SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 26 September 2024, Shift 3 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 11 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 is related to the fifth letter-cluster in the same way as the second letter-cluster is related to the first letter-cluster and the fourth letter-cluster is related to the third letter-cluster. WEL: DVO :: FOR: ULI :: SDX:?

(a)HWC
(b)GXC
(c)HXC
(d)GWC

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Rule: every letter is replaced by its opposite in the alphabet, so a letter at position n becomes the letter at position 27 − n. A pairs with Z, B with Y, and so on.

WEL to DVO: W(23) becomes 27 − 23 = 4 = D, E(5) becomes 22 = V, L(12) becomes 15 = O.
FOR to ULI: F(6) becomes 21 = U, O(15) becomes 12 = L, R(18) becomes 9 = I.

Apply the same to SDX: S(19) becomes 27 − 19 = 8 = H, D(4) becomes 23 = W, X(24) becomes 3 = C.

That gives HWC, option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
GXC — GXC shifts the first two letters by one. The opposite of S is H(8), not G(7), and the opposite of D is W(23), not X(24), so only the final C survives.
(c)
HXC — HXC gets S and X right but pairs D with X. D is the fourth letter from the start, so its opposite is the fourth from the end, which is W — X is only third from the end.
(d)
GWC — GWC pairs S with G. Count it out: S is the eighth letter from the end, so its opposite is the eighth from the start, H(8), and G(7) is one short.

Concept

Opposite-letter pairing has an arithmetic you can write in one line: a letter and its opposite always sum to 27. A is 1 and Z is 26, B is 2 and Y is 25, and it holds right through to M and N in the middle.

Learn them as pairs rather than as a subtraction to perform under time pressure: AZ, BY, CX, DW, EV, FU, GT, HS, IR, JQ, KP, LO, MN.

The double analogy — two worked pairs printed before the question — is there so that you can confirm the rule instead of guessing it. Test the second pair before applying anything to the third.

The four options differ only in their first two letters, H or G and W or X. The whole item therefore turns on knowing that D pairs with W and S pairs with H.

Key facts

Opposite letters sum to 27, so A goes with Z, B with Y and M with N.
S(19) pairs with H(8) because 19 + 8 = 27.
D(4) pairs with W(23), and X(24) pairs with C(3).
The pairing is symmetric, so the same rule carries DVO back to WEL.

Study next

Letter analogies built on a constant forward shift rather than an opposite pairingMixed rules where one letter is opposed and the others are shiftedCoding questions that encode a whole word through opposite letters

Common traps

Subtracting from 26 instead of 27, which moves every letter by one place
Applying the rule to the first analogy only and assuming the second agrees
Counting positions from the wrong end once the letter sits past M

SSC gives two worked analogies and a third to complete, which lets you confirm the rule before applying it.

The same frame appears at 09 Sep 2024, 16:00, Reasoning Q.1, where the letters are subtracted from 29 rather than 27, and at 11 Sep 2024, 09:00, Reasoning Q.7, where the rule is a growing +1, +2, +3, +4 shift.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.