SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 11 September 2024, Shift 3 · 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.

In a certain code language, BRING is coded as ‘7149182’ and SMILE is coded as ‘51291319’. What will be the code for FORGIVE?

(a)5229718156
(b)5219717166
(c)5228717156
(d)5229179156

Answer

Why

Correct — A.

Rule: write each letter's alphabet position, taking the letters in reverse order, then run the numbers together.

BRING backwards is G N I R B.
G7, N14, I9, R18, B2 gives 7 14 9 18 2 = 7149182.

SMILE backwards is E L I M S.
E5, L12, I9, M13, S19 gives 5 12 9 13 19 = 51291319.

FORGIVE backwards is E V I G R O F.
E5, V22, I9, G7, R18, O15, F6 gives 5 22 9 7 18 15 6 = 5229718156 → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
5219717166 — This reads V as 21, R as 17 and O as 16. Their true positions are 22, 18 and 15, so three of the seven numbers are off by one place in the alphabet.
(c)
5228717156 — Two slips of one place: I is written as 8 instead of 9 and R as 17 instead of 18. Everything else matches the key, which is what makes it the closest decoy.
(d)
5229179156 — It prints 179 where 718 belongs. G is 7 and R is 18, so that stretch of the code has to read 7-18; the option scrambles those digits.

Concept

This is positional coding: every letter is replaced by its serial number in the alphabet, A = 1 up to Z = 26, and the numbers are written with no separators.

The twist here is direction. The code is built from the last letter to the first, which is why BRING opens with 7 (G) and not 2 (B). Spot that from the first example and the rest is clerical work.

Because letters from J onwards need two digits, the code is longer than the word and the digit string cannot be split reliably by eye. Write the positions out with spaces first, then close them up.

The four options differ only in a digit or two, so this cannot be answered by shape. You have to write out all seven positions and compare them one at a time.

Key facts

BRING codes as 7149182, which is G7, N14, I9, R18, B2 read backwards.
SMILE codes as 51291319, which is E5, L12, I9, M13, S19.
FORGIVE reversed is EVIGROF, with positions 5, 22, 9, 7, 18, 15 and 6.
Letters from J onwards sit at position 10 or higher and so contribute two digits each.

Study next

Positional coding read forwards, backwards and from both ends at onceThe opposite-letter rule, position 27 minus n, used in the same family of itemsChecking a long digit string by re-splitting it into the positions it claims to hold

Common traps

Coding the letters in the order they are written instead of backwards.
Slipping one place in the alphabet, so R becomes 17 or V becomes 21.
Splitting the given code wrongly when testing your rule, for instance reading 51291319 digit by digit.

Reasoning Q.4 of this shift codes MAN as 15316 and SHE as 21107, which is the same alphabet-position idea with 2 added to each position.

The variant that turns the position round appears at 19 Sep 2024, 16:00, Reasoning Q.2, where CYCLE codes as 242241522 because each letter is replaced by its opposite letter's position.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.