LEAD IAS, TRIVANDRUM - CSAT COURSE

BY CHRISTY VARGHESE

Permutations, Combinations & Probability

2. In a tournament, 9 teams play league matches. If each team plays against every other team once only,
then how many matches are played?
a) 36 b) 45 c) 54 d) 72

3. In a group of 11 persons, each shakes hands with every other once and only once. What is the total
number of such handshakes?
a) 110 b) 121 c) 55 d) 66

4. Suppose there are 6 non-stop flights from Chennai to Mumbai in the morning and 4 non-stop flights
from Mumbai to Goa in the evening. In how many ways can one fly from Chennai to Goa via Mumbai using
these flights in a day?
a) 10 b) 24 c) 46 d) 64

5. A mouse has to go from a point A to B without retracing any part of the

6. A bag contains 8 red balls, 10 blue balls, 17 green balls. What is the minimum number of balls that needs
to be taken out from the bag to ensure getting at least one ball of each colour?
a) 19 b) 18 c) 28 d) 27

7. Suppose in a box there are 20 red, 30 black, 40 blue and 50 white balls. What is the minimum number
of balls to be drawn, without replacement, so that you are certain about getting 4 red, 5 black, 6 blue and
7 white balls?
a) 140 b) 97 c) 104 d) 124

8. Fifteen females participate in a singles badminton tournament. If a player is eliminated as soon as she
loses a match, how many matches are required to determine the winner?
a) 30 b) 29 c) 15 d) 14

9. In how many distinguishable ways can the letters of the word FOUR be arranged?
a) 12 b) 24 c) 6 d) 4

10. In how many distinguishable ways can the letters of the word CHANCE be arranged?
a) 120 b) 720 c) 360 d) 240

11. In how many distinguishable ways can the letters of the word CHANCE be arranged in such a way that
the vowels can come together?
a) 30 b) 60 c) 120 d) 240
Permutations, Combinations & Probability – Worksheet © www.christyvarghese.in

12. In how many distinguishable ways can the letters of the word CHANCE be arranged in such a way that
the vowels cannot come together?
a) 30 b) 60 c) 120 d) 240

13. A multiple choice exam has 4 questions, each with 4 answer choices. Every question has only one
correct answer. The probability of getting all answers correct by independent random guesses for each
one is
𝟏 𝟒 𝟑 𝟒
(a) 1/4 (b) (𝟒) (c) 3/4 (d) (𝟒)

14. The probability that team A wins a match against team B is 2/3. If teams A and B play 4 matches against
each other, what is the probability that team A will win at least one match? (Assume that result of done
match does not influence the rest)
(a) 2/3 (b) 4/9 (c) 1 (d) 80/81

15. A box contains 10 red balls and 12 white balls. Two balls are drawn from the box at random, one by
one without replacement. What is the probability that the second ball is red?
(a) 1/2 (b) 5/11 (c) 3/10 (d) 9/16

CSAT Questions
16. With reference to the figure given below number of different routes
from S without retracing from U and/or V, is (UPSC CSAT 2014)
a) 3 b) 6 c) 9 d) 18

17. There are four routes to travel from city A to city B and six routes from city B to city C. How many
routes are possible to travel from the city A to city C? (UPSC CSAT 2011)
a) 24 b) 12 c) 10 d) 8

18. A, B and C are three places such that there are three different roads from A to B, four different roads
from B to C and three different roads from A to C. In how many different ways can one travel from A to C
using these roads? (UPSC CSAT 2022)
a) 10 b) 13 c) 15 d) 36

19. In a question paper there are five questions to be attempted and answer to each question has two
choices - True (T) or False (F). It is given that no two candidates have given the answers to the five
questions in an identical sequence. For this to happen the maximum number of candidates is:
a) 10 b) 18 c) 26 d) 32 (UPSC CSAT 2016)

20. The letters A, B, C, D and E are arranged in such a way that there are exactly two letters between A
and E. How many such arrangements are possible? (UPSC CSAT 2022)
a) 12 b) 18 c) 24 d) 36

21. There is a numeric lock which has a 3-digit PIN. The PIN contains digits 1 to 7. There is no repetition of
digits. The digits in the PIN from left to right are in decreasing order. Any two digits in the PIN differ by at
least 2. How many maximum attempts does one need to find out the PIN with certainty?
a) 6 b) 8 c) 10 d) 12 (UPSC CSAT 2022)

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22. One non-zero digit, one vowel and one consonant from English alphabet (in capital) are to be used in
forming passwords, such that each password has to start with a vowel and end with a consonant. How
many such passwords can be generated? (UPSC CSAT 2022)
a) 105 b) 525 c) 945 d) 1050

23. There are 6 persons arranged in a row. Another person has to shake hands with 3 of them so that he
should not shake hands with two consecutive persons. In how many distinct possible combinations can
the handshakes take place? (UPSC CSAT 2021)
a) 3 b) 4 c) 5 d) 6

24. How many different 5-letter words (with or without meaning) can be constructed using all the letters
of the word ‘DELHI’ so that each word has to start with D and end with I? (UPSC CSAT 2020)
a) 24 b) 18 c) 12 d) 6

25. If 2 boys and 2 girls are to be arranged in a row so that the girls are not next to each other, how many
possible arrangements are there? (UPSC CSAT 2017)
a) 3 b) 6 c) 12 d) 24

26. How many numbers are there between 99 and 1000 such that the digit 8 occupies the units place?
a) 64 b) 80 c) 90 d) 104 (UPSC CSAT 2017)

27. In a tournament of chess having 150 entrants, a player is eliminated whenever he loses a match. It is
given that no match results in a tie/draw. How many matches are played in the entire tournament?
a) 151 b) 150 c) 149 d) 148 (UPSC CSAT 2014)

28. A bag contains 20 balls. 8 balls are green, 7 are white and 5 are red. What is the minimum number of
balls that must be picked up from the bag blindfolded (without replacing any of it) to be assured of picking
at least one ball of each colour? (UPSC CSAT 2017)
a) 17 b) 16 c) 13 d) 11

29. A selection is to be made for one post of Principal and two posts of Vice-Principal. Amongst the six
candidates called for the interview, only two are eligible for the post of Principal while they all are eligible
for the post of Vice-Principal. The number of possible combinations of selectees is (UPSC CSAT 2015)
a) 4 b) 12 c) 18 d) None of the above

30. A student has to opt for 2 subjects out of 5 subjects for a course, namely, Commerce, Economics,
Statistics, Mathematics I and Mathematics II. Mathematics II can be offered only if Mathematics I is also
opted. The number of different combinations of two subjects which can be opted is (UPSC CSAT 2015)
a) 5 b) 6 c) 7 d) 8

31. There are 5 tasks and 5 persons. Task-l cannot be assigned to either person-1 or person-2. Task-2 must
be assigned to either person-3 or person-4. Every person is to be assigned one task. In how many ways
can the assignment be done? (UPSC CSAT 2015)
a) 6 b) 12 c) 24 d) 144

32. Six identical cards are placed on a table. Each card has number '1' marked on one side and number '2'
marked on its other side. All the six cards are placed in such a manner that the number '1' is on the upper
side. In one try, exactly four (neither more nor less) cards are turned upside down. In how many Ieast

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number of tries can the cards be turned upside down such that all the six cards show number '2' on the
upper side? (UPSC CSAT 2014)
a) 3 b) 5 c) 7 d) This cannot be achieved

33. There are 9 cups placed on a table arranged in equal number of rows and columns out of which 6 cups
contain coffee and 3 cups contain tea. In how many ways can they be arranged so that each row should
contain at least one cup of coffee? (UPSC CSAT 2022)
a) 18 b) 27 c) 54 d) 81

34. A round archery target of diameter 1 m is marked with four scoring regions from the centre outwards
as red, blue, yellow and white. The radius of the red band is 0.20 m. The width of all the remaining bands
is equal. If archers throw arrows towards the target, what is the probability, that the arrows fall in the red
region of the archery target? (UPSC CSAT 2016)
a) 0.40 b) 0.20 c) 0.16 d) 0.04

35. A bag contains 15 red balls and 20 black balls. Each ball is numbered either 1 or 2 or 3. 20% of the red
balls are numbered 1 and 40% of them are numbered 3. Similarly, among the black balls, 45% are
numbered 2 and 30% are numbered 3. A boy picks a ball at random. He wins if the ball is red and numbered
3 or if it is black and numbered 1 or 2. What are the chances of his winning? (UPSC CSAT 2018)
a) 1/2 b) 4/7 c) 5/9 d) 12/13

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