Attempt this full-length CDS II GK mock test with 120 exam-level questions, answer key, preparation strategy, and 20 detailed explanations for revision.
Table of Contents
CDS II GK Mock Test 2026: Full-Length Practice Paper
Introduction
General Knowledge is a decisive component of the Combined Defence Services Examination because it tests much more than memory. The paper requires candidates to connect facts, institutions, scientific principles, historical developments and geographical processes under strict time pressure. A well-designed CDS II GK mock test should therefore resemble the real examination in breadth, wording, option quality and difficulty progression.
This full-length test contains 120 questions covering modern and ancient history, Indian polity, geography, economics, physics, chemistry, biology, environment, defence awareness, art and culture, and major international institutions. The questions begin with direct but examination-relevant concepts and gradually move towards analytical and application-based items. The format is suitable for timed practice and for identifying weak areas before revision.
Importance of General Knowledge in CDS II
The GK paper rewards balanced preparation. A candidate who studies only current affairs or only static subjects usually leaves too many questions unattempted. History and polity build the constitutional and institutional foundation required for defence examinations. Geography helps in understanding climate, resources, strategic locations and physical processes. Economics tests awareness of public finance, banking, inflation and the balance of payments. Science questions check whether the candidate can apply basic principles to familiar situations rather than merely recall definitions.
Defence-related knowledge is also important because the examination is conducted for entry into the armed forces. Questions may cover missiles, military exercises, commands, defence organisations, platforms and major operations. Environment and international organisations have become equally relevant because they connect national security with climate, resources, diplomacy and global governance.
Types of Questions Asked in the Real Examination
CDS GK questions generally appear in four broad forms. The first is direct factual recall, such as identifying a constitutional article, a historical inscription or the location of an international secretariat. The second is conceptual understanding, for example explaining why a geostationary satellite must orbit above the equator or what a positive Indian Ocean Dipole means.
The third type tests distinctions between closely related ideas. Examples include fiscal deficit versus revenue deficit, Bhabar versus Terai, or current account versus capital account transactions. The fourth type is application-based. Such questions may ask candidates to infer the effect of El Nino on the monsoon, identify the role of a reactor moderator, or understand the ecological consequences of biomagnification.
Good mock tests should also use plausible distractors. An option should not look obviously wrong merely because of poor wording. This is why candidates must read every option before marking an answer.
Practical Preparation Strategy
Start by dividing the syllabus into recurring domains: history, polity, geography, economy, science, environment, defence and international affairs. Give each domain a fixed weekly revision slot. Use one standard source for theory and a separate notebook for errors, confusing pairs, formulas, constitutional articles and timelines.
While attempting this test, use a realistic time limit. Complete the first round by answering only questions you can solve with reasonable confidence. In the second round, return to items where elimination can reduce the options to two. Avoid spending excessive time on one question because the paper is designed to test both knowledge and decision-making.
After the test, classify every wrong answer into one of four categories: concept not studied, fact forgotten, confusion between options, or careless reading. This classification is more useful than merely recording the score. Revise the underlying topic within twenty-four hours and attempt a similar question again after three to seven days.
For science, focus on principles and everyday applications. For polity, learn the function of important articles, schedules, constitutional bodies and parliamentary procedures. For geography, combine maps with processes such as monsoons, soils, rivers and ocean currents. For history, use timelines and link events with causes, leaders and consequences. For economics, understand definitions through examples rather than memorising isolated terms.
Common Mistakes Students Make
The most common mistake is over-attempting doubtful questions without considering negative marking. Another is treating all sections equally even when personal accuracy differs sharply. Candidates should know their high-confidence and low-confidence areas.
Many students also memorise current-affairs headlines without revising the static background. A report about inflation becomes easier only when CPI, GDP deflator and base effect are already understood. Similarly, defence news is easier to retain when missile classes, services and platform types are clear.
Careless reading causes avoidable errors. Words such as “not,” “only,” “primarily,” “most closely associated” and “best defined” change the demand of a question. Candidates should also avoid changing an answer unless they identify a specific factual or logical reason.
Benefits of Regular MCQ Practice
Regular MCQ practice improves recall speed, option elimination and accuracy under pressure. It reveals whether a candidate can recognise a fact in a new form rather than only reproduce notes. A full-length paper also shows how concentration changes over time and whether errors increase in the final part of the test.
Reviewing explanations is essential. The aim is not simply to know which option is correct, but to understand why the other options do not fit. Repeated practice with analysis creates a compact revision system: every test produces a list of weak concepts, and every revision cycle reduces that list.
20 Sample Questions with Detailed Explanations
1. The Cabinet Mission Plan proposed an Indian Union controlling:
Correct Answer: Defence, foreign affairs and communications
Explanation: The Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946 proposed a limited Union government responsible mainly for defence, foreign affairs and communications. The provinces would retain most other subjects and substantial autonomy. The plan attempted to preserve Indian unity while addressing demands for provincial and communal safeguards. Police, agriculture, education and most taxation powers were not intended to be placed entirely under the proposed Union.
2. A joint sitting of Parliament is provided for under:
Correct Answer: Article 108
Explanation: Article 108 permits a joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha when there is a legislative deadlock over an ordinary Bill. The President summons the sitting, and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha normally presides. A joint sitting is not available for a Money Bill because the Lok Sabha has special authority over such Bills. It is also not used for a Constitutional Amendment Bill.
3. The doctrine of the basic structure of the Constitution was propounded in:
Correct Answer: Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala
Explanation: In the 1973 Kesavananda Bharati judgment, the Supreme Court held that Parliament possesses wide powers to amend the Constitution under Article 368. However, it cannot destroy or alter its basic structure. Features commonly associated with the basic structure include constitutional supremacy, judicial review, secularism, federalism, democracy and the rule of law. The doctrine places a substantive limitation on Parliament’s amending power.
4. Western disturbances affecting north-western India generally originate near the:
Correct Answer: Mediterranean region
Explanation: Western disturbances are extra-tropical weather systems that generally develop around the Mediterranean region and travel eastward with the westerly winds. They bring winter rainfall to north-western India and snowfall to the western Himalayas. This winter precipitation is important for rabi crops, particularly wheat. These systems are different from tropical cyclones that develop over warm tropical oceans.
5. An El Nino event is often associated with which broad effect on the Indian summer monsoon?
Correct Answer: Tendency towards weakening
Explanation: El Nino involves abnormal warming of the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. It can alter the Walker circulation and weaken the atmospheric conditions that support a strong Indian summer monsoon. The relationship is not absolute because the monsoon is influenced by several other factors, including the Indian Ocean Dipole, Eurasian snow conditions and regional sea-surface temperatures. Therefore, “tendency towards weakening” is more accurate than claiming an automatic drought.
6. Which statement correctly distinguishes the Bhabar from the Terai?
Correct Answer: Bhabar is a porous belt, while Terai is marshy
Explanation: The Bhabar is a narrow belt along the Himalayan foothills where rivers deposit coarse pebbles and boulders. Its highly porous surface causes many streams to disappear underground. South of it lies the Terai, where the underground streams re-emerge because the sediments are finer and drainage is poor. As a result, the Terai is wetter, marshier and more suitable for dense vegetation.
7. Fiscal deficit is best defined as total expenditure minus:
Correct Answer: Revenue receipts and non-debt capital receipts
Explanation: Fiscal deficit represents the government’s total borrowing requirement. It is calculated by subtracting revenue receipts and non-debt capital receipts from total expenditure. Non-debt capital receipts include items such as loan recoveries and disinvestment proceeds. Borrowings are excluded because the fiscal deficit itself indicates the amount that must be financed through borrowing or other liability-creating sources.
8. Which item is included in the current account of the balance of payments?
Correct Answer: Export of software services
Explanation: The current account records trade in goods, trade in services, primary income and transfers. Software exports are service exports and therefore create current-account receipts. Foreign direct investment, external commercial borrowing and the purchase of foreign financial assets are financial transactions. They are recorded under the capital or financial side of the balance of payments rather than the current account.
9. A transformer operates on the principle of:
Correct Answer: Mutual induction
Explanation: A transformer has primary and secondary coils linked by a magnetic core. Alternating current in the primary coil produces a changing magnetic flux. This changing flux induces an electromotive force in the secondary coil through mutual induction. A transformer requires changing current and therefore does not operate normally with a steady direct current. The turns ratio determines whether the device steps voltage up or down.
10. A geostationary satellite must orbit:
Correct Answer: Over the equator from west to east with a period equal to Earth’s rotation
Explanation: To appear fixed above one point on Earth, a satellite must revolve in the same direction as Earth’s rotation and complete one orbit in approximately one sidereal day. Its orbit must lie in the equatorial plane and be nearly circular. A polar orbit or an east-to-west orbit would cause the satellite to move relative to the observer. Geostationary satellites are widely used for communication and weather observation.
11. Lenz’s law is a consequence of the law of conservation of:
Correct Answer: Energy
Explanation: Lenz’s law states that an induced current flows in a direction that opposes the change in magnetic flux producing it. Without this opposition, a changing magnetic field could continuously generate energy without any external work. By resisting the original change, the induced current ensures that mechanical or electrical work must be supplied. The law is therefore a direct expression of conservation of energy in electromagnetic induction.
12. Aqua regia is a mixture of concentrated hydrochloric acid and concentrated nitric acid in the volume ratio:
Correct Answer: 3:1
Explanation: Aqua regia contains three parts concentrated hydrochloric acid and one part concentrated nitric acid by volume. The mixture produces highly reactive chemical species capable of dissolving noble metals such as gold and platinum. Nitric acid acts as an oxidising agent, while chloride ions help form stable metal-chloride complexes. The reverse ratio of one part hydrochloric acid to three parts nitric acid is incorrect.
13. In the Haber process, the principal catalyst used is finely divided:
Correct Answer: Iron
Explanation: The Haber process produces ammonia by reacting nitrogen with hydrogen. Finely divided iron is used as the principal catalyst because it provides a surface on which the reactant molecules can be adsorbed and activated. The process uses elevated pressure and an optimum temperature to balance reaction rate with equilibrium yield. Nickel is commonly associated with hydrogenation reactions, while platinum is used in several oxidation processes.
14. The first stable product of carbon fixation in C4 plants is generally:
Correct Answer: Oxaloacetic acid
Explanation: In C4 plants, carbon dioxide is initially fixed in mesophyll cells by the enzyme PEP carboxylase. The reaction produces the four-carbon compound oxaloacetic acid. It is commonly converted into malate or aspartate and transported to bundle-sheath cells, where carbon dioxide is released for the Calvin cycle. This mechanism reduces photorespiration and improves efficiency under high temperature and strong light conditions.
15. DNA replication is described as semiconservative because each daughter DNA molecule contains:
Correct Answer: One parental and one newly synthesized strand
Explanation: During DNA replication, the two parental strands separate and each acts as a template for the synthesis of a complementary strand. Consequently, every daughter DNA molecule contains one strand from the original molecule and one newly formed strand. This model is called semiconservative replication. It was experimentally supported by the Meselson-Stahl experiment using nitrogen isotopes in bacterial DNA.
16. The Ramsar Convention is specifically concerned with the conservation and wise use of:
Correct Answer: Wetlands
Explanation: The Ramsar Convention provides an international framework for conserving wetlands and ensuring their wise use. Wetlands include lakes, marshes, floodplains, mangroves and other water-dependent ecosystems. They support biodiversity, reduce flood intensity, recharge groundwater and provide livelihoods. A Ramsar designation recognises the international ecological significance of a wetland but does not mean that all human activity at the site is automatically prohibited.
17. Coral bleaching mainly results from the loss of:
Correct Answer: Symbiotic zooxanthellae or their pigments
Explanation: Reef-building corals live in association with microscopic algae known as zooxanthellae. These algae provide much of the coral’s energy through photosynthesis and give corals their characteristic colour. Heat stress, pollution or other environmental disturbances can cause corals to expel the algae or lose their pigments. The exposed coral tissue then appears pale or white. Prolonged bleaching can cause starvation and coral mortality.
18. Operation Meghdoot is associated with India’s military deployment in the:
Correct Answer: Siachen Glacier
Explanation: Operation Meghdoot was launched in 1984 to secure strategically important positions in the Siachen Glacier region. The operation involved the deployment of Indian forces at extremely high altitudes under severe climatic conditions. It is not associated with the Andaman Sea, the Rann of Kutch or Nathu La. The question tests the connection between major military operations and their geographical theatres.
19. INS Arihant is India’s first indigenously built:
Correct Answer: Nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine
Explanation: INS Arihant is an indigenously built nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, commonly classified as an SSBN. Nuclear propulsion allows a submarine to remain submerged for long periods, while submarine-launched ballistic missiles provide a sea-based nuclear deterrent. This sea-based capability is important because it improves survivability and supports a credible second-strike capacity. It is different from an aircraft carrier or a conventional diesel-electric submarine.
20. The International Date Line broadly follows the:
Correct Answer: 180-degree meridian
Explanation: The International Date Line broadly follows the 180-degree meridian in the Pacific Ocean. Crossing it changes the calendar date by one day. A traveller moving westward generally adds a day, while one moving eastward subtracts a day. The line does not follow the meridian perfectly because it bends around countries and island groups to avoid dividing politically connected territories into different calendar dates.
Practice the Full Test
Attempt all 120 questions in one sitting, record the time taken and calculate section-wise accuracy. Revisit every incorrect or guessed response using the explanations and your standard reference material. Repeat the test after a suitable revision gap and compare accuracy, not just total attempts.