All questions of 2019 for UPSC CSE Exam

If $ means 'divided by'; @ means 'multiplied by'; # means 'minus', then the value of 10#5@1$5 is

Each face of a cube can be painted in black or white colours. In how many different ways can the cube be painted?

Rakesh and Rajesh together bought 10 balls and 10 rackets. Rakesh spent 1300 and Rajesh spent 1500. If each racket costs three times a ball does, then what is the price of a racket?

Seeta and Geeta go for a swim after a gap of every 2 days and every 3 days respectively. If on 1st January both of them went for a swim together, when will they go together next?

Which year has the same calendar as that of 2009?

Suppose you have sufficient amount of rupee currency in three denominations : Rs. 1, Rs. 10 and Rs. 50. In how many different ways can you pay a bill of Rs. 107?

An 8-digit number 4252746B leaves remainder 0 when divided by 3. How many values of B are possible?

In a school every student is assigned a unique identification number. A student is a football player if and only if the identification number is divisible by 4, whereas a student is a cricketer if and only if the identification number is divisible by 6. If every number from 1 to 100 is assigned to a student, then how many of them play cricket as well as football?

A and B are two heavy steel blocks. If B is placed on the top of A, the weight increases by 60%. How much weight will reduce with respect to the total weight of A and B, if B is removed from the top of A?

Which of the following is most definitively implied by the above passage?

A family has two children along with their parents. The average of the weights of the children and their mother is 50 kg. The average of the weights of the children and their father is 52 kg. If the weight of the father is 60 kg, then what is the weight of the mother?

In an examination, A has scored 20 marks more than B. If B has scored 5% less marks than A, how much has B scored?

​If x is greater than or equal to 25 and y is less than or equal to 40, then which one of the following is always correct?

All members of a club went to Mumbai and stayed in a hotel. On the first day, 80% went for shopping and 50% went for sightseeing, whereas 10% took rest in the hotel. Which of the following conclusion(s) can be drawn from the above data?
1. 40% members went for shopping as well as sightseeing.
​2. 20% members went for only shopping.
Q. Select the correct answer using the code given below:

A printer numbers the pages of a book starting with 1 and uses 3189 digits in all. How many pages does the book have?

Consider the following Statements and Conclusions:
Statements:
1. Some rats are cats.
2. Some cats are dogs.
3. No dog is a cow.
Conclusions:
I. No cow is a cat.
II. No dog is a rat.
III. Some cats are rats.
Q. Which of the above conclusions is/are drawn from the statements?

P, Q and R are three towns. The distance between P and Q is 60 km, whereas the distance between P and R is 80 km. Q is in the West of P and R is in the South of P. What is the distance between Q and R?

In the sequence 1, 5, 7, 3, 5, 7, 4, 3, 5, 7, how many such 5s are there which are not immediately preceded by 3 but are immediately followed by 7?

In 2002, Meenu's age was one-third of the age of Meera, whereas in 2010, Meenu's age was half the age of Meera. What is Meenu's year of birth?

Passage - 4
Inequality is visible, even statistically measurable in many instances, but the economic power that drives it is invisible and not measurable... Like the force of gravity, power is the organising principle of inequality, be it of income, or wealth, gender, race, religion and region. Its effects are seen in a pervasive manner in all spheres, but the ways in which economic power pulls and tilts visible economic variables remain invisibly obscure.

On the basis of the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:
1. Economic power is the only reason for the existence of inequality in a society.
2. Inequality of different kinds, income, wealth, etc, reinforces power.
3. Economic power can be analysed more through its effects than by direct empirical methods.
​Q. Which of thy above assumptions is/are valid?

A joint family consists of seven members A, B, C, D, E, F and G with three females. G is a widow and sister-in-law of D's father F. B and D are siblings and A is daughter of B. C is cousin of B. Who is E?
1. Wife of F
2. Grandmother of A
3. Aunt of C
Q. ​Select the correct answer using the code given below:

The average marks of 100 students are given to be 40. It was found later that marks of one student were 53 which were misread as 83. The corrected mean marks are 

How many triplets (x, y, z) satisfy the equation x + y + z = 6, where x, y and z are natural numbers?

​A wall clock moves 10 minutes fast in every 24 hours. The clock was set right to show the correct time at 8:00 a.m. on Monday. When the clock shows the time 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, what is the correct time?

In a school, 60% students play cricket. A student who does not play cricket, plays football. Every football player has got a twowheeler. Which of the following conclusions cannot be drawn from the above data?
1. 60% of the students do not have two wheelers.
2. No cricketer has a two-wheeler.
3. Cricket players do not play football.
​Q. Select the correct answer using the code given below:

If the numerator and denominator of a proper fraction are increased by the same positive quantity which is greater than zero, the resulting fraction is

Mr. 'X' has three children. The birthday of the first child falls on the 5th Monday of April that of the second one falls on the 5th Thursday of November. On which day is the birthday of his third child, which falls on 20th December?

Six students A, B, C, D, E and F appeared in several tests. Either C or F scores the highest. Whenever C scores the highest, then E scores the least. Whenever F scores the highest, B scores the least. In all the tests they got different marks; D scores higher than A, but they are close competitors; A scores higher than B; C scores higher than A.
Q. If F stands second in the ranking, then the position of B is

​On the basis of the above passage, the following assumptions have been made :
1. Processed probiotic foods are a solution to treat the children suffering from malnutrition due to immature gut bacteria composition.
2. The babies of malnourished mothers generally tend to be' malnourished. Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Passage – 4
A changing climate, and the eventual efforts of governments (however reluctant) to deal with it, could have a big impact on investors' returns. Companies that produce or use large amounts of fossil fuels will face higher taxes and regulatory burdens. Some energy producers may find it impossible to exploit their known reserves, and be left with "stranded assets" — deposits of oil and coal that have to be left in the ground. Other industries could be affected by the economic damage caused by more extreme weather — storms, floods, heat waves and droughts.
Q. On the basis of the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:
1. Governments and companies need to be adequately prepared to face the climate change.
2. Extreme weather events will reduce the economic growth of governments and companies'in future.
3. Ignoring climate change is a huge risk for investors. Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Passage - 1
Political theorists no doubt have to take history of injustice, for example, untouchability, seriously. The concept of historical injustice takes note of a variety of historical wrongs that continue into the present in some form or the other and tend to resist repair. Two reasons might account for resistance to repair. One, not only are the roots of injustice buried deep in history, injustice itself constitutes economic structures of exploitation, ideologies of discrimination and modes of representation. Two, the category of historical injustice generally extends across a number of wrongs such as economic deprivation, social discrimination and lack of recognition. This category is complex, not only because of the overlap between a number of wrongs, but because one or the other wrong, generally discrimination, tends to acquire partial autonomy from others. This is borne out by the history of repair in India.

On the basis of the above passage, the following assumptions have been made :
1. Removal of economic discrimination leads to removal of social discrimination.
2. Democratic polity is the best way to repair historical wrongs.
​Q. Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

The rural poor across the world, including India, have contributed little to human-induced climate change, yet they are on the frontline in coping with its effects. Farmers can no longer rely on historical averages for rainfall and temperature, and the more frequent and extreme weather events, such as droughts and floods, can spell disaster. And there are new threats, such as sea level rise and the impact of melting glaciers on water supply. How significant are small farms? As many as two billion peopre worldwide depend on them for their food and livelihood. Small-holder farmers in India produce 41 percent of the country's food grains, and other food items that contribute to local and national food security.

The above passage implies that
1. There is a potential problem of food insecurity in India.
2. India will have to strengthen its disaster management capabilities.
​Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

​Consider two statements S1 and S2 followed by a question:
S1: p and q both are prime numbers.
S2: p + q is an odd integer.
Question: Is pq an odd integer?
Q. Which one of the following is correct?

When a runner was crossing the 12 km mark, she was informed that she had completed only 80% of the race. How many kilometres was the runner supposed to run in this event?

A five-storeyed building with floors from I to V is painted using four different colours and only one colour is used to paint a floor. Consider the following statements:
1. The middle three floors are painted in different colours.
2. The second (II) and the fourth (IV) floors are painted in different colours.
3. The first (I) and the fifth (V) floors are painted red.
​To ensure that any two consecutive floors have different colours

​If every alternative letter of the English alphabet from B onwards (including B) is written in lower case (small letters) and the remaining letters are capitalized, then how is the first month of the second half of the year written?

Rakesh had money to buy 8 mobile handsets of a specific company. But the retailer offered very good discount on that particular handset. Rakesh could buy 10 mobile handsets with the amount he had. What was the discount the retailer offered?

Read the following statements SI and S2 and answer the two items that follow:
S1: Twice the weight of Sohan is less than the weight of Mohan or that of Rohan.
S2: Twice the weight of Rohan is greater than the weight of Mohan or that of Sohan. 
Q. Which one of the following statements is correct?

Read the following five passages and answer the items that follow each passage. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only.
Passage - 1
India's economic footprint, given its population, still remains small compared to the US, the European Union or China. It has much to learn from other economies, yet must implement solutions that fit its unique circumstances. India especially needs an effective long-term regulatory system based on collaboration rather than the ' current top-down approach. Regulations seek desirable outcomes yet are repeatedly used as political tools to push one agenda or another. Often, regulations fail to consider impacts on jobs and economic growth — or less restrictive alternatives. Regulations may be used to protect local markets at the expense of more widely shared prosperity in the future. Additionally, regulations inevitably result in numerous unintended consequences. In today's hyper competitive global economy, regulations need to be viewed as "weapons" that seek cost-justified social and environmental benefits while improving the economic wellbeing of most citizens.
Q. Which one of the following is the most logical, rational and crucial inference that can be derived from the above passage ?

Passage — 1
What stands in the way of the widespread and careful adoption of 'Genetic Modification (GM)' technology is an `Intellectual Property Rights' regime that seeks to create private monopolies for such technologies. If GM technology is largely corporate driven, it seeks to maximize profits and that too in the short run. That is why corporations make major investments for herbicide-tolerant and pest-resistant crops. Such properties have only a short window, as soon enough, pests and weeds will evolve to overcome such resistance. This suits the corporations. The National Farmers Commission pointed out that priority must be given in genetic modification to the incorporation of genes that can help impart resistance to drought, salinity and other stresses.
Q. On the basis of the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:
​1. The issue of effects of natural calamities on agriculture is not given due consideration by GM technology companies.
2. In the long run, GM technology will not be able to solve agricultural problems arising due to global warming. Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

The number of parallelograms that can be formed from a set of four parallel lines intersecting another set of four parallel lines, is

Passage - 5
Access to schooling for those coming of school age is close to universal, but access to quality exhibits a sharp gradient with socio-economic status. Quotas for the weaker sections in private schools is a provision introduced by the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. The quotas have imposed a debate on issues of social integration and equity in education that private actors had escaped by and large, The idea of egalitarian education system with equality of opportunity as its primary goal appears to be outside the space that private school principals inhabit. Therefore, the imposition of the quotas has led to resistance, sometimes justified,
Q. With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:
1. Making equality of opportunity a reality is the fundamental goal of the Indian education system.
2. The present Indian school system is unable to provide egalitarian education.
3. Abolition of private schools and establishment of more government schools is the only way to ensure egalitarian education.
Q. Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Passage - 3
Diarrhoeal deaths among Indian children are mostly due to food and water contamination. Use of contaminated groundwater and unsafe chemicals in agriculture, poor hygiene in storage and handling of food items to food cooked and distributed in unhygienic surroundings; there are myriad factors that need regulation and monitoring. People need to have awareness of adulteration and ways of complaining to the relevant authorities. Surveillance of food-borne diseases involves a number of government agencies and entails good training of inspection staff. Considering the proportion of the urban population that depends on street food for its daily meals, investing in training and education of street vendors is of great significance.
=> On the basis of the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:
1. Food safety is a complex issue that calls for a multipronged solution.
2. Great investments need to be made in developing the manpower for surveillance and training.
3. India needs to make sufficient legislation for governing food processing industry.
Q. Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Passage - 2
With the digital phenomenon restructuring most social sectors, it is little surprise that global trade negotiations are now eyeing the digital area in an attempt to pre-emptively colonise it. Big Data is freely collected or mined from developing countries, and converted into digital intelligence in developed countries. This intelligence begins to control different sectors and extract monopoly rents. A large foreign company providing cab service, for instance, is not a work of cars and drivers, it is digital intelligence about commuting, public transport, roads, traffic, city events, presonal behavioural characteristics of commuters and driver and so on.
Q. Which one of the following is the most logical and rational corollary to the above passage?