SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 12 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 22 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.

Select the set in which the numbers are related in the same way as are the numbers of the given sets. (213, 157), (185, 129) (NOTE : Operations should be performed on the whole numbers, without breaking down the numbers into its constituent digits. E.g., 13 – Operations on 13 such as adding /deleting /multiplying etc. to 13 can be performed. Breaking down 13 into 1 and 3 and then performing mathematical operations on 1 and 3 is not allowed)

(a)(192, 152)
(b)(164, 108)
(c)(171, 123)
(d)(189, 141)

Answer

Why

Correct — B. Take the two given sets apart with subtraction.

213 − 157 = 56
185 − 129 = 56

Rule: the first number is 56 more than the second.

Now test the options:

192 − 152 = 40
164 − 108 = 56
171 − 123 = 48
189 − 141 = 48

The pair (164, 108) is the one that repeats the gap, so option (b) joins the group.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
(192, 152) — 192 − 152 = 40, not 56. The numbers look the right size, but size is not what the two given sets fix — the gap is.
(c)
(171, 123) — 171 − 123 = 48, eight short of the required 56, and the bracketed note bars rescuing it by splitting the digits.
(d)
(189, 141) — 189 − 141 = 48 as well. Two options landing on the same wrong gap is a hint that 48 is the distractor value, not the rule.

Concept

Number-set analogies test one relation applied to whole numbers. Try the relations in a fixed order: difference, then sum, then ratio, then squares and cubes.

Difference settles this one on the first attempt, because both given sets sit 56 apart, so nothing further needs checking.

The bracketed rider matters. It forbids breaking 213 into 2, 1 and 3; every operation must act on the number as printed. Ignore it and you can invent a digit rule that fits both given sets by luck and then fails on the options.

Both given sets are made of odd numbers and the keyed set is made of even ones. Parity is not the relation here, but it is the feature most likely to make a candidate drop (164, 108) too early.

Key facts

213 − 157 = 56 and 185 − 129 = 56, so the sets are fixed by a constant difference.
164 − 108 = 56, which is why that pair belongs with them.
The bracketed note bars digit-splitting: operations act on the whole number.

Study next

Number-set analogies built on sums, products or squares rather than differencesOdd-one-out sets among number tripletsReading the whole-number rider before choosing an operation

Common traps

Rejecting the even pair because both given sets are odd.
Reaching for digit sums, which the question's own note forbids.
Accepting 48 as close enough when two options share it.

The same whole-numbers rider, in slightly different words, is printed on Reasoning Q.3 of this shift, an odd-one-out among number triplets, and Reasoning Q.5 asks for a chain of operations carried through four numbers. Test the difference first; it is the cheapest relation to check.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.