SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 12 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 2 of 99

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 the following series, only one letter-cluster is incorrect. Select the incorrect letter- cluster. YCG IMQ SVZ CGK MQU

(a)CGK
(b)MQU
(c)SVZ
(d)IMQ

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Rule: inside every cluster the letters step +4, +4.

YCG → Y(25), then 29 which wraps to C(3), then 33 which wraps to G(7). ✓
IMQ → I(9), M(13), Q(17). ✓

CGK → C(3), G(7), K(11). ✓
MQU → M(13), Q(17), U(21). ✓

SVZ → S(19), V(22), Z(26), so the steps are +3 then +4.

S stepping +4 twice would give SWA, so SVZ is the cluster that does not belong → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
CGK — CGK reads C(3), G(7), K(11) — steps of +4 and +4, the spacing every sound cluster in the row keeps.
(b)
MQU — MQU reads M(13), Q(17), U(21) — +4 and +4 again, and each of its letters sits ten places after the matching letter of CGK.
(d)
IMQ — IMQ reads I(9), M(13), Q(17) — +4 and +4, so it is printed correctly and nothing in it breaks the row.

Concept

A find-the-wrong-cluster item gives you two independent checks, and the cluster that fails either one is the answer.

Check inside the cluster. Convert to alphabet positions and read the gaps. Four clusters run +4, +4; SVZ runs +3, +4.

Check across the clusters. The first letters read Y, I, S, C, M — each +10 on the one before, counting past Z and starting again at A. The second letters read C, M, V, G, Q, and V breaks that chain where W would keep it.

Both checks land on the same cluster, which is how you know you have read the series and not a coincidence.

Key facts

In YCG the C and G come from 29 and 33, the count running past Z and restarting at A.
IMQ, CGK, MQU and YCG each step +4 then +4.
Replacing SVZ with SWA repairs the gaps inside the cluster and the +10 chain across clusters at the same time.

Study next

Letter-cluster series where the gap itself grows, +2 then +4 then +6Reading a series column-wise, all first letters and then all second lettersCyclic alphabet arithmetic, counting past Z back to A

Common traps

Checking the gaps inside one cluster and never reading the first letters down the row.
Forgetting the wrap at Z, which makes YCG look broken when it is sound.
Choosing the cluster that looks unusual instead of the one that fails the arithmetic.

Reasoning Q.6 of this shift runs the same letter-position arithmetic on four-letter terms, where the positions step +4, +3, +2 and +1. Convert to numbers before you look for a pattern in either.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.