SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 26 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 15 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.

Identify the figure given in the options which when put in place of the question mark (?) will logically complete the series?

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Two things move independently here, so track them separately.

Rule: each corner symbol steps one place clockwise per frame, and the central arrow turns 45 degrees clockwise per frame.

Frame 1: triangle top-left, star top-right, circle bottom-right, square bottom-left.
Frame 4: star top-left, circle top-right, square bottom-right, triangle bottom-left.
Frame 5: one more clockwise step returns the corners to the frame 1 layout.

The arrow runs up, up-right, right, down-right, so the fifth arrow points straight down. Option (a) is the figure that carries both.

Why the others are wrong

(b)
The corners are right, but the arrow still points right. That repeats frame 3 instead of turning a further 45 degrees to point down.
(c)
The arrow points down correctly, but the corners have taken two clockwise steps rather than one. This is frame 2's layout, not frame 5's.
(d)
Both rules fail: the corners repeat frame 2's layout, and the arrow has swung to down-left, overshooting the downward position by a further 45 degrees.

Concept

Figural series usually run separate cycles on the same frame, and the fastest way through is to stop looking at the frame as a whole.

There are two cycles here: four corner symbols on a four-step clockwise rotation, and one arrow turning 45 degrees clockwise each frame.

Because the corner cycle has length four, frame 5 must reproduce frame 1's corners exactly. That check can be made before you look at any option, and the arrow then separates what is left.

The four options split cleanly on the two rules: some get the corners right and some get the arrow right. An option that satisfies one rule and not the other is a designed trap, not a near miss.

Key facts

The corner symbols are a filled triangle, a six-armed star, a filled circle and an open square, and they hold that clockwise order throughout the series.
A rotation that moves items round four corners repeats every four frames, so frame 5 shows frame 1's arrangement.
The central arrow turns 45 degrees clockwise per frame: up, up-right, right, down-right, then down.

Study next

Figural series where the outer symbols rotate at one rate and an inner element rotates at anotherWorking out a rotation's period so a later frame can be predicted without drawing every stepMirror-image series, where the change between frames is a reflection rather than a rotation

Common traps

Checking only the corner symbols and settling for option (b), whose arrow has not turned
Checking only the arrow and settling for option (c), whose corners have moved a step too far
Turning the arrow 90 degrees instead of 45, which is what option (d) does

SSC sets picture series with more than one rule running at once, and builds the wrong options by satisfying some rules and not others. Reasoning Q.13 of 26 Sep 2024, 12:30 is another figure series, and Q.4 and Q.6 of the same date and time also work on figures.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.