SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 26 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 16 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 letter-cluster 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)PRUZ
(b)ORTU
(c)MORW
(d)XZCH

Answer

Why

Correct — B. Convert each cluster to alphabet positions and read the gaps between letters.

Rule: the gaps run +2, +3, +5.

PRUZ = 16, 18, 21, 26 → +2, +3, +5
MORW = 13, 15, 18, 23 → +2, +3, +5
XZCH = 24, 26, 29, 34 → +2, +3, +5 (counting past Z, so C is 29 and H is 34)
ORTU = 15, 18, 20, 21 → +3, +2, +1

ORTU is the cluster that breaks the pattern → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
PRUZ — P–R–U–Z runs 16, 18, 21, 26, so its gaps are +2, +3, +5 — the shared pattern, which puts it inside the group rather than outside it.
(c)
MORW — M–O–R–W runs 13, 15, 18, 23, giving +2, +3, +5 exactly. It matches the group.
(d)
XZCH — X–Z–C–H looks different only because it wraps past Z. Keep counting and it is 24, 26, 29, 34 — still +2, +3, +5.

Concept

Odd-one-out on letter clusters is a question about gaps, not about the letters themselves. Turn each cluster into alphabet positions and the pattern becomes arithmetic.

The note under the question rules out the shortcuts students reach for first - counting vowels and consonants, and reading a letter's position inside the cluster. That leaves the step sizes.

When a cluster runs past Z, keep counting rather than restarting: A becomes 27, B 28, C 29. Restarting at 1 is what hides the pattern inside XZCH.

Write the gaps under each cluster instead of the positions. Three numbers compared against three numbers is faster than four against four, and the odd cluster shows up immediately.

Key facts

Alphabet positions: P=16, R=18, U=21, Z=26.
Counting past Z without restarting gives C=29 and H=34, which is what makes XZCH fit the +2, +3, +5 pattern.
ORTU has gaps of +3, +2, +1 — a shrinking run that none of the other three clusters shares.
The question's note bars answers based on the number of vowels or consonants, or on a letter's position within the cluster.

Study next

Odd one out on letter clusters where the gaps run backwards through the alphabetLetter clusters that wrap past Z, kept as a continuous count instead of restarting at AOdd one out where the rule is a mirror pair such as A-Z or B-Y rather than a fixed gap

Common traps

Restarting the alphabet at A=1 after Z, which makes XZCH look like the odd cluster
Counting vowels, which the question's note explicitly rules out
Comparing the first letters of the four clusters instead of the gaps inside each one

The same alphabet-position arithmetic is asked on 26 Sep 2024, 12:30 at Reasoning Q.1, which fills blanks in a letter series, and at Q.5, which asks how many letters lie between two letters of a rearranged word.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.