SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 25 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 19 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.

Two different positions of the same dice are given below. Which is the number on the face opposite the face containing 5?

(a)6
(b)1
(c)3
(d)2

Answer

Why

Correct — B. The figure draws the same die twice, each cube showing its top face and two side faces.
First cube: 6 on top, 2 on the left, 1 on the right.
Second cube: 6 on top, 4 on the left, 5 on the right.

6 sits on top in both, so the die has only been spun about its vertical axis and the four side faces keep their ring order.

Reading left face then right face gives the consecutive pairs 2 then 1, and 4 then 5, so the ring is 2, 1, 4, 5 and back to 2.

Opposite faces lie two steps apart in that ring: 2 faces 4, and 5 faces 1 -> option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
6 — 6 is on top in both views, sitting beside 5 in the second cube. A face cannot be opposite a face it touches.
(c)
3 — 3 shows in neither view, so it is the hidden face under 6 - the one number 6 does not touch. It is opposite 6, not opposite 5.
(d)
2 — In the ring 2, 1, 4, 5 the number 2 lies two steps from 4, not from 5. 2 and 5 are neighbours, one step apart.

Concept

Two views of one die are solved by what they share.

A face holding the same place in both views is an axis. Here 6 stays on top, so the cube has only turned about the vertical and the four side faces keep their cyclic order.

Record each view as left face then right face and you have two consecutive pairs of that cycle. Splice them into one ring of four, and the opposite pairs are the ones two steps apart. The face that never appears is opposite the face seen twice.

The ring reading only works if you take left face then right face the same way round in both cubes. Reverse it in one view and you will pair 5 with 2 instead.

Key facts

6 shows on top in both views, so 6 touches 2, 1, 4 and 5.
3 never appears in either view, so 3 is the face opposite 6.
Side faces read left then right give the ring 2, 1, 4, 5, in which 1 is opposite 5.

Study next

Two-position dice sharing exactly one common faceTwo-position dice sharing two faces, where one rotation settles everythingWhy the opposite-faces-sum-to-seven shortcut fails here, since 6 faces 3

Common traps

Pairing the two faces that happen to occupy the same drawn position
Reading left-then-right in one cube and right-then-left in the other
Assuming the twice-seen face 6 must be the answer's opposite

This exact stem - two positions, which number faces 5 - also ran on 12 Sep 2024, 16:00, Reasoning Q.25, keyed 3. The same shape asking which number faces 1 is at 11 Sep 2024, 12:30, Reasoning Q.21, keyed 6.

Related PYQs

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