CTET 2022 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is B, Samudragupta's Prashasti. A primary source is one produced in the very period being studied, and the Allahabad Pillar Inscription, the prashasti composed by the court poet Harisena in praise of Samudragupta, was carved in the fourth century CE, inside the ancient period itself. It names the kings he defeated in the north and the south and the rulers who sent him tribute, and it is engraved on an older Ashokan pillar, so one stone carries writing from two different ages. A is wrong because a Surat hundi, a merchant's bill of exchange, belongs to the medieval and early modern trading world. C is wrong because the Kandariya Mahadeva temple at Khajuraho was built by the Chandelas in the eleventh century, well into the medieval period. D is wrong because Nagabhata was a Pratihara ruler of the eighth and ninth centuries, again early medieval. Exam tip: Harisena wrote Samudragupta's Allahabad prashasti on an Ashokan pillar.

The correct answer is C, Yeast, amoeba, bacteria. All three are unicellular, which means a single cell carries out every job of life. In a unicellular organism that one cell manages nutrition, respiration, movement and reproduction, while a multicellular body shares the work among tissues and organs. Yeast is a single-celled fungus used in baking and brewing, amoeba is a single-celled protozoan that moves and feeds with pseudopodia, and bacteria are single-celled organisms whose cells have no true nucleus. A is wrong because hydra, though a simple animal, is multicellular, with a body wall and tentacles made of many cells. B is wrong for the same reason, as sea anemone is a multicellular animal of the phylum Cnidaria, even though paramecium and bacteria are single-celled. D is wrong because only paramecium in that group is unicellular; hydra and sea anemone are both multicellular. Exam tip: unicellular – bacteria, amoeba, paramecium, yeast, chlamydomonas; multicellular – hydra, sea anemone, spirogyra.

The correct answer is Original Jurisdiction. Under Article 131, the Supreme Court alone can hear, as a court of first instance, disputes between the Government of India and one or more States, between the Government of India and a State on one side and other States on the other, or between two or more States. "Original" means the case starts in the Supreme Court itself rather than coming to it on appeal. The dispute must involve a question of law or fact on which a legal right depends, and Parliament can exclude inter-state river water disputes from it under Article 262.

The other options are real kinds of jurisdiction but cover different cases. Appellate jurisdiction (Articles 132 to 134 and 136) covers appeals from the High Courts and other courts. Advisory jurisdiction (Article 143) covers questions referred by the President. "Residuary jurisdiction" is not a category of the Supreme Court's powers at all. This question shows the Court's role as the umpire of Indian federalism: when the Centre and a State disagree, it is the Supreme Court that decides.

The correct answer is D, B, C and D. Mulching means covering the bare ground between plants with straw, dry leaves or crop waste, so that the soil holds moisture and raindrops cannot beat the topsoil loose. Contour barriers are stones, grass or soil bunds laid along the contour of a slope; water collects in trenches in front of them and runs off slowly instead of carrying soil downhill. Shelter belts are rows of trees planted across the direction of the wind, and they cut the wind's speed so that it cannot lift loose soil, a method used with success in the sandy western parts of India. Statement A is not a conservation method at all: heavy use of chemical fertilizers over the years makes the soil acidic or salty, kills the organisms that keep it fertile and damages its structure. A, B and C are wrong because each of them includes statement A. Exam tip: mulching, contour barriers, terrace farming, shelter belts and rock dams conserve soil.

The correct answer is B, encompass services of nobles from different regions as the empire expanded. A mansabdar was an officer who held a mansab, a rank that fixed his position at court, his pay and the number of horsemen he had to keep ready. As the empire spread over Rajasthan, the Deccan and the east, the Mughals needed commanders and administrators who knew those regions, so Turanis, Iranis, Afghans, Rajputs and Deccanis were all taken into service. Akbar in particular widened recruitment, and the pay was met through a jagir, an assignment of revenue from a piece of land. A is wrong because language was not the reason for the policy. C is wrong because loyalty of local people was at most a by-product, not the purpose of recruitment. D is wrong because the aim was practical administration of a growing empire, not a social ideal. Exam tip: mansab means rank, zat fixes status and pay, sawar fixes the cavalry.

The correct answer is D, A, B and C. All three reasons together made Magadha the strongest mahajanapada in about two hundred years. Rivers such as the Ganga and the Son gave water for the fields, made the plain fertile and served as cheap routes for moving men and goods. The forests in parts of Magadha supplied timber for houses and carts and, more important, elephants that were caught and trained for the army. And the iron ore mines of the region gave the metal for strong tools that cleared land and for weapons that no rival could match. Two ambitious rulers, Bimbisara and Ajatasattu, used these gifts well, and the capital was shifted from Rajagriha to Pataliputra, standing on the bank of the Ganga. A, B and C are wrong because each of them leaves out one of the three reasons named in NCERT's chapter on kingdoms and republics. Exam tip: Magadha's strength came from rivers, forests with elephants and iron ore; capital Rajagriha, later Pataliputra.

The correct answer is D, Inamgaon. Inamgaon is a Chalcolithic farming settlement on the Ghod river in the Pune district of Maharashtra. Excavations there found that grown-up people were buried in the ground, laid out straight with the head pointing north, and that pots of food and water were placed beside them for the life after death; this is the description NCERT's Class 6 history book gives. The site also shows round and rectangular houses, grain stored in large jars, and remains of wheat, barley, peas and millets. A is wrong because Lothal, in Gujarat, is a Harappan town famous for its dockyard and bead making. B is wrong because Gufkral is a Neolithic site in Kashmir known for pit dwellings, like Burzahom nearby. C is wrong because Mehrgarh, in the Bolan valley, is one of the earliest farming villages, where the dead were buried with goats. Exam tip: Inamgaon, Ghod river, Maharashtra, Chalcolithic burials with the head to the north.

The correct answer is C, may attract or repel. A magnet cannot be cut into a single north pole and a single south pole. The moment a bar magnet breaks, each piece becomes a complete magnet with a north pole at one end and a south pole at the other, because magnetism comes from the tiny magnetic domains inside the material. So what happens when the pieces are brought close depends only on which ends face each other. If the north end of one faces the south end of the other they attract, and if two like poles face each other they repel. A is wrong because attraction is only one of the two possible results. B is wrong for the same reason, as repulsion happens only with like poles facing. D is wrong because both pieces are still magnets and a force must act between them. Exam tip: magnetic poles always exist in pairs, so every broken piece of a magnet is a smaller full magnet.

The correct answer is C, remains same. Loudness and frequency are two different properties of sound. Loudness depends on the amplitude of the vibration, that is how far the vibrating part moves from its rest position, while frequency is the number of vibrations made in one second and is measured in hertz. Turning the volume up makes the speaker push the air harder, so the amplitude and therefore the loudness rise, but the tune still plays the same notes, so the frequency does not change. This is why the ringtone sounds stronger and not higher in pitch. A and B are wrong because a change in frequency would change the pitch, and a louder ringtone would then sound shriller or deeper, which does not happen. D is wrong because the relation is definite and well known, so it can certainly be decided. Exam tip: amplitude decides loudness, frequency decides pitch, and the speed of sound in air depends only on the medium.