Correct answer: −2. 4x − 10x = 15 − 3, so −6x = 12 and x = −2.
Background: Put the x terms on one side and the numbers on the other.
Did you know? Check: 4(−2) + 3 = −5 and 10(−2) + 15 = −5.
Memory trick: x terms left, numbers right.
Correct answer: None of these. Multiplying by x(x − 3) gives 2(x − 3) + 3x = x(x − 3), so x² − 8x + 6 = 0 and x = 4 ± √10, which is not among the options.
Background: The restrictions are x ≠ 0 and x ≠ 3, because those values make a denominator zero.
Did you know? The roots 4 + √10 and 4 − √10 are about 7.16 and 0.84.
Memory trick: Multiply through by the LCM x(x − 3) first.
Correct answer: Auto Fit. AutoFit Column Width adjusts the column to fit the longest entry.
Background: You can also double-click the right edge of a column header to AutoFit.
Did you know? AutoFit Row Height does the same for rows.
Memory trick: AutoFit = fits the content.
Correct answer: Show/Hide feature. The Show/Hide (¶) button displays formatting marks such as spaces, tabs, and paragraph marks.
Background: It is in the Paragraph group of the Home tab.
Did you know? The shortcut in Word is Ctrl + Shift + 8.
Memory trick: ¶ button = show hidden marks.
Correct answer: Title Slide. A new PowerPoint presentation starts with the Title Slide layout for the first slide.
Background: A layout decides where the text and objects are placed on a slide.
Did you know? You can change a layout from the Home tab’s Layout button.
Memory trick: First slide → Title Slide.
Correct answer: Preventing unauthorized access. A firewall monitors and filters network traffic to block unauthorized access.
Background: Firewalls can be hardware, software, or both.
Did you know? The word comes from the walls built in buildings to stop fire from spreading.
Memory trick: Firewall = security guard of the network.
Correct answer: To send and receive messages. E-mail is mainly used to send and receive messages electronically.
Background: E-mail is one of the oldest internet services.
Did you know? Ray Tomlinson sent the first networked e-mail in 1971.
Memory trick: E-mail = electronic mail.
Correct answer: EEG. An EEG (electroencephalogram) records the brain’s electrical activity.
Background: Electrodes are placed on the scalp.
Did you know? EEG is used to diagnose conditions such as epilepsy.
Memory trick: E for Encephalon (brain); C for Cardio (heart).
Correct answer: Stem. The part of ginger we eat is a rhizome, an underground stem.
Background: Rhizomes have nodes and buds, which roots do not.
Did you know? Turmeric is also a rhizome.
Memory trick: Ginger and turmeric = underground stems.
Correct answer: Plastic. Plastic is amorphous: its particles are not arranged in a regular repeating pattern.
Background: Crystalline solids have a regular internal arrangement and sharp melting points.
Did you know? Glass is another well-known amorphous solid.
Memory trick: Crystals: salt, sugar, ice. Amorphous: plastic, glass.
Correct answer: 8 min 20 sec. Light travels about 150 million km at about 300,000 km/s, so sunlight takes about 8 minutes 20 seconds.
Background: The exact time varies slightly because Earth’s orbit is not a perfect circle.
Did you know? Moonlight takes only about 1.3 seconds to reach Earth.
Memory trick: 8 min 20 sec.
Correct answer: Mushrooms. Mushrooms are fungi. They lack chlorophyll and absorb food from decaying matter.
Background: Organisms that cannot make their own food are called heterotrophs.
Did you know? Fungi play a key role in decomposing dead matter.
Memory trick: No chlorophyll → no food making.
Correct answer: Parasites. Viruses are obligate parasites: they can multiply only inside living host cells.
Background: Outside a host cell a virus cannot reproduce.
Did you know? Antibiotics do not work against viruses; vaccines and antivirals are used instead.
Memory trick: Virus = parasite.
Correct answer: Alluvium. Alluvium is the soil and sediment deposited by rivers and streams, especially on floodplains.
Background: Alluvial plains such as the Indus plain are very fertile.
Did you know? The word comes from the Latin alluere, “to wash against”.
Memory trick: Alluvium = river-laid.
Correct answer: Thal. The Thal Desert lies in Punjab between the Indus and Jhelum rivers.
Background: Irrigation, such as the Thal Canal, has turned parts of it into farmland.
Did you know? Thal is mainly in the districts of Bhakkar, Layyah, Khushab, and Mianwali.
Memory trick: Thal = between two rivers.
Correct answer: North Atlantic Ocean. The Gulf Stream is a warm current in the North Atlantic that flows from the Gulf of Mexico along the US east coast toward Europe.
Background: It helps keep the climate of Western Europe milder than other places at the same latitude.
Did you know? It carries about 100 times more water than all the world’s rivers combined.
Memory trick: Gulf Stream → North Atlantic.
Correct answer: Sea-water density. A pycnocline is the layer in the ocean where the density of seawater changes quickly with depth.
Background: Density changes with temperature (thermocline) and salinity (halocline).
Did you know? The Greek word pyknos means “dense”.
Memory trick: Pycno = density.
Correct answer: Jericho Brown. Jericho Brown won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his collection The Tradition.
Background: The Pulitzer Prizes are American awards for journalism, literature, and music.
Did you know? Colson Whitehead has won the Pulitzer for Fiction twice (2017 and 2020).
Memory trick: Poetry → Brown; Fiction → Whitehead.
Correct answer: Islamabad. Pakistan hosted the 9th OIC Ministerial Conference on Women in Islamabad on 12–13 July 2026.
Background: Pakistan took over the conference chairmanship from Egypt for two years.
Did you know? The 8th conference was held in Cairo in 2021.
Memory trick: 9th = Islamabad, July 2026.
Correct answer: Amir Khan Muttaqi. Amir Khan Muttaqi has served as the Taliban government’s Foreign Minister since 2021.
Background: The Taliban returned to power in August 2021.
Did you know? Many countries have still not formally recognised the Taliban government.
Memory trick: Muttaqi = Foreign Minister.
Correct answer: 19%. After a trade understanding in late July 2025, the US set a 19% tariff rate on Pakistani goods.
Background: Earlier in 2025 the US had announced a higher rate of 29% for Pakistan.
Did you know? Tariffs are taxes charged on imported goods.
Memory trick: 19 for Pakistan.
Correct answer: 35th. Nehal Hashmi was sworn in on 13 March 2026 as the 35th Governor of Sindh, replacing Kamran Tessori.
Background: Kamran Tessori had served from October 2022 to March 2026.
Did you know? Sir Lancelot Graham was the first Governor of Sindh (from 1936).
Memory trick: Hashmi = 35th, March 2026.
Correct answer: Jaffar Khan Mandokhail. Sheikh Jaffar Khan Mandokhail, a PML-N leader, has been Governor of Balochistan since 6 May 2024.
Background: He is the 24th Governor of Balochistan.
Did you know? Governors are appointed by the President on the Prime Minister’s advice under Article 101.
Memory trick: Governor Mandokhail; CM Bugti.
Correct answer: Myanmar. A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck Myanmar on 28 March 2025 near Mandalay.
Background: Thousands of people died and many buildings collapsed.
Did you know? The shaking was felt in Bangkok, Thailand.
Memory trick: March 2025 quake = Myanmar.
Correct answer: Sukkur. Sukkur Barrage (originally the Lloyd Barrage) on the Indus is the largest barrage in Pakistan and was completed in 1932.
Background: It feeds seven canals that irrigate large areas of Sindh.
Did you know? It was named after Sir George Lloyd, the Governor of Bombay.
Memory trick: Sukkur = Indus = 1932.