SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 11 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 14 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 term in the same way as the second term is related to the first term and fourth term is related to third term. TRAINER : VTCIQHU :: RADIANT : TCFIDQW :: CUSHION : ?

(a)EXUHLRQ
(b)FWUHLRQ
(c)EWUHLRQ
(d)FXUHLRQ

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Rule: first three letters +2, fourth letter unchanged, last three letters +3.

Check it on both given pairs.
TRAINER: TRA +2 = VTC, I stays I, NER +3 = QHU, giving VTCIQHU.
RADIANT: RAD +2 = TCF, I stays I, ANT +3 = DQW, giving TCFIDQW.

Apply it to CUSHION.
C +2 = E, U +2 = W, S +2 = U
H stays H
I +3 = L, O +3 = R, N +3 = Q

That builds EWUHLRQ — option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
EXUHLRQ — The second letter is X, which is U +3. The +3 shift starts only at the fifth letter, so U must move two places, to W.
(b)
FWUHLRQ — F is C +3. The opening block shifts +2, so the first letter of CUSHION has to be E.
(d)
FXUHLRQ — Both opening letters carry +3 (C to F, U to X), applying the tail shift to the head of the cluster.

Concept

Letter-cluster analogies are decided by writing alphabet positions under the word and reading the gap at every position separately.

The habit that pays here is refusing to assume one uniform jump. The shift changes size inside the word — +2 for the first three letters, +3 for the last three — and a single-letter check would hide that.

Always confirm a rule on the second given pair before applying it to the third term. TRAINER and RADIANT agree, which is what makes the rule safe to use.

All four options share the tail UHLRQ, so the whole question is settled by the first two letters. Find E and W and you can stop reading.

Key facts

TRAINER to VTCIQHU and RADIANT to TCFIDQW both follow +2, +2, +2, 0, +3, +3, +3.
The fourth letter is copied into the code unchanged in all three words.
CUSHION under this rule gives E, W, U, H, L, R, Q.

Study next

Letter-cluster analogies where the shift size changes inside the wordReverse-alphabet coding (A=Z, B=Y), the other common shift patternWriting the A=1 to Z=26 table from memory in both directions

Common traps

Reading the shift off the first letter alone and applying +2 to the whole cluster
Missing that the fourth letter is carried across untouched
Losing count between U and W when shifting by two under time pressure

Letter clusters are a fixture of the Reasoning section. The same shift codes letters at 11 Sep 2024, 12:30, Reasoning Q.5 (VAIN to OKBY), runs a letter series at Q.7 and an odd-cluster-out at Q.16, all on the same position-difference habit.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.