses physics, such as gravity, magnetism and seismic waves, to probe the Earth's interior; it is a branch within the earth sciences, not the broad study asked here. C is wrong because geography studies the Earth's surface, its climate, people and places, not the rocks and resources beneath. D is wrong because geometry is the mathematics of shapes, lines and angles and has nothing to do with the Earth. Exam tip: geo-logy = rocks and resources, geo-graphy = surface and people, geo-physics = physics of the interior.

The correct answer is C, Neither I nor II. Both pairs are reversed: in Punjab rice is a commercial crop, while in Odisha it is a subsistence crop. The same crop can be commercial in one state and subsistence in another; it depends on why the farmer grows it. A subsistence crop feeds the farmer's own family, and a commercial crop is grown mainly for sale. Punjab and Haryana farmers do not eat much rice, yet they grow it on irrigated land with high-yielding seeds and sell almost all of it to the government at the minimum support price. In Odisha, West Bengal and Assam rice is the staple food, grown mostly on small rain-fed plots for the family's own kitchen. A is wrong because Punjab rice is sold, not eaten at home, so it is commercial. B is wrong because Odisha rice is largely eaten by the growers, so it is subsistence. D fails because neither pair is correct. Exam tip: NCERT line to remember, rice is commercial in Punjab and Haryana but subsistence in Odisha.

The correct answer is C, a seasonal shift in wind direction that brings heavy summer rain and dry winters. That is exactly what the Indian monsoon is. The word monsoon comes from the Arabic mausim, meaning season, and describes winds that reverse direction with the season. From June to September the south-west monsoon blows from sea to land and gives India about three-quarters of its yearly rain. From October the winds reverse, the north-east monsoon blows from land to sea, and most of the country stays dry; only Tamil Nadu gets its main rain in this retreating season. A is wrong because summer is the wet season, not the dry one. B is wrong because a monsoon is a change in wind direction, not a sudden change in temperature. D is wrong because summer rain is heavy, not moderate, and winter is dry rather than completely rainless. Exam tip: monsoon = seasonal wind reversal; south-west June to September wet, north-east October to December dry except Tamil Nadu.

The correct answer is C, 1856. Lord Dalhousie annexed Awadh in February 1856, in the last weeks of his term as Governor-General from 1848 to 1856. The ground given was misgovernment, not the Doctrine of Lapse: Nawab Wajid Ali Shah had heirs, so the British simply declared his rule corrupt and removed him, sending him to Calcutta. The move angered the many sepoys of the Bengal Army who came from Awadh, and it became one of the causes of the Revolt of 1857, in which Begum Hazrat Mahal led the fight at Lucknow. A is wrong because 1857 is the year of the Revolt itself, which broke out a year after the annexation. B is wrong because in 1850 Dalhousie was taking smaller states under the Doctrine of Lapse, such as Satara in 1848 and Jhansi in 1853, but Awadh was not yet touched. D is wrong because 1858 is the year the Government of India Act ended Company rule and the Crown took over. Exam tip: Awadh 1856 on the charge of misgovernment; Satara, Jhansi and Nagpur under the Doctrine of Lapse.

The correct answer is B, Lord Metcalfe. As acting Governor-General, Sir Charles Metcalfe repealed the licensing regulations of 1823 through the Press Act of 1835, so he is called the 'Liberator of the Indian Press'. The 1823 regulations had been imposed by acting Governor-General John Adam, and they made every printing press take a government licence, which could be withdrawn at will. Metcalfe replaced this with a simple rule: a printer or publisher only had to declare where the press was. Papers like to set the trap of Ripon here, because he too freed the press, but decades later. A is wrong because Lord Lytton did the opposite; he passed the Vernacular Press Act of 1878, called the 'gagging Act'. C is wrong because Lord Ripon repealed Lytton's Vernacular Press Act in 1882, not the 1823 regulations. D is wrong because Lord Ellenborough, Governor-General from 1842 to 1844, is known for the annexation of Sindh, not for press freedom. Exam tip: Adam 1823 gagged the press, Metcalfe 1835 freed it, Lytton 1878 gagged it again, Ripon 1882 freed it.

The correct answer is B, Lord Cornwallis. As Governor-General from 1786 to 1793 he turned the Company's corrupt trading staff into a paid, rule-bound civil service. He raised salaries, banned private trade and presents, and set up a graded service promoted by seniority, which is why he is called the father of the civil services in India. He also kept all higher posts for Europeans, which is the 'Europeanised' part of the question. His Cornwallis Code of 1793 separated revenue collection from judicial work, and the same year he introduced the Permanent Settlement of land revenue in Bengal. A is wrong because Lord Canning is remembered as the last Governor-General and first Viceroy, who handled the Revolt of 1857. C is wrong because Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General of Bengal under the Regulating Act of 1773, laid early foundations but did not build a professional service. D is wrong because Lord Dalhousie is known for the Doctrine of Lapse, railways and the telegraph. Exam tip: Cornwallis 1793 means civil services, Cornwallis Code and Permanent Settlement together.

The correct answer is B, 1814. Raja Ram Mohan Roy set up the Atmiya Sabha, the 'Society of Friends', in Calcutta in 1814. It was a small circle for discussion that preached one formless God and attacked idol worship, caste rigidity, sati and child marriage. It was the first step of a chain that papers love to test: Atmiya Sabha 1814, then Brahmo Sabha 1828, which later became the Brahmo Samaj, then the ban on sati by Lord William Bentinck in 1829, which Roy strongly backed. A is wrong because Roy died at Bristol in England in 1833, so nothing he founded dates from 1845. C is wrong because 1839 is the year Debendranath Tagore founded the Tattvabodhini Sabha, which later joined the Brahmo movement. D is wrong because 1828 is the year of the Brahmo Sabha, Roy's second and larger body, not the Atmiya Sabha. Exam tip: Roy's timeline is Atmiya Sabha 1814, Brahmo Sabha 1828, sati banned 1829, died 1833.

The correct answer is B, Indus river. Mohenjodaro lies on the right bank of the Indus in Larkana district of Sindh, now in Pakistan. It was excavated in 1922 by R. D. Banerji, and its name means 'mound of the dead'. It was the largest planned city of the civilisation, and papers ask about its finds: the Great Bath, the Great Granary, the bronze dancing girl, the bearded priest-king and the Pashupati seal. Remember the sister site too: Harappa, the first city dug up in 1921 by Daya Ram Sahni, stands on the Ravi. A is wrong because the Jhelum flows through Kashmir and Punjab and meets the Indus system far north of Sindh. C is wrong because the Ghaghara is a Himalayan tributary of the Ganga in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, far east of the Harappan heartland. D is wrong because the Beas is a Punjab tributary of the Sutlej, not the river at Mohenjodaro. Exam tip: Mohenjodaro on Indus, Harappa on Ravi, Lothal on Bhogava, Kalibangan on Ghaggar, Ropar on Sutlej.