NDA (II) 2016 General Ability Test · Question 61 of 150

Correct — A, the code 2 1 4 3, that is Danube–Black sea, Rhine–North sea, Rhone–Mediterranean sea and Loire–Bay of Biscay. Take them in turn. The Danube rises in Germany's Black Forest, runs east across central and south-eastern Europe past Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade, and empties through a great delta shared by Romania and Ukraine into the Black Sea, so A goes to 2. The Rhine rises in the Swiss Alps but turns north, crosses Germany and the Netherlands and reaches the North Sea through the delta around Rotterdam, so B goes to 1. The Rhone also rises in the Swiss Alps, drops through Lake Geneva and past Lyon, then runs south to spread out in the Camargue and reach the Mediterranean, so C goes to 4. The Loire, the longest river lying wholly within France, rises in the Massif Central and flows west to the Atlantic near Saint-Nazaire, on the Bay of Biscay, so D goes to 3. Only option (a) carries that sequence.

• (b)3 4 1 2 — Sends the Danube to the Bay of Biscay, which would require Europe's great eastward river to reverse and cross the whole continent to the Atlantic coast of France. It is wrong at the first entry, so it can be dropped without checking the rest.
• (c)2 4 1 3 — The dangerous near-miss. It gets the Danube and the Loire right but swaps the Rhine and the Rhone, sending the Rhine to the Mediterranean and the Rhone to the North Sea. The two names look and sound alike, which is exactly the confusion the setter is fishing for; remember that the Rhine turns north to Rotterdam and the Rhone turns south to Marseille.
• (d)3 1 4 2 — Correct for the Rhine and the Rhone but wrong at both ends, putting the Danube in the Bay of Biscay and the Loire in the Black Sea.

Europe's major rivers are best learnt by the sea each one reaches, because that fixes the direction it flows. The Rhine and the Elbe drain north to the North Sea, the Danube drains east to the Black Sea, the Rhone drains south to the Mediterranean, and the Loire, Seine and Garonne drain west to the Atlantic and the Bay of Biscay. The Danube is the second-longest river in Europe after the Volga and touches or crosses ten countries.

In a four-by-four matching item you rarely have to establish all four pairs. Find the entry you are surest of, use it to strike out every option that contradicts it, and then look for a second entry that separates the survivors. Here the Danube alone kills options (b) and (d), because both send it to the Bay of Biscay. That leaves options (a) and (c), which differ only in the Rhine and the Rhone, and one fact settles it — the Rhine ends at the North Sea. This two-step routine turns a four-fact question into a two-fact question.

• The Danube rises in Germany's Black Forest and reaches the Black Sea through a delta shared by Romania and Ukraine; it is Europe's second-longest river after the Volga.
• Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade all stand on the Danube.
• The Rhine rises in the Swiss Alps and enters the North Sea through the delta around Rotterdam.
• The Rhone flows from the Swiss Alps through Lake Geneva and Lyon to the Mediterranean, spreading into the Camargue delta.
• The Loire is the longest river lying entirely within France and meets the Atlantic near Saint-Nazaire, on the Bay of Biscay.

• Swapping the Rhine and the Rhone because the names are so close — one runs north, the other south.
• Working out all four pairs when two well-chosen facts already eliminate three options.

World rivers are a recurring NDA GAT matching topic, usually as river-to-sea or river-to-city, so store each major river with its source, its mouth and one capital on its banks.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following rivers drains into the Black Sea?

  • (a)Rhine
  • (b)Danube
  • (c)Loire
  • (d)Elbe

  Answer(b) Danube — it flows east across Europe and enters the Black Sea through a large delta.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The city of Lyon in France stands at the confluence of the Rhone and which river?

  • (a)Seine
  • (b)Loire
  • (c)Saone
  • (d)Garonne

  Answer(c) Saone — the Rhone then continues south alone to the Mediterranean.