SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 13 September 2024, Shift 2 · 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 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.

Select the option that represents the letters which, when sequentially placed from left to right in the blanks below, will complete the letter series. f h _ h _ g f _ h g _ h _ f f _ g _ h _ f

(a)g h f f g h f g
(b)g h f h g f f g
(c)g h f h g h f g
(d)g h f h g h h g

Answer

Why

Correct — D. Count the positions first: 21 letters, blanks included, which splits into three groups of seven.

Rule: the seven-letter group f h g h h g f, repeated.

Positions 1-7 are f h _ h _ g f → f h g h h g f
Positions 8-14 are _ h g _ h _ f → f h g h h g f
Positions 15-21 are f _ g _ h _ f → f h g h h g f

Reading the eight blanks left to right gives g, h, f, h, g, h, h, g — option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
g h f f g h f g — g h f f g h f g puts f at position 11. Position 11 is the fourth slot of the second group, and the group reads f h g h h g f, so it has to be h.
(b)
g h f h g f f g — g h f h g f f g fails at position 16, the second slot of the third group. The group opens f h g, so position 16 is h, not f.
(c)
g h f h g h f g — g h f h g h f g matches all the way to position 18. That is the fourth slot of the third group, which is h, not f.

Concept

Blank-filling letter series are solved by finding the repeat length, not by staring at the letters. Count every position including the blanks, then factorise the total: 21 splits cleanly into three sevens, and rarely into anything else useful.

Then read the repeats against each other rather than solving each blank on its own. The first seven positions supply slots 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7 as f, h, h, g, f; positions 15 to 21 supply slots 1, 3, 5 and 7.

Between them the whole seven-letter group is known before you look at a single option.

Every option opens g h f and closes with g, so the first three blanks and the last decide nothing. Positions 11, 16 and 18 carry the whole question.

Option (a) breaks at 11 and 18, option (b) at 16 and 18, and option (c) only at 18 — so checking one slot is never enough to rank the wrong options.

Key facts

The completed string is f h g h h g f / f h g h h g f / f h g h h g f, with the slashes marking the repeat boundaries.
Every block opens and closes with f, so the two f's printed side by side at positions 14 and 15 straddle a block boundary.
The eight blanks fall at positions 3, 5, 8, 11, 13, 16, 18 and 20.

Study next

Blank-filling letter series with repeat lengths of 5, 6 and 7Counting total positions to find the repeat length before solvingSeries where the repeating group shifts by one letter each time

Common traps

Guessing a repeat length of 3 or 4 because the letters recur quickly.
Filling the blanks straight along the line and losing the boundary at position 8.
Stopping once two options are gone, when positions 16 and 18 still separate the rest.

Letter-order work recurs across the section: Reasoning Q.14 runs a four-letter series falling two alphabet places per term, and Reasoning Q.12 asks how many letters of SIGHTED hold their position once the word is alphabetised.

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