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🇮🇳 GATE Mechanical Engineering · flashcards
GATE Mechanical Engineering General Aptitude Flashcards
50 question-and-answer cards covering General Aptitude as it is examined in GATE Mechanical Engineering. 24 of them are printed below, taken from across the deck — no signup, no paywall on the preview.
24 sample cards from the General Aptitude deck
Sampled from the end of the deck, so these are different cards from the ones shown on the syllabus page.
What are homophones? Give an example.
Homophones are words that sound the same but differ in spelling and meaning, e.g., 'their/there/they're' or 'principal/principle'.
What is the difference between 'affect' and 'effect'?
'Affect' is usually a verb meaning to influence ('It affects me'); 'effect' is usually a noun meaning a result ('the effect of it').
What is an idiom?
An idiom is a fixed expression whose meaning cannot be deduced from the literal meanings of its individual words (e.g., 'break the ice' means to start a conversation).
What does the idiom 'a blessing in disguise' mean?
Something that seems bad or unlucky at first but results in a good outcome later.
What does the idiom 'once in a blue moon' mean?
Something that happens very rarely.
In vocabulary, what is a prefix versus a suffix?
A prefix is added to the beginning of a root word to change its meaning (un-, re-, dis-); a suffix is added to the end (-ness, -able, -tion).
What is the function of context clues in reading comprehension?
Context clues are surrounding words or sentences that help a reader infer the meaning of an unknown word or phrase.
In reading comprehension, what is the difference between the main idea and a supporting detail?
The main idea is the central point the passage conveys; supporting details are facts, examples, or reasons that explain or back up the main idea.
What is an inference in reading comprehension?
A logical conclusion drawn from evidence in the text combined with reasoning, rather than something stated explicitly.
What is narrative sequencing?
Arranging events, sentences, or jumbled paragraphs in their correct logical or chronological order to form a coherent narrative.
Which textual signals help determine the correct sequence in para-jumble (sentence ordering) questions?
Time/transition words (first, then, finally), pronoun references, repeated/linking ideas, cause-effect connectors, and articles (a/an introduce, the refers back).
What is data interpretation?
The process of analysing data presented in tables, charts, or graphs to draw conclusions, make comparisons, and answer questions using calculation and reasoning.
What is a bar graph best used for?
Comparing discrete categories or values across groups, using rectangular bars whose lengths/heights are proportional to the values they represent.
What does a pie chart represent, and how is each sector's angle calculated?
A pie chart shows parts of a whole as proportional sectors. Each sector's angle $= \frac{\text{component value}}{\text{total}} \times 360^{\circ}$.
In a pie chart, what percentage of the total does a sector with a central angle of $90^{\circ}$ represent?
$\frac{90}{360} \times 100 = 25\%$.
What is a line graph best suited to display?
Trends or changes in data over a continuous variable such as time, by connecting data points with line segments.
How do you compute the percentage change between an old value and a new value?
$\text{Percentage change} = \frac{\text{New} - \text{Old}}{\text{Old}} \times 100\%$ (positive = increase, negative = decrease).
What is a histogram, and how does it differ from a bar graph?
A histogram displays the frequency distribution of continuous data using adjacent bars over intervals (no gaps); a bar graph compares discrete categories with separated bars.
What is a scatter plot used for?
Displaying the relationship (correlation) between two quantitative variables, with each point representing a paired observation $(x, y)$.
In a 2-dimensional Cartesian plot, what do the x-axis and y-axis typically represent?
The x-axis (horizontal) represents the independent variable, and the y-axis (vertical) represents the dependent variable; a point is located by its coordinates $(x, y)$.
What additional element does a 3-dimensional plot have compared with a 2D plot?
A third axis (the z-axis), so points are specified by three coordinates $(x, y, z)$, allowing representation of a third variable or spatial depth.
In a data table, what do rows and columns generally organise?
Rows and columns organise data into categories and attributes so values can be read at their intersection; one dimension typically lists items and the other lists their measured properties.
What is a map scale, and what does a scale of 1:50000 mean?
A map scale is the ratio of map distance to actual ground distance. A scale of 1:50000 means 1 unit on the map equals 50000 of the same units on the ground.
When reading a graph or map, why is the legend (key) important?
The legend explains what each colour, symbol, line style, or pattern represents, which is essential for correctly interpreting the data shown.
What this deck covers
The General Aptitude deck follows the GATE Mechanical Engineering General Aptitude syllabus — 4 chapters and 9 topics — so questions land on material that is genuinely examinable rather than trivia around it. That works out to roughly 12.5 cards per chapter.
Answers are written to be recallable, not just readable — averaging about 133 characters, which is long enough to carry the reasoning and short enough to say out loud.
A deck like this earns its keep on the second and third pass. Read the syllabus first so you know the shape of the subject, then use the cards to find the specific facts that have not stuck.
General Aptitude flashcards FAQ
How many General Aptitude flashcards are in this GATE Mechanical Engineering deck?
50 cards. This page previews 24 of them, sampled evenly across the deck so you can judge the difficulty before installing anything.
Are these GATE Mechanical Engineering flashcards free?
Yes. The preview here is free to read with no signup, and the full 50-card deck is free inside the Examius app.
What do the General Aptitude cards cover?
They follow the GATE Mechanical Engineering General Aptitude syllabus — 4 chapters and 9 topics — so the questions track what is actually examinable.
How should I use these flashcards?
Read the syllabus first so you know the shape of the subject, then drill the deck. Examius schedules each card with spaced repetition, so cards you keep missing come back sooner and ones you know drift further apart.