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Updated on: Monday, September 13, 2010

One of the most coveted examinations held by the UPSC, the Combined Defence Services Examination (CDSE) is the first step towards becoming an officer with the Indian Armed Forces. The CDSE, which attracts lakhs of applicants every year, needs serious preparations. Held twice a year (February and September), CDSE is a written examination comprising three papers — English, General Knowledge and Elementary Mathematics of 100 marks each. The duration of each is two hours; those vying for the Officers Training Academy (OTA) do not have to appear for the last paper on Elementary Mathematics.

CDSE II — to be held this month — will admit aspirants for permanent commission to the IMA, Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy for their courses commencing in July next year and to the OTA for its October 2011 batch for a subsequent five-year Short Service Commission. An approximate vacancy break-up is as follows: IMA - 250, Naval Academy - 40, Air Force Academy - 35, OTA - 175.

Speed and accuracy are two keys important to pass this examination. Analysing the past five year’s papers will also help. With the countdown on, it is very important for you to prepare by practising answering mock papers within the time limit. This will not only build your confidence, but also ensure that you are able to develop the required stamina. The exam starts at 9 in the morning and ends by 5 in the evening. Identify topics in each paper and work out your strengths and weaknesses. For instance, the majority of the Maths content comes from Classes IX to XII. The main topics are Permutations & Combinations and Probability from Class XI and XII. Trigonometry, Geometry, Algebra and Arithmetic of the Class X level form other important topics.

Here are some mock questions from the Maths and GK sections to help you build your concepts, prepare strategies and manage your time efficiently.

Elementary Mathematics
1. If the compound interest accrued on an amount of `14,500 in two years is
` 4676.25, what is the rate of interest p.c.p.a?
(A) 11 (B) 9 (C) 15 (D) 18

2. Three friends A, B and C start running around a circular stadium and complete a single round in 24, 36 and 30 seconds, respectively. After how many minutes will they meet again at the starting point?
(A) 12 (B) 6 (C) 8 (D) 15

3. If the perimeter of a square is equal to the radius of a circle whose area is 39424 sq.cm, what is the area of the square?
(A) 1225 sq.cm
(B) 441 sq.cm
(C) 784 sq.cm
(D) Cannot be determined

4. Twelve men complete a piece of work in 24 days. In how many days can eight men complete the same piece of work?
(A) 28 (B) 36 (C) 48 (D) 52

5. Rahul spends 50% of his monthly income on household items, 20% of his monthly income on buying clothes, 5% of his monthly income on medicines and the remaining amount of `11,250 he saves. What is Rahul’s monthly income?
(A) `38,200 (B) `34,000
(C) `41,600 (D) `45,000

6. The number obtained by interchanging the digits of a two digit number is lesser than the original number by 54. If the sum of the two digits of the number is 12, then what is the original number?
(A) 28 (B) 39
(C) 82 (D) Cannot be determined

7. At present Meena is eight times her daughter’s age. Eight years from now, the ratio of the ages of Meena and her daughter will be 10:3 respectively. What is Meena’s present age?
(A) 32 years (B) 40 years
(C) 36 years (D) Cannot be
determined

8. In how many different ways can 4 boys and 3 girls be arranged in a row so that all the boys stand together and all the girls stand together?
(A) 75 (B) 576 (C) 288 (D) 24

Directions for questions 9 – 11: Study the following information carefully and answer the questions that follow.
An office consists of 520 employees working in different departments, viz, HR, IT, Production and Marketing. The ratio of men to women in the organisation is 5 : 3 respectively. 20 per cent of the men work in the IT department. 40 per cent of the women work in the HR department. The total number of employees in the Production department is 135. Two-fifth of the women work in the IT department and the remaining work in the Marketing department. 40 per cent of the men work in the Production department. Four per cent of the men work in the HR department and the remaining work in the Marketing department.

9. Number of men working in the Marketing department forms what percent of the total number of employees in the organisation?
(A) 22.5 (B) 34.5 (C) 19.5 (D) 38.5

10. What is the respective ratio of the number of men working in the HR department to the women working in the same?
(A) 1 : 6 (B) 2 : 3 (C) 4 : 7 (D) 9 : 11

11. What is the number of women working in the Marketing department?
(A) 41 (B) 34 (C) 46 (D) 39

12. When a bucket is 75% full, it contains 5 litres more water than when it is half-full. What is the capacity of the bucket?
(A) 10 litres (B) 15 litres
(C) 20 litres (D) 25 litres

13. Sam made a pattern using five different coloured beads in the following order: red, black, white, green, yellow.
If he started the pattern with red bead and finished at white, which of the following could be the number of beads used by him?
(A) 50 (B) 51 (C) 52 (D) 53

14. If two sides of a triangle are 3 and 4, which of the following is true about the value of the third side?
(A) Greater than 7 (B) Equal to 7
(C) Less than 7 (D) Equal to 1

15. If x and y are the two digits of the number 565xy, such that this number is divisible by 80, what is the value of
x + y?
(A) 2 (B) 3 (C) 5 (D) 6

General Knowledge
1. Who among the following was appointed as India’s special representative in border talks with China by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently?
(1) Nirupama Rao (2) Shyam Saran
(3) Lalit Mansingh
(4) Kanwal Sibal
(5) Shivshankar Menon
2. Who among the following was elected Chairman of the Bar Council of India recently?
(1) Harish Salve (2) Fali S. Nariman (3) Goolam E. Vahanvati (4) Ram Jethmalani (5) Gopal Subramanium

3. Which industry association conferred the “Tejasvini” awards to talented woman achievers including author Jaishree Mishra, business entrepreneur Minal Vazirani, activist Sunita Krishnan, politician Priya Dutt, and sportsperson Mary Kom recently?
(1) FICCI (2) ASSOCHAM
(3) CII (4) IMC
(5) PHDCCI

4. Which of the following manufactures the surface to air ‘Akash’ missile?
(1) National Aerospace Laboratories
(2) Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd
(3) Electrosteel Castings Ltd
(4) Bharat Dynamics Ltd
(5) Hindustan Machine Tools

5. Assam Rifles celebrated its __________ anniversary recently.
(1) 100th (2) 125th (3)150th
(4) 175th (5) 200th

6. Who among the following authors won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for the book Tinkers recently?
(1) Cormac McCarthy
(2) Robert Lewis Taylor
(3) Philip Roth
(4) Richard Russo
(5) Paul Harding

7. Where was the BRIC Summit organised recently?
(1) Brasilia (2) Moscow
(3) New Delhi (4) Beijing
(5) Yekaterinburg

8. How much is the world oil demand in barrels per day (bpd) for 2010 forecast by the International Energy Agency (IEA) recently?
(1) 94.48 million (2) 86.60 million
(3)76.93 million (4) 71.81 million
(5) 67.24 million

9. Which of the following sta

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