SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 12 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 23 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, ‘BOOK’ is written as ‘ZNNI’ and ‘SHOP’ is written as ‘QFNN’. How will ‘NOTES’ be written in that language?

(a)LNRDQ
(b)LRDQN
(c)LDNQR
(d)QDRNL

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Line BOOK against ZNNI letter by letter and the split shows up at once: B moves two back but O moves only one.

Rule: consonants step two letters back, vowels step one letter back.

B−2=Z (wrapping past A), O−1=N, O−1=N, K−2=I → ZNNI
S−2=Q, H−2=F, O−1=N, P−2=N → QFNN

Now NOTES: N−2=L, O−1=N, T−2=R, E−1=D, S−2=Q.

That is LNRDQ — option (a). The coded word keeps the original letter order.

Why the others are wrong

(b)
LRDQN — LRDQN carries the right five letters in the wrong order. Each letter is coded in place, so the N standing for the O of NOTES has to stay second.
(c)
LDNQR — LDNQR shuffles the same letters again — D is the code for E, the fourth letter of NOTES, so it cannot sit second.
(d)
QDRNL — QDRNL is LNRDQ written backwards. Neither BOOK to ZNNI nor SHOP to QFNN reverses the word, so there is nothing to justify the flip.

Concept

A letter-shift code with two different shifts, chosen by letter type.

A single constant step is the first thing to try, so the instinct is to find it and move on. Here B to Z is two back and O to N is one back in the very same word, which rules a constant step out immediately.

Once one word contradicts a single shift, the next question is what splits the letters. Vowel against consonant is the first split to test, and it holds across both given words and every letter in them.

B−2 runs off the front of the alphabet and wraps to Z, which is the standard convention.

All four options are permutations of the same five letters L, N, R, D and Q. So the coding rule alone will not separate them — you also have to hold the order, letter by letter, in the order NOTES is written.

Key facts

BOOK becomes ZNNI: B to Z is minus two, O to N is minus one, K to I is minus two.
SHOP becomes QFNN: S to Q, H to F and P to N are each minus two, O to N is minus one.
NOTES becomes LNRDQ under the same rule.
Every option is a rearrangement of L, N, R, D and Q, so order decides the question.

Study next

Letter-shift codes with one constant step, so you can spot when a code is not oneCodes that shift by position within the word rather than by letter typeWrap-around at A and Z, both directions

Common traps

Fixing the shift from the first letter alone and applying minus two to everything.
Getting the five letters right and then choosing the wrong arrangement of them.
Forgetting the wrap when a step runs past A.

SSC gives two coded words so a one-word rule can be tested before use. A uniform minus-four shift is what the analogy at Reasoning Q.11 of this 12 Sep 2024, 12:30 paper runs on, which is the pattern this question deliberately breaks.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.