World Geography
🔒 Log in to trackSolar 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.
One page per subtopic: detailed notes, every question type, formulas, tricks and practice sets.
Every formula on one printable page, grouped by subtopic.
4 exam-level questions worked step by step.
119 questions — untimed practice or a timed test with analysis.
Track record in the exam
Questions per shift in recent SSC CGL papers.
Test difficulty mix (119 questions)
Question patterns exams keep repeating
Taken from previous-year papers. If a pattern is marked "very common", expect to see it in your exam.
Planet superlatives
very common'Largest/hottest/brightest/smallest planet', 'Earth's twin', 'red planet', 'which planet has rings', 'largest satellite of a planet'.
How to solve: Hold one anchor fact per planet and eliminate: Mercury smallest, Venus hottest-brightest-retrograde and 'Earth's twin', Mars red with Olympus Mons, Jupiter largest with Ganymede, Saturn ringed and least dense. Superlative questions are almost always about Jupiter, Saturn, Venus or Mars.
Example: Which is the largest planet of the solar system?
Jupiter - followed by Saturn, Uranus, Neptune; its Great Red Spot is a giant storm and Ganymede is its (and the solar system's) largest satellite.
Longitude–time calculation
occasional'Two places 15/30/60 degrees apart, what is the time difference?', 'IST is ahead of GMT by', 'crossing the IDL from east to west', '1 degree of longitude equals'.
How to solve: One formula does it all: 1 degree = 4 minutes, so degrees x 4 = minutes of time; east is ahead, west behind. IST = GMT + 5 h 30 min (82.5 E). Across the International Date Line: travelling eastwards, lose a day; westwards, add a day.
Example: What is the time difference between two places 15 degrees of longitude apart?
1 hour (15 x 4 minutes = 60 minutes); the eastern place is ahead of the western one.
Interior of Earth and earthquakes
occasional'Which discontinuity separates crust and mantle', 'which wave cannot pass through liquid', 'focus/epicentre', 'rocks are classified into', 'marble is formed from'.
How to solve: Two ladders solve this block. Layers top to bottom with their discontinuities - Conrad, Moho (crust-mantle), Repetti, Gutenberg (mantle-core), Lehmann - and waves P (fastest), S (blocked by liquid), L (most destructive). Rocks: igneous-sedimentary-metamorphic with the four pairs limestone-marble, sandstone-quartzite, shale-slate, granite-gneiss.
Example: Which discontinuity separates the mantle from the core?
The Gutenberg discontinuity (about 2,900 km deep). Moho separates the crust from the mantle.
Atmosphere layer features
common'Weather occurs in which layer', 'aurora/ozone/meteors belong to which layer', 'composition of air', 'lapse rate', 'jet planes fly in which layer'.
How to solve: Place every fact in its layer: troposphere - weather, water vapour, 6.5 C/km lapse; stratosphere - ozone, calm jet routes; mesosphere - meteors burn, coldest; thermosphere/ionosphere - aurora, radio waves, ISS; exosphere - outermost. Composition: N2 78, O2 21, Ar 0.93, CO2 0.04 per cent.
Example: In which layer of the atmosphere do jet aircraft normally fly to avoid weather disturbances?
The stratosphere - calm, cloudless air above the tropopause, with the ozone layer (15-35 km) inside it.
Local wind → region
very common'Loo/Chinook/Foehn/Mistral/Sirocco/Harmattan is a wind of which region', 'which wind is called the snow eater/Doctor', warm-vs-cold wind matching.
How to solve: Learn two buckets per hemisphere pair. Warm: Loo (N. India), Chinook ('snow eater', east of Rockies), Foehn (Alps), Sirocco (Sahara to Italy, red dust), Khamsin (Egypt). Cold: Mistral (Rhone, France), Bora (Adriatic), Blizzard, Buran (Russia), Pampero (Argentina), Harmattan (West Africa, dry dust, 'The Doctor'). Region first, then hot/cold.
Example: The Chinook, known as the 'snow eater', blows down which mountains?
The Rockies of North America - its warm dry air melts snow on the eastern (lee) slopes overnight; the Foehn is its Alpine counterpart.
Strait / canal connects
common'Which strait separates X from Y', 'which canal connects two seas', 'Hormuz/Bab-el-Mandeb/Malacca', 'Suez vs Panama canal'.
How to solve: Fix each strait as four boxes - two lands, two waters: Gibraltar (Spain-Morocco, Atlantic-Mediterranean), Hormuz (Persian Gulf-Oman Gulf), Bab-el-Mandeb (Red Sea-Gulf of Aden), Malacca (Andaman-China seas), Bering (Russia-Alaska), Palk (India-Sri Lanka). Canals: Suez (Egypt, 1869, sea-level, no locks, Mediterranean-Red Sea) vs Panama (1914, locks, Atlantic-Pacific).
Example: The Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea with the —
Red Sea. It runs sea-level through Egypt (opened 1869) with no locks; the Panama Canal (1914) is a lock canal joining the Atlantic and Pacific.
Ocean currents and fishing grounds
occasional'Which is a warm/cold current', 'which current keeps west Europe warm', 'which current causes fog/fishing grounds', 'current responsible for a coastal desert'.
How to solve: Warm set: Gulf Stream + North Atlantic Drift (west Europe mild), Kuroshio, Brazilian, Agulhas. Cold set: Labrador (Newfoundland fog and icebergs), Canary, Benguela (Namib), Humboldt/Peru (Atacama, anchovies, El Nino), Oyashio. Where warm meets cold - Grand Banks, Dogger Bank - plankton blooms make the great fishing grounds.
Example: Which cold current flowing along the western coast of South America is linked with the Atacama desert and the anchovy fishery?
The Humboldt (Peru) current - cold water chills the coast (Atacama's dryness) yet upwells nutrients for anchovies; its warm-phase reversal is El Nino.
Grassland / tribe / nickname match
common'Prairies/Pampas/Steppes/Veld are grasslands of', 'Pygmies/Bushmen/Masai/Inuit live in', 'Land of Rising Sun/Thousand Lakes/White Elephant', old-name-new-name questions.
How to solve: Three mini-tables. Grasslands: Prairies-North America, Pampas-Argentina, Steppes-Eurasia, Veld-South Africa, Downs-Australia, Savanna/Llanos/Campos-tropical. Tribes: Pygmies-Congo, Bushmen-Kalahari, Masai-East Africa, Inuit-Arctic, Lapps-Scandinavia, Bedouins-Arabia, Aborigines-Australia. Names: Ceylon-Sri Lanka, Siam-Thailand, Persia-Iran, Constantinople-Istanbul, Gold Coast-Ghana.
Example: The temperate grasslands of Eurasia are called —
The Steppes (Ukraine to Central Asia). Prairies - North America, Pampas - Argentina, Veld - South Africa.