General Awareness

From the Harappan cities to the Cholas: sites and finds, Vedic texts, Buddhism & Jainism, Mauryas, Guptas, Harsha and the southern dynasties. SSC asks 1–2 direct fact questions per shift — mostly pairings (site–find, council–king, book–author, dynasty–capital), so tables and mnemonics give quick marks.

From the tripartite struggle to the Third Battle of Panipat: Delhi Sultanate reforms, Vijayanagara and the Deccan sultanates, the Mughals and Sher Shah, Marathas, Sikh Gurus, Bhakti–Sufi saints, and the books and travellers of the period. SSC asks 1–2 questions per shift, nearly always a pairing (ruler–reform, battle–year, book–author, traveller–ruler), so the tables here cover most of them.

From Vasco da Gama to 1947: British expansion and the Governor-Generals, the Revolt of 1857, reform movements, early Congress, the Gandhian movements, revolutionaries, and the newspapers and books of the freedom struggle. It is the most-asked history block in SSC CGL. Expect 1–2 questions per shift, mostly event–year, reform–Governor-General and founder–organisation pairs.

Classical and folk dances, music and maestros, paintings and crafts, temple architecture, festivals and fairs, and India's UNESCO lists. SSC asks 1–2 culture questions in almost every shift. Nearly all are pairings: dance–state, artist–instrument, craft–state or festival–state. The tables below cover almost all of them.

The Constitution — its making, Preamble, Parts and Schedules, Rights, the three organs of government, amendments and constitutional bodies. CGL consistently asks 3-4 factual one-liners here, the single most predictable GA block.

India's location, physiography, passes, rivers and dams, monsoon, soils, crops, minerals and national parks. CGL asks 2-3 direct factual questions here in almost every shift — mostly 'X is located in / built on / famous for' one-liners.

Solar system, Earth's motions and time, interior and rocks, atmosphere and winds, oceans and currents, continental superlatives and boundary lines. CGL usually asks one question here — local winds, planets, straits and 'largest/longest' facts dominate.

Planning legacy, national income, RBI and monetary policy, inflation indices, the Budget, taxes and GST, flagship schemes and economic institutions. CGL asks 2-3 questions, increasingly tilted to current numbers (rates, budget, index revisions).

SI units and instruments, laws of motion, gravitation, fluids, heat, sound, light, electricity, EM waves, nuclear physics and famous inventions. CGL asks 1-2 questions — mostly units, instruments and 'which principle explains this everyday effect'.

Matter and atomic structure, the periodic table and element records, acids-bases-pH and common compound names, ores and alloys, carbon compounds, fuels, polymers, industrial processes and pollution. CGL asks 1-2 direct factual questions.

Cell and genetics, human body systems, vitamins and minerals, diseases with pathogens, vectors and vaccines, plant physiology and classification, and branches of biology with ecology. Biology is the most-asked science area in CGL GA — mostly direct one-line facts.

Books and authors, sports, awards, important days, national symbols and firsts, and organisations with their headquarters, currencies and parliaments. These are facts that do not change year to year and add up to 2–4 GA questions in almost every shift. Learn them as tables and review often.

The static layer of current affairs: how CA questions are framed, the award, sports, summit, day and index categories to track every month, and the pairing-based method to revise them — structure that never expires, whatever the news cycle.