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Study Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Environment and everyday science concepts for competitive examinations — for TSPSC, APPSC, Telangana Police, AP Police, SSC, UPSC, banking and other State and Central government exams.
General Science for competitive exams covers Physics (matter, motion, energy), Chemistry (elements, compounds, reactions), Biology (living organisms, the human body), Environmental Science (ecosystems, pollution) and everyday science — the science behind common observations and technology.
Science is a core General Studies subject in TSPSC, APPSC, SSC, UPSC, banking and police recruitment exams because it tests basic scientific literacy. Commonly asked questions cover SI units, scientific laws, the human body, vitamins and diseases, common chemical compounds, the solar system, and the science behind everyday phenomena.
Use this page as a starting hub: browse topics below, revise Important Laws, Units and One-Liners before your exam, practise with the MCQ bank, and attempt the mock test to check your preparation.
Microorganisms include bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa and algae. Bacteria are single-celled living organisms that can reproduce on their own and are treated with antibiotics. Viruses are much smaller, cannot reproduce without a host cell, are not considered fully "living" on their own, and do not respond to antibiotics — they are typically prevented through vaccination.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Ecosystem | A community of living organisms interacting with their physical environment |
| Food Chain | A linear sequence showing who eats whom — producers → herbivores → carnivores |
| Food Web | A network of interconnected food chains |
| Producers | Organisms that make their own food, mainly green plants (via photosynthesis) |
| Decomposers | Organisms (bacteria, fungi) that break down dead organic matter |
| Biodiversity | The variety of life forms found in an ecosystem or region |
| Greenhouse Effect | Natural trapping of heat by gases (CO₂, methane, water vapour) in the atmosphere |
| Global Warming | Rise in Earth's average temperature, linked to an enhanced greenhouse effect from human activity |
| Ozone Layer | A stratospheric layer of ozone (O₃) that absorbs harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation |
| Acid Rain | Precipitation with lowered pH, caused by sulphur and nitrogen oxide pollutants |
| Renewable Resources | Naturally replenished resources — solar, wind, water |
| Non-Renewable Resources | Finite resources that take millions of years to form — coal, petroleum, natural gas |
The Solar System consists of the Sun and eight planets orbiting it, in order of distance from the Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. (Pluto was reclassified from a planet to a "dwarf planet" by the International Astronomical Union in 2006.)
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Asteroids | Rocky bodies, mostly orbiting in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter |
| Comets | Icy bodies with elongated orbits that develop a visible tail near the Sun |
| Meteoroid / Meteor / Meteorite | A meteoroid is a space rock; a meteor is the visible streak as it burns in the atmosphere ("shooting star"); a meteorite is a fragment that reaches Earth's surface |
| Galaxy | A vast collection of stars, gas and dust; our Solar System is part of the Milky Way galaxy |
| Black Hole | A region of extremely strong gravity from which not even light can escape |
| Satellite | A natural (e.g. the Moon) or artificial (man-made) object orbiting a larger body |
For India's space programme, see the Landmark ISRO Missions table on the Science & Technology reference page. Current/upcoming space missions and recent scientific announcements are covered under Current Affairs, since this information changes frequently.
Scientists, their discoveries, and important inventions — a frequently asked topic in competitive exams.
| Law / Principle | What It States |
|---|---|
| Newton's Laws of Motion | Inertia; Force = mass × acceleration; every action has an equal & opposite reaction |
| Newton's Law of Gravitation | Every mass attracts every other mass with a force proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them |
| Ohm's Law | V = IR — voltage equals current multiplied by resistance, at constant temperature |
| Archimedes' Principle | The upthrust on a submerged body equals the weight of fluid it displaces |
| Pascal's Law | Pressure applied to an enclosed fluid is transmitted equally in all directions |
| Bernoulli's Principle | As the speed of a fluid increases, its pressure decreases |
| Boyle's Law | At constant temperature, the pressure of a gas is inversely proportional to its volume |
| Charles's Law | At constant pressure, the volume of a gas is directly proportional to its absolute temperature |
| Avogadro's Law | Equal volumes of gases, at the same temperature & pressure, contain equal numbers of molecules |
| Laws of Thermodynamics | 1st: energy can neither be created nor destroyed; 2nd: the entropy of an isolated system tends to increase |
| Hooke's Law | Within the elastic limit, the stretch/compression of a material is proportional to the force applied |
| Coulomb's Law | The electrostatic force between two charges is proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them |
| Faraday's Law of Electromagnetic Induction | The induced EMF in a circuit is proportional to the rate of change of magnetic flux |
| Doppler Effect | The apparent change in frequency of a wave due to relative motion between the source and the observer |
| Quantity | SI Unit | Symbol |
|---|---|---|
| Length | metre | m |
| Mass | kilogram | kg |
| Time | second | s |
| Temperature | kelvin | K |
| Force | newton | N |
| Work / Energy | joule | J |
| Power | watt | W |
| Pressure | pascal | Pa |
| Electric Current | ampere | A |
| Voltage | volt | V |
| Resistance | ohm | Ω |
| Frequency | hertz | Hz |
| Radioactivity | becquerel | Bq |
Quick access to the most frequently asked General Science topics in competitive exams.
Test your knowledge of Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Environment and everyday science with competitive-exam style multiple-choice questions.
Practice General Science MCQs →Practise General Science in the pattern commonly followed by these examinations. CompeteBits does not claim a question came from a specific official examination unless the source is verified. For verified previous year papers, see the Previous Papers section.
Space missions, scientific discoveries, new technologies and health/defence science developments change frequently, so this static study page does not mix constantly changing information into permanent content. For the latest science & technology news, see Current Affairs.
Quick-access cards for exam-day revision.
General Science for competitive exams covers Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Environmental Science and everyday science concepts, testing basic scientific literacy and reasoning.
The main subjects are Physics (matter, motion, energy), Chemistry (elements, compounds, reactions), Biology (living organisms, the human body) and Environmental Science (ecosystems, pollution, conservation).
Important Physics topics include units and measurements, motion and force, Newton's Laws, work-energy-power, electricity, magnetism, light, heat and important scientific laws.
Important Chemistry topics include atomic structure, the periodic table, acids-bases-salts, common chemical compounds and their formulae, and chemistry in everyday life.
Important Biology topics include cell structure, the human body's systems, vitamins and deficiency diseases, genetics, plant biology and classification of animals.
Yes. General Science is a core General Studies subject in TSPSC exams, testing Physics, Chemistry, Biology and everyday scientific knowledge.
Yes. APPSC exams commonly include General Science questions across Physics, Chemistry, Biology and current scientific developments.
Study Physics, Chemistry and Biology topic by topic, revise important scientific laws, units and one-liners, then practise with the MCQ bank and mock test on this page.
You can practice General Science multiple-choice questions on CompeteBits, and attempt a mock test to evaluate your preparation with instant scoring.
The most frequently tested topics are the human body and vitamins, common chemical compounds, scientific laws and units, the solar system, and the science behind everyday phenomena.