SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 23 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 1 of 97

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.

Based on the position in the English alphabetical order, three of the following letter- clusters are alike in some manner and one is different. Select the odd letter-cluster. Note: The odd one out is not based on the number of consonants/vowels or their position in the letter cluster.

(a)PSKI
(b)TWGD
(c)JMQN
(d)MPNK

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Turn each cluster into alphabet positions and read the two outer gaps.

Rule: +3 from the first letter to the second, −3 from the third letter to the fourth.

TWGD: T20→W23 is +3, G7→D4 is −3.
JMQN: J10→M13 is +3, Q17→N14 is −3.
MPNK: M13→P16 is +3, N14→K11 is −3.

PSKI opens the same way — P16→S19 is +3 — but K11→I9 is −2, not −3. So PSKI is the cluster that breaks the pattern → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
TWGD — TWGD belongs to the group. T→W is +3 and G→D is −3, the same signature the other two members carry.
(c)
JMQN — JMQN stays in as well. J→M is +3 and Q→N is −3, so both outer gaps match TWGD and MPNK.
(d)
MPNK — MPNK matches too, M→P at +3 and N→K at −3. Its four positions also total 54, as TWGD and JMQN do, while PSKI totals 55.

Concept

Letter-cluster odd-one-out items are alphabet arithmetic in disguise. Replace every letter by its position — A is 1, Z is 26 — and the four clusters become four strings of numbers.

Then look for the gaps that three strings share. Here every cluster starts +3, so that gap decides nothing. The gap that separates them is the last one, and three clusters read −3 there.

The printed note bars the usual shortcut: you may not answer by counting consonants and vowels or by where they sit. That is SSC telling you the answer lives in the position arithmetic.

Key facts

TWGD, JMQN and MPNK all read +3 on the first gap and −3 on the last.
PSKI reads +3 then −2, which is what makes it the odd cluster.
The positions of TWGD, JMQN and MPNK each total 54, while PSKI totals 55.
The note rules out consonant and vowel counts as the basis for the grouping.

Study next

Letter-cluster odd-one-out where the shared step runs across all three gapsConverting letters to positions quickly without writing out the alphabetSum of positions as a second, independent check on a letter-cluster group

Common traps

Stopping at the first gap, which is +3 in all four clusters and settles nothing.
Taking the middle gap as the rule, where JMQN alone rises (+4) and the wrong cluster looks odd.
Counting vowels, which the printed note explicitly rules out.

SSC sets this with a fixed rider — the odd one is not based on consonants, vowels or their position. The same rider and the same four-letter clusters head 13 Sep 2024, 12:30, Reasoning Q.23 (SVXZ, TWYZ, EHJK, YBDE) and 26 Sep 2024, 09:00, Reasoning Q.9 (SUZY, MPUT, PRWV, QSXW).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.