OPSC ASO 2016 Question Paper with Answers

Question 1

International boundary between India and China is demarcated by :

1. (a) Radcliffe Line
2. (b) Maginot Line
3. (c) Mc Mohan Line
4. (d) Durand Line

Answer: (C) Mc Mohan Line

• (C) ✓ The McMahon Line (printed "Mc Mohan") was drawn at the Simla Convention of 1913–14 and named after Sir Henry McMahon of British India. It runs along the Himalayan crest and marks the eastern sector of the India–China boundary, along Arunachal Pradesh.
• (A) ✗ The Radcliffe Line (1947) split India from Pakistan, East and West.
• (B) ✗ The Maginot Line was France's 1930s chain of forts facing Germany.
• (D) ✗ The Durand Line (1893) is the Afghanistan–Pakistan border.

The trap: the McMahon Line covers only the eastern sector, and China does not accept it. On the ground the two sides hold the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Still, (C) is the only option that concerns India and China.

Question 2

The Headquarters of the UNESCO is located at :

1. (a) New York
2. (b) Paris
3. (c) Geneva
4. (d) Berlin

Answer: (B) Paris

• (B) ✓ UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, has its headquarters in Paris, France. Its constitution was signed in November 1945 and came into force in 1946.
• (A) ✗ New York has the headquarters of the UN itself, and of UNICEF and UNDP.
• (C) ✗ Geneva hosts the WHO, the ILO and the UN's European office.
• (D) ✗ Berlin hosts no major UN headquarters. The UN campus in Germany is at Bonn.

The trap: "UN = New York" pulls students to (A). Each UN agency has its own home, and UNESCO's is Paris.

Question 3

IQ stands for :

1. (a) Intelligent Question
2. (b) Intelligent Quotation
3. (c) Intelligence Quotient
4. (d) Internal Quantity

Answer: (C) Intelligence Quotient

• (C) ✓ IQ = Intelligence Quotient, a score that compares a person's mental ability with others of the same age. A quotient is the result of a division, and the early formula was one: IQ = (mental age)/(chronological age) × 100.
• So a 10-year-old who performs like an average 12-year-old scores 12/10 × 100 = 120.
• (A), (B), (D) ✗ "Intelligent Question", "Intelligent Quotation" and "Internal Quantity" are word-plays on the letters I and Q. None of them is a measure.

The trap: "Intelligent" vs "Intelligence". The test measures intelligence, a noun; it does not describe a question or a quotation as intelligent.

Question 4

Who was the famous composer of Music and Saint Poet of Medieval Orissa ?

1. (a) Maheswar Mahapatra
2. (b) Bishnu Panda
3. (c) Jayadeva
4. (d) Ananda Deva

Answer: (C) Jayadeva

• (C) ✓ Jayadeva (12th century) wrote the Gita Govinda, a Sanskrit poem of Radha and Krishna in 12 cantos with 24 songs (ashtapadis). Each song names its own raga and tala, so he was a composer as much as a poet.
• His songs are sung in the Jagannath Temple, Puri, and are a root of Odissi music and dance. Odisha places his birth at Kenduli Sasan near Puri.
• (A), (B), (D) ✗ Standard references do not name any of these as medieval Odisha's famous composer and saint-poet.

The trap: the decoys sound Odia, and Jayadeva is also claimed by Bengal and Mithila, so a student may hesitate. But "composer of music" plus "saint poet" fits only the poet of the Gita Govinda.

Question 5

The Mixed Economy Model of Economic Development was introduced by :

1. (a) Mahatma Gandhi
2. (b) Dr. B. R. Ambedkar
3. (c) Jawaharlal Nehru
4. (d) Indira Gandhi

Answer: (C) Jawaharlal Nehru

• (C) ✓ As India's first Prime Minister, Nehru chose a mixed economy: a large public sector in key industries, with private business alongside. His government set it out in the Industrial Policy Resolutions of 1948 and 1956 and the Five-Year Plans, run by the Planning Commission (1950) with Nehru as its chairman.
• (A) ✗ Gandhi wanted self-reliant villages and trusteeship, not state-led industry.
• (B) ✗ Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee but did not run economic policy.
• (D) ✗ Indira Gandhi inherited the model. She widened the state's role with bank nationalisation in 1969.

The trap: (D) tempts because "socialist" entered the Preamble in her time (1976). The model itself is older, and it is Nehru's.

Question 6

Who was the First Woman President of Indian National Congress ?

1. (a) Kadambini Ganguli
2. (b) Sarojini Naidu
3. (c) Annie Besant
4. (d) Kamala Nehru

Answer: (C) Annie Besant

• (C) ✓ Annie Besant, the Irish-born theosophist who started a Home Rule League in 1916, presided over the Calcutta session of 1917. She was the first woman president of the Congress.
• (B) ✗ Sarojini Naidu presided at Kanpur in 1925: the first Indian woman president.
• (A) ✗ Kadambini Ganguly, one of India's first women graduates and doctors, was the first woman to speak at a Congress session (1890).
• (D) ✗ Kamala Nehru joined the movement but never presided.

The trap: "first woman" vs "first Indian woman". Exam boards ask both, and the answers differ.

Question 7

Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) relate to :

1. (a) World Bank
2. (b) RBI
3. (c) WTO
4. (d) IMF

Answer: (D) IMF

• (D) ✓ The International Monetary Fund created the Special Drawing Right in 1969 as an international reserve asset. It allocates SDRs to members in proportion to their quotas, and the SDR is also the IMF's unit of account.
• An SDR is not cash. Its value comes from a basket of currencies: today the US dollar, euro, Chinese renminbi, Japanese yen and pound sterling.
• (B) ✗ The RBI holds India's SDRs as part of the forex reserves, but only the IMF issues them.
• (A), (C) ✗ The World Bank funds development and the WTO sets trade rules. Neither issues SDRs.

The trap: "drawing" sounds like drawing money from a bank, which tempts (A) or (B). SDRs belong to the IMF, the world's monetary body.

Question 1

Direction (Q. Nos. 1 – 4) : Find out the correct number to fill in the spaces which will continue the same pattern.

2, 12, 30, 56, 90, ________ .

1. (a) 132
2. (b) 121
3. (c) 130
4. (d) 129

Answer: (A) 132

Each term is the product of two consecutive numbers, and the pairs move on by two:

• 1 × 2 = 2, 3 × 4 = 12, 5 × 6 = 30
• 7 × 8 = 56, 9 × 10 = 90
• Next: 11 × 12 = 132

Check with the gaps: 10, 18, 26, 34 rise by 8 each time, so the next gap is 42, and 90 + 42 = 132.

• (B) 121 ✗ is 11², a square: it uses 11 twice instead of 11 and 12.
• (C) 130 ✗ needs a gap of 40, which breaks the step of 8.
• (D) 129 ✗ fits neither the products nor the gaps.

Fastest: spot 90 = 9 × 10 and 56 = 7 × 8. The next pair must be 11 × 12.

The trap: trusting the first one or two gaps only. Check the rule on every term before you choose.

Question 2

Direction (Q. Nos. 1 – 4) : Find out the correct number to fill in the spaces which will continue the same pattern.

2, 7, 28, 63, 126, ________ .

1. (a) 216
2. (b) 217
3. (c) 215
4. (d) 219

Answer: (C) 215

Each term is one away from a cube, plus and minus in turn:

• 1³ + 1 = 2, 2³ − 1 = 7
• 3³ + 1 = 28, 4³ − 1 = 63
• 5³ + 1 = 126
• Next: 6³ − 1 = 216 − 1 = 215

• (A) 216 ✗ is the bare cube; it forgets the − 1.
• (B) 217 ✗ adds 1 again, but the signs alternate, and the sixth term takes − 1.
• (D) 219 ✗ fits no cube rule.

Fastest: 126 sits just above 5³ = 125 and 63 just below 4³ = 64. So the next term sits just below 6³ = 216.

The trap: (A) 216. Seeing the cubes is half the work; the alternating sign decides between 215 and 217.

Question 3

Direction (Q. Nos. 1 – 4) : Find out the correct number to fill in the spaces which will continue the same pattern.

999, 730, 511, 344, 215, ________ .

1. (a) 123
2. (b) 124
3. (c) 125
4. (d) 126

Answer: (D) 126

Count the cubes down from 10³, with − 1 and + 1 in turn:

• 10³ − 1 = 999, 9³ + 1 = 730
• 8³ − 1 = 511, 7³ + 1 = 344
• 6³ − 1 = 215
• Next: 5³ + 1 = 125 + 1 = 126

• (C) 125 ✗ is the bare cube; it drops the + 1.
• (B) 124 ✗ uses − 1 again, but the signs alternate.
• (A) 123 ✗ fits no cube rule.

Fastest: 999 and 511 sit just below 1000 and 512, so think "cubes" at once. Then read the sign off the term before: 215 was below 6³, so the next term sits above 5³.

The trap: (C) 125. All three wrong options are close to 5³; only the sign pattern picks 126.

Question 4

Direction (Q. Nos. 1 – 4) : Find out the correct number to fill in the spaces which will continue the same pattern.

11, 14, 24, 41, 65, ________ .

1. (a) 91
2. (b) 93
3. (c) 96
4. (d) 98

Answer: (C) 96

Write the gaps between neighbouring terms:

• 14 − 11 = 3, 24 − 14 = 10, 41 − 24 = 17, 65 − 41 = 24
• The gaps rise by 7 each time: 3, 10, 17, 24
• Next gap = 24 + 7 = 31, so 65 + 31 = 96

• (A) 91 ✗ uses a gap of 26.
• (B) 93 ✗ uses a gap of 28.
• (D) 98 ✗ uses a gap of 33.

Fastest: once the gaps grow by a fixed amount, add that amount to the last gap, then add the new gap to the last term.

The trap: adding the step of 7 straight to 65. The 7 tells you how the gaps grow; the terms grow by the gaps themselves.

Question 5

Direction (Q. Nos. 5 – 8) : Find out the correct letter/letters to fill in the spaces which will continue the same pattern.

Z, L, X, J, V, H, T, F, ________, ________.

1. (a) R, D
2. (b) R, E
3. (c) S, E
4. (d) Q, D

Answer: (A) R, D

The letters in odd places and in even places form two separate series:

• 9th place: two before T is R (T = 20, R = 18).
• 10th place: two before F is D (F = 6, D = 4).

• (B) R, E ✗ moves F back by only one.
• (C) S, E ✗ moves both lists by one.
• (D) Q, D ✗ moves T back by three.

The trap: reading the ten letters as one series. Z to L and L to X show no steady jump; split the list and each half is simple.

Question 6

Direction (Q. Nos. 5 – 8) : Find out the correct letter/letters to fill in the spaces which will continue the same pattern.

BD, GI, LN, QS, ________ .

1. (a) TV
2. (b) UW
3. (c) WX
4. (d) VX

Answer: (D) VX

Track each letter of the pair on its own:

• First letters: B, G, L, Q are 2, 7, 12, 17, jumping + 5. Next: 22 = V.
• Second letters: D, I, N, S are 4, 9, 14, 19, also + 5. Next: 24 = X.
• Inside every pair the second letter is two after the first (B to D, G to I). V and X keep that gap.

• (A) TV ✗ moves only + 3 from Q.
• (B) UW ✗ moves + 4 from Q and S.
• (C) WX ✗ moves + 6, and its letters are only one apart.

The trap: counting the starting letter as step one. Five letters after Q are R, S, T, U, V. Counting Q itself lands on U and option (B).

Question 1

For any two positive integers r and s, HCF(r, s) × LCM(r, s) =

1. (a) r × s
2. (b) r × r - s
3. (c) r + s × s
4. (d) None of the above

Answer: (A) r × s

• Rule: for any two positive integers, HCF(r, s) × LCM(r, s) = r × s.
• Why: write r and s as products of primes. For each prime the HCF takes the smaller power and the LCM the larger, so together they use every prime power exactly once, which is the product.
• Check with 4 and 6: HCF 2, LCM 12, and 2 × 12 = 24 = 4 × 6.
• (B), (C) ✗ with 4 and 6 they give 10 and 40, not 24.
• (D) ✗ (A) is the textbook rule.

The trap: using the rule for three numbers. For 4, 6 and 8, HCF × LCM = 2 × 24 = 48, not 4 × 6 × 8 = 192.

Question 2

5 - √3 is :

1. (a) Rational
2. (b) Irrational
3. (c) Rational and irrational both
4. (d) None of the above

Answer: (B) Irrational

• Start with √3: 3 is not a perfect square, so √3 is irrational.
• Proof by contradiction: suppose 5 - √3 = r, a rational number. Then √3 = 5 - r would be rational. That is false, so 5 - √3 is irrational.
• Its value is about 5 − 1.732 = 3.268…, a decimal that never ends or repeats.
• (A) ✗ fails by the same contradiction.
• (C) ✗ a real number is either rational or irrational, never both.
• (D) ✗ (B) is correct.

The trap: thinking the whole number 5 makes the result "partly rational". Rational ± irrational is always irrational.

Question 3

Let p be a prime number. If p divides m², where m is a positive integer then :

1. (a) p does not divide m
2. (b) mp is always an even number
3. (c) p divides m
4. (d) None of the above

Answer: (C) p divides m

• Factorise m: m = p₁ p₂ … p_n (primes). Then m² = p₁ p₁ p₂ p₂ … p_n p_n.
• Squaring only repeats the same primes; it adds no new ones.
• If the prime p divides m², then by the uniqueness of prime factorisation p is one of p₁, …, p_n, so p divides m.
• Example: 3 divides 36 = 6², and 3 divides 6.
• (A) ✗ is the exact opposite of the theorem.
• (B) ✗ p = 3, m = 3: p divides 9, but mp = 9 is odd.
• (D) ✗ (C) always holds.

The trap: forgetting that p must be prime. 4 divides 6² = 36 but 4 does not divide 6.

Question 4

8√15 ÷ 2√3 =

1. (a) 3√5
2. (b) 4√5
3. (c) 4√3
4. (d) 4√15

Answer: (B) 4√5

1. Split it: (8√15)/(2√3) = 8/2 × √(15/3).
2. Outside the root: 8 ÷ 2 = 4. Inside: 15 ÷ 3 = 5.
3. Result: 4√5.

Check: 4√5 × 2√3 = 8√15 ✓.

• (A) ✗ wrong number outside: 8 ÷ 2 is 4, not 3.
• (C) ✗ keeps the divisor's root, √3, instead of √5.
• (D) ✗ divides 8 by 2 but leaves 15 undivided.

The trap: dividing by only one part of the divisor. The whole divisor is 2√3, so both the 2 and the √3 must go.

Question 5

The value of 4725-2879 by rounding each number to the nearest hundred is

1. (a) 1900
2. (b) 1846
3. (c) 1800
4. (d) None of the above

Answer: (C) 1800

1. 4725: tens digit 2 (less than 5), so round down to 4700.
2. 2879: tens digit 7 (5 or more), so round up to 2900.
3. Subtract: 4700 − 2900 = 1800.

• (B) ✗ 1846 is the exact difference, 4725 − 2879. The question asks for the value after rounding.
• (A) ✗ 1900 comes from rounding 4725 up to 4800, which is wrong.
• (D) ✗ (C) is the rounded result.

The trap: ticking the exact answer, 1846, because it looks "more correct". The question wants an estimate: round each number first, then subtract.

Question 6

Raj completes 1/6 of his project in 31/2 days. How long would he take to complete the whole project ?

1. (a) 21 days
2. (b) 7/12 days
3. (c) 7/3 days
4. (d) 18 days

Answer: (A) 21 days

1. 31/2 = 7/2 days for 1/6 of the work.
2. The whole work is 6 times that part.
3. Time = 6 × 7/2 = 21 days.

Unitary check: 7/2 ÷ 1/6 = 7/2 × 6 = 21.

• (B) ✗ 7/12 = 7/2 ÷ 6: dividing instead of multiplying. That is the time for 1/36 of the project.
• (C) ✗ 7/3 days is less than the 3½ days spent on one-sixth alone, so it is impossible.
• (D) ✗ 18 days uses 3 days per sixth instead of 3½.

The trap: dividing the time by 6. A bigger job takes more time, so the answer must exceed 3½ days.

Question 1

Direction (Q. Nos. 1 – 5) : Choose the right answer from the given alternatives and mention it as (A), (B), (C) or (D) in the answer sheet against the question number.

What kind of verb is the underlined word in the sentence 'His friends misunderstood him unnecessarily' ?

1. (a) Regular
2. (b) Irregular
3. (c) Auxiliary
4. (d) Intransitive

Answer: (B) Irregular

• (B) ✓ Misunderstand → misunderstood → misunderstood. The past forms are not made by adding -ed, so the verb is irregular. It follows its root: understand → understood.
• (A) ✗ A regular verb adds -ed: walk → walked. "Misunderstanded" does not exist.
• (C) ✗ An auxiliary (be, have, do, the modals) helps another verb. Misunderstood is the only verb in the sentence, so it is the main verb.
• (D) ✗ It has an object, him, so it is transitive.

The trap: (D) sounds technical and tempts students who don't test it. Ask "misunderstood whom?" The answer, him, is the object. A verb with a prefix (mis-, over-, under-, re-) is irregular whenever its root is irregular.

Question 2

Direction (Q. Nos. 1 – 5) : Choose the right answer from the given alternatives and mention it as (A), (B), (C) or (D) in the answer sheet against the question number.

What kind of verb is 'need' in the sentence : 'You need not worry about it, we will manage' ?

1. (a) Primary auxiliary
2. (b) Modal
3. (c) Main verb
4. (d) Strong verb

Answer: (B) Modal

• (B) ✓ Here need behaves like must or can. The negative is need not (no do), and the next verb is a bare infinitive, worry (no to). With he it stays need: "He need not worry." These are the marks of a modal.
• (C) ✗ As a main verb the same idea reads "You do not need to worry": do-support, to, and -s with he.
• (A) ✗ The primary auxiliaries are only be, have, do.
• (D) ✗ A strong verb forms its past by a vowel change (sing, sang). Need adds -ed: needed.

The trap: need is usually a main verb, so (C) feels safe. Read the form: need not + base verb = modal; do not need to + verb = main verb. Dare works the same way.

Question 3

Direction (Q. Nos. 1 – 5) : Choose the right answer from the given alternatives and mention it as (A), (B), (C) or (D) in the answer sheet against the question number.

What is the word 'fight' called in the sentence : 'The Indian soldiers fought a brave fight' ?

1. (a) Complement
2. (b) Direct object
3. (c) Cognate object
4. (d) None of these

Answer: (C) Cognate object

• (C) ✓ A cognate object is a noun from the same root or meaning as its verb: fought a fight, lived a happy life, slept a sound sleep. Such verbs are usually intransitive; the cognate noun, often with an adjective (brave), gives them an object.
• (B) ✗ The noun answers "fought what?", so it is an object in the broad sense. But the question asks what the word is called, and the exact name is cognate object.
• (A) ✗ A complement completes a linking verb: "They became heroes." Fought is not a linking verb.
• (D) ✗ Option (C) names the word exactly, so None of these is out.

The trap: (B) is not false, only less exact. When a grammar question offers a general label and a specific one that fits, the specific one is the answer.

Question 4

Direction (Q. Nos. 1 – 5) : Choose the right answer from the given alternatives and mention it as (A), (B), (C) or (D) in the answer sheet against the question number.

What is the word 'moving' in the sentence, 'It is dangerous to get into a moving train' called ?

1. (a) Participle
2. (b) Gerund
3. (c) Present progressive
4. (d) Adjective

Answer: (A) Participle

• (A) ✓ In a moving train, moving = a train that is moving. It is the present participle of move doing the job of an adjective, which is why grammar books call a participle a verbal adjective.
• (B) ✗ A gerund is a verb form used as a noun: "Moving to a new city is hard." Before a noun, a gerund shows purpose: a walking stick is a stick for walking.
• (C) ✗ The present progressive needs be + -ing as the verb: "The train is moving." There is no be here.
• (D) ✗ Moving works like an adjective, so a student could defend (D), and we mark this key disputed. We keep (A) because the set is about verb forms, and the exact name of this form is participle.

The trap: (D) describes the word's job, so it looks right. OPSC is testing the participle vs gerund pair: "a train that is moving" = participle.

Question 5

Direction (Q. Nos. 1 – 5) : Choose the right answer from the given alternatives and mention it as (A), (B), (C) or (D) in the answer sheet against the question number.

What is the word 'go' in the sentence, 'He made him go there' called ?

1. (a) Object
2. (b) Infinitive
3. (c) Principal verb
4. (d) Zero infinitive

Answer: (D) Zero infinitive

• (D) ✓ Make + object + base verb: made him go. An infinitive used without to is the zero infinitive (also called the bare or plain infinitive). We never say "made him to go".
• (B) ✗ Go is an infinitive in the broad sense, so (B) is not false, only less exact. The name that captures the missing to is zero infinitive.
• (C) ✗ The principal verb is made: it carries the past tense and agrees with He.
• (A) ✗ The object of made is him.

The trap: (B) is the safe-sounding general answer. When a general and an exact label both fit, take the exact one. The giveaway is the missing to.

Question 6

Direction (Q. Nos. 6 – 15) : Supply the correct tense form of the verbs given in brackets in the sentences.

It's time the government (revisit) the issue in the larger interests of the people.

1. (a) revisits
2. (b) revisited
3. (c) revisit
4. (d) had revisited

Answer: (B) revisited

• (B) ✓ After it's time / it's high time + subject, English uses the past simple even though the meaning is present: "It's time the government revisited the issue." The past form says the action is due but not yet done.
• (A) ✗ Revisits states a fact, but the speaker is complaining that it has not happened.
• (C) ✗ The base form needs another pattern: "It's time for the government to revisit the issue."
• (D) ✗ Had revisited is past perfect and points to an earlier past. The demand is about now.

The trap: the meaning is present, so students reach for revisits. This is the unreal past, the same idea as "I wish I knew" and "as if he owned the place".