SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 17 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 25 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 set in which the numbers are related in the same way as are the numbers of the given sets. (429, 514), (688, 773) (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)(407, 512)
(b)(546, 631)
(c)(319, 399)
(d)(396, 491)

Answer

Why

Correct — B.
Rule: the second number is the first plus 85.

429 + 85 = 514
688 + 85 = 773

The same constant has to hold in the answer set, and 546 + 85 = 631.

That is option (b). The whole-number rider in the stem rules out digit-level tricks, so a single constant added to the whole number is exactly the kind of relation being asked for.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
(407, 512) — (407, 512) has a gap of 105. Both numbers step up through a hundred boundary just as the keyed pair does, which is what makes it look plausible.
(c)
(319, 399) — (319, 399) has a gap of 80, five short of 85. It is the closest miss on the page, which is why the subtraction is worth doing rather than eyeballing.
(d)
(396, 491) — (396, 491) has a gap of 95. Its numbers end in 6 and 1, exactly as 546 and 631 do, so it reads right at a glance.

Concept

Number-set items give two worked sets and four candidates. Find the operation linking the members of a set, confirm it on the second given set, then test the options.

Start with subtraction — it is the cheapest test and a surprising share of these sets are built on a constant gap. Only if the gaps disagree do you move on to ratios, squares or two-step chains.

The note in the stem bars breaking a number into its digits, which removes digit sums, digit reversals and place-value tricks from the search.

All four option pairs sit in the same size range and all four rise, so nothing is eliminated by inspection. Four subtractions decide the item, and they are the whole of the work.

Key facts

Both given sets share one constant: 514 − 429 = 85 and 773 − 688 = 85.
546 + 85 = 631.
The stem's note bars digit-level operations, so the relation acts on the whole number.

Study next

Three-member number sets, where two operations chainSets related by a ratio or a square rather than a constant gapTesting a candidate rule on the second given set before trusting it

Common traps

Confirming the rule on one given set only
Judging the gaps by eye and accepting 80 or 95 as close enough

A constant-difference set is also asked 12 Sep 2024, 09:00, Reasoning Q.22, where (213, 157) and (185, 129) both fall by 56. The same stem with a different rule runs at 10 Sep 2024, 09:00, Reasoning Q.9 and Q.15.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.