UPSC Prelims 2007 · General Studies
Question 89: Geography
Consider the following statements:
- 1.The annual range of temperature is greater in the Pacific Ocean than in the Atlantic Ocean.
- 2.The annual range of temperature is greater in the Northern Hemisphere than in the Southern Hemisphere.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
AnswerThe answer is (b).
Statement 2 holds: the Northern Hemisphere has far more land, which heats and cools faster than water, so its annual range of temperature is larger than in the Southern Hemisphere, which is mostly ocean. Statement 1 is marked incorrect in the given answer: the Pacific, the largest and most open ocean, does not have the larger range.
- 1. Marked incorrect: the Pacific does not have the larger annual range.
- 2. More land in the north gives a larger annual range there.
How you could have got this
- If you were sure statement 1 is not correct, (a) and (c) go: each of them includes 1.
What you needed to know: Marked incorrect: the Pacific does not have the larger annual range.
- Then, if you were sure statement 2 is correct, (d) goes: it leaves 2 out.
What you needed to know: More land in the north gives a larger annual range there.
Only (b) is left. This one needs every statement.
This follows an unofficial answer: UPSC has not published its key for this year, and if that answer is wrong, so is this path.
Which options go is worked out from UPSC’s key and the options, not by a model.
Why each option is right or wrong
- (a) Statement 1 is marked incorrect.
- (b) Correct: only statement 2 holds.
- (c) Statement 1 is marked incorrect, so both cannot hold.
- (d) Statement 2 is correct, so 'neither' fails.
Explanation: written by UPSC Grade, not by UPSC.
Source: UPSC, Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2007, General Studies. UPSC's own paper isn't online; the words are from a published compilation. The paper on upsc.gov.in.