SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 11 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 7 of 95

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 10 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. RATE : SCWI : : HIGH : IKJL : : OPEN : ?

(a)PQHR
(b)PRHR
(c)PRIS
(d)PSIR

Answer

Why

Correct — B. Rule: the four letters shift forward by +1, +2, +3, +4.

RATE → SCWI: R+1=S, A+2=C, T+3=W, E+4=I.
HIGH → IKJL: H+1=I, I+2=K, G+3=J, H+4=L.

Apply the same run to OPEN:
O+1=P, P+2=R, E+3=H, N+4=R.

PRHR is option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
PQHR — PQHR shifts the second letter by only +1, P to Q, where the run calls for P+2 = R. The first and last letters being right makes the slip easy to miss.
(c)
PRIS — PRIS starts correctly and then over-shifts the tail: E+4 = I and N+5 = S, where the third and fourth steps are +3 and +4.
(d)
PSIR — PSIR takes the middle letters out of step — P+3 = S and E+4 = I — where the second letter takes +2 and the third takes +3.

Concept

Letter-cluster analogies are settled by writing alphabet positions under both clusters and subtracting.

RATE to SCWI gives +1, +2, +3, +4, and HIGH to IKJL gives the same run. Two independent confirmations make the rule safe to apply to the third cluster.

The one thing to watch is wrap-around: a letter near the end of the alphabet plus 4 runs past Z and restarts at A. OPEN needs no wrap, but a cluster ending in X or Y would.

All four options open with P, so the first letter decides nothing. The item is settled on the second, third and fourth letters, which is exactly where the three wrong options break the run.

Key facts

R, A, T, E shifted by +1, +2, +3, +4 gives S, C, W, I.
O, P, E, N shifted by +1, +2, +3, +4 gives P, R, H, R.
H is the 8th letter and L the 12th, which confirms the +4 step on the second given pair.

Study next

Clusters that shift backwards, or forwards and backwards alternatelyWrap-around cases where a forward shift crosses Z back to AAnalogies where the letters are reordered as well as shifted

Common traps

Checking only the first analogy and never confirming the run on the second
Counting from A each time instead of stepping forward from the letter itself
Losing a step in the middle and producing +1, +1, +3, +4

The five-cluster wording — two solved analogies, then a third to complete — also runs at 9 Sep 2024, 9:00, Reasoning Q.11 and at 9 Sep 2024, 16:00, Reasoning Q.1.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.