General Knowledge, Current Affairs and English Language
What the exam tests
This mixed section tests static general knowledge, recent legal and national developments, and English grammar and comprehension.
Core rules
- For current affairs, track the three new criminal codes effective 1 July 2024, the 106th Constitutional Amendment on women's reservation, and major Supreme Court decisions such as the electoral bonds case and the Article 370 case.
- Static polity: Article 368, writs, President's powers, Election Commission, Finance Commission.
- English: subject-verb agreement, articles, prepositions, tenses, modifiers, and commonly confused words.
- Comprehension questions reward returning to the passage for evidence, not outside knowledge.
Worked example
Sentence: 'One of the boys ___ absent yesterday.' The subject is 'one', not 'boys', so the verb is singular: 'was'. If the sentence were 'The boys ___ absent', the verb would be 'were'. Reasoning: the prepositional phrase 'of the boys' does not change the head noun.
Traps
Do not rely only on static GK; legal current affairs are asked. In grammar, 'one of the' is singular. In comprehension, an option that is true in real life but not stated in the passage is wrong. Keep a monthly log of Supreme Court judgments and appointments.