SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 23 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 23 of 100

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 10 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.

Which of the following is another name of vitamin C?

(a)Pyridoxal
(b)Pyridoxine
(c)Pyridoxamine
(d)Ascorbic acid

Answer

Why

Correct — D. Vitamin C is ascorbic acid.

The name is literal. A-scorbic means no scurvy, the deficiency disease the vitamin prevents. It is water-soluble, is not stored in the body in any quantity, and so has to be supplied regularly from amla, guava, citrus fruit and green vegetables.

The other three options are the three chemical forms of a different vitamin altogether: pyridoxine, pyridoxal and pyridoxamine are all vitamin B6. That is why they look plausible together, and why the odd name out, option (d), is the right one.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Pyridoxal — Pyridoxal is a form of vitamin B6, not vitamin C. Its phosphate, pyridoxal-5-phosphate, is the coenzyme through which B6 acts in amino-acid metabolism.
(b)
Pyridoxine — Pyridoxine is the commonest supplement form of vitamin B6, the name printed on B-complex labels. Familiar, but it has nothing to do with vitamin C.
(c)
Pyridoxamine — Pyridoxamine is the third vitamin B6 form, alongside pyridoxine and pyridoxal. All three convert to the same active coenzyme, and none of them is ascorbic acid.

Concept

Vitamins carry both a letter name and a chemical name, and SSC tests the pairing.

Vitamin C is ascorbic acid — water-soluble, an antioxidant, needed for collagen synthesis, and destroyed by prolonged cooking. Its deficiency disease is scurvy, which shows as bleeding gums and poor wound healing.

Vitamin B6 is not one compound but three interconvertible ones: pyridoxine, pyridoxal and pyridoxamine, all of which become pyridoxal-5-phosphate in the body.

Other pairings worth fixing: A is retinol, B1 thiamine, B2 riboflavin, B3 niacin, B12 cyanocobalamin, D calciferol, E tocopherol, K phylloquinone.

Three of the four options are forms of a single vitamin. When an option list clusters like that, the outlier is usually the answer — but confirm the outlier on its own merits before you trust the pattern.

Key facts

Vitamin C is ascorbic acid, a water-soluble vitamin.
Deficiency of vitamin C causes scurvy.
Vitamin B6 exists as pyridoxine, pyridoxal and pyridoxamine, which convert to the coenzyme pyridoxal-5-phosphate.
Water-soluble vitamins, C and the B group, are not stored in the body in quantity and are needed regularly in the diet.

Study next

Chemical names of vitamins A, D, E, K and the B groupDeficiency diseases — scurvy, beriberi, pellagra, rickets and cheilosisFat-soluble versus water-soluble vitamins and how the body stores them

Common traps

Picking pyridoxine because it is the most familiar chemical name on the list.
Confusing ascorbic acid with acetic acid or citric acid.
Assuming citrus is the richest source. Amla and guava carry far more vitamin C by weight than orange.

SSC runs vitamins either as a chemical-name match or as a deficiency-disease match. Cheilosis from vitamin B2 deficiency is asked at 25 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.18.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.