NDA (II) 2025 General Ability Test · Question 111 of 147

Correct — C, 1 - 4 - 2 - 3. Ordering the belts by how far they lie from the equator, from nearest to farthest, puts the equatorial zone first (astride the equator), then the tropical zone (reaching out to about 23.5 degrees at the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn), then the midlatitude or temperate zone (roughly the 35 to 55 degree belt), and finally the subarctic zone (the high latitudes approaching the Arctic Circle). That sequence is 1 - 4 - 2 - 3. The question's phrase 'latitudinal extent' is taken to mean the zone's position measured from the equator poleward, the reading that gives a single clean answer.

• (a)1 - 3 - 2 - 4 — This places the subarctic zone (3) second and the tropical zone (4) last, so the high-latitude belt comes before the tropics — the poleward order is broken.
• (b)1 - 3 - 4 - 2 — This jumps from the equatorial zone straight to the subarctic zone and only then to the tropical and midlatitude belts, which scrambles the equator-to-pole progression.
• (d)3 - 1 - 2 - 4 — This starts with the subarctic zone, the highest-latitude belt, instead of the equatorial zone, so the sequence runs from pole towards equator, the wrong direction for an ascending order.

The Earth is divided into latitudinal belts according to how directly the Sun's rays strike the surface, which falls off from the equator towards the poles. Moving outward from the equator, the belts run equatorial, tropical, subtropical, midlatitude or temperate, subarctic, and then arctic or polar. Each lies at a higher latitude and generally receives less solar heating than the one before it.

Sunlight arrives almost vertically over the equator and more obliquely towards the poles, so average temperature drops with latitude. Arranging the named belts is therefore just arranging them by latitude, from the one straddling the equator to the one nearest the pole. The trap is to read the four options too quickly and let the subarctic or tropical belt slip out of its place in the poleward sequence.

• The equatorial zone lies astride the equator and receives the most direct sunlight through the year.
• The tropical zone reaches out to about the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, near 23.5 degrees latitude.
• The midlatitude or temperate zone lies roughly between the tropics and the polar circles.
• The subarctic zone occupies the high latitudes just short of the Arctic Circle, with long cold winters.

• Do not let the subarctic or tropical belt slip out of place; keep the order strictly from equator to pole.
• Arrange the belts by their position (latitude), not by an eyeballed guess of their width.

Asked to arrange latitudinal or heat zones in sequence from equator to pole, or to match a zone with its latitude band.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The three traditional heat zones of the Earth, going from the equator to the pole, are

  • (a)Frigid, temperate, torrid
  • (b)Torrid, temperate, frigid
  • (c)Temperate, torrid, frigid
  • (d)Torrid, frigid, temperate

  Answer(b) Torrid, temperate, frigid — the torrid zone lies between the tropics, the frigid zones lie within the polar circles.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Tropic of Cancer lies at approximately which latitude?

  • (a)0 degrees
  • (b)23.5 degrees North
  • (c)45 degrees North
  • (d)66.5 degrees North

  Answer(b) 23.5 degrees North — it marks the poleward edge of the tropical zone in the northern hemisphere.