SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 12 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 1 of 99

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 6 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

The organisms that do not have a defined nucleus or organelles are classified in to _______ Kingdom.

(a)Fungi
(b)Monera
(c)Protista
(d)Plantae

Answer

Why

Correct — B. The stem's whole test is one cell feature: no defined nucleus and no organelles. That is the definition of a prokaryotic cell.

In Whittaker's five-kingdom scheme the prokaryotic kingdom is Monera. A moneran keeps its DNA loose in the cytoplasm as a nucleoid, with no nuclear membrane and no mitochondria, plastids or Golgi bodies.

Bacteria, cyanobacteria, mycoplasma and archaebacteria all sit here → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Fungi — Fungi are eukaryotic — a true nucleus inside a nuclear membrane. What distinguishes them is a chitin cell wall and saprophytic or parasitic nutrition, not a missing nucleus.
(c)
Protista — The commonest trap. Amoeba, Paramecium and Euglena are unicellular but eukaryotic — one cell, yet a proper membrane-bound nucleus. Unicellular does not mean prokaryotic.
(d)
Plantae — Plants are eukaryotic and multicellular, with a cellulose cell wall and chloroplasts — the very membrane-bound organelles the stem says are absent.

Concept

Classification starts from cell structure before anything else. A cell whose genetic material is sealed inside a nuclear membrane is eukaryotic. A cell whose DNA lies free in the cytoplasm is prokaryotic.

R H Whittaker's five-kingdom system (1969) sorts life into Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae and Animalia, using cell structure, body organisation, mode of nutrition and reproduction.

Monera is the prokaryotic kingdom. The remaining four are eukaryotic, so the moment a stem says 'no defined nucleus', they are all out.

The stem's 'organelles' means membrane-bound organelles — mitochondria, plastids, Golgi bodies. Prokaryotes are not organelle-free in every sense: they do have ribosomes, which have no membrane and so are not excluded by this description.

Key facts

Monera is the prokaryotic kingdom of Whittaker's five-kingdom classification, proposed in 1969.
A prokaryotic cell has no nuclear membrane — its DNA lies in the cytoplasm as a nucleoid.
Bacteria, cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), mycoplasma and archaebacteria are monerans.
Protista, Fungi, Plantae and Animalia are all eukaryotic kingdoms.

Study next

Prokaryotic versus eukaryotic cell — nucleoid, ribosome type, membrane-bound organellesWhittaker's criteria for the five kingdoms and what each kingdom containsCarl Woese's three-domain system — Bacteria, Archaea, Eukarya

Common traps

Reading 'unicellular' as 'prokaryotic' and choosing Protista.
Putting mycoplasma outside Monera because it has no cell wall.

SSC asks classification either by the diagnostic feature, as here, or by the person behind the scheme — Systema Naturae and its three kingdoms of nature is asked at 23 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.11.

The same block also tests cell parts by their nickname, as in the organelle pairing at 11 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.23. Carry each kingdom with its distinguishing cell feature.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.