Science quick-facts sheet for CUET's General Aptitude Test

This is the page to read the night before the test. Each section is the short version of one chapter; the chapter notes have the explanations and worked examples, and every chapter has its own practice questions.

Which physics formulas do you need?

speed in m/s = speed in km/h × 5/18
acceleration a = (v − u) ÷ t        force F = m × a        weight W = m × g
free fall from rest:  v = g t,  h = ½ g t²
pressure P = F ÷ A                  wave speed = frequency × wavelength
echo: distance = speed × time ÷ 2
Ohm's law V = I R                   power P = V I = I² R = V² ÷ R
series R = R1 + R2 + …              parallel 1/R = 1/R1 + 1/R2 + …
energy in kWh = kW × hours          lens power P = 1 ÷ f (f in metres)
lens 1/v − 1/u = 1/f                mirror 1/v + 1/u = 1/f
°F = (9/5) °C + 32                  K = °C + 273

• Mass never changes from place to place; weight on the Moon is about one-sixth.
• A convex lens with the object beyond 2F gives a small, real, inverted image (camera); between F and 2F a large one (projector); inside F a virtual, erect, magnified one (magnifying glass).
• Convex mirrors and concave lenses always give virtual, erect, diminished images. Shaving mirrors are concave; rear-view mirrors are convex.
• Sound needs a medium and is fastest in solids. Humans hear 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. Each 10 dB is ten times the intensity.
• The sky is blue because air scatters blue light most. Diamonds sparkle by total internal reflection.
• A generator works by electromagnetic induction; a fuse melts on overload.
• Celsius and Fahrenheit agree at −40. Body temperature is 37 °C, or 98.6 °F.

Which chemistry facts come up most?

Common name	Chemical
common salt	sodium chloride, NaCl
baking soda	sodium hydrogencarbonate, NaHCO₃
washing soda	sodium carbonate, Na₂CO₃·10H₂O
bleaching powder	calcium oxychloride, CaOCl₂
plaster of Paris	CaSO₄·½H₂O, made from gypsum
quicklime / slaked lime	CaO / Ca(OH)₂
dry ice	solid CO₂
laughing gas	N₂O
LPG / CNG	butane and propane / methane

• pH 7 is neutral; lower is acidic. Lemon juice is about 2, soap about 10, and enamel starts to dissolve below about 5.5.
• Acid + base → salt + water. Antacids and baking soda neutralise acid.
• Natural acids: citric (lemon), acetic (vinegar), lactic (curd), tartaric (tamarind), formic (ant sting).
• Mercury is the liquid metal and bromine the liquid non-metal. Silver conducts best, then copper. Graphite is the non-metal that conducts; diamond is the hardest natural substance.
• Brass is copper and zinc; bronze is copper and tin; stainless steel is iron with chromium and nickel. Galvanising coats iron with zinc.
• Rust needs both air and water. Silver tarnishes black (sulphide); copper turns green (basic carbonate).
• Reaction types: combination, decomposition, displacement, double displacement. Burning and respiration are exothermic; photosynthesis is endothermic.

Which body and health facts must you know?

• Mitochondria release energy; ribosomes make proteins; lysosomes are suicide bags; chloroplasts do photosynthesis; plant cells have a cell wall.
• The heart has four chambers. Arteries carry blood away from the heart; the pulmonary vein is the vein with oxygen-rich blood. Normal blood pressure is about 120/80 mm Hg.
• The skin is the largest organ, the liver the largest gland and the pituitary the master gland. The femur is the longest bone; an adult has 206.
• Bile is made in the liver and stored in the gall bladder. Most food is absorbed in the small intestine. Nephrons filter blood in the kidneys.
• Insulin comes from the pancreas; thyroxine needs iodine.

Deficiency	Disease
vitamin A	night blindness
vitamin B1	beri-beri
vitamin C	scurvy
vitamin D	rickets
vitamin K	poor blood clotting
iodine	goitre
iron	anaemia
protein	kwashiorkor
protein and calories	marasmus

• Malaria: Plasmodium, carried by the female Anopheles mosquito. Dengue: a virus carried by Aedes. TB, cholera and typhoid are bacterial; colds, measles, polio and AIDS are viral.
• Antibiotics do not work on viruses. Fleming found penicillin (1928); Jenner made the first vaccine, against smallpox (1796).
• O is the universal donor and AB the universal recipient.
• Xylem carries water up; phloem carries food. Transpiration is water loss through stomata. Ethylene ripens fruit. Plants respire day and night.

What are the ecology rules and India's conservation facts?

• Arrows in a food chain point from food to eater. Count trophic levels from the producer.
• About 10% of the energy passes from one level to the next. Energy flows one way; nutrients cycle. The pyramid of energy is never inverted.
• Persistent poisons such as DDT concentrate up the chain (biomagnification).
• Nitrogen cycle: fixation (Rhizobium in legume nodules, lightning), ammonification, nitrification (ammonia to nitrates), denitrification (back to nitrogen gas). Air is 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen.
• The phosphorus cycle has no gaseous stage. About 97% of Earth's water is salt water.
• India shares four of the world's 36 biodiversity hotspots: the Himalaya, Indo-Burma, the Western Ghats and Sundaland (Nicobar Islands).

Place	Known for
Jim Corbett (1936)	India's first national park
Kaziranga, Assam	one-horned rhinoceros
Gir, Gujarat	Asiatic lion
Sundarbans, West Bengal	mangroves and tigers
Keoladeo, Rajasthan	birds
Hemis, Ladakh	snow leopard
Kuno, Madhya Pradesh	cheetahs brought back in 2022
Nilgiri (1986)	India's first biosphere reserve

• Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972; Project Tiger 1973; Project Elephant 1992; Biological Diversity Act 2002. Chipko began in 1973.
• In situ: national parks, sanctuaries, sacred groves. Ex situ: zoos, seed banks.

Which pollution facts and treaties should you remember?

• Carbon monoxide blocks haemoglobin. Bhopal (1984) was methyl isocyanate.
• Minamata is mercury, Itai-itai cadmium, blue baby nitrate, fluorosis fluoride; arsenic affects the groundwater of West Bengal.
• Eutrophication is an algal bloom that strips water of oxygen. A high BOD means polluted water.
• Photochemical smog comes from vehicle exhaust in sunlight. PM2.5 is particles 2.5 micrometres or smaller. Bharat Stage VI norms began nationwide on 1 April 2020.
• The ozone layer is in the stratosphere and absorbs ultraviolet light; CFCs destroy it, and the hole was found over Antarctica in 1985.
• Greenhouse gases: water vapour (most abundant), carbon dioxide (main one added by people), methane, nitrous oxide, CFCs and HFCs. Nitrogen and oxygen are not greenhouse gases.
• India aims for net zero by 2070. Adaptation copes with effects; mitigation cuts emissions.

Treaty	Subject
Ramsar 1971	wetlands
CITES 1973	trade in endangered species
Vienna 1985 and Montreal 1987	the ozone layer
Basel 1989	hazardous waste
Rio 1992	UNFCCC and CBD
Kyoto 1997	emission cuts for developed countries
Cartagena 2000	GM organisms
Stockholm 2001	persistent organic pollutants
Nagoya 2010	benefit sharing
Paris 2015	well below 2 °C, aim for 1.5 °C
Kigali 2016	HFCs

Days: Wetlands 2 February, Earth 22 April, Environment 5 June, Ozone 16 September.

Which traps cost the most marks in Science?

• Dividing mass by six on the Moon.
• Forgetting to halve an echo's path.
• Adding resistors in parallel.
• Choosing copper as the best conductor, or brass for bronze.
• Taking the ovum for the longest cell, or the liver for the largest organ.
• Mixing up the Stockholm Conference (1972) and Convention (2001).
• Calling a tiger that eats deer a tertiary consumer.
• Treating ground-level ozone as protective.