SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 25 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 7 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 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.

Four letter-clusters have been given, out of which three are alike in some manner and one is different. Select the one that is different. Note : The odd one out is not based on the number of consonants/vowels or their position in the letter cluster.

(a)SQPN
(b)YWVT
(c)NLKI
(d)WVTS

Answer

Why

Correct — D. Write each cluster as letter positions and read the gaps between consecutive letters, in order.

Rule: the steps inside the cluster run −2, −1, −2.

SQPN: S19, Q17, P16, N14 gives −2, −1, −2
YWVT: Y25, W23, V22, T20 gives −2, −1, −2
NLKI: N14, L12, K11, I9 gives −2, −1, −2
WVTS: W23, V22, T20, S19 gives −1, −2, −1

WVTS uses the same two step sizes in the opposite order, so it is the cluster that breaks the set — option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
SQPN — SQPN steps −2, −1, −2, which is the pattern the group shares, so it sits inside the group rather than outside it.
(b)
YWVT — YWVT steps −2, −1, −2 as well. Only its starting letter differs, and a different starting point never makes a cluster odd here.
(c)
NLKI — NLKI also runs −2, −1, −2. The note under the question bars separating it on vowel or consonant count, which is the other feature that might have set it apart.

Concept

An odd-one-out on letter clusters is almost never about the letters themselves. It is about the distances between them, so the first move is always to convert to numbers and take differences.

The order of those differences matters as much as their size. Two clusters can use the same steps and still belong to different families if the steps come in a different sequence.

That is the whole trick here: every cluster is built from a 2 and a 1, and only the arrangement separates them.

The question carries a note ruling out vowel and consonant counts. That note is not decoration — it closes the route a candidate reaches for when the arithmetic does not separate the options, and it tells you the answer must lie in the letter positions.

Key facts

S = 19, Q = 17, P = 16 and N = 14, so SQPN steps back 2, then 1, then 2.
W = 23, V = 22, T = 20 and S = 19, so WVTS steps back 1, then 2, then 1.
The question's note rules out sorting the clusters by vowel or consonant count.

Study next

Odd-one-out clusters where only the gap between the first and last letter mattersClusters whose steps run forward through the alphabet rather than backwardRecalling the A = 1 to Z = 26 positions fast enough to use them under time pressure

Common traps

Comparing the sizes of the gaps without keeping their order, which makes all four clusters look identical.
Hunting for meaning in the starting letters instead of in the internal steps.

SSC builds these so that three clusters share one ordered step pattern and the fourth reshuffles the same steps.

A change in the second gap is set at 13 Sep 2024, 09:00, Reasoning Q.18 (NMI, LKF, YXT, SRN), where LKF steps −5 while the rest step −4. A change of direction is set at 11 Sep 2024, 16:00, Reasoning Q.18 (ONM, BCD, JKL, RST), where ONM runs backwards while the rest run forwards.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.