SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 17 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.

Each of the letters in the word ‘LASTING’ is arranged in the English alphabetical order. How many letters are there in the English alphabetical series between the letter which is second from the left end and the one which is fourth from the right end in the new letter-cluster thus formed?

(a)Five
(b)Six
(c)Four
(d)Three

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Sort first, then count from the two ends the question actually names.

LASTING sorted alphabetically is A G I L N S T — seven letters.

Second from the left end: A, then G.
Fourth from the right end: T, S, N, then L.

Between G(7) and L(12) lie H, I, J and K.
Count them with 12 − 7 − 1 = 4 → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Five — Five is the count if you let one endpoint in: H, I, J, K and L. L is an end of the span, not a letter between the two.
(b)
Six — Six is the count between G and N, which is what you get by taking the third from the right instead of the fourth. Counting back gives T, S, N, L.
(d)
Three — Three is the count between G and K, or between H and L — one place short at one end. The span here is G to L.

Concept

Two separate skills are being tested, and both are mechanical.

Sort the word. LASTING gives A G I L N S T. Write it out; sorting in your head is where most of the errors are made.

Count from the named end. Fourth from the right in a seven-letter cluster means counting backwards from the last letter, T, S, N, L. Converting it — the fourth from the right is the (7 − 4 + 1) = fourth from the left — is a useful check but not a shortcut here.

Then use (higher − lower − 1) for letters strictly between two positions: 12 − 7 − 1 = 4.

In a seven-letter cluster the fourth from either end is the same letter, so both readings land on L here. That is a coincidence of the length, and it will not hold on a six-letter or eight-letter word.

Key facts

LASTING has seven distinct letters and sorts to A G I L N S T.
G is the 7th letter of the alphabet and L is the 12th.
The number of letters strictly between two positions is (higher − lower − 1), here 12 − 7 − 1 = 4.

Study next

Sorting a word alphabetically and then counting positions from a named endConverting nth from the right into (length − n + 1) from the leftCounting letters strictly between two alphabet positions with (b − a − 1)

Common traps

Including an endpoint. Between is strictly exclusive, so G and L are both out of the count.
Mis-sorting. The order is A G I L N S T, with I after G and N before S.
Counting from the wrong end. Fourth from the right is L, while third from the right is N and gives six.

The stem is a template with the word and the two positions swapped in, so the drill is always sort, count in from each end, subtract.

Also asked 11 Sep 2024, 16:00, Reasoning Q.6 (JUNGLE sorts to E G J L N U, second from the left is G and third from the right is L, keyed Four) and 10 Sep 2024, 16:00, Reasoning Q.21 (WISDOM sorts to D I M O S W, third from the left is M and second from the right is S, keyed Five).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.