SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 11 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 20 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.

Identify the figure given in the options which when put in place of the question mark (?) will logically complete the series.

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Rule: the shaded wedge moves anticlockwise by 1 sector, then 2, then 3, then 4, each sector being one-eighth of the square (45 degrees, cut by the two diagonals and the two midlines).

Reading the shaded wedge by the clock:

figure 1 — 1:30 to 3
figure 2 — 12 to 1:30
figure 3 — 9 to 10:30
figure 4 — 4:30 to 6

Those are anticlockwise jumps of 1, 2 and 3 sectors, so the next jump is 4.

Counting four sectors back from 4:30-6 gives 3-4:30, then 1:30-3, then 12-1:30, then 10:30 to 12 — the wedge at the top, left of the vertical midline. That is option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
The wedge sits at 3 to 4:30, one sector anticlockwise of figure 4. That is the size of the first jump, not the fifth, which has to be four sectors.
(c)
The wedge is at 7:30 to 9, two sectors clockwise of figure 4, while the series has moved anticlockwise throughout.
(d)
The wedge is at 6 to 7:30, just across the vertical midline from figure 4's — a single clockwise step rather than four anticlockwise.

Concept

Cut the square into its eight wedges and name them by the clock: 12 to 1:30, 1:30 to 3, and so on. A moving-shade figure series then becomes an ordinary number series.

The wedge positions here give jumps of 1, 2, 3 anticlockwise, so the fifth figure needs a jump of 4. A growing step is the commonest variation on the plain one-step rotation, and counting sectors is the only way to see it.

Count in one fixed direction throughout. If a jump comes out negative, add 8 rather than switching direction halfway through the series.

Every option shades exactly one wedge, so the question is purely about where, not about how much. The four options sit at four different sectors, which means a guess by shape alone gets you nothing.

Key facts

Both diagonals and both midlines cut the square into 8 wedges of 45 degrees.
The shaded wedge occupies 1:30-3, then 12-1:30, then 9-10:30, then 4:30-6 across figures 1 to 4.
Those positions are 1, 2 and 3 sectors apart anticlockwise, so the fifth lies 4 sectors on, at 10:30-12.

Study next

Eight-sector shading series with a growing step sizeAnticlockwise counting with wrap-around past 12 o'clockSeries in which two elements move at different rates

Common traps

Assuming a constant one-step rotation and picking the wedge next to figure 4's
Losing the direction when the count wraps past the top of the square
Confusing the wedge above the horizontal midline with the one beside the vertical midline inside the same quadrant

Shading-rotation series are standard in the figural block. This shift also runs a symbol-grid series at 11 Sep 2024, 12:30, Reasoning Q.15 and a paper-folding item at Q.23.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.