PPSC Past Papers & Solved MCQs

In a Cartesian coordinate system, a point is represented by (x, y). The x-axis is the horizontal line where y=0, and the y-axis is the vertical line where x=0. Quadrants are defined by positive or negative x and y values.

• For the point (0, -7), the x-coordinate is 0.
• Any point with an x-coordinate of 0 lies directly on the y-axis.
• Since the y-coordinate is -7, it lies on the negative portion of the y-axis.

Therefore, option D is correct. Options A and B are incorrect as quadrants require non-zero x and y values. Option C is incorrect because the y-coordinate is not 0.

The Indian National Congress did not take part in the First Round Table Conference, which was held in London from November 1930 to January 1931. At this time, the Congress was engaged in the Civil Disobedience Movement under Mahatma Gandhi and demanded 'Purna Swaraj' (complete independence), leading to their boycott. Mahatma Gandhi, representing the Congress, famously attended only the Second Round Table Conference. Therefore, options B, C, and D are incorrect as they either state participation or incorrectly combine conferences.

False coiling, also known as supercoiling, is a fundamental concept in molecular biology related to DNA structure. It refers to the coiling of the DNA double helix upon itself, which is essential for compacting the long DNA molecule to fit within the confines of a cell nucleus or prokaryotic cell. Therefore, Overlapping of DNA best describes this phenomenon.

• Increasing ventilation and Cooling of the room are unrelated to biological coiling.
• Looping of intestinal coils refers to anatomical structures, not the molecular structure of DNA.

The Excel function that returns the current date and time is NOW(). This function is volatile, meaning it updates automatically whenever the worksheet is recalculated, providing real-time information.

• DATE() is used to construct a date from individual year, month, and day components, not to return the current time.
• TODAY() returns only the current date, without the time component.
• CURRENTDATE() is not a valid Excel function.

Upon the partition of British India in 1947, the assets of the British Indian Army were divided between the newly independent states of India and Pakistan. Pakistan's share of these assets was determined to be 36%, while India received the remaining 64%. This division was a complex process, often contentious, and based on various factors including population and strategic considerations. Options A, C, and D represent incorrect percentages for Pakistan's allocated share of the military assets.

The invention of the lightning rod is a significant milestone in the history of electricity and practical science. Benjamin Franklin is widely credited with inventing the lightning rod in the mid-18th century, following his extensive experiments with electricity, including his famous kite experiment. His invention provided a crucial means of protecting buildings from the destructive power of lightning strikes.

• Thomas Edison is known for the practical incandescent light bulb.
• Nikola Tesla made significant contributions to alternating current (AC) electrical systems.
• Michael Faraday is renowned for his work on electromagnetism and electrochemistry.

F5, F6, F7 are examples of function keys. Function keys (F1 through F12) are dedicated keys on a keyboard that perform specific tasks depending on the active program or operating system context.

• Ctrl+Alt+Del is a key combination used for system-level commands, such as opening Task Manager, not a single function key.
• Shift+F10 is also a key combination, often used to open the context menu (similar to a right-click).
• Tab+1 is not a standard or recognized function key or key combination.

The correct answer is Lord Linlithgow. He served as Viceroy of India from 1936 to 1943, making his tenure the longest among all Viceroys, spanning seven crucial years during World War II and significant political developments in India. His long term saw the passage of the Government of India Act 1935 and the Quit India Movement.

• Lord Harding served from 1910-1916.
• Lord Mayo served from 1869-1872.
• Lord Wavell served from 1943-1947.

These other Viceroys had significantly shorter tenures compared to Lord Linlithgow.

In meteorology, a decrease in atmospheric pressure is typically indicative of an approaching low-pressure system. Low-pressure systems are characterized by rising air, which cools as it ascends. This cooling causes water vapor to condense, forming clouds and often leading to precipitation. Therefore, a decrease in atmospheric pressure can cause Rain.

• Intense conditions is too vague; while low pressure can lead to severe weather, rain is a specific outcome.
• Wind is caused by differences in pressure (pressure gradients), not solely by a decrease in pressure.
• Pleasant conditions are generally associated with high-pressure systems, where air descends and prevents cloud formation.

In PowerPoint, the Design tab is used to apply the same design, including themes, colors, fonts, and background styles, to all slides in a presentation. This ensures a consistent visual appearance throughout your slideshow.

• The Transition tab is used to add visual effects that occur when moving from one slide to the next.
• The Animation tab is used to add motion effects to individual objects (text, images) on a slide.
• "Template tab" is not a standard tab in PowerPoint; templates are typically accessed through the File menu or applied via the Design tab.

The correct answer is General Douglas Gracey. In October 1947, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah ordered General Gracey, then acting Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army, to send troops into Kashmir. Gracey refused to obey this direct command without the approval of the Supreme Commander, Field Marshal Auchinleck, who advised against it to prevent a wider war between India and Pakistan. This refusal was a critical moment in the Kashmir conflict.

• Sardar Patel was an Indian leader and not under Jinnah's command.
• Frank Messervy was the first Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army, but Gracey was acting C-in-C at the time of the incident.
• Mountbatten was the Governor-General of India and not subject to Jinnah's military commands.

When a ball is thrown vertically upward, it is constantly decelerating due to the force of gravity acting downwards. As it travels upwards, its speed decreases. At the very peak of its trajectory, just for an instant before it begins to fall back down, its instantaneous vertical velocity is Zero. This is the turning point where its direction of motion reverses.

• Constant velocity would imply no acceleration, which is incorrect under gravity.
• Maximum velocity occurs at the moment it is thrown, not at the highest point.
• Minimum velocity is indeed zero, but 'zero' is the precise value at the highest point.

To effectively move text, images, and objects within a PowerPoint slide, you should use Animation. Animations are visual effects applied to individual elements on a slide, controlling how they appear, emphasize, or exit during a presentation.

• Theme refers to the overall design and aesthetic of the entire presentation, not the movement of individual objects.
• Template is a pre-designed presentation structure that includes themes, layouts, and sometimes content placeholders.
• Transition refers to the visual effect that occurs when moving from one slide to the next, affecting the entire slide, not individual objects within it.

The correct answer is All of these. In political science and constitutional law, the term 'State' refers to the entire apparatus of governance within a defined territory. This comprehensively includes the central or Federal Government, which handles national affairs; the Provincial Government (or state government in other federations), which manages regional matters; and the Parliament, which is the legislative body responsible for making laws. Therefore, the State encompasses all these components working together to govern the nation.

A generator is a device that converts one form of energy into electrical energy based on the principle of electromagnetic induction. Specifically, a generator requires an input of Mechanical energy to rotate coils of wire within a magnetic field. This rotation induces an electric current, thereby transforming the mechanical motion into electrical power.

• Heat energy is often an intermediate step (e.g., burning fuel to create steam to turn a turbine), but the generator itself performs the mechanical-to-electrical conversion.
• Chemical energy is converted into electrical energy in batteries.
• Solar energy is converted by photovoltaic cells (solar panels) directly into electrical energy, or indirectly via thermal processes that still drive a mechanical turbine.

In Excel, a formula is a sequence of values, cell references, functions, or operators that produces a new value. To signal to Excel that you are entering a formula, it must always begin with an equals sign (=). This foundational concept allows Excel to differentiate between plain text or numbers and a calculation it needs to perform.

• A. = (Correct): The equals sign is the universal indicator for a formula in Excel.
• B. + (False): While you can start a formula with a plus sign, Excel automatically converts it to an equals sign, making '=' the fundamental starting symbol.
• C. - (False): Similar to '+', starting with a minus sign will also be converted to '=' by Excel, indicating a negative value or subtraction within a formula.
• D. / (False): The forward slash is an arithmetic operator for division and cannot initiate a formula on its own.

The correct answer is Achhoots/Untouchables. The Poona Pact, signed in 1932, was an agreement between Mahatma Gandhi and B.R. Ambedkar concerning the electoral representation of the 'Depressed Classes' (also known as Achhoots or Untouchables) in British India. It replaced the separate electorates for the Depressed Classes, as proposed by the British Communal Award, with reserved seats within the general electorate in provincial legislatures. This ensured their representation while maintaining a unified Hindu electorate.

• The pact was not primarily for Muslims or Sikhs, who had their own separate electoral arrangements.
• Brahman refers to a specific caste and was not the focus of this pact, which aimed to uplift the marginalized.

The human digestive process begins in the mouth, where salivary glands produce saliva containing enzymes crucial for initial food breakdown. The correct enzyme produced by salivary glands is Ptyalin, also known as salivary amylase. This enzyme is responsible for initiating the digestion of complex carbohydrates (starches) into simpler sugars.

• Pepsin is an enzyme produced in the stomach, where it plays a vital role in protein digestion.
• Trypsin is produced by the pancreas and functions in the small intestine to further break down proteins.
• Therefore, 'None' is incorrect as Ptyalin is indeed produced by salivary glands.

Microsoft Word organizes its features into various tabs, each dedicated to specific functionalities. For academic and professional documents, managing sources and citations is crucial. The References tab is specifically designed for these tasks, providing tools to streamline the process.

• A. Insert (False): The Insert tab is used for adding objects like pictures, tables, shapes, headers, footers, and page numbers.
• B. Design (False): The Design tab focuses on document formatting, themes, watermarks, page borders, and document styling.
• C. References (Correct): This tab contains all the necessary tools for adding citations, creating bibliographies, inserting footnotes, endnotes, and generating a table of contents.
• D. Home (False): The Home tab provides basic editing and formatting options such as font styles, paragraph settings, and clipboard functions.

The Long March 5B rocket, carrying the core module of China's Tiangong space station, was successfully launched on April 29, 2021. This launch was a pivotal moment in China's ambitious space program, marking a significant step towards establishing its permanent orbital outpost. The mission demonstrated China's growing capabilities in space exploration and technology.

• May 5, 2021 and May 10, 2021 are incorrect dates for this specific, high-profile launch.
• April 29, 2020 was the date of the Long March 5B's maiden, uncrewed test flight, which was a different mission from the one carrying the space station module. The question specifically refers to the launch of the space station module.

Yasir Arafat, along with Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad) and other Palestinian exiles, founded Al-Fatah (Harakat al-Tahrir al-Watani al-Filastini, meaning 'Palestinian National Liberation Movement') in Kuwait in 1958. Fatah emerged as a leading Palestinian nationalist movement dedicated to the liberation of Palestine through armed struggle against Israel. It later became the dominant faction within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

• The years 1960, 1962, and 1964 are incorrect. While Fatah gained significant international recognition and began its armed operations in the early 1960s, its foundational year as an organization was 1958.

Transnational advocacy networks (TANs) and epistemic communities are both forms of non-state actors that influence global politics. They are fundamentally linked by their shared characteristics:

• Expertise: Both rely on specialized knowledge and information to frame issues and propose solutions.
• Activism: TANs are explicitly activist groups, while epistemic communities often engage in advocacy to promote their policy-relevant knowledge.

They collaborate on social issues, leveraging their knowledge and collective action. Options like nationalism, geography, educational background, or former government service are not the primary linking factors, as these groups often transcend national borders and draw members from diverse professional backgrounds united by their shared cause and knowledge.

The Asian Games are a pan-continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. Understanding the historical context of such major international events is key.

• The first Asian Games were inaugurated in New Delhi, India, in 1951.
• This event marked a significant moment for Asian sports and regional cooperation.

Therefore, India is the correct answer. While China, Japan, and South Korea have all hosted subsequent Asian Games, they were not the host of the inaugural event.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the correct answer because its primary function is to liberalize international trade and investment. It achieves this by reducing barriers to trade, such as tariffs and quotas, and by establishing a framework of rules for global commerce. The WTO also provides a forum for trade negotiations and a mechanism for resolving trade disputes among its member countries.

• The United Nations (UN) focuses on international peace, security, human rights, and social development, not primarily trade liberalization.
• The World Bank provides financial and technical assistance to developing countries for development projects.
• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) focuses on global monetary cooperation and financial stability, facilitating international trade through exchange rate stability, but the WTO is the specific body for trade liberalization rules.

Dr. Sun Yat-sen is widely recognized as the 'Father of the Nation' in modern China. He played a crucial role in the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China. He served as the provisional first president of the Republic of China in 1912, advocating for his 'Three Principles of the People' (nationalism, democracy, and the people's livelihood).

• Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam are distinct East Asian and Southeast Asian nations. Each has its own unique history and national heroes who led their respective countries through periods of significant political change and nation-building. Sun Yat-sen's leadership and revolutionary efforts were exclusively focused on China.