Previous Year Questions

QUESTION ID:2

To continue the sequence of tiles shown, the tile indicated by the question mark should be

QUESTION ID:3

Consider an art gallery whose walkways are shown as lines in the diagram. A black dot represents a junction of two walkways. A guard may be placed at a junction to watch over the walkways that join at that junction. The minimum number of guards needed to watch all the walkways is ________.

QUESTION ID:4

The 2^nd of June is a Thursday in a certain year. Which day of the week is the 3 ^rd of July in that year? 

QUESTION ID:5

A coin with heads facing up is shown as  and a coin with tails facing up is shown as  .

Six coins are placed in the Starting Arrangement, as shown in the figure below. A “step” is defined as interchanging a pair of adjacent coins without flipping them. The minimum number of steps needed to go from the Starting Arrangement to the Final Arrangement, as shown in the figure, is ________.

QUESTION ID:6

Exacerbate : Mitigate :: ___________

Choose the option with the correct pair of words to fill the blank.

QUESTION ID:7

A paper shown in Panel I is folded along the dashed lines (- - -) to construct a cube. The shaded regions shown in Panel I appear on the outer surface of the cube. Referring to cubes shown in Panel II, which one of the options is correct?

QUESTION ID:8

In a population, patients who have high cholesterol also have high blood-pressure (BP). Some patients with high BP also have diabetes. There are no patients who have both high cholesterol and diabetes. Furthermore,

1. the total number of patients with at least one of these conditions is 75,

2. the number of patients with high cholesterol is 10,

3. the number of patients with high BP is 45, and

4. the number of patients with only high BP and no other conditions is 20.

Then the number of patients who have both diabetes and high BP is _______

QUESTION ID:9

Four people P, Q, R, and S, of different ages, make the following observations.

P – I am younger than S.

Q – I am neither the youngest nor the oldest.

R – P is older than me.

Based on these observations, the youngest person is ______.

QUESTION ID:10

Circles 𝐶₁, 𝐶₂, and 𝐶₃, with centers 𝑂₁, 𝑂₂, and 𝑂₃ , and radii 𝑟₁ , 𝑟₂, and 𝑟₃, respectively, touch each other as shown in the following figure. Given 𝑟₁ = 2 cm, 𝑟₂ = 1 cm and the angle ∠𝑂₁𝑂₃𝑂₂ is 90°, 𝑟₃ = _____ cm.

QUESTION ID:11

10 mM aqueous HCl is added dropwise to 10 mL of 1 mM aqueous NaOH. The qualitative plot of conductivity (𝑦) against the number of drops of HCl (𝑥) is 

QUESTION ID:12

Upon hydrolysis of the pentapeptide Glu-Arg-Gly-Phe-Ala (represented from N- to C- terminus) with trypsin, the peptide fragments obtained are 

QUESTION ID:13

The major product formed in the following reaction is

QUESTION ID:14

The CORRECT order of ionic character (in percentage) among the following is

QUESTION ID:15

The CORRECT combination(s) of element and their ground state electronic configuration is/are

(Atomic Numbers: Ar-18, Sc-21, Cr-24, Mn-25 and Fe-26)

QUESTION ID:16

The major component(s) of phosphate buffer at physiological pH of 7.4 is/are

QUESTION ID:17

The total number of distinct stereoisomers for the following compound is _______________ (in integer).

QUESTION ID:18

For the reaction A → products,

the half-life is independent of the initial concentration of A.

The order of the reaction is ________________ (in integer).

QUESTION ID:19

Among the following, the number of molecules possessing one or more lone pairs on the central atom is ________________ (in integer).

BeCl₂ SnCl₂ BF₃ NH₃ SF₄ PF₅ and SF₆

QUESTION ID:20

An ideal gas in an insulated container expands against zero external pressure. For this expansion, the CORRECT statement is 

QUESTION ID:21

The major products P and Q obtained in the following reactions are

QUESTION ID:22

The major product formed in the following two-step transformation is (Note: Ts = tosyl and Ac = acetyl)

QUESTION ID:23

Match the coordination complexes given in Column I with their most appropriate properties in Column II.

(Given: Atomic number of Mn-25; Co-27; Cu-29):

QUESTION ID:24

The CORRECT statement(s) about a competitive inhibitor of an enzyme is/are 

QUESTION ID:25

Among the following, the occupied molecular orbital(s) of carbon monoxide is/are

QUESTION ID:26

The option(s) with the CORRECT order of ionisation energy is/are

QUESTION ID:27

The 𝑝𝐻 of 10^─8 M HCl (aq.) is ____________ (rounded off to two decimal places).

Given, 𝑝𝐾_𝑤 = 14. 

QUESTION ID:28

Which one of the following immunoglobulins is known for its role in both allergy and asthma? 

QUESTION ID:29

In which kind of organism, the glycerol moiety of lipid is found primarily in the R-configuration? 

QUESTION ID:30

The Kennedy pathway of cellular phospholipid biosynthesis is associated with ______ . 

QUESTION ID:31

Which of the following options show(s) the correct pairing of a complement protein with its function? 

QUESTION ID:32

Fluorescence is a result of which one or more of the following? 

QUESTION ID:33

A 25 amino acid α-helical protein is spanning the thickness of a mammalian cell membrane. Using the average dimensional parameters of a typical α-helix, the thickness of the membrane will be ______ Å (rounded off to one decimal place).

QUESTION ID:34

The oxidative phase of the hexose monophosphate pathway generates __________ moles of NADPH per mole of glucose 6-phosphate (answer in integer).

QUESTION ID:35

Partial double digestion of the DNA shown below with EcoRI, and XhoI will yield ______ bands after gel electrophoresis (answer in integer).

QUESTION ID:36

Chymotrypsin cleaves polypeptides preferentially on the carbonyl side of aromatic, and some other bulky nonpolar residues. Trypsin cleaves on the carbonyl side of positively charged residues. Digestion of a polypeptide having the compositionAla2, Gly, Lys2, Phe, Thr, Trp, Val, independently by these two proteases yielded peptide fragments as shown in the figure below.

Which one of the following is the correct primary structure of the polypeptide?

QUESTION ID:37

Which one of the following enzymes is NOT inhibited by glucose-6-phosphate? 

QUESTION ID:38

The following diagram represents energy states of different protein folding steps, which includes

1. Folded

2. Transition

3. Molten globule

4. Unfolded

Find the correct match of folding steps (1 to 4) with the energy state (P to S) in the diagram. 

QUESTION ID:39

The correct path of transfer of electrons in the light harvesting photosystems in vascular plants is _____________. 

QUESTION ID:40

For a simple enzyme that follows Michaelis-Menten kinetics, kinetic data was collected in the absence (dotted line, -I), or presence (solid line, +I) of an uncompetitive inhibitor (I). Which one of the following Eadie-Hofstee plots best describes the expected result? (𝑣_𝑜 = 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦, [S] = free substrate concentration)

QUESTION ID:41

Which statement(s) is/are true about the 5′-capping of eukaryotic mRNA?

QUESTION ID:42

Which of the following statements about pertussis toxin is/are NOT true? 

QUESTION ID:43

Telomerase has which one or more of the following activities? 

QUESTION ID:44

To a 10 × 10⁻⁹ 𝑀 solution of a receptor, its specific ligand was added, and incubated. At equilibrium, the concentration of the free ligand was 5 × 10⁻⁹ 𝑀, and the concentration of the receptor-ligand complex was 6 × 10⁻⁹ 𝑀. The dissociation constant for the receptor-ligand interaction is _________× 10 ⁻⁹ 𝑀 (rounded off to two decimal places). 

QUESTION ID:45

Assuming that there are 5 × 10¹³ cells in the human body, and that ATP is turning over at a rate of 10⁹ ATP molecules per minute in each cell, then the human body is utilizing ________ watts (rounded off to two decimal places). [Assume that hydrolysis of ATP yields 12 kcal per mole. 1 watt = 1 joule/sec, 1 calorie = 4.18 joules, Avogadro’s number = 6.023 × 10²³] 

QUESTION ID:46

A solution shows a transmittance of 20% when taken in a cuvette of 2.5 cm path length. If the molar absorption coefficient of the solution is 12000 𝑑𝑚³ /𝑚𝑜𝑙. 𝑐𝑚, the concentration of the solution is ______ × 10⁵ 𝑚𝑜𝑙/𝑑𝑚³ (rounded off to two decimal places). (MTA*)

QUESTION ID:47

Which one of the following plant families is characterized by the gynobasic style of female reproductive organ? 

QUESTION ID:48

Which one of the following plant organs typically exhibits all the four features listed below?

(i) Starch-enriched endodermis

(ii) Conjoint, collateral and open vascular bundle

(iii) Endarch xylem

(iv) Presence of medullary rays 

QUESTION ID:49

Correctly match the following molecules/methods in Group-I with their major uses in Group-II.

QUESTION ID:50

Which one of the following commercial products is used as a systemic fungicide to control plant diseases? 

QUESTION ID:51

Which one of the following terms best describes the plants that are adapted to grow in acidic soil? 

QUESTION ID:52

Which of the following plant genera is/are example(s) of partial stem parasite? 

QUESTION ID:53

Which of the following amino acids contain(s) only one chiral center? 

QUESTION ID:54

If an endosperm cell of a typical diploid angiosperm species has 15 chromosomes, then the number of chromosomes in a microspore mother cell of this species under normal circumstances would be___________ (in integer).

QUESTION ID:55

Which one of the following class(es) of genes, when deleted, would result in sepal formation in all the floral whorls of Arabidopsis, as per the rules of the typical ABC model of floral organ patterning?

QUESTION ID:56

Correctly match the following molecular assemblies in Group-I with their functions in Group-II.

QUESTION ID:57

Correctly match the following secondary metabolites in Group-I with their chemical classes in Group-II.

QUESTION ID:58

Correctly match the following plant diseases in Group-I with their causal organisms in Group-II. 

QUESTION ID:59

Correctly match the following plant species in Group-I with their main economically important products in Group-II.

QUESTION ID:60

Two genes X and Y are involved in root development in such a way that all the following three homozygous mutants show rootless phenotype.

(i) Gain-of-function mutant of X

(ii) Loss-of-function mutant of Y

(iii) Double mutant of gain-of-function of X and loss-of-function of Y

Which one of the following genetic pathways best describes these observations?

QUESTION ID:61

Which of the following combinations of photosynthetic carbon cycle in plants, and its matched biochemical reaction is/are correct?

QUESTION ID:62

Choose the correct combination(s) of alkaloid, source plant, and their main commercial use. 

QUESTION ID:63

Which of the following statements is/are correct about plant movement? 

QUESTION ID:64

Two completely linked genes A and B regulate plant height and flower colour, respectively, wherein the recessive mutant aa is dwarf bearing red flowers and the recessive mutant bb is tall bearing white flowers. If an F1 individual of the aaBB × AAbb cross is crossed to the mutant aabb, then the probability of an individual in the next generation bearing white flower would be ___________ (Round off to two decimal places).

QUESTION ID:65

An enzyme following Michaelis-Menten kinetics, catalyses a reaction with an initial velocity (V₀) of 2 µM s⁻¹ at the substrate concentration of 10 µM. If the turnover number (k_cat) of the enzyme for the given substrate is 500 s⁻¹ and the enzyme concentration in the reaction is 0.01 µM, then the value of the Michaelis-Menten constant (K_m) would be___________ × 10⁻⁶ M (in integer).

QUESTION ID:66

Which one of the following statements about microbiological stains is CORRECT? 

QUESTION ID:67

The genome of which one of the following viruses encodes reverse transcriptase? 

QUESTION ID:68

Protoplasts can be generated from 

QUESTION ID:69

Which one of the following molecules is the master regulator of the planktonicsurface transition in Pseudomonas aeruginosa during biofilm formation? 

QUESTION ID:70

Which one of the following is a protozoal disease? 

QUESTION ID:71

Which one of the following drugs is a viral protease inhibitor? 

QUESTION ID:72

In Escherichia coli, the minimum number of crossovers required between F − genome and the linear DNA transmitted by Hfr to form a viable recombinant is _____. (Answer in integer) 

QUESTION ID:73

The decimal reduction time of Escherichia coli at a particular temperature is one minute. Assuming no bacterial growth and constant death rate, the time required for one million bacteria to get reduced to one viable bacterium is _____minutes. (Answer in integer)

QUESTION ID:74

Which one of the following options correctly matches the microbial names in Column I with their corresponding sources of epithet in Column II?

QUESTION ID:75

Determine the correctness or otherwise of the following Assertion [a] and the Reason [r].

Assertion [a]: Silver and copper display bacteriocidal or antiseptic activity.

Reason [r]: Silver and copper effectively demonstrate oligodynamic action

QUESTION ID:76

When tryptophan level is low in Escherichia coli, the expression of tryptophan biosynthesis genes is turned on through an antiterminator stem-loop formation between 

QUESTION ID:77

The effect of mutations in a gene at their transcriptional and translational levels were analyzed using Northern (N) and Western (W) blot techniques, respectively. The following figure shows the schematic representation of mRNA and protein expression profiles of the wild-type and its four different mutants. Which one of the following mutants contains mutation in the upstream regulatory region of the gene?

QUESTION ID:78

Which one of the following leukocytes is the most abundant in a healthy human? 

QUESTION ID:79

DNA amplification in the polymerase chain reaction is 

QUESTION ID:80

In bacteriophage lambda (λ) life cycle, binding of Cro protein to cI gene operator region 

QUESTION ID:81

Which of the following is/are ring(s) of bacterial flagellum? 

QUESTION ID:82

Which of the following bacteria is/are uncultivable? 

QUESTION ID:83

Which of the following antibiotic(s) inhibit(s) bacterial protein synthesis? 

QUESTION ID:84

Scientist(s) who contributed in disproving the theory of spontaneous generation is/are 

QUESTION ID:85

A researcher sets up ten large outdoor tanks, each containing the same amount of algae and the same number of guppies (herbivorous fish). In five of these tanks, she also adds gourami fish, which are predators of guppies. Tanks were covered in mesh so no new species could enter. After 2 months, the researcher counted the number of guppies and gouramies, and measured the amount of algae. She found that the amount of algae was much higher in the tanks with gourami fish compared to those without gourami fish. Which one of the following processes best explains the differences in amounts of algae between these tanks? 

QUESTION ID:86

Immunoglobulins are classified into the following isotypes: IgG, IgM, IgA, IgD, IgE. What region of the immunoglobulin is used to determine this classification? 

QUESTION ID:87

Correctly match the cell types in Column I to their primary function in Column II.

QUESTION ID:88

Which one of the following groups includes at least one animal that is NOT an arthropod? 

QUESTION ID:89

Females of many insect species mate with multiple different males. Which of the following is/are an adaptive explanation(s) for multiple mating in insects? 

QUESTION ID:90

Which one or more of the following terms describe(s) Toxoplasma gondii? 

QUESTION ID:91

Which of the following statements is/are NOT correct about the technique used in molecular biology? 

QUESTION ID:92

Assume that in the oxidative branch of the pentose phosphate pathway, each glucose-6-phosphate molecule generates the following products: 2 molecules of NADPH, 1 molecule of CO₂ and 1 molecule of ribulose-5-phosphate.

If 30 molecules of glucose-6-phosphate enter this pathway, and you randomly draw one molecule from the products of the pathway, the probability that this molecule is NADPH is __________ (round off to one decimal place).

QUESTION ID:93

Muscle performance is positively correlated with Darwinian fitness. The graph below describes the relationship between mean environmental temperature and muscle performance for two closely related lizard species, one living in temperate areas (solid line) and another living in tropical areas (dashed line). Current mean environmental temperatures are marked with vertical dotted lines at (i) for the temperate species and (ii) for the tropical species. If mean environmental temperatures at both locations increase at a steady rate over time, which one of the following is most likely to occur in the near future?

QUESTION ID:94

In eukaryotic cells, a mutation reduces the enzymatic activity of pyruvate dehydrogenase by 90%, without affecting expression. Under aerobic conditions, which one of the following metabolic changes is most expected in cells with the mutation compared to cells without? 

QUESTION ID:95

Which one of the following describes the role of enhancers in eukaryotic gene regulation? 

QUESTION ID:96

Retes are networks of outgoing arteries and returning veins that create a counter-current pattern. Retes in the flippers of seals that live in temperate areas function as 

QUESTION ID:97

Researchers measure the activity of an enzyme in the presence of an inhibitor. They observe that

• V_max of the enzyme remains unchanged at saturating substrate concentration
• K_m increases compared to uninhibited enzyme

Which type of inhibition is most consistent with these observations? 

QUESTION ID:98

Below are the numbers of individuals of migratory green warblers and the frequencies of three genotypes at a single locus for this species. F refers to the allele for faster migration and S to the allele for slower migration.

What are the allele frequencies of F and S? (round off to 2 decimal places) 

QUESTION ID:99

A drug was developed to inhibit histone acetyl transferase in eukaryotic cells. Cells treated with this drug have more compact chromatin and show reduction in transcription of several genes. Which one of the following statements best explains why the drug has this effect? 

QUESTION ID:100

Two species of snakes, Species P and Species Q, have overlapping geographic distributions. Species P mainly eats rodents, whereas Species Q mainly eats invertebrates. Which one or more of the following terms describe(s) the process of speciation for these two species? 

QUESTION ID:101

In rivers that range in salinity (ppt) from low to high, researchers found that the aquatic snail species P (solid curve) and Q (dashed curve) were distributed according to the pattern illustrated in figure

(i) when the species are together. The researchers then conducted a manipulative experiment in similar rivers with the same salinity range, where they removed either species P or Q. Figure

(ii) illustrates the number of individuals of species P and Q when they were allowed to live alone. These snails have no other competitors or predators.

Which one or more conclusions can be drawn from these two figures? 

QUESTION ID:102

Which of the following statements is/are correct for the phylogenetic tree depicted below?

QUESTION ID:103

In her exploration of the Western Ghats, Dora finds four new species of fungi. Below is the DNA sequence alignment for a single locus from these new species that she calls Yeti, Unicorn, Bigfoot and Godzilla. Using the principle of parsimony and the DNA sequence alignment information below, which one or more of the following tree topologies represent(s) the relationship between these species?

Yeti: ATGC

Unicorn: ATGT

Bigfoot: ATGA

Godzilla: ATGT

QUESTION ID:104

Ergotism is caused by ingestion of grains infected with 

QUESTION ID:105

Match the bacteria in Column I with their respective characteristic features in Column II.

QUESTION ID:106

Carmine, a food colorant, is derived from 

QUESTION ID:107

Which one of the following carbohydrates is NOT a storage polysaccharide? 

QUESTION ID:108

Which one of the following statements is true for a high-pressure homogenizer? 

QUESTION ID:109

Coconut oil contains a small fraction of unsaturated fatty acids, but still has a low melting point due to the presence of 

QUESTION ID:110

Which of the following amines, produced as a result of protein degradation, is/are foul smelling? 

QUESTION ID:111

Water is flowing at 100 litres/min through a pipe with a diameter of 5 cm. Assume the coefficient of viscosity of water to be 0.001 Pa.s and the density to be 1000 kg/m³ . The Reynolds number for this flow is _______ (Round off to nearest integer) 

QUESTION ID:112

Match the toxins in Column I with their respective sources in Column II.

QUESTION ID:113

Match the vitamins in Column I with their respective coenzyme forms listed in Column II.

QUESTION ID:114

Which one of the following proteins brings about the coagulation of milk in the stomach of calves? 

QUESTION ID:115

Match the class of additives used for food preservation listed in Column I with their specific examples in Column II.

QUESTION ID:116

Match the food items listed in Column I with their respective flavoring agents in Column II.

QUESTION ID:117

Vegetable oils resist oxidation and maintain their quality for a long period due to the presence of 

QUESTION ID:118

For a given temperature difference between the top and bottom surfaces of a flat metal plate, Fourier’s law of heat conduction implies that 

QUESTION ID:119

Xylooligosaccharides can be produced by 

QUESTION ID:120

In a α-helix, the R-groups on the amino acid residues 

QUESTION ID:121

During constant pressure cake filtration, for an incompressible cake deposited uniformly over a constant filter surface area, 

QUESTION ID:122

Hot oil is being cooled in a countercurrent, double-pipe heat exchanger from 410 K to 340 K by chilled water entering at 290 K and exiting the exchanger at 330 K. The Log Mean Temperature Difference (LMTD) for this heat transfer is ________K. (Round off to one decimal place)