SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 10 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 13 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 6 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.

Select the option that is related to the fifth letter-cluster in the same way as the second letter-cluster is related to the first letter-cluster and the fourth letter-cluster is related to the third letter-cluster. BACK : CCBI : : TEST : UGRR : : WORK : ?

(a)YQQJ
(b)XQQI
(c)XQSI
(d)YQPI

Answer

Why

Correct — B. Compare the clusters position by position. This is not a single shift applied to the whole word.

BACK → CCBI: B→C is +1, A→C is +2, C→B is −1, K→I is −2.
TEST → UGRR: T→U is +1, E→G is +2, S→R is −1, T→R is −2.

Rule: +1, +2, −1, −2 on the first, second, third and fourth letters.

W(23) + 1 = X
O(15) + 2 = Q
R(18) − 1 = Q
K(11) − 2 = I

That spells XQQI, option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
YQQJ — The middle two letters are right. Y(25) is two past W where the first position moves one, and J is one before K where the fourth position moves two back.
(c)
XQSI — X, Q and I are right, but S is one place past R. The third position moves back one, not forward one — S becomes R in the sample, not the reverse.
(d)
YQPI — Two positions fail: Y is +2 on W where the rule is +1, and P is −2 on R where the rule is −1. Only the second and fourth letters survive.

Concept

Cluster analogies split into two families. In the first, every letter moves the same number of places. In the second, each position has its own step, and you must read all four columns before deciding.

This one is the second kind, and its steps are symmetric: forward one, forward two, back one, back two. The first half of the cluster climbs and the second half falls.

Write the alphabet positions above the letters. Once BACK reads 2, 1, 3, 11 and CCBI reads 3, 3, 2, 9, the four differences are visible without any guessing.

The two sample pairs agree exactly, so either one alone would have fixed the rule. The second pair is there as a check, and it is worth spending the ten seconds to use it.

Key facts

A=1 to Z=26, and the four positions here move +1, +2, −1 and −2.
BACK becomes CCBI and TEST becomes UGRR under exactly those four steps.
The steps are a mirrored pair rather than one constant shift.

Study next

Four-letter analogies with a different step at each positionMixed forward and backward shifts inside one clusterWriting alphabet positions above the letters before testing any rule

Common traps

Assuming one constant shift for all four letters, as at Reasoning Q.3 of this shift, where every letter moves +12.
Getting the signs right but the sizes wrong, which is the whole difference between XQQI and YQPI.
Trying to read BACK, TEST and WORK as words, when only their letter positions matter.

The same analogy frame is also set at Reasoning Q.3, where a single +12 shift covers every letter; here each of the four positions takes its own step (10 Sep 2024, 12:30).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.