SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 25 September 2024, Shift 3 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 18 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.

Select the option that represents the letters that when placed from left to right in the blanks below will complete the given letter series. C A R E T _ R C A _ E T C R C A R _ T C R _ A R E T _ R C A

(a)CRCEC
(b)CERCC
(c)CRECC
(d)CRCCE

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Find the repeating block, then read the blanks straight off it.

Rule: the string is the seven-letter block CARETCR, repeated.

Filling the five blanks with C, R, E, C, C gives:
CARETCR | CARETCR | CARETCR | CARETCR | CA

That is four complete blocks and the first two letters of a fifth, 30 letters in all. Read left to right, the blanks spell CRECC — option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
CRCEC — The third blank breaks. Option (a) puts C at the fourth slot of its block, where the visible CARET at the head of the string shows the block's fourth letter is E.
(b)
CERCC — The second blank breaks. Option (b) puts E at the third slot of its block, where CARETCR reads R — the R visible two places earlier in the first block.
(d)
CRCCE — Two blanks fail. Option (d) puts C where the block needs E and E where the block needs C, breaking the pattern in both halves of the string.

Concept

Blank-filling letter series test one skill: spotting the repeating block and its length. Nothing else in the item matters once you have it.

The reliable method is to count the whole string, then find the first place the opening run starts again. Here CARET appears at the front and again once one blank is filled, which fixes the block at seven letters.

With the block known, every blank is determined by its position modulo 7. You are reading a letter off a table, not reasoning about a pattern.

The five blanks are read left to right, and the option is that string in order. A candidate that gets four blanks right and one wrong is worth exactly nothing here.

Key facts

The completed string is CARETCR repeated four times followed by CA, 30 letters in all.
The block length is 7, so the letter at any position is fixed by that position modulo 7.
The blanks fall at positions 6, 10, 18, 22 and 27, giving C, R, E, C and C in that order.

Study next

Locating a repeating block by counting the string and factoring its lengthSeries whose block length does not divide the string length, leaving a partial block at the endReading multi-blank answers in strict left-to-right order

Common traps

Guessing the block is CARET, five letters, because CARET is a word and the two letters after it are not.
Filling the blanks correctly but reading the answer string in the wrong order.
Testing only the first blank, which every option here satisfies with C.

This stem is fixed wording, and what changes between sittings is the block length — 19 Sep 2024, 09:00, Reasoning Q.13 runs a five-letter block (BCENB), while 17 Sep 2024, 12:30, Reasoning Q.13 and 18 Sep 2024, 12:30, Reasoning Q.24 both run six-letter blocks (MNQOJK and LMNQOL).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.