SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 26 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 5 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.

‘Simple’ is related to ‘Basic’ in the same way as ‘Difficult’ is related to ‘________’.

(a)Trivial
(b)Imaginary
(c)Complex
(d)Wrong

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Fix the relation in the first pair before looking at the blank.

Rule: Simple and Basic are synonyms — both mean uncomplicated, stripped to essentials. So the second pair must be a synonym pair too.

Complex is the word that matches Difficult: something complex has many interlocking parts, which is what makes it hard to work through.

The trap is built in. Complex is also the standard opposite of Simple, so it looks like the wrong kind of word until you notice the pair is being read across, not down — option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Trivial — Trivial means slight or unimportant, and a trivial task is an easy one. It belongs with Simple, at the opposite end from Difficult.
(b)
Imaginary — Imaginary is about whether a thing exists, not about how much effort it takes. A difficult task is entirely real.
(d)
Wrong — Wrong means incorrect. A difficult problem still has a correct answer, so difficulty and wrongness are unrelated ideas.

Concept

A word analogy is settled by naming the relation, not by feeling which word 'goes with' the first one. Say the relation out loud as a sentence — 'Simple means the same as Basic' — then read the same sentence for the second pair.

Only a handful of relations appear in this slot: synonym, antonym, class and member, worker and tool, cause and effect, part and whole. Identifying which one is in play removes most of the options immediately.

Here the relation is synonym, so any option that is an opposite, a category or an unrelated quality is out before you weigh its exact shade of meaning.

SSC often bars the numerical dodges by adding a note that the words must be considered as meaningful English words and not related by their number of letters, consonants or vowels — 13 Sep 2024, 9:00, Reasoning Q.9 carries exactly that note.

This stem carries no such note, but the same reading applies.

Key facts

Name the relation in the given pair before testing any option.
Simple and Basic are synonyms, so Difficult needs a synonym as well.
Complex means made of many connected parts, which is what makes something difficult.
Complex is also the standard antonym of Simple, which is why it looks like a trap.

Study next

Antonym analogies such as Lavish : AustereClass-and-member analogies such as Summer : SeasonLetter-cluster analogies where the relation is a shift in alphabet position

Common traps

Answering with the opposite of the first word out of habit.
Choosing a word that shares the topic but not the relation, as Wrong does here.

The same frame runs at 13 Sep 2024, 9:00, Reasoning Q.9 ('Ample' is to 'Abundant' as 'Substantial' is to 'Considerable').

The relation is flipped to opposites at 11 Sep 2024, 12:30, Reasoning Q.9 ('Lavish' is to 'Austere' as 'Prejudiced' is to 'Impartial').

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.