SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 24 September 2024, Shift 3 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 7 of 99

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.

Based on the English alphabetical order, three of the following four letter-clusters are alike in a certain way and thus form a group. Which is the one that DOES NOT belong to that group? (Note: The odd man out is not based on the number of consonants/vowels or their position in the letter-cluster.)

(a)HKI
(b)MPN
(c)RUS
(d)QUR

Answer

Why

Correct — D. Convert each cluster to alphabet positions and read the two gaps.

Rule: the cluster is first, first + 3, first + 1.
HKI = 8, 11, 9 → gaps +3, −2
MPN = 13, 16, 14 → gaps +3, −2
RUS = 18, 21, 19 → gaps +3, −2

QUR = 17, 21, 18 → gaps +4, −3. Its middle letter is four places after its first, not three, so option (d) is the one that does not belong.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
HKI — H, K, I are 8, 11, 9 — a jump of +3 and a step back of 2, which is the shared pattern. It belongs with the group.
(b)
MPN — M, P, N are 13, 16, 14, giving the same +3 then −2. Nothing here separates it from HKI or RUS.
(c)
RUS — R, U, S are 18, 21, 19, again +3 then −2, so it sits comfortably inside the group of three.

Concept

A letter-cluster odd-one-out is nearly always about the gaps between the letters, not the letters themselves.

Write each letter's alphabet position and take differences. Three clusters give +3, −2. The fourth gives +4, −3. The bracketed note has already barred the usual shortcuts — vowel counts and vowel positions — so the gap reading is what is left.

One near-miss is worth naming. The third letter is one place after the first in all four clusters, including QUR, so that relation separates nothing. Only the middle letter does.

This is why an odd-one-out has to be tested on every relation you can see, not just the first one that works: a relation shared by all four is evidence of nothing.

Key facts

Alphabet positions: H = 8, K = 11, I = 9 and M = 13, P = 16, N = 14 and R = 18, U = 21, S = 19.
In three of the clusters the middle letter stands three places after the first, while in QUR it stands four places after.
The third letter is one place after the first in all four clusters, so it cannot separate them.
The bracketed note bars answers based on the count or position of vowels and consonants.

Study next

Letter-cluster odd-one-out read from the last letter backwardsFour-letter clusters, where three gaps have to be compared at onceAlphabet position recall in blocks of five, from A = 1 to Z = 26

Common traps

Comparing first and third letters, which agree in every cluster here
Counting the alphabet gap inclusively, so +3 is read as +4
Still hunting a vowel rule after the note has ruled it out

SSC reuses this stem with its note intact. 12 Sep 2024, 12:30, Reasoning Q.4 keys ACG as the odd cluster, and 19 Sep 2024, 09:00, Reasoning Q.18 keys CHE.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.