SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 19 September 2025, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 5 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 11 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.

We doubt SSC's key on this question.

Since a World Athletics rule change effective 1 November 2017 the 4×100 m takeover zone is 30 m, so option (d) is also defensible; the keyed 20 m is the 4×400 m zone and the pre-2018 sprint-relay box.

The answer below is still the option SSC's key marks, and we solve to that option.

What is the standard length of the zone where runners exchange the baton in a relay race?

(a)10 meters
(b)15 meters
(c)20 meters
(d)30 meters

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The key takes 20 m, the length of the box within which the baton must pass from one runner to the next.

That is the zone of the 4×400 m relay. Until a rule change effective 1 November 2017, the 4×100 m also used a 20 m changeover box, preceded by a separate 10 m acceleration zone. The 20 m figure is option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
10 meters — 10 m was the old acceleration zone in front of the sprint-relay box. The outgoing runner could start moving there, but the baton could not be passed in it.
(b)
15 meters — 15 m matches no relay zone: the exchange box is 20 m, and the sprint relays' merged zone is 30 m.
(d)
30 meters — 30 m has been the 4×100 m takeover zone since 1 November 2017, when the 10 m acceleration zone was folded into the 20 m box. The key reads the stem by the 20 m box; see the dispute note.

Concept

A relay takeover zone is the stretch of track within which the baton must change hands. The outgoing runner cannot touch the baton until it has entered the zone, and the incoming runner cannot touch it after it has left.

Until the rule change of 1 November 2017, the sprint relays used a 20 m box with a 10 m acceleration zone in front. The change merged the two into one 30 m zone, while the 4×400 m kept its 20 m box.

The stem says 'a relay race' without naming the distance, and the answer depends on it: 20 m for the 4×400 m, 30 m for the 4×100 m under current rules. The key takes 20 m.

Key facts

4×400 m relay: the baton is passed within a 20 m zone.
4×100 m relay before the 2017 rule change: a 20 m changeover box preceded by a 10 m acceleration zone.
Since 1 November 2017 the 4×100 m takeover zone is 30 m, with the acceleration zone included.
The outgoing runner cannot touch the baton before it enters the zone, and the incoming runner cannot touch it after it leaves.

Study next

World Athletics lane rules for races up to 400 mRelay rules on dropped batons and passing outside the zoneStaggered starts in lane races

Common traps

Answering 20 m or 30 m without checking which relay the stem means: the two distances have different zones today.
Counting the old 10 m acceleration zone as the exchange zone: the baton could never be passed there.

Here a track rule is tested as a measurement. Other World Athletics measurements are asked at 19 Sep 2025, 09:00, GA Q.8 (lane width for races up to 400 m) and 18 Sep 2025, 12:30, GA Q.8 (high-jump runway length).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.