State Exams Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is A, All the Ministers have taken the Oath of office. A Council of Ministers is a body made up of ministers, so it comes into being only once each of them has been sworn in. Under Article 75 the President appoints the Prime Minister, and then appoints the other ministers on the Prime Minister's advice. Article 75(4) requires every minister to take the oath of office and of secrecy before the President in the form laid down in the Third Schedule, and until that oath is taken a person named to the Council cannot act as a minister. Option B is wrong because the Prime Minister's oath makes one person the head of government; a single minister is not yet a Council. Option C is wrong because allotting portfolios is a later act of allocating business, and a minister without portfolio is still a minister. Option D is wrong because confidence of the Lok Sabha is what keeps the Council in office under Article 75(3); it is not what brings it into existence. Exam tip: Article 75(4) with the Third Schedule — oath first, portfolios afterwards.

The correct answer is B, Datasheet. In a database such as Microsoft Access, the view that shows a table as rows and columns, looking like a spreadsheet grid, is called Datasheet view. Each row of that grid is one record and each column is one field, and the names along the top come from the field names set in Design view. Datasheet view lets you type data straight in, sort it, filter it and widen columns, while Design view is where the data type, field size and primary key are fixed. Queries and forms can also be opened in Datasheet view, so the name belongs to the display format, not to one object. Option A is wrong because a record is a single row of the grid, one complete entry, not the grid itself. Option C is wrong because a query is a saved question that pulls out selected rows; it is a database object. Option D is wrong because 'Tables' names the objects being displayed, while the question asks what the grid-like view is called. Exam tip: Access tables have two main views — Datasheet for data, Design for structure.

The correct answer is A, Rousseau. Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote in The Social Contract (1762) that the English people are free only during the election of members of Parliament, and are slaves once the election is over. He used the line to attack representative government. For Rousseau sovereignty rested in the general will of the people and could not be handed over to deputies, so only direct democracy counted as real self-rule. The remark is quoted in polity papers as the classic criticism of indirect democracy. Option B is wrong because John Locke defended representative government and the natural rights to life, liberty and property, and his Two Treatises justified the settlement of 1688 in England. Option C is wrong because Plato, in The Republic, wanted rule by philosopher-kings and distrusted democracy altogether. Option D is wrong because Aristotle, in Politics, classified constitutions and called man a political animal, but this saying is not his. Exam tip: Rousseau — The Social Contract, general will, 'man is born free but everywhere he is in chains'.

The correct answer is B, absolute pressure. Pressure counted from a perfect vacuum as the zero point is called absolute pressure. A perfect vacuum holds no gas and exerts no pressure, so it is the true zero of any pressure scale. The working relation is absolute pressure = gauge pressure + atmospheric pressure, and atmospheric pressure at sea level is about 101.3 kilopascals, or 760 mm of mercury. So a tyre whose gauge reads 200 kPa is really at about 301 kPa absolute. Gas laws and thermodynamic formulas always take absolute pressure, which is why the distinction is tested. Option A is wrong because gauge pressure takes atmospheric pressure as its zero, so an open gauge reads zero even though air is pressing on it. Option C is wrong because atmospheric pressure is the weight of the air column itself, read on a barometer. Option D is wrong because 'absolute zero pressure' names the vacuum, the reference point, not the reading taken from it. Exam tip: absolute = gauge + atmospheric; a reading below atmospheric is vacuum or negative gauge pressure.

The correct answer is A, World Bank. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) is the oldest arm of the World Bank Group and the body people mean when they say 'World Bank'. It was agreed at the Bretton Woods Conference of 1944 along with the IMF and began work in 1946, first to rebuild Europe after the Second World War and later to lend for development. Its headquarters are in Washington, D.C., and IBRD lends to middle-income and creditworthy low-income governments. The World Bank Group also holds the IDA, which gives the poorest countries interest-free credits, plus IFC, MIGA and ICSID. Option B is wrong because the IMF is the other Bretton Woods twin and looks after exchange stability and balance-of-payments support, not project lending. Option C is wrong because the WTO replaced GATT in 1995 and frames trade rules, with its seat at Geneva. Option D is wrong because option A is correct. Exam tip: World Bank = IBRD + IDA; the wider World Bank Group adds IFC, MIGA and ICSID.

The correct answer is C, 5 States. India's Standard Meridian, 82°30′E, crosses five states on its way south. Indian Standard Time is fixed by the local time of this meridian, which passes close to Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh, so IST is 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. Running south from Mirzapur, the meridian goes through Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh before reaching the Bay of Bengal. One meridian was chosen for the whole country because India spans about 30 degrees of longitude, so the sun rises at Kibithu in Arunachal Pradesh nearly two hours before it rises in Gujarat. Option A is wrong because seven would mean adding states such as Telangana or Tamil Nadu, which this meridian does not touch. Option B is wrong because three would leave out Odisha and Andhra Pradesh in the south. Option D is wrong because six is one too many; no sixth state lies on 82°30′E. Exam tip: 82°30′E, five states, UP–MP–Chhattisgarh–Odisha–Andhra Pradesh, IST = GMT + 5:30.

The correct answer is A, Rill erosion. Water erosion of soil moves through a fixed sequence: raindrops first loosen the soil, that is splash erosion; the water then takes off a thin even layer of topsoil, which is sheet erosion; the flow soon gathers into small finger-like channels called rills; and when those rills are cut deeper and wider by running water until a plough can no longer cross them, they become gullies. So a gully is a grown up rill, the advanced stage of rill erosion. The ravines along the Chambal in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are the classic Indian example of badlands made by gully erosion. B is wrong because splash erosion is the first step, the impact of raindrops. C is wrong because sheet erosion comes before rills and removes soil in a uniform layer. D is wrong because wind erosion is a separate agent that lifts dry loose soil, not the parent of a gully. Exam tip: splash, then sheet, then rill, then gully.

The correct answer is C, Netscape. Netscape Navigator, released in 1994 by Netscape Communications, the company founded by Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark, was the first web browser sold as a commercial product. It was the browser that carried the web to ordinary users in the mid nineties and at its peak held most of the market, before losing the browser war to Internet Explorer. A is wrong because Mosaic, built in 1993 at the NCSA of the University of Illinois, was the first widely used graphical browser but was academic software given away free, not a commercial product. B is wrong because Mozilla is the open source project born in 1998 from Netscape's released source code; its browser Firefox came in 2004 and is free. D is wrong because Internet Explorer arrived in 1995 and was bundled free with Windows rather than sold. Exam tip: Mosaic 1993 first popular graphical browser, Netscape Navigator 1994 first commercial browser, Firefox 2004 from the Mozilla project.

The correct answer is A, REL. An external stylesheet is attached to a page with a link tag written inside the head section, and the tag needs two things: href, which gives the address of the CSS file, and rel, which tells the browser what the linked file is for. Writing rel equals stylesheet is what marks the file as a set of style rules; leave rel out and the browser has no reason to treat the file as CSS, so the page appears unstyled. B is wrong because style is a separate way of writing CSS, either as a style block in the head or as an attribute on one element, and it has no part in linking an external file. C is wrong because body holds the visible content of the page while the link tag belongs in the head. D is wrong because html is the root element that wraps the whole document and has nothing to do with loading a stylesheet. Exam tip: link rel equals stylesheet with href, placed in the head.

The correct answer is C, Hepatitis B. The hepatitis B vaccine was the first vaccine made by recombinant DNA technology. Scientists cut out the gene for the surface protein of the hepatitis B virus and put it into yeast cells; the yeast then made that protein in large amounts, and the purified protein is injected as the vaccine. Because only one viral protein is used and no whole virus is involved, the vaccine cannot cause the disease, which is what makes recombinant vaccines safe. It was licensed in the mid 1980s and in India it is part of the pentavalent shot given to infants. A is wrong because the polio vaccine is either the killed virus of Salk or the weakened live virus of Sabin. B is wrong because no vaccine against AIDS has been licensed so far. D is wrong because the smallpox vaccine used the live vaccinia virus, and the disease was declared eradicated in 1980. Exam tip: hepatitis B, first recombinant vaccine, made in yeast from the surface antigen gene.

The correct answer is C, Planimeter. A planimeter measures the area of any flat shape, however irregular its outline. The user simply traces the boundary of the shape on the map with the instrument's pointer, and a wheel and dial record the area swept, which is then multiplied by the square of the map scale. On a contour map this is how the area enclosed by a contour line, a catchment or a reservoir spread is worked out, so it is a standard tool in survey and irrigation work. A is wrong because areameter is not the accepted name of any such instrument. B is wrong because a clinometer measures the slope of ground or the angle of elevation of a point, not an area. D is wrong because a graphometer is an old surveying instrument used to measure horizontal and vertical angles. Exam tip: planimeter for area, clinometer for slope, planimeter plus contour map for catchment area.

The correct answer is C, 18% Tungsten. High-speed steel is named 18-4-1 after the three metals added to it in that order: 18 per cent tungsten, 4 per cent chromium and 1 per cent vanadium, with iron making up the rest along with a little carbon. Tungsten is the heart of the alloy because it keeps the steel hard even when the cutting edge glows red hot, so drills, milling cutters and lathe tools made from it can cut at high speed without losing their edge. Chromium adds hardness and resistance to rust, and vanadium refines the grain and improves wear resistance. A is wrong because chromium in this grade is 4 per cent, not 1. B is wrong because the 18-4-1 grade has no nickel; nickel goes into stainless steel and into invar. D is wrong because vanadium is the 1 per cent part of the name. Exam tip: 18-4-1 means tungsten 18, chromium 4, vanadium 1.

The correct answer is C, Marwar. The Marwar school, the painting of the Jodhpur region, is the one credited with the illustrated Panchatantra series, a set painted at Pali in the early eighteenth century in which the animal fables are told frame by frame. Marwar work is known for its folk strength rather than courtly polish: bold flat colours, large staring eyes, sturdy figures and plenty of horses and camels. Alongside the Panchatantra, the school also illustrated the Dhola Maru romance and the Ragamala series. A is wrong because Bundi painting is famous for lush green landscapes, monsoon skies, lotus tanks and elephant scenes. B is wrong because Kota, which grew out of Bundi, is best known for its hunting scenes set in thick forest. D is wrong because Dhundhar, the Jaipur and Amber school, is known for large portraits, court scenes and its Ragamala and Bihari Satsai sets. Exam tip: Panchatantra and Dhola Maru go with Marwar, monsoon and greenery with Bundi, shikar with Kota.

The correct answer is C, Graphics. In multimedia, graphics is the broad word for every kind of visual element a computer can store and show, so drawings, photographs, movies and simulations all sit inside it. The usual list of multimedia elements is text, graphics, audio, video and animation, and in that list graphics covers both pictures made by hand on the screen and pictures captured from the real world. Graphics are stored either as bitmaps, made of pixels, as in a JPEG or BMP photograph, or as vectors, made of lines and curves described by equations, as in a drawing or a CAD file. A is wrong because animation is only one kind of visual, a sequence of frames shown fast enough to look like movement. B is wrong because an image is a single still picture, so it is narrower than the four things listed. D is wrong because text is made of characters and carries no picture. Exam tip: multimedia elements are text, graphics, audio, video and animation; bitmap graphics use pixels, vector graphics use equations.

The correct answer is B, adrenaline. Adrenaline, also called epinephrine, is made by the medulla of the adrenal gland and is the body's emergency hormone; it makes the heart beat faster and stronger and narrows the small blood vessels, so blood pressure rises within seconds. That is why an injection of adrenaline is the first treatment when pressure crashes in shock or in a severe allergic reaction. The same hormone widens the air passages, raises blood sugar and gets the body ready for the fight or flight response. A is wrong because insulin, from the beta cells of the pancreas, lowers blood sugar and is used in diabetes. C is wrong because thyroxine from the thyroid controls the rate of metabolism and growth, and acts slowly over days. D is wrong because vasopressin, the antidiuretic hormone of the pituitary, chiefly saves water by making the kidney reabsorb it. Exam tip: adrenal medulla makes adrenaline, the fight or flight hormone that raises heart rate and blood pressure.

The correct answer is A, Ashwagandha. Ashwagandha, whose botanical name is Withania somnifera, is called winter cherry in English because of the small red berry it bears inside a papery cover; it is also called Indian ginseng. The part used is the root, which in Ayurveda is given as a tonic for weakness, stress and sleeplessness, and the plant's Sanskrit name comes from the horse-like smell of the fresh root. It is a hardy shrub of dry regions, so Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat are the main growing states; the Nagauri type from Nagaur in Rajasthan and the crop around Mandsaur and Neemuch in Madhya Pradesh are the best known. B is wrong because rose is an ornamental and perfume crop, not a winter cherry. C is wrong because lily is a garden flower grown from bulbs. D is wrong because chandni is an ornamental flowering shrub grown for its white flowers. Exam tip: Ashwagandha, Withania somnifera, winter cherry or Indian ginseng, root used.

The correct answer is A, Physical Layer. The OSI model has seven layers and they are numbered from the bottom upwards, so Layer 1 is the physical layer, the one that actually carries bits over a copper cable, an optical fibre or a radio link. It fixes voltages, connectors, pin layouts, cable types and data rates, and it has nothing to do with the meaning of the data it carries. The full order from Layer 1 to Layer 7 is physical, data link, network, transport, session, presentation and application. B is wrong because the data link layer is Layer 2, which groups bits into frames and handles MAC addresses and error detection on one link. C is wrong because the transport layer is Layer 4, where TCP and UDP move data from end to end. D is wrong because the network layer is Layer 3, the layer of IP addresses and routing. Exam tip: the sentence Please Do Not Throw Sausage Pizza Away gives physical, data link, network, transport, session, presentation, application in order.

The correct answer is B, Muskmelon. Durgapura Madhu is a muskmelon variety, and it takes its name from the Durgapura research farm of the agricultural research institute at Jaipur in Rajasthan, where it was developed. Hot dry summers and light sandy soils suit melons, so Rajasthan grows them on river beds and in field plots as a summer crop, and Durgapura has released a small family of melon varieties that carry the farm's name, Durgapura Madhu and Durgapura Meetha among them. Madhu is grown for its sweet flesh and is popular in the Jaipur, Tonk and Bharatpur belt. State exams usually ask such questions the other way round too, pairing a variety with its crop, so the name itself is the clue to learn. A is wrong because watermelon is a separate crop with its own varieties such as Sugar Baby and Arka Manik. C is wrong because rose is a flower crop. D is wrong because cucumber varieties, like Poona Khira, carry other names. Exam tip: Durgapura Madhu and Durgapura Meetha are muskmelon varieties from Durgapura, Jaipur.

The correct answer is D, the speed is less than the square root of 2gh. A body that slides down a smooth slope turns all of its potential energy mgh into translational kinetic energy and reaches the bottom with a speed equal to the square root of 2gh. A cylinder that rolls without slipping must also spin, so the same mgh has to be shared between translation and rotation, and the speed of its axis is bound to come out smaller. Working it out for a solid cylinder, mgh equals half m v squared plus one fourth m v squared, which gives v as the square root of four gh by three, about 1.15 times the square root of gh against 1.41 for the sliding body. Option A is wrong because gh is not even a speed, as the units do not match. Option B is wrong because mgh is an energy and the mass cancels out in any case. Option C is wrong because that value belongs to a body that slides without rotating. Exam tip: of bodies rolling down the same slope, a solid sphere beats a solid cylinder, which beats a ring.

The correct answer is B, the wire will not experience any force at all. The force on a current carrying conductor kept in a magnetic field is given by F equal to B I L sin theta, where theta is the angle between the direction of the current and the direction of the field. When the wire lies along the lines of force that angle is zero, sin theta becomes zero, and the force disappears however strong the field or the current may be. The same formula shows that the force is greatest when the wire is at right angles to the field, because sin theta is then one. Option A is wrong because the force, when there is one, never acts along the field; Fleming's left hand rule places it at right angles to both the field and the current. Option C is wrong for the same reason, as no rule gives a force pointing against the field. Option D is wrong here only because the angle is zero and no force arises at all. Exam tip: parallel means no force, perpendicular means maximum force.