Topic Mirrors
Asked 5 times across 3 UPSC exams over 43 years (1980–2023), peaking in 2021.
Key insights
- Most tested in CDS — 2 of 5 PYQs
- Most asked in 2021
- Recurs across 4 years (1980–2023)
How it travelled across exams
First appearance in each exam — the same idea, reframed.
CSE 1980 → CDS 2014 → NDA 2021
How the concept evolved
Rising — more than half its appearances (3 of 5) are since 2016.
Related concepts
Ideas UPSC tests alongside this one — keep exploring.
Sample questions
You've seen the pattern — here are a few of the actual PYQs.
CDS2023
A concave mirror of radius of curvature 50 cm is used to form an image of an object kept at a distance of 25 cm from the mirror on its principal axis. What will be the position of the image from the mirror ?
- A At infinity ✓
- B At 50 cm
- C At 25 cm
- D At 75 cm
✓ Correct answer: (A)
Science & Technology › Physics & Chemistry
NDA2021
Spherical mirror formula relating an object distance 'u', image distance 'v' and focal length of mirror 'f' may be applied to a plane mirror when
- A focal length goes to infinity. ✓
- B focal length goes to zero.
- C image distance goes to zero.
- D image distance goes to infinity.
✓ Correct answer: (A)
Science & Technology › Physics & Chemistry
NDA2021
The image of an object formed by a plane mirror is
- A erect, real and larger.
- B erect, virtual and same size. ✓
- C inverted, virtual and same size.
- D inverted, real and smaller.
✓ Correct answer: (B)
Science & Technology › Physics & Chemistry
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