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Previous Year Questions

TLS Online TPP Program

QUESTION ID:1

โ€œYou are delaying the completion of the task. Send _______ contributions at the earliest.โ€

QUESTION ID:2

References : ______ : : Guidelines : Implement
(By word meaning)

QUESTION ID:3

In the given figure, PQRS is a parallelogram with PS = 7 cm, PT = 4 cm and PV = 5 cm. What is the length of RS in cm? (The diagram is representative.)

QUESTION ID:4

In 2022, June Huh was awarded the Fields medal, which is the highest prize in Mathematics. When he was younger, he was also a poet. He did not win any medals in the International Mathematics Olympiads. He dropped out of college. Based only on the above information, which one of the following statements can be logically inferred with certainty?

QUESTION ID:5

A line of symmetry is defined as a line that divides a figure into two parts in a way such that each part is a mirror image of the other part about that line.
The given figure consists of 16 unit squares arranged as shown. In addition to the three black squares, what is the minimum number of squares that must be coloured black, such that both PQ and MN form lines of symmetry? (The figure is representative)

QUESTION ID:6

Human beings are one among many creatures that inhabit an imagined world. In this imagined world, some creatures are cruel. If in this imagined world, it is given that the statement โ€œSome human beings are not cruel creaturesโ€ is FALSE, then which of the following set of statement(s) can be logically inferred with certainty?
(i) All human beings are cruel creatures.
(ii) Some human beings are cruel creatures.
(iii) Some creatures that are cruel are human beings.
(iv) No human beings are cruel creatures.

QUESTION ID:7

To construct a wall, sand and cement are mixed in the ratio of 3:1. The cost of sand and that of cement are in the ratio of 1:2. If the total cost of sand and cement to construct the wall is 1000 rupees, then what is the cost (in rupees) of cement used?

QUESTION ID:8

The World Bank has declared that it does not plan to offer new financing to Sri Lanka, which is battling its worst economic crisis in decades, until the country has an adequate macroeconomic policy framework in place. In a statement, the World Bank said Sri Lanka needed to adopt structural reforms that focus on economic stabilisation and tackle the root causes of its crisis. The latter has starved it of foreign exchange and led to shortages of food, fuel, and medicines. The bank is repurposing resources under existing loans to help alleviate shortages of essential items such as medicine, cooking gas, fertiliser, meals for children, and cash for vulnerable households.
Based only on the above passage, which one of the following statements can be inferred with certainty?

QUESTION ID:9

The coefficient of ๐‘ฅ4 in the polynomial (๐‘ฅโˆ’1)3(๐‘ฅโˆ’2)3 is equal to _______.

QUESTION ID:10

Which one of the following shapes can be used to tile (completely cover by repeating) a flat plane, extending to infinity in all directions, without leaving any empty spaces in between them? The copies of the shape used to tile are identical and are not allowed to overlap.

QUESTION ID:11

Which one of the following is an example of mechanical potential energy?

QUESTION ID:12

A research team studies the probability of crop damage by wild boar in crop fields. For each crop field sampled, they record โ€˜1โ€™ if damage was observed, and โ€˜0โ€™ if damage was not observed. Which one of the following distributions is most appropriate to analyse the probability of crop damage?

QUESTION ID:13

To test whether body size differs between two populations of a field mouse species, a researcher measured 100 individuals in each population and calculated the statistic 

where ๐‘‹ฬ…1and ๐‘‹ฬ…2 are the mean body sizes of the two populations, respectively, Sp is the pooled standard deviation, and n1 and n2 are the sample sizes for the two populations, respectively. This statistic is used in the

QUESTION ID:14

Which one of the following ecological processes best explains the observation that seedling establishment increases with distance from the parent tree in a forest?

QUESTION ID:15

In the early 20th century, which one of these scientists made fundamental contributions to both the fields of evolution and statistics?

QUESTION ID:16

The figure depicts how body temperature changes for two species (L and M) as a function of ambient temperature.

Which one of the following statements about how L and M regulate temperature is correct?

QUESTION ID:17

You are a deepโ€“sea organism and your potential mates are several hundreds of kilometers away from you. Which one of the following kinds of mating signals is most likely to help them locate you?

QUESTION ID:18

Which one of the following options represents the correct order with respect to levels of organization? B โ€“ biomes; E โ€“ ecosystems; P โ€“ populations; I โ€“ individuals; C โ€“ communities

QUESTION ID:19

Which one of the following options describes the difference between abiotic resources and abiotic conditions?

QUESTION ID:20

Which one of the following ranges correctly represents the percentage of energy that is transferred from a lower to the next higher trophic level in most terrestrial systems?

QUESTION ID:21

Whales and dolphins are hypothesized to have evolved along the northern shore of the Tethys Sea, prior to the Indian plateโ€™s collision with the Eurasian plate. To which one of the following animals are these aquatic mammals most closely related?

QUESTION ID:22

Which one of the following options represents the correct order of decreasing average net primary productivity (g / m2 / year) in natural ecosystems?

QUESTION ID:23

The increase in mean global temperature since the industrial revolution falls in the range of

QUESTION ID:24

Which one of the following endangered species has been the subject of a reintroduction plan in India?

QUESTION ID:25

Compared with bony fish, many shark species show steeper population declines in response to heavy fishing pressure. Which one of the following options explains this?

QUESTION ID:26

Which one or more of the following options describe(s) how ferns differ from angiosperms and gymnosperms?

QUESTION ID:27

The IUCN Red List is based on a set of criteria to evaluate species vulnerability to extinction. Which one or more of the options is/are used as criteria?

QUESTION ID:28

Which one or more of the following processes contribute(s) substantially to increased mean global temperatures?

QUESTION ID:29

Depending on soil nutrient availability, which one or more of the following interaction(s) can occur between soil mycorrhizal fungi and plants?

QUESTION ID:30

Which one or more of the following is/are characteristic of r-selected animals?

QUESTION ID:31

Which one or more of the following represent(s) benefits of Batesian mimicry to the mimic?

QUESTION ID:32

Which one or more of the following is/are developmental feature(s) of hatchlings of an altricial bird species?

QUESTION ID:33

You have a biased coin with the probability of getting a head being 0.6. The probability of getting at least 1 head in 3 tosses is ____. (Rounded off to three decimal places)

QUESTION ID:34

A lake has 20 blue male, 30 red male, 60 blue female and 80 red female fish. A researcher catches one individual at random from the lake. If the caught fish is blue, the probability that it is female is ____________. (Rounded off to two decimal places)

QUESTION ID:35

A researcher fitted a function to data on how foraging rate (F, number of items consumed per 10 minutes) of a shorebird varied with its group size (G, number of individuals) and obtained the following equation: ๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘”๐‘’๐น=3โˆ’0.2ร—๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘”๐‘’๐บ
According to this equation, the foraging rate (F) of a solitary forager is _________________ items per 10 minutes. (Rounded off to the nearest integer)

QUESTION ID:36

Two species of birds, A and B, are found together in region X. Only species A is present in region Y. Both species produce species-specific alarm calls in response to a predator P. A researcher conducts experiments where she plays recorded calls of both species to species A in regions X and Y. The response of species A to the recorded calls are summarized in the table below

Based on the results, the most appropriate inference is that

QUESTION ID:37

The table below lists different insects and taxonomic orders. Choose the option that matches the animal to its correct taxonomic order.


QUESTION ID:38

Islands I, II, and III lie off a mainland coast. Which one of the following statements about species richness is consistent with the theory of island biogeography?


QUESTION ID:39

In a polygynous hummingbird species, males defend and monopolize nectarโ€“rich plants (resource). Females visit these plants for nectar and the defending male will have access to all visiting females for mating. Under which scenario is polygyny expected to be the highest?

QUESTION ID:40

A researcher estimates the relationship between reproductive success (๐‘, number of offspring) and horn length (๐ป, in cm) in a wild goat as ๐‘=40โˆ’2.2๐ป+0.04๐ป2
Horn length typically varies from 10 cm to 50 cm in this species. Which one of the following graphs correctly represents this relationship?

QUESTION ID:41

Overfishing reduced food availability for sea lions in California, causing a decline in their population size. In 1972, under the US Endangered Species Act, fishing was banned from sea lion foraging areas. Subsequently, the population of sea lions increased in a logistic form as shown in the figure.

The per capita growth rate is highest in the interval ______ and the population growth rate is highest in the interval ____.

QUESTION ID:42

A locus at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in a diploid organism has n alleles. The maximum heterozygosity (i.e., proportion of heterozygotes) for this locus is

QUESTION ID:43

Match the diseases to the pathogens that cause them


QUESTION ID:44

The production of anthocyanin pigments in pea flowers requires the presence of at least one dominant allele in each of two independently assorting genes, C and P. The presence of anthocyanin results in purple flowers, whereas its absence gives white flowers. A cross between two double heterozygous (CcPp) plants is performed. What is the expected ratio of plants with purple flowers to plants with white flowers?

QUESTION ID:45

In the phylogenetic trees shown, the tips represent different species of geckos (labeled A to E) and the areas to which they belong. Which one of these is most consistent with the hypothesis that the geckos colonized the Western Ghats from Northeast India through the Eastern Ghats?


QUESTION ID:46

The phylogenetic tree depicts the relationship between 5 species of snakes (labelled A to E) and provides information about their habitat specialization. Given the principle of parsimony (least number of evolutionary changes required) and that ancestor Y was terrestrial, which one of the options given is correct?

QUESTION ID:47

The mode of speciation in snakes in the Western Ghats is predominantly allopatric. A researcher wants to quantify diversification of snakes in this range. From the options given, choose the most cost and time efficient way to sample snakes.

QUESTION ID:48

All else being equal, which one of the following population sizes (๐‘) and migration rates (๐‘š) would result in the most genetic differentiation between populations (๐น๐‘ ๐‘ก)?
Note that ๐น๐‘ ๐‘ก is computed as 

QUESTION ID:49

Which one or more of the following is/are prediction(s) or assumption(s) of the handicap principle for the evolution of sexual signals?

QUESTION ID:50

A research team assesses the impact of the invasive species Lantana camara on the seed set of a native flowering plant S. The plant S usually grows in clumps with other individuals of the same or different flowering species. They measure the seed set of flowering individuals of S grown (i) alone; (ii) with a conspecific (same species); (iii) with a native species Q; (iv) with a native species R; (v) with Lantana camara. The figure below shows the mean seed set with 95% confidence intervals for the different treatments.

Based on the figure provided, which one or more of the options given is/are correct?

QUESTION ID:51

There are two palatable prey species, Q and R, for an insectivorous bird species in a forest. However, the bird searches for and consumes only species Q. According to optimal foraging theory, which one or more of the following conditions can explain the bird choosing to forage only for Q?

QUESTION ID:52

Conservation biologists have debated whether protected areas should be designed as a single large patch or as several small patches. Assuming that the total area is the same for the two designs, which one or more of the options describe(s) the conservation benefit(s) of several small patches?

QUESTION ID:53

Which one or more options is/are example(s) of niche partitioning between species?

QUESTION ID:54

In an assemblage of coexisting wild cat species, the size of canine teeth was found to be strikingly different between these species. Which one or more of the following statements explain(s) this observation?

QUESTION ID:55

The Biological Species Concept (BSC) states that โ€˜species are groups of interbreeding natural populations that are reproductively isolated from other such groupsโ€™. Which one or more of the options could pose challenges for defining species using the BSC?

QUESTION ID:56

The barnacle species, Chthamalus stellatus (CS), is found only in the high intertidal zone whereas Balanus glandula (BG) is found only in the low intertidal zone. A researcher transplanted CS from the high to low (T-CS), and BG from the low to high (T-BG) intertidal zones. Additionally, they allowed the species to grow alone or in competition with each other, and quantified survival.
Which one or more of the following inferences is/are consistent with the experimental results shown below?

QUESTION ID:57

In the figure below, ellipse X represents the combinations of salt concentrations and temperatures that a marine invertebrate species can tolerate. Ellipse Y represents the combinations of salt concentrations and temperatures that this species is actually found in.

Which one or more of the following statements about X and Y is/are correct?

QUESTION ID:58

A butterfly species inhabits four types of patchy landscapes (P, Q, R, S). Grey shapes represent occupied habitat and white shapes are unoccupied. Arrows represent the occurrence and directions of possible dispersal.

Which one or more of the options is/are likely to be correct?

QUESTION ID:59

A new food requesting behaviour has been observed in bonnet macaques in Bandipur National Park. The macaques extend their hand and make a cooing sound only towards humans, which effectively results in food given to them. If this behaviour is to increase in frequency in the population over time by the process of natural selection, which one or more of the options below is/are necessary condition(s)?

QUESTION ID:60

Two co-occurring plant species, A and B, flower at the same time. They are visited by the same pollinator species. If these plants are pollinator-limited, then which one or more of the following statements is/are correct with regard to the figure shown below?

QUESTION ID:61

Scorpions on the sand dunes in Syria in September 2022 have the age distribution as shown in Figure P. Scorpions can live to a maximum of 90 days. In all the figure panels, the x-axis represents age class and the y-axis represents number of individuals.
Assuming no immigration or emigration, which one or more of the age distribution panels Q, R, S, T is/are possible 30 days later?

QUESTION ID:62

Shannon-Weaver index ๐ป is a measure of diversity and is calculated as

where S is the total number of species and ๐‘๐‘– is the proportional abundance of a species i.
The table below gives the abundance of different species in a community. The Shannon-Weaver index of reptile diversity in this community is ___________.
(Rounded off to two decimal places)

QUESTION ID:63

In haplodiploid organisms, males are haploid and females are diploid. Consider the relatedness diagram shown below. Female A has a full-sister, Y, who has a daughter, B. The relatedness between A and B is ___________. (Rounded off to three decimal places)


QUESTION ID:64

Mixed species flocks of birds include social and solitary species. There are 5 social species and 10 solitary species in a forest. Flocks always have a total of 5 species, of which 2 are social and 3 are solitary. The number of types of flocks with unique species composition is ___________. (Answer in integer)

QUESTION ID:65

In a zoo, three lions and four tigers eat 390 kg of food every week. In another zoo, four lions and five tigers eat 500 kg of food every week. Lions and tigers eat different amounts of food, but all individuals of the same species eat the same amount. The amount of food a single lion eats per week is _______ kg. (Answer in integer)