About this Class 12 Social practice test

Class 12 Social Science focuses on complex world history, environmental geopolitics, human geography, constitutional rights, and economic trade lines. Prepare for your boards with detailed, step-by-step analytical paths.

Class 12 Social Practice Test sample questions

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1. 1. Archaeologists have still not been able to decipher the script of which Bronze Age civilization, whose seals depict animals such as the so-called 'unicorn' bull?

2. 2. In which script are most of Emperor Ashoka's rock and pillar edicts within the Indian subcontinent inscribed?

3. 3. In the Mughal administrative system, what term was used for officials holding a rank expressed through zat and sawar, which determined both their status and salary?

4. 4. Which aged Mughal emperor was persuaded by the mutinying sepoys to become the symbolic leader of the rebel forces during the Revolt of 1857?

5. 5. Which 1930 movement did Mahatma Gandhi launch by breaking the salt law at Dandi, marking the start of large-scale civil disobedience against British rule?

6. 6. The Human Development Index, used to rank countries by their level of development, is a composite measure based on education, standard of living, and which other dimension?

7. 7. In the study of migration, what term describes unfavourable conditions at a migrant's place of origin, such as unemployment or poverty, that compel them to leave?

8. 8. The adoption of high-yielding variety seeds, assured irrigation, and chemical fertilisers from the mid-1960s, which sharply raised wheat and rice output in states like Punjab and Haryana, is known by what name?

9. 9. Jawaharlal Nehru used which famous phrase to describe large multipurpose river valley projects such as Bhakra Nangal, built for irrigation, power generation, and flood control?

10. 10. The Bailadila range, known for high-grade hematite iron ore exported via Vishakhapatnam port, and the Dalli-Rajhara mines that have historically supplied the Bhilai Steel Plant, are both located in which Indian state?

11. 11. Who, as India's first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, played the key role in integrating over 500 princely states into the Indian Union after 1947?

12. 12. India, along with Yugoslavia, Egypt, Indonesia, and Ghana, was a founding participant in which movement launched at Belgrade in 1961 to keep newly independent nations from formally aligning with either Cold War bloc?

13. 13. Which term did political scientist Rajni Kothari coin to describe the 1952-1967 period when the Indian National Congress dominated national and most state elections despite functioning opposition parties?

14. 14. Under which article of the Indian Constitution did President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed proclaim a National Emergency in June 1975 on the advice of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi?

15. 15. The States Reorganisation Act of 1956, which redrew most state boundaries in India, was based mainly on which criterion?

16. 16. Which party, formed in 1977 by merging several opposition groups after the Emergency, became the first non-Congress party to form a government at the Centre, under Morarji Desai?

17. 17. The economic reforms introduced in 1991 under Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and Finance Minister Manmohan Singh are commonly summarised by which three-part acronym?

18. 18. The Narmada Bachao Andolan, led by activists including Medha Patkar, primarily opposed the submergence and displacement caused by large dam projects, notably the Sardar Sarovar Dam, on which river?

19. 19. In which year did the Soviet Union formally disintegrate into fifteen independent republics, marking the definitive end of the Cold War era?

20. 20. How many permanent, veto-holding members make up the United Nations Security Council?

21. 21. What term refers to Gross Domestic Product plus net factor income earned by a country's residents from abroad?

22. 22. Which policy rate, set by the Reserve Bank of India, is the rate at which it lends short-term funds to commercial banks and serves as its primary tool for managing inflation?

23. 23. In Keynesian macroeconomics, the value of the investment multiplier depends directly on which propensity of households?

24. 24. In a government budget, the fiscal deficit is defined as total budget expenditure minus total budget receipts excluding which type of receipt?

25. 25. In India's Balance of Payments, which account records transactions relating to export and import of goods and services and unilateral transfers, as distinct from the capital account?

26. 26. The New Industrial Policy of 1991 abolished which system, which had earlier required government permission before most businesses could be started, expanded, or diversified?

27. 27. India's official poverty line has traditionally been based on a minimum calorie intake, fixed at how many calories per person per day in rural areas?

28. 28. Investments in education, health, and training, which improve the productive skills and capacities of a population, are together termed what in economic development theory?

29. 29. What term describes the unemployment common among educated youth in urban India who are willing and qualified to work but cannot find any job at all, as distinct from disguised unemployment in agriculture?

30. 30. What term, defined by the Brundtland Commission as development that meets present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own, describes environmentally responsible economic growth?

Answer key & quick explanations

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1. 1. Archaeologists have still not been able to decipher the script of which Bronze Age civilization, whose seals depict animals such as the so-called 'unicorn' bull?

   The Harappan (Indus Valley) Civilization

   The Harappan script, found on thousands of seals and other artefacts as short pictographic inscriptions, remains undeciphered despite many claimed attempts, partly because no bilingual text like a Rosetta Stone has been found.

2. 2. In which script are most of Emperor Ashoka's rock and pillar edicts within the Indian subcontinent inscribed?

   Brahmi script

   Most of Ashoka's edicts, which announced his policy of dhamma, were composed in the Prakrit language and written in the Brahmi script; only a few edicts in the northwest used Kharoshthi, Aramaic, or Greek.

3. 3. In the Mughal administrative system, what term was used for officials holding a rank expressed through zat and sawar, which determined both their status and salary?

   Mansabdars

   Under the mansabdari system, each official held a mansab that fixed his position and salary through the zat number (personal status) and the sawar number (the cavalry he was required to maintain).

4. 4. Which aged Mughal emperor was persuaded by the mutinying sepoys to become the symbolic leader of the rebel forces during the Revolt of 1857?

   Bahadur Shah Zafar (Bahadur Shah II)

   When sepoys from Meerut reached Delhi in May 1857, they proclaimed the elderly Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar their leader, which gave the uprising legitimacy and helped it spread as a broader challenge to British rule.

5. 5. Which 1930 movement did Mahatma Gandhi launch by breaking the salt law at Dandi, marking the start of large-scale civil disobedience against British rule?

   The Civil Disobedience Movement (the Dandi March / Salt Satyagraha)

   Gandhi walked from Sabarmati Ashram to the coastal village of Dandi between 12 March and 6 April 1930, breaking the government salt monopoly law, which formally launched the Civil Disobedience Movement across India.

6. 6. The Human Development Index, used to rank countries by their level of development, is a composite measure based on education, standard of living, and which other dimension?

   Health, measured through life expectancy at birth

   The HDI, devised for the UNDP by Mahbub-ul-Haq and Amartya Sen, combines life expectancy (health), years of schooling (education), and per capita income adjusted for purchasing power (standard of living) into one index.

7. 7. In the study of migration, what term describes unfavourable conditions at a migrant's place of origin, such as unemployment or poverty, that compel them to leave?

   Push factors

   Push factors are adverse conditions at the source region, such as poverty, unemployment, or insecurity, that drive people to migrate, in contrast to pull factors, which are attractive conditions at the destination.

8. 8. The adoption of high-yielding variety seeds, assured irrigation, and chemical fertilisers from the mid-1960s, which sharply raised wheat and rice output in states like Punjab and Haryana, is known by what name?

   The Green Revolution

   The Green Revolution, beginning in the mid-1960s, combined HYV seeds with irrigation and fertiliser inputs, greatly increasing foodgrain yields, particularly wheat, in Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh.

9. 9. Jawaharlal Nehru used which famous phrase to describe large multipurpose river valley projects such as Bhakra Nangal, built for irrigation, power generation, and flood control?

   "Temples of modern India"

   Nehru called large multipurpose projects like Bhakra Nangal and Hirakud the 'temples of modern India,' reflecting the post-independence faith that such dams would drive the country's development.

10. 10. The Bailadila range, known for high-grade hematite iron ore exported via Vishakhapatnam port, and the Dalli-Rajhara mines that have historically supplied the Bhilai Steel Plant, are both located in which Indian state?

    Chhattisgarh

    Both the Bailadila range (Dantewada district) and the Dalli-Rajhara mines (Balod district) lie in Chhattisgarh; Bailadila ore is exported through Vishakhapatnam while Dalli-Rajhara has traditionally fed the Bhilai Steel Plant.

11. 11. Who, as India's first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, played the key role in integrating over 500 princely states into the Indian Union after 1947?

    Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

    Working closely with V.P. Menon, Home Minister Sardar Patel used persuasion and, where necessary, firmer pressure to bring the princely states into the Indian Union between 1947 and 1949, achieving India's political integration.

12. 12. India, along with Yugoslavia, Egypt, Indonesia, and Ghana, was a founding participant in which movement launched at Belgrade in 1961 to keep newly independent nations from formally aligning with either Cold War bloc?

    The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)

    NAM was founded at the 1961 Belgrade conference by leaders including Nehru, Tito, Nasser, Sukarno, and Nkrumah, allowing newly decolonised nations to pursue independent foreign policies outside the US and Soviet blocs.

13. 13. Which term did political scientist Rajni Kothari coin to describe the 1952-1967 period when the Indian National Congress dominated national and most state elections despite functioning opposition parties?

    The "Congress system"

    Kothari's 'Congress system' explained Congress's electoral dominance as resting on its broad social and ideological coalition, even though genuine opposition parties contested and functioned freely during this era.

14. 14. Under which article of the Indian Constitution did President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed proclaim a National Emergency in June 1975 on the advice of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi?

    Article 352

    On 25 June 1975, following the Allahabad High Court verdict against her election, Indira Gandhi advised the President to proclaim Emergency under Article 352 citing internal disturbance, suspending several civil liberties.

15. 15. The States Reorganisation Act of 1956, which redrew most state boundaries in India, was based mainly on which criterion?

    Linguistic basis

    Acting on the States Reorganisation Commission's recommendations, the 1956 Act reorganised state boundaries chiefly along linguistic lines, responding to demands such as the movement for a separate Telugu-speaking Andhra state.

16. 16. Which party, formed in 1977 by merging several opposition groups after the Emergency, became the first non-Congress party to form a government at the Centre, under Morarji Desai?

    The Janata Party

    After the Emergency ended, major opposition groups merged to form the Janata Party, which swept the 1977 elections and installed Morarji Desai as India's first non-Congress Prime Minister.

17. 17. The economic reforms introduced in 1991 under Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and Finance Minister Manmohan Singh are commonly summarised by which three-part acronym?

    LPG - Liberalisation, Privatisation, and Globalisation

    Facing a severe balance-of-payments crisis, the 1991 reforms reduced trade barriers and licensing controls and opened the economy to private and foreign investment, a package popularly termed the LPG reforms.

18. 18. The Narmada Bachao Andolan, led by activists including Medha Patkar, primarily opposed the submergence and displacement caused by large dam projects, notably the Sardar Sarovar Dam, on which river?

    The Narmada river

    The Narmada Bachao Andolan mobilised communities affected by large dams, particularly the Sardar Sarovar Project on the Narmada, protesting against displacement and inadequate rehabilitation of those losing land and homes.

19. 19. In which year did the Soviet Union formally disintegrate into fifteen independent republics, marking the definitive end of the Cold War era?

    1991

    Following the failed August 1991 coup and Mikhail Gorbachev's resignation, the Soviet Union formally dissolved in December 1991 into fifteen independent republics, ending the bipolar Cold War order.

20. 20. How many permanent, veto-holding members make up the United Nations Security Council?

    Five

    The UN Security Council's five permanent members - the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China - each hold veto power over substantive resolutions, alongside ten rotating non-permanent members.

21. 21. What term refers to Gross Domestic Product plus net factor income earned by a country's residents from abroad?

    Gross National Product (GNP)

    GNP equals GDP plus Net Factor Income from Abroad (NFIA), where NFIA is the difference between factor income earned by residents abroad and factor income paid to non-residents within the domestic economy.

22. 22. Which policy rate, set by the Reserve Bank of India, is the rate at which it lends short-term funds to commercial banks and serves as its primary tool for managing inflation?

    The repo rate

    The repo rate is the rate at which the RBI lends to commercial banks against government securities; raising it makes credit costlier and helps curb inflation, while lowering it encourages borrowing and growth.

23. 23. In Keynesian macroeconomics, the value of the investment multiplier depends directly on which propensity of households?

    The Marginal Propensity to Consume (MPC)

    The investment multiplier is calculated as k = 1/(1-MPC); a higher MPC means more of each extra rupee of income is spent rather than saved, producing a larger overall rise in equilibrium national income.

24. 24. In a government budget, the fiscal deficit is defined as total budget expenditure minus total budget receipts excluding which type of receipt?

    Borrowings

    Fiscal deficit equals Total Expenditure minus Total Receipts excluding borrowings, so it directly measures the government's total borrowing requirement to finance the gap between spending and non-debt receipts.

25. 25. In India's Balance of Payments, which account records transactions relating to export and import of goods and services and unilateral transfers, as distinct from the capital account?

    The current account

    The current account covers visible trade in goods, invisible trade in services and income, and unilateral transfers like remittances, while the capital account records changes in a country's foreign assets and liabilities.

26. 26. The New Industrial Policy of 1991 abolished which system, which had earlier required government permission before most businesses could be started, expanded, or diversified?

    Industrial licensing (the License-Permit-Quota Raj)

    Before 1991, setting up, expanding, or diversifying most industries required a government licence; the 1991 policy abolished licensing for all but a small list of strategic industries, easing entry and expansion for private firms.

27. 27. India's official poverty line has traditionally been based on a minimum calorie intake, fixed at how many calories per person per day in rural areas?

    2,400 calories per person per day

    India's traditional poverty line methodology fixed minimum calorie requirements at 2,400 calories per day in rural areas and 2,100 calories in urban areas, converting these norms into corresponding monthly expenditure levels.

28. 28. Investments in education, health, and training, which improve the productive skills and capacities of a population, are together termed what in economic development theory?

    Human capital formation

    Human capital formation refers to investment in people through education, healthcare, and on-the-job training, which raises their knowledge, skills, and productivity and thereby contributes to economic growth.

29. 29. What term describes the unemployment common among educated youth in urban India who are willing and qualified to work but cannot find any job at all, as distinct from disguised unemployment in agriculture?

    Open unemployment

    Open unemployment refers to a section of the labour force that is available and willing to work but remains entirely jobless, commonly seen among educated urban youth, unlike disguised unemployment where more people work on a task than needed, typical in agriculture.

30. 30. What term, defined by the Brundtland Commission as development that meets present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own, describes environmentally responsible economic growth?

    Sustainable development

    The Brundtland Commission's 1987 report 'Our Common Future' defined sustainable development as meeting present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet theirs, a principle central to environmental policy discussions in Indian economic development.

Curriculum Mapping & Learning Guide

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Class 12 Social chapters covered

1. Chapter 1: Ancient & Medieval Indian History: Harappan civilization, Mauryan empire, and Mughal administration.
2. Chapter 2: Modern Indian History: The Revolt of 1857 and the national movement.
3. Chapter 3: Human Geography & Indian Economy: Migration, agriculture, and mineral resources.
4. Chapter 4: Politics in India Since Independence: Nation-building, one-party dominance, and the Emergency.
5. Chapter 5: Contemporary World Politics: The Cold War, the Non-Aligned Movement, and the United Nations.
6. Chapter 6: Macroeconomics: National income, money and banking, and government budgets.
7. Chapter 7: Indian Economic Development: Economic reforms, poverty, human capital, and sustainable development.

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