PYQ Vault

CDS (II) 2022, English question paper

120 questions · 100 marks · 120 minutes · +0.83 per correct answer, -0.28 per wrong one

Every question in the order it was set, free to read. Tap an option to check it, or open the answer and worked solution. Answers open as you go; sign in free to keep opening them.

Sit it as a timed mock
  1. Directions: In this section you have three short passages. After each passage, you will find some items based on the passage. Read the passage carefully and answer the items based on it. Passage – I China's government announced on April 19 that it had signed a landmark security pact with the Solomon Islands, evoking concern from Australia and the US. The agreement is the first of its kind that China has agreed with any country, and underlines its ambitions to play a security role in the Pacific. The final version has not been made public. It will pave the way for China to deploy its security forces there. The Solomon Islands can request police and military personnel "to assist in maintaining social order", while China can make ship visits and use its ports for logistics. This will give China's vessels a strategic foothold in the Pacific, in a region close to Australia and Guam, where the US has a naval base. Both countries unsurprisingly expressed concern, with Washington, even dispatching a senior official to the Solomon Islands, who will take up the pact as well as plans to reopen the US Embassy there. The significance of the pact extends beyond the immediate regional security concerns in the Pacific. The Solomon Islands government said the agreement does not imply China will build a base there. The pact does, however, relate to a second key pillar of China's avowed "peaceful rise" doctrine, which was, as popularised by "Panchsheel" or the "five principles of peaceful coexistence" — the "non-interference" in the internal affairs of other countries. The deployment of security forces in a foreign country certainly does not square with that idea. China has already begun to do so elsewhere, albeit on a limited scale. China's past commitments on military bases and non-interference were intended to show the world Beijing would not seek to become a global "hegemon", its favoured term to describe the US.
    1
    China's objective of signing a security pact with Solomon Islands is

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  2. 2
    The Pact symbolises China's doctrine of

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  3. 3
    Which one of the following is implied by 'Beijing would not seek to become a global hegemon' ?

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  4. 4
    What does 'strategic foothold' imply in the passage ?

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  5. 5
    What does 'square with that idea' imply in the passage ?

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  6. Directions: In this section you have three short passages. After each passage, you will find some items based on the passage. Read the passage carefully and answer the items based on it. Passage – II Among the major objectives of the Glasgow Summit was to frame the foundation of an international carbon trading system listed in the Paris Agreement to achieve the target of net zero emissions by 2050. It would enable nations to transfer credits to each other and offset their emission targets. Critics of the trading system, and there are many, say it would give leeway to developed countries and companies that are highly polluting to stave off making deeper cuts in their low emissions by buying credits from poorer countries at exploitative prices. There are also major differences over whether the new trading system will recognize historical emissions permitted under earlier protocols. Others want rules that permit double credits for the nation funding a particular carbon reducing project, such as the regeneration of forests to act as a carbon sink, and for the country implementing it. A third issue is whether a share of the revenue from such a bilateral trading agreement will go toward the UN's Adaptation Fund. There have also been concerns about the integrity of the accounting system for such credits.
    6
    What is 'international carbon trading system' here ?

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  7. 7
    What is the third issue being mentioned in the context of 'share of the revenue' ?

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  8. 8
    '... forests to act as a carbon sink' means

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  9. 9
    What is the concern about the integrity of the accounting system ?

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  10. 10
    Which of the following words is nearer to the meaning of the word 'protocol' in the text ?

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  11. Directions: In this section you have three short passages. After each passage, you will find some items based on the passage. Read the passage carefully and answer the items based on it. Passage – III The RBI expects inflation at 6·7 percent in 2022 – 23. Recent government data also suggests that inflation has become more broad-based. Excluding the volatile components such as food and fuel, core retail inflation was around 7 percent in April with almost all subgroups in the index witnessing elevated inflation. And considering the inflation in the pipeline — the wholesale price index continues to be in double digits — price pressures are unlikely to dissipate in the immediate term. According to analysts, while manufacturing firms have been passing on the rise in input costs, it remains incomplete in the case of the services sector. However, as demand firms up, the pass through is likely to gather traction. This combination of factors suggests that inflation may not fall dramatically as and when commodity prices fall — prices may prove to be a tad sticky on the downside. The RBI's revised quarterly forecasts for inflation also seem to suggest so — inflation has now been projected at 7·5 percent in the first quarter, and 7·4 percent in the second quarter, trending downwards thereafter to 6·2 percent in the third quarter, and 5·8 percent in the fourth quarter. Implicit in these quarterly inflation forecasts is also the acknowledgment that inflation will likely exceed the upper threshold of the central bank's inflation targeting framework for three consecutive quarters. Considering the risks that the 'unanchoring' of inflation and inflation expectations pose to macroeconomic stability, and the country's growth prospects, the central bank must look beyond its quotidian responsibilities and continue to focus on maintaining price stability, attaching primacy to inflation management.
    11
    What are the volatile components of inflation ?

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  12. 12
    Why are prices unlikely to abate in the short term ?

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  13. 13
    In what context are the words 'pass through' used in the passage ?

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  14. 14
    Explain the meaning of the word 'quotidian' as used in the passage.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  15. 15
    Choose the most appropriate option that describes the meaning of the term 'unanchoring' as used in the passage.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  16. Directions: nearest meaning to the underlined word
    16
    He is considered the harbinger.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  17. 17
    The vista of the villages is beautiful.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  18. 18
    Her act was considered as most lamentable.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  19. 19
    The leader's endurance paid and he won the elections.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  20. 20
    We are planning a jaunt for a while during the winter.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  21. Directions: complete the sentence with the correct alternative
    21
    It is not that I do not take a decision,

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  22. 22
    If I were in your position,

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  23. 23
    Having written many novels and short stories,

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  24. 24
    There are many career options,

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  25. 25
    If you had prepared well,

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  26. 26
    Where there is a will,

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  27. 27
    "It is getting dark,

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  28. 28
    Once I met a traveller

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  29. 29
    Man is the greatest truth of all,

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  30. 30
    If your life is circumscribed by habits alone,

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  31. Directions: arrange jumbled parts P, Q, R, S of a sentence
    31
    P: in the filaments of Q: rubidium is used R: which convert light energy into electrical energy S: photoelectric cells

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  32. 32
    P: he urged so many to get involved Q: who has left his mark R: this is the final word of an educational philosopher S: on a world in which

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  33. 33
    P: or the opposite Q: where you say one thing R: irony is a figure of speech S: while you mean another

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  34. 34
    P: across the world Q: in the Middle East has changed R: the discovery of petroleum S: the lifestyle of the people

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  35. 35
    P: as a source of energy Q: the camel uses fat R: in the desert S: during its long journey

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  36. 36
    P: must support the main part Q: the beginning and the concluding lines R: described in the story S: or the events

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  37. 37
    P: is being systematically damaged Q: our beautiful riverine ecosystem R: by industrial pollution S: channelled into rivers

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  38. 38
    P: the film industry due to Q: nearness to the viewers R: its ready availability and S: the television screen is challenging

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  39. 39
    P: they built an Artificial Intelligence system Q: researchers say that R: makes ethical judgments S: that like humans

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  40. 40
    P: he is a fool, it is that Q: others think intelligently R: it is not that S: he does not think

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  41. Directions: Each of the following sentences in this section has a blank space with four words or group of words given. Select whichever word or group of words you consider the most appropriate for the blank space and indicate your response on the Answer Sheet accordingly. Passage CLOZE COMPOSITION Banking is ___(41)___ essential building block to reach greater prosperity and help build a better system ___(42)___ financial services can create a path out of poverty. However, big traditional banks often exclude low-income populations ___(43)___ requirements or by using historically discriminatory practices that keep ___(44)___ low-income customers ___(45)___ from formal finance. Modern lifestyles are predicated ___(46)___ debt. If you have a stable and reliable income, have a bank account with access to a range ___(47)___ modern financial products, you can manage your debts efficiently. This ___(48)___ what the entire financial system is for. But debt ___(49)___ a lifetime's trap if you don't have easy access to ___(50)___ financial products.
    41
    Blank (41): "Banking is ____ essential building block to reach greater prosperity ..."

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  42. 42
    Blank (42): "a better system ____ financial services can create a path out of poverty."

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  43. 43
    Blank (43): "big traditional banks often exclude low-income populations ____ requirements ..."

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  44. 44
    Blank (44): "... practices that keep ____ low-income customers ..."

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  45. 45
    Blank (45): "... keep low-income customers ____ from formal finance."

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  46. 46
    Blank (46): "Modern lifestyles are predicated ____ debt."

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  47. 47
    Blank (47): "... a bank account with access to a range ____ modern financial products ..."

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  48. 48
    Blank (48): "... manage your debts efficiently. This ____ what the entire financial system is for."

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  49. 49
    Blank (49): "But debt ____ a lifetime's trap if you don't have easy access to ..."

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  50. 50
    Blank (50): "... if you don't have easy access to ____ financial products."

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  51. Directions: select the correct preposition or determiner
    51
    Rahul must have received the dues _______ now.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  52. 52
    How many students have come _______ you for the programme?

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  53. 53
    You need to make others feel that you are second _______ none.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  54. 54
    Scholars are often caught on the horns of _______ dilemma.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  55. 55
    Amid _______ few incidents of violence, the voting went on well.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  56. 56
    _______ university is a place for thinking and learning.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  57. 57
    Education is a manifestation of _______ perfection already in man.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  58. 58
    Entry _______ the building was restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  59. 59
    Ranjit has been elected as _______ leader of the group in the house.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  60. 60
    System performance was demonstrated _______ the Drop Zone from an altitude of 5000 m.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  61. Directions: order jumbled middle sentences P, Q, R, S
    61
    S1: A licensee who wants to surrender his license shall apply in Form X to the licensing officer. S6: The licensee who has surrendered his license shall be allowed to sell the antiquities declared to another licensee or a recognized museum in India. P: This shall not entitle the licensee to any compensation by way of license fee in any form. Q: If the licensing officer is satisfied, he may accept the surrender. R: The license shall be deemed to have been terminated from the date of such acceptance. S: The application shall be accompanied by a declaration of stock in Form V.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  62. 62
    S1: Haryana has achieved the 2nd rank among States in Logistics Ease Across Different States (LEADS) - 2021 report. S6: LEADS 2021 framework evaluated States / UTs on 21 indicators, including 17 perceptions and four objectives-based indicators. P: This makes Haryana a top performer in the northern cluster of land-locked States. Q: The State has taken a leap from the 6th overall position in the previous evaluation (2019). R: The improvement in ranking reflects focused initiatives by the State in improving the infrastructure. S: The report aims to evaluate and rank States / UTs based on the efficiency of their logistics and initiatives taken.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  63. 63
    S1: Wind power is an inexhaustible source of clean energy. S6: As examples, 13% of Denmark's power and more than 20% of power in the Netherlands, Spain and Germany is supplied by the wind. P: During the last decade, power production from the wind increased more than 25%. Q: Although the cost of electrical energy produced by the wind depends on favourable sites for the location of wind turbines, wind power is already cost competitive with power produced from fossil fuels. R: Much of the growth was in Europe, where most of the world's 17,000 megawatts of wind power is generated. S: One expert calls wind generation the fastest-growing electricity-producing technology in the world.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  64. 64
    S1: Education, it is believed, is inseparable from our societal aspirations. S6: But, for a modern / technical mind, this preoccupation with supreme spiritual knowledge may not hold such fascination. P: Education, as many would argue, was for realization of the Ultimate and the Absolute. Q: In ancient times, for example, there was a distinctive spiritual meaning associated with education. R: As these aspirations / world views undergo a process of transformation with the changing times, so does the meaning for education. S: It was to overcome the finiteness of existence: all earthly temptations and desires.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  65. 65
    S1: He resisted colonial education not just because it came from the West. S6: Besides, with this kind of education, one could not appreciate the dignity of manual labour. P: Essentially, he disliked its inherent elitism, its irrelevance as far as the needs of India's rural masses were concerned. Q: For example, it was difficult for him to accept English as the medium of instruction, because he felt that it has created a permanent bar between the highly educated few and the uneducated many. R: Moreover, with his profound pedagogic sensitivity he could see the damaging effect of colonial education. S: He also felt that English made one a stranger in one's own land.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  66. 66
    S1: A corpus is an abundant source of samples of English usage. S6: It is not only the previously explained meaning of the word that we might want a sample to exemplify, however, but also its collocational tendencies. P: If this is to be of the meaning that has been previously explained, they cannot just be picked out of the corpus at random. Q: If they are to function as examples, however, then we need to ask just what it is they are intended to be examples of. R: Samples of the language, isolated from their natural context of use, will not normally exemplify word meanings, but will simply show one instance of the word's actual occurrence. S: This is because the context will usually make it unnecessary to spell the meaning out.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  67. 67
    S1: Historians have often explained religious and social reform in India in the nineteenth century as a result of the Western impact upon the minds of men. S6: Each of these vernacular-using reformers derived his arguments from within his own tradition. P: With that purpose, we seek to analyze the thoughts and activities of individuals who were both religious reformers and vernacular publicists. Q: The equation of westernization and modernization has given way to a search for the indigenous sources of social changes. R: Recognizing the modernity of tradition is one thing however, whereas understanding the intellectual processes that produced indigenously generated change is another. S: Others have recognized that this was entirely too simple an explanation for the intellectual and social changes that took place in India and other places that fell under the foreign colonial rule.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  68. 68
    S1: The country has experienced unprecedented economic development since the adoption of the New Economic Policy in the year 1999. S6: If the country dreams of a much larger economy today, much of the optimism is due to the policy changes that took place in the year 1999. P: The middle classes have been the greatest beneficiary of the policy, who today enjoy far greater levels of income than their previous generations. Q: In the immediate aftermath of the newly announced policy, there was apprehension in the minds of the people. R: Within a few years, however, the beneficial impact of the newly announced policy became manifest through higher GDP and a thriving economy. S: Faced with a critical foreign exchange crisis, the country adopted the policy in the Union Budget presented in the year 1999.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  69. 69
    S1: The Indian co-operative movement is probably one of the largest, strongest and the oldest in the world with widespread spatial coverage, diversified business activities and ample success stories. S6: Co-operatives have been organized in areas like credit, marketing, distribution, dairy development, industry, sugar and so on. P: It has celebrated its Centenary very recently. Q: It is structured around the Rochdale Principles and Raiffeisen Model in wake of miseries of peasantry. R: It is termed as the "economic miracle" of the last century. S: Ever since the officially sponsored Act of 1904, the Movement has passed through a number of phases.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  70. 70
    S1: Degenerative and man-made diseases, or rather, non-communicable diseases mark epidemiological transition in the contemporary world. S6: This transition has led to the rise of living standards in general, whereby people enjoy a sedentary lifestyle with good socio-economic profile. P: Scholars reiterate that epidemiological transition and structural change in the disease pattern are inevitable. Q: This transition is the result of rapid increments in urbanization and industrialization. R: He argued that the disease pattern is shifting from the predominance of infectious and parasitic diseases to chronic and man-made diseases. S: Omran's epidemiological transition theory, 1971 portrayed a clear picture of the changing pattern of diseases prevalent all over the world.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  71. Directions: select the sentence using the word correctly
    71
    Word: Alibi

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  72. 72
    Word: Continuously

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  73. 73
    Word: Elicit

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  74. 74
    Word: Climactic

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  75. 75
    Word: Affect

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  76. 76
    Word: Discrete

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  77. 77
    Word: It's

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  78. 78
    Word: Amidst

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  79. 79
    Word: Less

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  80. 80
    Word: Practise

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  81. Directions: select the word or group of words for the blank
    81
    He _______ waiting for you since morning.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  82. 82
    If a Time Machine _______ you anywhere for one day, where would you go ?

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  83. 83
    What you propose is _______ .

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  84. 84
    The campaign is in _______ .

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  85. 85
    Life has been thrown _______ due to the weather conditions in the city.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  86. 86
    Had he told me the news beforehand, I _______ careful and saved my money.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  87. 87
    He feels that he has been _______ .

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  88. 88
    He has the _______ touch of a maestro.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  89. 89
    He is one of the _______ in the country.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  90. 90
    The population of Mumbai and Delhi is greater than _______ city in India.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  91. Directions: describe the meaning of a pair of similar words
    91
    'Perspicacity' and 'Perspicuity'

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  92. 92
    'Complaisant' and 'Complacent'

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  93. 93
    'Compliment' and 'Complement'

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  94. 94
    'Deify' and 'Defy'

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  95. 95
    'Evoke' and 'Invoke'

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  96. 96
    'Sympathy' and 'Empathy'

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  97. 97
    'Accept' and 'Except'

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  98. 98
    'Reward' and 'Award'

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  99. 99
    'Emigrate' and 'Immigrate'

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  100. 100
    'Immolate' and 'Emulate'

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  101. Directions: find the error in an underlined part or No error
    101
    It would be nice to have a good evening stroll after five hours of office.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  102. 102
    Arun likes Geography more than he likes History.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  103. 103
    While the solar energy has grabbed the spotlight, wind power too has been made steady progress across the world and in India.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  104. 104
    Pride brings a great dealing of vanity, an egotistic inflation.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  105. 105
    Persuasion happens only when someone takes a stand from which he has unwilling to move.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  106. 106
    The food consumed is converted on the body into glucose.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  107. 107
    This testing method requires one to fast overnight after which the fasting blood sugar level is measured.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  108. 108
    Multiple research studies have laid emphasis on the importance of walking to improved glucose control.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  109. 109
    This also allows individual writers to play his strengths.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  110. 110
    As a screen writer, there are, broadly speaking, two kind of jobs in the film world.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  111. Directions: identify the part of speech of the underlined word
    111
    He headed the Indian freedom struggle which paved the way for non-violent struggle for other countries in the 20th century.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  112. 112
    Where there is peace for some time, there will be prosperity.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  113. 113
    Alas! We have been defeated.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  114. 114
    A zero is a zero always.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  115. 115
    May you be blessed with all good things of life.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  116. 116
    The lake is one of the more beautiful ones in the country.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  117. 117
    Honesty is the best policy.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  118. 118
    There is many a slip between the cup and the lip.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  119. 119
    Ravi and Megha reached first, but Guha and Saavi finished third.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

  120. 120
    He is the most sought after teacher in the school.

    Tap an option to check your answer.

Want the real exam feel? Sit this paper with a 120-minute timer and get your score straight away.

Sit it as a timed mock