General Knowledge
General Knowledge in this paper is a breadth test: capitals and currencies, international organisations and their headquarters, major rivers, deserts and straits, famous books and authors, and the standard abbreviations used in government correspondence.
What to memorise
- UN system: General Assembly in New York; Security Council with five permanent veto-holding members; International Court of Justice at The Hague; Secretariat led by the Secretary-General.
- Pakistan-relevant bodies: SAARC (founded 1985 at Dhaka, secretariat Kathmandu, eight members), OIC (1969, Rabat; secretariat Jeddah), ECO (1985, Tehran), SCO (secretariat Beijing), World Bank and IMF (Washington DC), WTO (Geneva, 1995).
- Currency pairs recur: Japan yen, Myanmar kyat, Saudi Arabia riyal, Turkey lira, Iran rial, Bangladesh taka.
- Abbreviations in official use: FBR, SBP, SECP, NAB, NDMA, ICP, PIA, PSQCA.
Worked example
'The headquarters of the International Monetary Fund is in: (a) Geneva (b) Washington DC (c) Vienna (d) Manila.' Eliminate by association - Geneva hosts WTO, WHO and ILO; Vienna hosts IAEA and OPEC; Manila hosts the Asian Development Bank. The IMF and World Bank sit in Washington DC, so the answer is (b). Building a city-to-organisation map turns a guess into a deduction.
Traps
Mixing Rabat, where the OIC was founded, with Jeddah, where its secretariat sits. Assuming the UN's judicial organ is in New York; the ICJ is at The Hague. Confusing the ADB with the World Bank. Treating 'current' office-holders as fixed facts - the paper may be months old, so prefer structural facts such as founding year, membership and headquarters.