General Studies: History, Geography, Polity, Economics and General Science
General Studies in JSSC CGL is a composite paper that mixes History, Geography, Indian Polity, Economics and General Science at graduate competitive level. Most items are one-line factual MCQs, so precision - the exact Article number, the exact year, the exact unit - decides the mark rather than long analysis.
Core areas that repeat
- Polity: Fundamental Rights (Articles 12–35), writs under Article 32 and Article 226, the 42nd Amendment (1976), the 73rd and 74th Amendments on panchayats and municipalities, and constitutional bodies versus statutory bodies.
- History: chronology from 1857 to 1947 - Indian National Congress 1885, Partition of Bengal 1905, Jallianwala Bagh 1919, Dandi March 1930, Quit India 1942.
- Geography: monsoon mechanism, Indian rock systems, drainage patterns and mineral belts.
- Economics: repo rate, CPI inflation, fiscal deficit, GST structure, poverty and employment measures.
- Science: Newton's laws, photosynthesis, the pH scale, human organ systems and common deficiency diseases.
Worked example
Question: Which amendment inserted Fundamental Duties into the Constitution? Reasoning: the 42nd Amendment (1976), acting on the Swaran Singh Committee report, inserted Part IVA containing Article 51A with ten duties, and also added the words socialist, secular and integrity to the Preamble. An eleventh duty on education was added later by the 86th Amendment. Answer: 42nd Amendment.
Traps that cost marks
- Mixing Article 32 (Supreme Court writs) with Article 226 (High Court writs, which are wider in scope).
- Confusing repo (RBI lends to banks) with reverse repo (RBI borrows from banks).
- Reversing Mughal order: Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb.
- Ignoring units in science items - joule, newton and watt are not interchangeable.