SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 10 September 2024, Shift 3 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 22 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.

Three of the following four are alike in a certain way and thus form a group. Which is the one that does NOT belong to that group? ( Note :The odd one out is not based on the number of consonants/vowels or their position in the letter cluster)

(a)FKN
(b)DIM
(c)EJM
(d)CHK

Answer

Why

Correct — B. Convert each cluster to alphabet positions and look at the two gaps inside it.

FKN = 6, 11, 14 → +5, +3
EJM = 5, 10, 13 → +5, +3
CHK = 3, 8, 11 → +5, +3
DIM = 4, 9, 13 → +5, +4

Rule: first gap +5, second gap +3. Three clusters obey it and one does not.

DIM's second step is +4, so DIM is the one outside the group — option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
FKN — Option (a) is 6, 11, 14. Its steps are +5 then +3, the same as EJM and CHK, so FKN sits inside the group rather than outside it.
(c)
EJM — Option (c) is 5, 10, 13, again +5 then +3. It has the same internal shape as FKN and CHK and so belongs with them.
(d)
CHK — Option (d) is 3, 8, 11, which is +5 then +3 as well. It has the earliest starting letter of the four, but the starting position is not the rule being tested.

Concept

Odd-one-out on letter clusters is nearly always about the gaps inside a cluster, not the letters themselves. Convert to numbers, take the differences within each cluster, and compare the patterns.

Three of these share the pattern +5, +3. Only DIM runs +5, +4, and one mismatched gap is all it takes.

The four starting letters are C, D, E and F — consecutive. That tidy run is a decoy, put there so the eye stops at the first letter and never reaches the gaps.

The note printed with the question rules out counting consonants and vowels or their positions. That closes off the other standard family of answers and points you straight at arithmetic on positions.

Key facts

FKN is 6, 11, 14, with gaps of +5 and +3.
EJM is 5, 10, 13 and CHK is 3, 8, 11, both with gaps of +5 and +3.
DIM is 4, 9, 13, with gaps of +5 and +4.
The four first letters C, D, E and F are consecutive, which is not the rule being tested.

Study next

Odd-one-out on letter clusters decided by the internal gap patternReading a printed exclusion note as a hint about which rule family is meantCluster groups whose first letters run consecutively as a distraction

Common traps

Comparing the first letters of the four options instead of the gaps inside each cluster
Stopping at the first gap, which is +5 in all four clusters
Counting vowels despite the note that explicitly excludes that basis

The exclusion note closes off the vowel-counting route, which leaves arithmetic on alphabet positions as the intended rule.
The same arithmetic drives this paper's cluster series — also asked 10 Sep 2024, 16:00, Reasoning Q.15.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.