GATE Mining Engineering General Aptitude Syllabus

What is an interjection? Give two examples.

An interjection is a word or phrase expressing sudden emotion or reaction, grammatically independent from the rest of the sentence. Examples: 'Wow!', 'Ouch!'.

What is the difference between a common noun and a proper noun?

A common noun names a general class of person, place, or thing (e.g., 'city') and is not capitalized; a proper noun names a specific one (e.g., 'Delhi') and is always capitalized.

In building vocabulary, what is the difference between a synonym and an antonym?

A synonym is a word with the same or similar meaning as another (e.g., 'happy'/'joyful'); an antonym is a word with the opposite meaning (e.g., 'happy'/'sad').

What is a homophone? Give an example set.

A homophone is a word pronounced the same as another but differing in meaning and usually spelling. Example: 'their', 'there', and 'they're'.

What is an idiom, and why can its meaning not be guessed from individual words?

An idiom is a fixed expression whose figurative meaning differs from the literal meanings of its words (e.g., 'kick the bucket' = to die), so it must be learned as a whole.

What does the idiom 'a blessing in disguise' mean?

It means something that seems bad or unlucky at first but results in something good.

What does the idiom 'once in a blue moon' mean?

It means very rarely or almost never.

What does it mean to understand a phrase 'in context'?

It means determining the meaning of a word or phrase from the surrounding words and overall situation, since the same phrase can carry different meanings in different contexts.

In reading comprehension, what is the difference between the 'main idea' and a 'supporting detail'?

The main idea is the central point or overall message of a passage; supporting details are facts, examples, or reasons that explain or back up that main idea.

In comprehension questions, what is the difference between an 'inference' and a 'directly stated fact'?

A directly stated fact is explicitly written in the text; an inference is a logical conclusion the reader draws from clues in the text that is not explicitly stated.

What is narrative sequencing, and what clues help establish the correct order of events?

Narrative sequencing is arranging events in their logical or chronological order. Clues include time/sequence signal words (first, then, next, finally), cause-and-effect links, and pronoun/reference continuity.

What is data interpretation in the context of aptitude tests?

Data interpretation is the skill of reading, analyzing, and drawing conclusions from data presented in tables, charts, and graphs, often involving calculations of totals, averages, ratios, and percentages.

What is the formula for percentage change between an old value and a new value?

$$\text{Percentage change} = \frac{\text{New value} - \text{Old value}}{\text{Old value}} \times 100\%$$

In a pie chart, how is a data category's value related to its central angle?

Each category's central angle is proportional to its share of the total: $$\text{Angle} = \frac{\text{Category value}}{\text{Total}} \times 360^{\circ}$$

In a pie chart, what central angle corresponds to a category representing 25% of the total?

$0.25 \times 360^{\circ} = 90^{\circ}$.

What type of data is a bar graph best suited to display?

A bar graph is best for comparing discrete categories or groups, where the length/height of each bar is proportional to the value it represents.

What is the difference between a bar graph and a histogram?

A bar graph compares distinct categories with gaps between bars; a histogram shows the frequency distribution of continuous data using adjacent bars (no gaps) over intervals/bins.

What does a line graph best represent, and what does a steep slope indicate?

A line graph best shows trends or change in a quantity over time; a steeper slope indicates a faster rate of change.

How is the arithmetic mean (average) of a data set calculated?

$$\text{Mean} = \frac{\sum x_i}{n}$$ where $\sum x_i$ is the sum of all values and $n$ is the number of values.

Define the median and the mode of a data set.

The median is the middle value when data are arranged in order (the average of the two middle values if $n$ is even); the mode is the value that occurs most frequently.

In a 2-dimensional Cartesian plot, what do the x-axis and y-axis represent, and how is a point written?

The x-axis is the horizontal axis and the y-axis is the vertical axis; a point is written as an ordered pair $(x, y)$, where $x$ is the horizontal coordinate and $y$ is the vertical coordinate.

What additional axis does a 3-dimensional plot have, and how is a point represented?

It adds a z-axis perpendicular to the x- and y-axes; a point is represented by an ordered triple $(x, y, z)$.

What is the formula for the distance between two points $(x_1, y_1)$ and $(x_2, y_2)$ in a 2D plane?

$$d = \sqrt{(x_2 - x_1)^{2} + (y_2 - y_1)^{2}}$$

What is a scatter plot used for, and what does a positive correlation look like on it?

A scatter plot shows the relationship between two variables as plotted points; a positive correlation appears as points trending upward from lower-left to upper-right.

On a map, what is a 'scale' and what does a scale of 1:50,000 mean?

A map scale is the ratio of map distance to real ground distance. A scale of 1:50,000 means 1 unit on the map equals 50,000 of the same units on the ground (e.g., 1 cm = 0.5 km).

On a standard map, which directions correspond to up, down, left, and right?

Up is North, down is South, left is West, and right is East (with intermediate directions NE, NW, SE, SW).

In a data table, what is the difference between a row and a column, and how is a specific cell identified?

Rows run horizontally and columns run vertically; a specific cell is identified by the intersection of a particular row and a particular column.

How do you compute the ratio of one quantity to another from a data table, and what does a ratio of 3:2 mean?

Divide one quantity by the other and simplify. A ratio of 3:2 means for every 3 units of the first quantity there are 2 units of the second.

If a value increases by a factor and you must find the percentage that one category contributes to a total, what formula applies?

$$\text{Percentage of total} = \frac{\text{Category value}}{\text{Total of all categories}} \times 100\%$$

What is a stacked bar graph, and how does it differ from a simple bar graph?

A stacked bar graph divides each bar into segments representing sub-categories, so the whole bar shows a total while segments show each component's contribution; a simple bar graph shows only a single value per bar.