Geography: previous-year questions
167 real UPSC Prelims questions (2011–2026) with the official answer and a clear explanation. 67 of them came in the last five papers.
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Questions per year, counted from the official papers.
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Consider the following pairs :
| Hills | Region
| 1. Cardamom Hills | Coromandel Coast
| 2. Kaimur Hills | Konkan Coast
| 3. Mahadeo Hills | Central India
| 4. Mikir Hills | North-East India
Which of the above pairs are correctly matched?
Answer (c) & explanation
Pairs 3 and 4 are correct (c). The Mahadeo Hills, with Pachmarhi, are part of the Satpura range in central India. The Mikir Hills (Karbi Anglong) are in Assam in the North-East. The Cardamom Hills are in the southern Western Ghats on the Kerala–Tamil Nadu border, not the Coromandel coast. The Kaimur Hills are the eastern end of the Vindhyas in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, not the Konkan coast.
Notice how matching hills to regions becomes easy once the major ranges are fixed on a mental map of India.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Turkey is located between
Answer (b) & explanation
Turkey has the Black Sea to the north and the Mediterranean, with its arm the Aegean, to the south and west (b). The Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, joined by the Sea of Marmara, link these two seas and split Turkey between Europe and Asia. The Caspian Sea (a) lies further east, beyond Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Gulf of Suez (c) is in Egypt, and the Gulf of Aqaba and Dead Sea (d) are around Jordan, Israel and Egypt.
Notice how control of these straits has made Turkey strategically vital, from the Ottoman era to the Black Sea grain trade during the Ukraine war.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
What is the correct sequence of occurrence of the following cities in South-East Asia as one proceeds from south to north?
- 1. Bangkok
- 2. Hanoi
- 3. Jakarta
- 4. Singapore
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer (c) & explanation
Use latitudes. Jakarta (about 6° S) lies south of the equator. Singapore is at about 1° N, Bangkok about 14° N and Hanoi about 21° N. So from south to north the order is Jakarta–Singapore–Bangkok–Hanoi, that is 3-4-1-2 (c). Options (a) and (d) start with Singapore, ignoring that Jakarta is south of the equator, and (b) puts Hanoi too early.
Hanoi lies in northern Vietnam, close to China, while Ho Chi Minh City is in the south. Notice how a rough latitude for each capital turns map-sequence questions into simple arithmetic.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Which one of the following pairs of islands is separated from each other by the ‘Ten Degree Channel’?
Answer (a) & explanation
The Ten Degree Channel runs along about 10° N and separates Little Andaman from Car Nicobar, so it divides the Andaman group from the Nicobar group (a). The other pairs have their own channels: the Great Channel lies between Great Nicobar and Sumatra (b); the Eight Degree Channel separates Minicoy from the Maldives (c); and the Sunda Strait separates Sumatra from Java (d).
The Nine Degree Channel separates Minicoy from the main Lakshadweep islands. Notice how these channels sit on busy sea lanes towards the Malacca Strait, which is why they matter for India's maritime security and trade.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following pairs :
| Region | Well-known for the production of
| 1. Kinnaur | Areca nut
| 2. Mewat | Mango
| 3. Coromandel | Soya bean
Which of the above pairs is/are correctly matched?
Answer (d) & explanation
None of the pairs is correct (d). Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh is known for apples, chilgoza pine nuts and grapes, not areca nut, which grows mainly in Karnataka, Kerala and Assam. Mewat, in Haryana and Rajasthan, is a dry region growing millets and mustard, not famous for mangoes. Soya bean is mainly a crop of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, not the Coromandel coast, which is known for rice.
Madhya Pradesh is often called the "Soya State". Notice how crop geography follows climate and soil: temperate fruit in high valleys, oilseeds on the black soils of the Deccan.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Which of the following phenomena might have influenced the evolution of organisms?
- 1. Continental drift
- 2. Glacial cycles
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer (c) & explanation
Both shaped evolution (c). Continental drift split and joined landmasses, isolating populations and changing climates; Australia's marsupials evolved in isolation after it separated from Gondwana. Glacial cycles shifted habitats, cut off species in refuges and drove extinctions as well as new species. Options (a), (b) and (d) each leave out one real factor.
Isolation is a key driver of speciation, as Darwin's finches on the Galápagos show. Notice how a geography topic (plate tectonics and ice ages) becomes a biology answer: earth history and the history of life are told together.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following pairs :
| National Highway | Cities connected
| 1. NH 4 | Chennai and Hyderabad
| 2. NH 6 | Mumbai and Kolkata
| 3. NH 15 | Ahmedabad and Jodhpur
Which of the above pairs is/are correctly matched?
Answer (d) & explanation
No pair is correct (d). Under the old numbering used in 2014, NH 4 ran Mumbai–Pune–Bengaluru–Chennai, not Chennai–Hyderabad. NH 6 ran from Hazira (Surat) through Nagpur and Raipur to Kolkata, not from Mumbai. NH 15 ran Pathankot–Bikaner–Jaisalmer–Samakhiali, not Ahmedabad–Jodhpur.
Since 2010 highways carry new numbers: even numbers run east–west and odd numbers north–south, increasing from north to south and east to west. Old NH 7 from Varanasi to Kanyakumari is now largely NH 44, India's longest. Notice how numbering systems change, so read such questions in their year.
This question uses the old highway numbers. Do not apply today's numbering.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
If you travel through the Himalayas, you are likely to see which of the following plants naturally growing there?
- 1. Oak
- 2. Rhododendron
- 3. Sandalwood
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer (a) & explanation
Oak (banj) and rhododendron (burans, the state tree of Uttarakhand) are typical of the Himalayan montane temperate forests, roughly 1,500–3,000 m (a). Sandalwood grows naturally in the dry deciduous forests of the Deccan, mainly Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, so options with 3 fail.
Himalayan vegetation changes with height: tropical forests in the foothills, then oak, chir and deodar, then fir and birch, then alpine meadows. Notice how altitude acts like latitude here: climbing a mountain is like travelling towards the poles. Oak forests also protect springs that hill villages depend on.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
With reference to ‘Changpa’ community of India, consider the following statements :
- 1. They live mainly in the State of Uttarakhand.
- 2. They rear the Pashmina goats that yield a fine wool.
- 3. They are kept in the category of Scheduled Tribes.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer (b) & explanation
The Changpa are semi-nomadic herders of the Changthang plateau in eastern Ladakh, not Uttarakhand, so statement 1 is wrong. They rear the Changthangi (Pashmina) goat, whose fine underwool becomes pashmina shawls (2 correct). They are recognised as a Scheduled Tribe (3 correct), so the answer is (b).
The goats grow this wool to survive winters of –30 °C or colder. Climate change, shrinking pastures and youth moving to towns now threaten the Changpa way of life. Notice how geography, livelihoods and a GI-tagged craft (Kashmir Pashmina) meet in one community.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Which of the following have coral reefs?
- 1. Andaman and Nicobar Islands
- 2. Gulf of Kachchh
- 3. Gulf of Mannar
- 4. Sunderbans
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer (a) & explanation
Coral reefs are found in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Gulf of Kachchh and the Gulf of Mannar, so the answer is (a). Lakshadweep is the fourth major reef area. The Sundarbans delta has muddy, low-salinity water full of sediment, which suits mangroves but not corals, so options with 4 fail.
Corals need warm, clear, shallow salt water. They are threatened by bleaching when sea temperatures rise, and India's reefs suffered in the global bleaching events. Notice how corals and mangroves are neighbours in many places, yet each needs very different water.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
In India, the problem of soil erosion is associated with which of the following?
- 1. Terrace cultivation
- 2. Deforestation
- 3. Tropical climate
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer (b) & explanation
Deforestation strips away the plant cover whose roots hold soil, and is a major cause of erosion (2 correct). Terrace cultivation is a way to check erosion on slopes, not cause it, so statement 1 is wrong. UPSC's key does not count a tropical climate as a cause by itself, so the answer is (b).
Heavy rain can speed up erosion, but it does the damage mainly where cover has already been removed. Other conservation methods include contour ploughing, strip cropping, shelter belts and check dams. Notice how good farming practice, not climate alone, decides whether soil stays or goes.
Terracing is a remedy for soil erosion, not a cause of it.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
The seasonal reversal of winds is the typical characteristic of
Answer (c) & explanation
Seasonal reversal of winds is the hallmark of the monsoon climate (c). The word comes from the Arabic mausim, meaning season. Land heats faster than the sea, so winds blow from sea to land in summer (south-west monsoon) and from land to sea in winter (north-east monsoon). The equatorial climate (a) has steady heat and rain all year without such reversal. The Mediterranean climate (b) sees a seasonal shift of rain belts, not a full wind reversal, so (d) fails too.
Notice how the monsoon links geography to farming, the economy and even festivals across India.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following rivers :
- 1. Barak
- 2. Lohit
- 3. Subansiri
Which of the above flows/flow through Arunachal Pradesh?
Answer (b) & explanation
The Lohit and Subansiri flow through Arunachal Pradesh to join the Brahmaputra, so the answer is (b). The Barak rises in the Manipur hills, flows through Manipur, Mizoram and Assam's Cachar region, and enters Bangladesh as the Surma–Meghna, so options with 1 fail.
The Subansiri is the largest tributary of the Brahmaputra and hosts the Subansiri Lower hydroelectric project. The Lohit carries the Dhola–Sadiya (Bhupen Hazarika) bridge across it. Notice how hydropower in Arunachal links river geography to energy security and relations with China upstream.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
“Climate is extreme, rainfall is scanty and the people used to be nomadic herders.”
The above statement best describes which of the following regions?
Answer (b) & explanation
Central Asian Steppe is correct (b). The Central Asian steppes lie deep inside Eurasia, far from the sea, so they have an extreme continental climate with hot summers and bitter winters, and scanty rainfall. Peoples such as the Kazakhs, Kirghiz and Mongols lived as nomadic herders of horses, sheep and camels. (a) is wrong: the African savanna is hot all year with a wet season, and herders like the Maasai are semi-nomadic, but the climate is not 'extreme'. (c) is wrong: the North American prairies are now settled, mechanised grain farms. (d) is wrong: the tundra is cold, with reindeer herders, but rainfall and climate descriptions fit the steppe better.
Notice the history: steppe nomads, from the Scythians to Genghis Khan, shaped Eurasian history. Trap: 'used to be' signals traditional herding.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Variations in the length of daytime and nighttime from season to season are due to
Answer (d) & explanation
Revolution of the earth on a tilted axis is correct (d). The Earth's axis is tilted about 23.5°. As the Earth revolves round the Sun, each hemisphere leans towards the Sun for part of the year, getting long days and summer, and away from it for the rest, getting short days and winter. (a) is wrong: rotation alone gives day and night, but not their changing lengths. (b) is wrong: the elliptical orbit changes the Earth–Sun distance only slightly and does not cause seasons. (c) is wrong: latitude affects how much day length varies, but it does not cause the seasonal change.
Notice the dates: the equinoxes (about 21 March and 23 September) give equal day and night everywhere; the solstices (21 June and 22 December) give the longest and shortest days. Trap: the Earth is actually closest to the Sun in January.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
During a thunderstorm, the thunder in the skies is produced by the
- 1. meeting of cumulonimbus clouds in the sky
- 2. lightning that separates the nimbus clouds
- 3. violent upward movement of air and water particles
Select the correct answer using the codes given below.
Answer (d) & explanation
None of the above is correct (d). Lightning heats the air along its path to around 30,000°C in a split second, about five times hotter than the Sun's surface. The air expands explosively, and this shock wave travels as the sound of thunder. Statement 1 is wrong: clouds do not 'meet' and clap together. Statement 2 is wrong: lightning does not separate clouds. Statement 3 is wrong: updrafts build the charge in cumulonimbus clouds, but they do not themselves make the sound. So (a), (b) and (c) fail.
Notice the related facts: we see lightning before we hear thunder because light travels faster than sound; counting the seconds and dividing by three gives the distance in km. Lightning is notified as a disaster in several states; India's Damini app warns of strikes. Trap: updrafts cause lightning indirectly, but thunder comes from the heated air.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
The Narmada river flows to the west, while most other large peninsular rivers flow to the east. Why?
- 1. It occupies a linear rift valley.
- 2. It flows between the Vindhyas and the Satpuras.
- 3. The land slopes to the west from Central India.
Select the correct answer using the codes given below.
Answer (a) & explanation
Statement 1 only is correct (a). The Narmada, like the Tapi, flows west because it follows a rift valley formed by faulting, so its course is set by that trough (1). Statement 2 is a fact, but it only describes where it flows, between the Vindhyas and the Satpuras, not why it flows west; UPSC treats it as not a reason. Statement 3 is wrong: the Peninsular plateau as a whole slopes east, which is why most rivers flow into the Bay of Bengal. So (b), (c) and (d) fail.
Notice the consequence: rift-valley rivers form estuaries, not deltas, and have few tributaries. The Sardar Sarovar dam is on the Narmada, and the river rises at Amarkantak. Trap: a true fact can still be the wrong reason.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following pairs :
| Tribe | State
| 1. Limboo (Limbu) | Sikkim
| 2. Karbi | Himachal Pradesh
| 3. Dongaria Kondh | Odisha
| 4. Bonda | Tamil Nadu
Which of the above pairs are correctly matched?
Answer (a) & explanation
Pairs 1 and 3 are correct (a). The Limbu people live in Sikkim and eastern Nepal (1). The Dongaria Kondh live in the Niyamgiri hills of Odisha and famously used Gram Sabha votes to block Vedanta's bauxite mining in 2013 (3). Pair 2 is wrong: the Karbi are from Assam, mainly Karbi Anglong, not Himachal Pradesh. Pair 4 is wrong: the Bonda are a PVTG of Odisha's Malkangiri hills, not Tamil Nadu. So (b), (c) and (d) fail.
Notice the related groups: Odisha has the most PVTGs (13) of any state. The PM-JANMAN scheme (2023) targets PVTG habitations. The Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council is a Sixth Schedule body. Trap: a tribe from Odisha is moved to Tamil Nadu.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
On the planet earth, most of the freshwater exists as ice caps and glaciers. Out of the remaining freshwater, the largest proportion
Answer (c) & explanation
Groundwater is correct (c). About 69% of the Earth's fresh water is locked in ice caps and glaciers. Most of the rest, about 30%, is groundwater. (a) is wrong: the atmosphere holds only about 0.04% as vapour and clouds. (b) is wrong: lakes and rivers hold well under 1%. (d) is wrong: soil moisture is also a tiny share. Fresh water itself is only about 2.5% of all water on Earth.
Notice India's case: India is the world's largest user of groundwater, drawing about a quarter of the global total, and the CGWB finds over 10% of assessment units over-exploited. Atal Bhujal Yojana promotes community groundwater management. Trap: rivers are visible, but groundwater is far larger.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following :
- 1. Electromagnetic radiation
- 2. Geothermal energy
- 3. Gravitational force
- 4. Plate movements
- 5. Rotation of the earth
- 6. Revolution of the earth
Which of the above are responsible for bringing dynamic changes on the surface of the earth?
Answer (d) & explanation
All six are correct (d). The Earth's surface is shaped by exogenic forces driven by solar radiation (1) and gravity (3): weathering, running water, wind, glaciers and mass movement. Endogenic forces come from geothermal energy (2) and plate movements (4): mountain building, volcanoes and earthquakes. Rotation (5) sets wind and ocean-current patterns through the Coriolis force and drives tides with the Moon. Revolution (6) brings the seasons, which change weathering, rivers and glaciers. So (a), (b) and (c) leave out real factors.
Notice the frame: geomorphology sees landforms as a balance between endogenic building and exogenic wearing down. Gravity also drives landslides on young slopes such as the Himalaya. Trap: rotation and revolution seem astronomical, but they shape climate and so the surface.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.