Staff Selection Commission Combined Graduate Level Exam
Question : Comprehension:
Read the passage and answer the questions that follow.
The first time that Agha Shahid Ali spoke to me about his approaching death was on 25 April 2001. The conversation began routinely. I had telephoned to remind him that we had been invited to a friend’s house for lunch. Although he had been under treatment for cancer for some fourteen months, Shahid was still on his feet and perfectly lucid, except for occasional lapses of memory. I heard him thumbing through his engagement book and then suddenly he said: ‘Oh dear. I can’t see a thing.’ There was a brief pause and then he added: ‘I hope this doesn’t mean that I’m dying...’ I did not know how to respond: his voice was completely at odds with the content of what he had just said, light to the point of jocularity. I mumbled something innocuous: ‘No Shahid — of course not. You’ll be fine.’ He cut me short. In a tone of voice that was at once quizzical and direct, he said: ‘When it happens I hope you’ll write something about me.’
I was shocked into silence and a long moment passed before I could bring myself to say the things that people say on such occasions. ‘Shahid you’ll be fine; you have to be strong...’From the window of my study, I could see a corner of the building in which he lived, some eight blocks away. It was just a few months since he moved there: he had been living a few miles away, in Manhattan, when he had a sudden blackout in February 2000. After tests revealed that he had a malignant brain tumour, he decided to move to Brooklyn, to be close to his youngest sister, Samantha, who teaches at the Pratt Institute—a few blocks away from the street where I live. Shahid ignored my reassurances. He began to laugh and it was then that I realised that he was dead serious. I understood that he was entrusting me with a quite specific charge: he wanted me to remember him not through the spoken recitatives of memory and friendship, but through the written word.
He knew that my instincts would have led me to search for reasons to avoid writing about his death: I would have told myself that I was not a poet; that our friendship was of recent date; that there were many others who knew him much better and would be writing from greater understanding and knowledge. All this Shahid had guessed and he had decided to shut off those routes while there was still time. ‘You must write about me.’ Finally, I said: ‘Shahid, I will: I’ll do the best I can.’
Question:
Why had the narrator called Shahid Ali?
Option 1: To remind him about a lunch invitation
Option 2: To cheer him up in his depression
Option 3: To enquire about his health
Option 4: To give him an important task
Correct Answer: To remind him about a lunch invitation
Solution : The first option is correct.
Question : The Hindu College was established in Banaras in ______.
Option 1: 1771
Option 2: 1801
Option 3: 1781
Option 4: 1791
Correct Answer: 1791
Solution : The correct option is 1791.
The Hindu College was founded in 1791 to promote the study of Sanskrit literature from antiquity. The Sanskrit College was founded by Governor General Lord Cornwallis and Jonathan Duncan.
Question : Directions: Arrange the following words as per their order in the dictionary. 1. Fraudulent 2. Fraught 3. Fraternity 4. Franchise 5. Frantic
Option 1: 5, 4, 1, 2, 3
Option 2: 4, 5, 3, 1, 2
Option 3: 4, 3, 5, 1, 2
Option 4: 3, 4, 5, 2, 1
Correct Answer: 4, 5, 3, 1, 2
Solution : Given: 1. Fraudulent 2. Fraught 3. Fraternity 4. Franchise 5. Frantic
Step 1: Since all the words start with the same letter F, so move on to the next letter. Step 2: The second and third letters of each word
Question : A hydrogen-filled balloon ascending at the rate of 18 km/hr drifted by the wind. Its angle of elevation at the 10th and 15th minutes were found to be 60° and 45°, respectively. The wind speed (in whole numbers) during the last five minutes, approximately, is equal to:
Option 1: 7 km/hr
Option 2: 11 km/hr
Option 3: 26 km/hr
Option 4: 33 km/hr
Correct Answer: 33 km/hr
Solution : Given: A hydrogen-filled balloon ascending at the rate of 18 km/hr drifted by the wind. Its angle of elevation at the 10th and 15th minutes were found to be 60° and 45°, respectively. We know the formula, $\text{speed}=\frac{\text{distance}}{\text{time}}$. Since, BD = time × speed
Question : What should be subtracted from 246837 to make it divisible by 13?
Option 1: 4
Option 2: 5
Option 3: 3
Option 4: 6
Correct Answer: 6
Solution : According to the question, Number = 246837 The number can be written as 246837 = (18987 × 13) + 6 So, if we subtract 6 from the number, then it will be divisible by 13. Hence, the correct answer is 6.
Question : Which instrument is used for photographing the Sun?
Option 1: Galvanometer
Option 2: Potentiometer
Option 3: Spectrophotometer
Option 4: Spectroheliograph
Correct Answer: Spectroheliograph
Solution : The correct option is a Spectroheliograph.
The spectroheliograph is an astronomical apparatus that takes a monochromatic photo of the Sun at a single wavelength of light. Typically, the wavelength is selected to match the spectral wavelength of a chemical element in the Sun. The
Question : Direction: In the following question, select the related number from the given alternatives.
91 : ? :: 64 : 54
Option 1: 63
Option 2: 101
Option 3: 32
Option 4: 70
Correct Answer: 63
Solution : Given:
Here, the sum of the digits of 91 is 10 and the sum of the digits of 64 is also 10.
The sum of the digits of 54 equals 9.
Similarly, the sum of the digits of
Question : The craftspersons of Bidar were so famed for their inlay work in ______.
Option 1: Gold and Bronze
Option 2: Bronze and Silver
Option 3: Gold and Copper
Option 4: Copper and Silver
Correct Answer: Copper and Silver
Solution : The correct option is Silver and Copper.
The craftspeople of Bidar, a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, were renowned for their expertise in inlay work in firmware. Bidriware is a traditional form of metalwork that originated in Bidar, and
Question : If $x^2-xy+y^2=2$ and $x^4+x^2y^2+y^4=6$, then the value of $(x^2+xy+y^2)$ is:
Option 1: 1
Option 2: 12
Option 4: 36
Correct Answer: 3
Solution : Given: The values of $x^2-xy+y^2=2$ and $x^4+x^2y^2+y^4=6$. The algebraic identity used is $(x^2+xy+y^2)(x^2-xy+y^2)=x^4+x^2y^2+y^4$ ⇒ $(x^2+xy+y^2)(x^2-xy+y^2)=x^4+x^2y^2+y^4$ ⇒ $(x^2+xy+y^2)\times2=6$ ⇒ $(x^2+xy+y^2)=3$ Hence, the correct answer is 3.
Question : The circumference of the two circles is 264 cm and 396 cm respectively. What is the difference between their radii?
Option 1: 25 cm
Option 2: 32 cm
Option 3: 16 cm
Option 4: 21 cm
Correct Answer: 21 cm
Solution : Given: The circumference of the two circles is 264 cm and 396 cm respectively. Circumference of circle = $2\pi r$ Let the radius of the circle with a circumference of 264 cm be $r_1$ let the radius of the circle with a circumference of
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