SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 13 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 10 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 10 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, ‘HUSBAND’ is written as ‘JVUDBPF’ and ‘SISTER’ is written as ‘UJUVFT’. How will ‘BROTHER’ be written in that language?

(a)DJTFPTV
(b)FJPVDTT
(c)DTPVJFT
(d)TFVJTPD

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Rule: vowels move +1 along the alphabet, consonants move +2.

Test it on SISTER: S+2 = U, I+1 = J, S+2 = U, T+2 = V, E+1 = F, R+2 = T, giving UJUVFT.

Test it on HUSBAND: H+2 = J, U+1 = V, S+2 = U, B+2 = D, A+1 = B, N+2 = P, D+2 = F, giving JVUDBPF.

Now encode BROTHER letter by letter:
B+2 = D, R+2 = T, O+1 = P, T+2 = V,
H+2 = J, E+1 = F, R+2 = T.

That spells DTPVJFT, option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
DJTFPTV — DJTFPTV starts correctly with D but puts J second. The second letter of BROTHER is R, a consonant, so it must move two places to T; J is what H gives (H+2), and H is BROTHER's fifth letter.
(b)
FJPVDTT — FJPVDTT opens with F. B is a consonant and moves +2 to D, while F is what E gives — and E is the sixth letter of BROTHER, not the first.
(d)
TFVJTPD — TFVJTPD is built from the right seven letters in the wrong order — it is not even the reversal, which would read TFJVPTD. A substitution code replaces letters in place and never reorders them.

Concept

When a shift code will not fit one constant, split the letters into classes and test each class.

Here H to J, S to U, B to D, N to P and D to F are all +2, while U to V, A to B, I to J and E to F are all +1. The two classes are consonants and vowels.

Two coded words are given precisely so you can confirm the split rather than guess it. HUSBAND supplies the vowels U and A, and SISTER supplies I and E.

Then encode the target letter by letter and resist reordering. All four options here use the same seven letters, so the order is the whole question.

Y is never treated as a vowel in this item and never needs to be — BROTHER, HUSBAND and SISTER contain no Y. Do not assume a rule for a letter the paper has not shown you.

Key facts

In this code every consonant advances 2 places and every vowel advances 1.
HUSBAND becomes JVUDBPF and SISTER becomes UJUVFT under that rule.
BROTHER encodes as D, T, P, V, J, F, T — that is DTPVJFT.
All four options are rearrangements of the same seven letters, so their order alone decides the answer.

Study next

Codes that treat vowels and consonants by different shiftsConfirming a code on both given words before encoding the targetAlphabet positions forward and backward so that +2 and −2 are instant

Common traps

Fitting a single shift to the first word and never testing the second
Choosing an option that carries the right letters in the wrong order
Forgetting that BROTHER holds two Rs, both of which encode to T

SSC gives two worked words and asks for a third, which is exactly enough to pin a two-class rule. A number-based coding item appears in this shift at Reasoning Q.15.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.