Arvind Kumar Singh

IAS is one of the toughest exams to crack. People who have studied for it, or better still, cleared it, would tell you how competitive it can get, and how tough the whole process of getting through really is.

It's nothing like giving the boards where you mug up everything and vomit it out on a paper. You actually need to an incredibly smart person here. Once you have cleared the written examination, you are called in for an interview session, so only the very best of the best make the cut.

We found 19 really quirky questions (and answers) that were asked in the two stages of the examination process. These questions don't check how well you know the subject, but how knowledgeable you really are, and how witty you can get. Check them out; see if you can solve them without checking out the answers (given at the end of the article).

Q1: How can you drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it?

Q2: What looks like half apple?

Q3: What will you do if I run away with your sister?

Q4: ( ) + ( ) + ( ) + ( ) + ( ) = 30
this is what you have for the equation. The following are the numbers that you can use to fill in the brackets: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15. You can repeat the numbers if required. The resulting sum should be 30.

Q5: Jamie looked at his reflection on the window mirror of the 45th floor. Driven by an irrational impulse, he made a leap through the window on the other side. Yet Jamie did not encounter even a single bruise. How can this be possible if he neither landed on a soft surface nor used a parachute?

Q6: By using only one straight line, can you make the equation correct. 5+5+5=550?

Q7: A murderer is condemned to death. He has to choose between three rooms. The first is full of raging fires, the second is full of assassins with loaded guns, and the third is full of lions that haven't eaten in 3 years. Which room is safest for him?

Q8: Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Wednesday, Friday, or Sunday?

Q9: This is an unusual paragraph. I'm curious as to just how quickly you can find out what is so unusual about it. It looks so ordinary and plain that you would think nothing was wrong with it. In fact, nothing is wrong with it! It is highly unusual though. Study it and think about it, but you still may not find anything odd. But if you work at it a bit, you might find out. Try to do so without any coaching!

Q10: What if one morning you woke up and found that you were pregnant?

Q11: Twins (Adarsh and Anupam) were born in May but their birthday is in June. How's this possible?

Q12: The peacock is a bird that does not lay eggs. How do they get baby peacocks?

Q13: If two's company, and three's a crowd, then what is four and five?

Q14: A cat had three kittens: January, March and May. What was the mother's name.

Q15: James bond was pushed out of an airplane without any parachute. He survived. How?

Q16: If it took eight men ten hours to build a wall, how long would it take four men to build it?

Q17: How can a man go eight days without sleep?

Q18: Bay of Bengal is in which state?

Q19: Where would Lord Rama have celebrated his “First Diwali”?

Winning isn't the point, participation is the key. Tally your answer with these, see if you're IAS material or not.

A1- Concrete floors are very hard to crack!

A2- The other half.

A3- The candidate who was selected answered, "I will not get a better match for my sister than you sir.”

A4- There is no mention if you can use sign or not and thus the only possible way to get this is as follows: (15 - 9) + (13 - 7) + (7 - 1) + (9 - 1) + (13 - 9). If you solve inside the brackets, you will get the following equation 6 + 6 + 6 + 8 + 4. Adding all these numbers will give you 30.

A5- Jamie is a window cleaner who was tired after cleaning the windows on the 45th floor and thus leaped inside the building.

A6- Draw a tilted line on 1st plus (+) operator, + will become 4. The equation then becomes true: 545+5=550.

A7- The third room. Lions that haven't eaten in three years are dead. Easy one, right?

A8- Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.

A9- The letter 'e', which is the most common letter used in the English language, does not appear even once in the paragraph.

A10- Girl -"I will be very excited and take an off, to celebrate with my husband."

A11- May is the name of the town.

A12- The peahen lays eggs.

A13- Nine.

A14- What. It stated 'WHAT' was the mother's name.

A15- The plane was on the runway.

A16- No time at all it is already built.

A17- He sleeps at night.

A18- Liquid

A19- People will start thinking of Ayodhya, Mithila (Janak's place), Lanka etc. But the logic is, Diwali was a celebrated as a mark of Lord Krishna killing Narakasura. In Dusavataar, Krishnavathaar comes after Raamavathaar. So, Lord Rama would not have celebrated Diwali at all!

Quite something, eh?