SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 12 September 2025, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 4 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 13 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Consider the following statements about the phases of long jump: 1) The athlete attains maximum momentum by running on the runway before take-off. 2) During take-off, the athlete pushes off with the weaker foot to maintain balance. Which of the statements given above are correct?

(a)Only 1 is Correct
(b)Only 2 is Correct
(c)1 and 2 are correct
(d)Neither 1 nor 2 are Correct

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Statement 1 is right. The approach run exists to build speed: the jumper accelerates down the runway to a maximum controlled speed at take-off, and at a fixed body mass more speed means more momentum.

Statement 2 is wrong. Take-off converts that speed into lift with one powerful push from the take-off leg the athlete jumps best off, not a weaker foot chosen for balance → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Only 2 is Correct — Statement 2 is the false one. Take-off is an explosive push that turns run-up speed into lift. Its job is propulsion, not balance.
(c)
1 and 2 are correct — Needs statement 2 to be true. Jumpers push off from the leg that gives them the best take-off, not a weaker foot picked to stay steady.
(d)
Neither 1 nor 2 are Correct — Statement 1 is true. The approach is run to reach a maximum controlled speed at the board, and that speed is the momentum the jump carries.

Concept

A long jump is usually taught in four phases: approach, take-off, flight and landing. Some coaching accounts add the last two strides before the board as a phase of their own.

The approach builds horizontal speed. At take-off that speed is turned into a forward-and-upward flight path, so the push must be strong, not cautious.

The jump is measured perpendicular from the foul line to the nearest break in the sand made by any part of the body.

Which leg takes off is not fixed by the rules: athletes use the leg that gives them their best jump. Statement 2 fails on its premise, that take-off is a balancing act done on the weaker foot.

Key facts

The approach aims at a maximum controlled speed at take-off.
A jump is a foul if the athlete takes off with any part of the foot past the foul line.
Distance is measured perpendicular from the foul line to the nearest break in the sand made by any part of the body.
Momentum is mass × velocity, so at a fixed body mass a faster approach carries more momentum.

Study next

Triple jump: the hop, step and jumpHigh jump runway and crossbar rulesFoul rules in the horizontal jumps

Common traps

Marking statement 2 true because 'balance' sounds like sound technique: take-off is propulsion.
Treating 'momentum' in statement 1 as a trick word: at a fixed mass, more speed is more momentum.

Here an athletics event is tested through two statements on technique. The high jump is tested in the same two-statement form at 18 Sep 2025, 12:30, GA Q.8 (runway length and crossbar diameter), and India's long jump record at 23 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.6 (keyed Jeswin Aldrin).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.