UPSC Prelims 2018 · Question 37 of 99

UPSC Prelims 2018 question on Aleppo Kirkuk Mosul Mazar Sharif

Consider the following pairs:

Towns sometimes mentioned in news — Country

1. Aleppo — Syria
2. Kirkuk — Yemen
3. Mosul — Palestine
4. Mazar-i-Sharif — Afghanistan

Which of the pairs given above are correctly matched?

  1. 1 and 2
  2. 1 and 4
  3. 2 and 3
  4. 3 and 4
Show answer

Answer: B. 1 and 4

Analysis

Pairs 1 and 4 are correctly matched, so the answer is (b) 1 and 4.

All four towns were in the news because of war and violence, which is what makes them a coherent set and also what makes the wrong pairings plausible.

Statement by statement

Pair 1 is CORRECT. Aleppo is in Syria.

Pair 2 is INCORRECT. Kirkuk is in Iraq, not Yemen.

Pair 3 is INCORRECT. Mosul is also in Iraq, not Palestine.

Pair 4 is CORRECT. Mazar-i-Sharif is in Afghanistan.

Source

The Hindu reports on strikes in northern Iraq and on the conflicts in Syria.

How to crack it

Kirkuk and Mosul are both Iraqi, and noticing that two of the four items belong to the same country, neither of which is listed, is the fastest route. Since options (a), (c) and (d) each contain pair 2 or pair 3, striking those two pairs leaves only (b). When reading about a conflict, fix the town to the country immediately, because UPSC's places in news questions test exactly that pairing and rely on you remembering the name but not the map.

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