SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 17 September 2024, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 18 of 98

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 INCORRECTLY spelt word.

(a)Miscalculation
(b)Eficient
(c)Mediation
(d)Contribution

Answer

Why

Correct — B.
The word is spelt efficient, with two f's.

English builds it on the Latin prefix ex-, which assimilates to ef- before f, so the f doubles: ef + fic + ient. The same join gives effect, efficacy and effort.

The paper prints Eficient with a single f, so option (b) is the misspelling.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Miscalculation — Spelt correctly. Miscalculation is the prefix mis- on calculation, and nothing in that join doubles a letter.
(c)
Mediation — Spelt correctly. Mediation is mediate with the ending -ion, one d and one t, and it is a real word in its own right rather than a planted variant.
(d)
Contribution — Spelt correctly. Contribution is con + tribut + ion, with no doubled letter anywhere in it.

Concept

Spelling items are recognition tests, but derivation is what makes the recognition reliable.

Several English prefixes assimilate to the first letter of the root they attach to. ex- becomes ef- before f (efficient, effort), ad- becomes af- before f (affect) and ac- before c (accommodate).

The doubled letter is the seam between prefix and root, not decoration. Once you can see the seam, a single f in Eficient looks wrong the way a missing brick looks wrong, and you no longer have to hold the word in memory letter by letter.

There is no sentence here to lean on, so context gives you nothing. You are being asked to read four words letter by letter, and the trap is to scan for the longest or least familiar word rather than for the one with a letter missing.

Key facts

Efficient carries a double f, from the prefix ex- assimilating to ef- before f.
Effect, effort and efficacy share that same doubled f.
Miscalculation, mediation and contribution are all spelt correctly as printed in this item.

Study next

Doubled consonants from assimilated prefixes: ef-, af-, ac-, ap-, at-The -ceed, -cede and -sede families: succeed, precede, supersedeWords with a doubled letter that pronunciation does not reveal: accommodation, embarrassment, occurrence

Common traps

Scanning for a long or unfamiliar word instead of for a missing letter
Accepting Eficient because it is pronounced exactly as it is printed

SSC gives four ordinary words and misprints one of them by a single letter. A halved double consonant is keyed at 13 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.6 (Atributes) and 24 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.20 (Atempt), while 12 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.9 sets Preceed against succeed, proceed and exceed.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.