General Knowledge and Current Affairs
General Knowledge and Current Affairs checks that you understand the country you intend to serve and the world it operates in. Expect Sri Lankan Constitution and governance, geography, economy, national institutions, and current events from roughly the past twelve months, including defence and aviation news.
Core content
- Constitution: the 1978 Constitution as amended; an executive President as head of state and government; a unicameral Parliament of 225 members (196 elected, 29 from the national list); 9 provinces and 25 districts.
- Geography: Pidurutalagala (2,524 m) is the highest peak; the Mahaweli is the longest river; the south-west monsoon (Yala) runs roughly May–September and the north-east monsoon (Maha) October–January.
- Economy: tea, rubber, coconut, textiles and garments, tourism and foreign remittances; the rupee is issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
- International links: founding member of SAARC; member of the UN, Commonwealth, BIMSTEC, NAM and IORA; a long record of UN peacekeeping contributions.
- Current affairs: appointments, treaties, disasters, defence procurement, and the IMF-backed economic reform programme.
Worked example
“Which province has the largest population?” Western Province. Reasoning: population is concentrated in Colombo and Gampaha, two of the most populous districts in the country, and both lie within the Western Province; the province also contains the commercial capital, Colombo.
Traps that cost marks
- Confusing Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, the legislative capital, with Colombo, the commercial capital.
- Mixing “highest” and “longest” for peaks, rivers and waterfalls.
- Using facts from an old almanac when a figure has since been revised.
- Ignoring the qualifiers “first”, “largest” and “only”.
Build a one-page monthly timeline and revise it; current affairs marks are the easiest to secure and the easiest to lose.