SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 18 September 2024, Shift 3 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 5 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 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.

Three of the following four letter-clusters are alike in a certain way and thus form a group. Which is the letter-cluster that does NOT belong to that group? (Note: The odd one out is not based on the number of consonants/vowels or their positions in the letter-cluster.)

(a)IKN
(b)MPR
(c)CFH
(d)EHJ

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Rule: the gaps inside each cluster run +3 then +2.

M → P → R: 13, 16, 18 — +3, +2
C → F → H: 3, 6, 8 — +3, +2
E → H → J: 5, 8, 10 — +3, +2
I → K → N: 9, 11, 14 — +2, +3

Three clusters share the +3, +2 shape. IKN has the same two gaps in the opposite order, so it is the one that does not belong — option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
MPR — M(13), P(16), R(18) gives +3 then +2, the shared shape, so MPR stays in the group.
(c)
CFH — C(3), F(6), H(8) is +3 then +2 as well — the same shape as MPR and EHJ.
(d)
EHJ — E(5), H(8), J(10) repeats +3 then +2, so EHJ belongs with the other two.

Concept

Convert every cluster to positions before comparing anything. Letters hide arithmetic that numbers show at a glance.

Then compare the gaps, in order. All four clusters here span five places from first letter to last, so the total is useless — the split of that five into 3 + 2 or 2 + 3 is the whole question.

The Note removes the other route deliberately: you may not answer from the number of vowels or consonants, or from where they sit.

Because the odd cluster uses the same two gaps as the group, only the order separates it. A candidate who writes the gaps as an unordered pair loses the distinction entirely.

Key facts

Positions used here: C=3, E=5, F=6, H=8, I=9, J=10, K=11, M=13, N=14, P=16, R=18.
All four clusters span five places end to end, so the span cannot decide the answer.
The group runs +3 then +2 and IKN runs +2 then +3.

Study next

Writing A-Z with positions quickly (A=1, F=6, K=11, P=16, U=21, Z=26)Odd-one-out clusters whose gaps match but run in reverse orderClusters where the first letters themselves form a separate series

Common traps

Noticing that every cluster spans five places and stopping there
Assuming the odd one out is the cluster carrying a vowel
Counting the letters between two letters instead of subtracting their positions

The same four-cluster format with the same Note appears at 12 Sep 2024, 12:30, Reasoning Q.4, where the group runs +3 then +4, and at 19 Sep 2024, 9:00, Reasoning Q.18, where it runs +6 then -3.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.