PPSC General Knowledge Past Paper 2017 Solved MCQs with Answers
Solved General Knowledge MCQs from the PPSC 2017 past paper, each with the correct answer and a clear explanation. Ideal practice for PPSC, FPSC, NTS, CSS and PMS. All questions are extracted from the actual 2017 paper and verified before publication.
'Genoa' is a seaport of which country?
Genoa is a major seaport of Italy, and the birthplace of Christopher Columbus.
The land mass of which country is in two continents?
Turkey lies in two continents, with Thrace in Europe and Anatolia in Asia, divided by the Bosphorus.
Oscar Awards are given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in which country?
The Oscars are awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the United States.
House of Lords is the Upper House of the Parliament of which country?
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Which country is known as the Gift of the Nile?
Egypt is called the Gift of the Nile, a phrase from Herodotus, because its civilisation depended on the river's annual flood.
When the Parliament is not in session, on what does the President issue an Ordinance?
When Parliament is not in session the President issues an Ordinance on the advice of the Prime Minister.
Forces led by the Duke of Wellington finally defeated French forces led by Napoleon Bonaparte in which battle?
The Duke of Wellington defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
"Hollywood," the center of American film industry, is located in which state?
Hollywood, the centre of the American film industry, is in California.
Which organ is not a principal organ of the UNO?
The ILO is a specialised agency, not one of the six principal organs of the United Nations.
In which year did the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces win the Nobel Peace Prize?
The United Nations Peacekeeping Forces were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1988.
Joseph Broz Tito, one of the founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement, was the president of which country?
Josip Broz Tito, a founder of the Non-Aligned Movement, was President of Yugoslavia.
Who was Napoleon Bonaparte?
Napoleon Bonaparte was Emperor of France.
Which country has the highest GDP per capita in South Asia?
The Maldives has the highest GDP per capita in South Asia.
Which planet has the shortest rotation time around its axis?
Jupiter has the shortest rotation period of any planet, turning on its axis in under ten hours despite being the largest.
Who invented the system of writing and printing for the blind?
Louis Braille invented the raised-dot system of reading and writing for the blind, in 1824.
Which country is OPEC's largest oil producer?
Saudi Arabia is OPEC's largest oil producer.
Who said, "The post-Cold War world is bound to indulge in a conflict of different cultural identities"?
Samuel P. Huntington argued in 'The Clash of Civilizations' that post-Cold War conflict would be driven by cultural and civilisational differences.
When did the Romans arrive in Britain?
The Romans first arrived in Britain in 55 BC under Julius Caesar, though full conquest began in 43 AD.
Benghazi is a city in which country?
Benghazi is the second largest city of Libya.
Which body is the most sovereign body of the United Nations Organization?
The General Assembly, in which every member state has a vote, is the most representative and sovereign body of the United Nations.
Where was the headquarters of the League of Nations located?
The League of Nations had its headquarters at Geneva, Switzerland.
What is the process by which the American Congress has the right to remove a President from office?
Impeachment is the process by which the American Congress can charge and remove a President from office.
In which ancient country did the Han Dynasty exist?
The Han Dynasty ruled ancient China from 206 BC to 220 AD.
Windhoek is the capital of which country?
Windhoek is the capital of Namibia.
What is the length of a cricket bat in inches?
A cricket bat may be no more than 38 inches long.
Who was the first Republican President of America?
Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican President of the United States, elected in 1860.
What was the cantonment called that Mo'tasim built on the bank of the River Tigris?
The Abbasid caliph Al-Mu'tasim built the cantonment city of Samarra on the Tigris in 836 AD, moving his capital there from Baghdad.
According to Rousseau, on what does the sovereignty of a state depend?
Rousseau held that the sovereignty of a state rests on the general will of the people.
Hammurabi was the great lawgiver of which civilization?
Hammurabi was the great lawgiver of Mesopotamia, whose code was inscribed on a stone stele in Babylon.
To which Sufi order did Bahaud Din Zakariya Multani belong?
Bahauddin Zakariya of Multan belonged to the Suhrawardiyya Sufi order.
Who was the person who said, "Man was born free, but everywhere I find him in chains"?
Jean-Jacques Rousseau opened 'The Social Contract' with the words that man is born free but is everywhere in chains.
In which year was the United Nations Charter signed?
The United Nations Charter was signed in 1945 at San Francisco.
Who was Vasco da Gama, who is considered to be the first to successfully sail from Europe to India in 1498?
Vasco da Gama, the first to sail from Europe to India, was Portuguese.
Where is Waterloo, where Napoleon was finally defeated, situated?
Waterloo, where Napoleon was finally defeated in 1815, is in present-day Belgium.
Who was the first American President to resign while in office?
Richard Nixon was the first American President to resign from office, in 1974 over the Watergate scandal.
What does the period of Pre History mean?
Prehistory means the period before written records, known only through archaeology.
Which was the official language during the Muslim Rule in India?
Persian was the official language during Muslim rule in India, remaining so until the British replaced it with English in 1837.
Which river does not flow through Africa?
The Tigris flows through Turkey, Syria and Iraq, not through Africa. The Nile, Niger and Congo are African rivers.
What are birds?
Birds are warm-blooded, maintaining a constant body temperature independent of their surroundings.
Where is the headquarters of ASEAN located?
ASEAN has its headquarters at Jakarta, Indonesia.
A rival organization to North Atlantic Treaty Organization was?
The Warsaw Pact, formed in 1955, was the Soviet-led military alliance that rivalled NATO.
Ireland joined the United Kingdom on January 1 of which year?
Ireland joined the United Kingdom on 1 January 1801, under the Acts of Union.
Where is the Blue Mosque, or "Mosque of Sultan Ahmad," located?
The Blue Mosque, formally the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, is in Istanbul, Turkey.
To which country does the Wakhan Corridor, located to the north of Pakistan, belong?
The Wakhan Corridor, the narrow strip north of Pakistan separating it from Tajikistan, belongs to Afghanistan.
Angel Falls, the highest waterfalls in the world, are located in which country?
Angel Falls, the world's highest uninterrupted waterfall, is in Venezuela.
What is the name of the largest mammal in the world?
The blue whale is the largest mammal, and the largest animal known to have lived.
Kahlil Gibran, a famous essayist, poet, and philosopher, belonged to which country?
Kahlil Gibran, author of 'The Prophet', was from Lebanon.
Where was the famous Muslim historian and thinker, Ibn Khaldun, born?
Ibn Khaldun was born at Tunis in Tunisia in 1332.
Refugee issues are dealt with by which one of the following UN bodies?
UNHCR, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, deals with refugee issues.
Which Asian country has Manama as its capital?
Manama is the capital of Bahrain.
Which language is not an official language of the UN?
German is not an official language of the United Nations. The six official languages are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
The oral polio vaccine was invented by?
Albert Sabin developed the oral polio vaccine, which largely replaced the injected vaccine of Jonas Salk.
The Taliban were led by which leader during their rise to power in Afghanistan?
Mullah Mohammed Omar led the Taliban during their rise to power in Afghanistan in the 1990s.
Barack Obama Sr., the father of former President Barack Obama, belonged to which country?
Barack Obama Sr., father of the American President, was from Kenya.
What does ANC, the ruling party of South Africa of which Nelson Mandela was a prominent leader, stand for?
ANC stands for the African National Congress, the party of Nelson Mandela and the ruling party of South Africa.
By education, Sir Ganga Ram, in whose name Ganga Ram Hospital exists, was a/an?
Sir Ganga Ram, after whom the Lahore hospital is named, was an engineer by education and served as an architect in Punjab.
India conducted its first nuclear test when?
India conducted its first nuclear test in 1974, code-named Smiling Buddha.
In which year did the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics cease to exist as an entity?
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ceased to exist in 1991.
Vienna is the capital of which country?
Vienna is the capital of Austria.
The Zulu are a prominent tribe of which country?
The Zulu are a prominent people of South Africa.
For how long are non-permanent members of the UN Security Council elected?
Non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council are elected for two-year terms.
Nagorno-Karabakh region is recognized as part of which country?
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan.
Addis Ababa is the capital city of which country?
Addis Ababa is the capital of Ethiopia.
Earthquake magnitude is measured by which instrument?
Earthquakes are recorded by a seismograph, and their magnitude expressed on the Richter scale.
Who is considered to be one of the fathers of the internet?
Vinton Gray Cerf, who co-designed the TCP/IP protocols, is regarded as one of the fathers of the internet.
Where is the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank located?
The Asian Development Bank has its headquarters at Manila, Philippines.
Which is the world's largest island, excluding Australia?
Greenland is the world's largest island, Australia being classed as a continent rather than an island.
Who is the famous Muslim historian, jurist, philosopher, as well as a politician of the 14th century?
Ibn Khaldun was the great Muslim historian, jurist, philosopher and statesman, author of the 'Muqaddimah'.
The first Secretary-General of the UN was?
Trygve Lie of Norway was the first Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Where is the Deccan Plateau situated?
The Deccan Plateau occupies most of peninsular India.
In 1969, which organization did Pakistan join?
Pakistan joined the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in 1969, at its founding conference in Rabat.
Aristotle was what kind of philosopher?
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher, a pupil of Plato and tutor to Alexander the Great.
The longest continuous military rule has been in which country?
Myanmar has experienced the longest continuous military rule of any modern state, from 1962 onwards with brief interruptions.
Which Portuguese explorer discovered the sea route from Europe to India?
Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese explorer, discovered the sea route from Europe to India in 1498.
Where was Arya Samaj founded?
The Arya Samaj was founded at Bombay in 1875 by Swami Dayananda Saraswati.
Which Indian city is now called "Chennai"?
Madras was renamed Chennai in 1996.
Which of these is a military alliance?
NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, is a military alliance founded in 1949.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in which year?
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948.
What did the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) consist of?
The Federally Administered Tribal Areas consisted of seven agencies, merged into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018.
What does UPS, which is now widely used in households, stand for?
UPS stands for Uninterruptible Power Supply.
Dr. Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Prize winner, is known all over the world as the founder of which organization?
Dr Muhammad Yunus founded the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, sharing the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for pioneering microcredit.
What is it called when the stock market is rising?
A rising stock market is described as bullish.
Where was the First Round Table Conference held?
The First Round Table Conference was held at London in 1930.
"Interfax" is the news agency of which country?
Interfax is a news agency of Russia.
In February 1992, where was the first Summit Meeting of the ECO held?
The first summit meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organisation was held at Tehran in February 1992.
The famous novel "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" was written by?
Mohsin Hamid wrote 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist', shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2007.
What does FCR stand for?
FCR stands for the Frontier Crimes Regulation, the colonial-era law that governed the tribal areas until 2018.
What is TDAP responsible for?
TDAP, the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, is responsible for export promotion.
Which gas is present the most in the Sun?
Hydrogen is the most abundant gas in the Sun, making up about three quarters of its mass.
Which planet is the brightest?
Venus is the brightest planet in the night sky, because of its thick, highly reflective clouds and its closeness to earth.
Where is the Alps mountain range located?
The Alps are in Europe, running through France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and neighbouring countries.
Day and night are almost equal at the ?
Day and night are almost equal all year at the Equator, where the sun's rays fall most directly.
Wana is a town in which area?
Wana is the main town of South Waziristan.
What is the capital of Somalia?
Mogadishu is the capital of Somalia.
Who is Aung San Suu Kyi?
Aung San Suu Kyi is a political leader of Myanmar and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
About the PPSC General Knowledge Past Paper 2017
Every MCQ above is taken from the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) General Knowledge papers held in 2017, with the correct answer and a written explanation for each. Past-paper practice is the most dependable way to prepare for PPSC, FPSC, NTS, CSS and PMS, because these papers repeat their themes, and often the questions themselves, from one year to the next.
Questions were checked against reliable sources before publication. Where a circulating source sheet carried a factual or wording error, we corrected it rather than reproducing the mistake. For chapter-wise preparation, work through our General Knowledge MCQs hub, which also lists every other year’s paper. Further reading: Pakistan Movement and the PPSC official website.
How to Use This Paper
Attempt the full quiz before looking at any answer, then read the explanation for every question you got wrong, including those you guessed correctly. A past paper is only useful if you close the gaps it exposes. Pro members can download the complete paper as a PDF with all answers and explanations for offline revision.