UPSSSC VDO cheat sheet

Fundamental Rights (Part III, Articles 12–35): Right to Equality 14–18, Right to Freedom 19–22, Against Exploitation 23–24, Religion 25–28, Cultural and Educational 29–30, Constitutional Remedies 32. Article 32 is called the 'heart and soul of the Constitution' by Dr. Ambedkar.

Directive Principles of State Policy sit in Part IV, Articles 36–51; they are non-justiciable. Fundamental Duties were added by the 42nd Amendment (1976) on the Swaran Singh Committee recommendation, in Part IVA, Article 51A (originally 10 duties, 11th added by the 86th Amendment, 2002).

Key Amendments: 1st (1951) added Ninth Schedule; 42nd (1976) 'Mini Constitution' added socialist, secular, integrity to the Preamble; 44th (1978) replaced 'internal disturbance' with 'armed rebellion' in Article 352; 73rd/74th (1992) gave constitutional status to Panchayati Raj and municipalities; 101st (2016) introduced GST.

Geography: Tropic of Cancer passes through 8 Indian states - Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura, Mizoram. India's standard meridian is 82°30'E passing through Mirzapur (Uttar Pradesh), giving IST = GMT + 5:30.

Indian polity offices: President elected indirectly by an electoral college (elected MPs + elected MLAs); impeachment under Article 61 for violation of the Constitution. Vice-President is ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha. Money Bills can be introduced only in Lok Sabha, with prior recommendation of the President (Article 110, 117).

Uttar Pradesh specifics: formed as North-Western Provinces, renamed United Provinces in 1902, became Uttar Pradesh on 24 January 1950. It borders 8 states/UTs - Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Delhi. Highest peak is Amsot (Sivalik range); largest city is Kanpur.

Science basics: SI unit of force is newton, of pressure pascal, of power watt; speed of light ≈ 3×10^8 m/s; pH below 7 is acidic; photosynthesis converts CO2 and water into glucose and O2 in chloroplasts using chlorophyll; blood groups follow A, B, AB, O with O as universal donor.

Economy and institutions: RBI was nationalised in 1949 and controls monetary policy; repo rate is the rate at which RBI lends to banks, reverse repo the rate at which it absorbs liquidity. NITI Aayog replaced the Planning Commission on 1 January 2015. GST Council is chaired by the Union Finance Minister.

स्वर के भेद: मूल स्वर 11 (अ, आ, इ, ई, उ, ऊ, ऋ, ए, ऐ, ओ, औ); संयुक्त स्वर 2 (अं अनुनासिक, अः विसर्ग)। व्यंजन 33 माने जाते हैं; स्पर्श व्यंजन क-वर्ग से प-वर्ग तक 25, अंतःस्थल य, र, ल, व तथा ऊष्म श, ष, स, ह।

वर्ण-विच्छेद: 'कवि' = क् + अ + व् + इ; 'संस्कृति' = स् + अं + स् + क् + ऋ + त् + इ। संधि-विच्छेद के प्रमुख भेद - स्वर संधि (दीर्घ, गुण, वृद्धि, यण, अयादि), व्यंजन संधि, विसर्ग संधि। उदाहरण: सूर्योदय = सूर्य + उदय (गुण संधि)।

समास के छह भेद: अव्ययीभाव (प्रतिदिन), तत्पुरुष (राजपुत्र), कर्मधारय (नीलकमल), द्विगु (त्रिलोक), द्वंद्व (माता-पिता), बहुव्रीहि (दशानन)। समस्तपद में पूर्व पद प्रधान हो तो अव्ययीभाव, उत्तर पद प्रधान हो तो तत्पुरुष।

उपसर्ग अर्थ बदलते हैं: 'अनु' = पीछे/समान (अनुसरण), 'अप' = बुरा/नीचे (अपमान), 'प्र' = अधिक/आगे (प्रगति), 'वि' = विशेष/विपरीत (विदेश)। प्रत्यय दो प्रकार - कृत् (कृदंत, क्रिया से: पढ़ाई, लिखावट) और तद्धित (संज्ञा/विशेषण से: लड़कपन, मिठास)।

संज्ञा के भेद: व्यक्तिवाचक, जातिवाचक, भाववाचक, समूहवाचक, द्रव्यवाचक। सर्वनाम के छह भेद: पुरुषवाचक, निजवाचक, निश्चयवाचक, अनिश्चयवाचक, प्रश्नवाचक, संबंधवाचक। क्रिया के भेद: सकर्मक/अकर्मक तथा प्रेरणार्थक।

काल तीन मुख्य - वर्तमान, भूत, भविष्य; प्रत्येक के सामान्य, अपूर्ण, पूर्ण, संदिग्ध और हेतुहेतुमद् भेद होते हैं। वाच्य तीन प्रकार: कर्तृवाच्य, कर्मवाच्य, भाववाच्य। 'मोहन ने पत्र लिखा' कर्तृवाच्य है; 'मोहन से पत्र लिखा गया' कर्मवाच्य।

अलंकार: अनुप्रास (वर्ण आवृत्ति), यमक (एक शब्द भिन्न अर्थ में दोहराया), श्लेष (एक शब्द अनेक अर्थ), उपमा (सा, सम, जैसा), रूपक (अभेद आरोप), उत्प्रेक्षा (मानो, जनु), अतिशयोक्ति (अत्युक्ति)। 'चारु चंद्र की चंचल किरणें' में अनुप्रास है।

रस के नौ भेद और स्थायी भाव: शृंगार (रति), हास्य (हास), करुण (शोक), रौद्र (क्रोध), वीर (उत्साह), भयानक (भय), बीभत्स (जुगुप्सा), अद्भुत (विस्मय), शांत (निर्वेद)। वात्सल्य और भक्ति शृंगार के अंग माने जाते हैं।

वर्तनी और शब्द-शुद्धि: 'क्ष', 'त्र', 'ज्ञ' संयुक्त व्यंजन हैं; 'श' तालव्य, 'ष' मूर्धन्य, 'स' दंत्य। सामान्य अशुद्धियाँ - 'परिक्षा' के स्थान पर 'परीक्षा', 'आर्शीवाद' के स्थान पर 'आशीर्वाद', 'उज्जवल' के स्थान पर 'उज्ज्वल'।

मुहावरे और लोकोक्तियाँ अर्थ सहित: 'अंधे की लाठी' = एकमात्र सहारा; 'नौ-दो ग्यारह होना' = भाग जाना; 'थाली का बैंगन' = सिद्धांतहीन व्यक्ति; 'अक्ल का दुश्मन' = मूर्ख। लोकोक्ति 'अब पछताए होत क्या, जब चिड़ियाँ चुग गईं खेत' = अवसर बीतने पर पछताना।

Subject-verb agreement: a singular subject takes a singular verb; with 'either...or'/'neither...nor' the verb agrees with the nearer subject; 'each, every, everyone, nobody, either, neither' are singular; 'news, mathematics, physics, economics' are treated as singular.

Tenses: present perfect (has/have + past participle) is used for past actions with present relevance and with 'since/for'; past perfect (had + participle) marks the earlier of two past actions; future perfect is 'will have + participle'.

Articles: 'a' before consonant sounds, 'an' before vowel sounds, decided by sound not spelling - 'an hour', 'a university', 'an MLA'. The definite article 'the' is used with superlatives, unique things, rivers, ranges, oceans, and ordinals.

Active to passive: object becomes subject, verb becomes 'be + past participle', agent follows 'by'. Present simple 'writes' becomes 'is written'; past simple 'wrote' becomes 'was written'; modals become 'can be written'. Perfect continuous tenses normally have no passive form.

Narration change: present tenses shift to past, 'today' to 'that day', 'tomorrow' to 'the next day', 'here' to 'there', 'this' to 'that'. For universal truths the tense stays unchanged. In reported questions the word order becomes statement order and no question mark is used.

Conditionals: zero (present + present) for general truths; first (if + present, will + base) for real future; second (if + past, would + base) for unreal present; third (if + had + participle, would have + participle) for unreal past.

Prepositions with fixed verbs: 'differ from', 'comply with', 'abide by', 'consist of', 'insist on', 'deprive of', 'acquainted with', 'superior to', 'prefer to', 'married to', 'congratulate on'. 'Since' marks a point of time, 'for' a duration.

Common confusables: affect (verb) versus effect (noun); principal (head, main) versus principle (rule); stationary (not moving) versus stationery (writing material); compliment (praise) versus complement (that which completes); advice (noun) versus advise (verb).

One-word substitutions: 'altruist' (lives for others), 'misanthrope' (hates mankind), 'ephemeral' (short-lived), 'ubiquitous' (present everywhere), 'philanthropist' (loves mankind), 'obsolete' (out of use), 'invincible' (unconquerable), 'ambiguous' (having two meanings), 'garrulous' (talkative).

Idioms: 'to beat about the bush' = to avoid the main point; 'a bolt from the blue' = a sudden shock; 'to burn the midnight oil' = to work late; 'to let the cat out of the bag' = to reveal a secret; 'a white elephant' = a costly but useless possession; 'at daggers drawn' = bitterly hostile.

Percentage and profit: percentage change = (change ÷ original) × 100. Profit% is calculated on cost price unless stated otherwise; SP = CP × (100 + P)/100. Successive discounts of a% and b% equal a single discount of a + b − ab/100 percent.

Simple and compound interest: SI = P × R × T / 100; CI amount = P(1 + R/100)^T; for 2 years the CI − SI difference equals P(R/100)^2. Effective rate for half-yearly compounding doubles the periods and halves the rate.

Time, speed and distance: distance = speed × time; to convert km/h to m/s multiply by 5/18. Relative speed is the sum when moving opposite and the difference when moving in the same direction. Train crossing a platform: time = (train length + platform length) ÷ speed.

Averages and mixtures: average = sum ÷ number of items. Alligation rule gives ratio of quantities as (higher value − mean) : (mean − lower value). If a vessel of volume V has liquid replaced by water n times, remaining liquid = V(1 − replacement/V)^n.

Time and work: if A finishes in x days and B in y days, together they take xy/(x + y) days. Work is treated as 1 unit; efficiency is inversely proportional to time. If A is twice as efficient as B, A takes half the time of B.

Permutation, combination and probability: nPr = n!/(n − r)!; nCr = n!/[r!(n − r)!]; nC0 = nCn = 1. Probability of an event = favourable outcomes ÷ total equally likely outcomes; the sum of all probabilities is 1.

Number series and coding: check differences, then ratios, then squares/cubes and primes before assuming a rule. In letter coding, A = 1 through Z = 26; 'EJOTY' recalls positions 5, 10, 15, 20, 25. Reverse value of a letter = 27 − forward value.

Blood relations and direction sense: draw a family tree and mark gender explicitly; 'maternal uncle' is mother's brother, 'paternal aunt' is father's sister. In direction problems use Pythagoras for shortest distance: displacement = √(x² + y²) when moves are perpendicular.

Syllogism rules: a conclusion follows only if true in every possible Venn diagram of the premises. 'All A are B' does not imply 'All B are A'; 'Some A are B' converts to 'Some B are A'; 'No A is B' converts to 'No B is A'. Two particular premises give no conclusion.

Ratio and ages: if the present ratio of ages is a : b, multiply both by a common factor k before applying time shifts. Partnership profit shares are proportional to capital × time. For a:b = 2:3 and b:c = 4:5, combine as a:b:c = 8:12:15.