SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 9 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 22 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 6 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.

Which of the following terms will replace the question mark (?) in the given series? YZUW, ?, QTQU, MQOT, INMS

(a)UWSV
(b)UWVS
(c)USWV
(d)WUSV

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Four positions, four separate steps down the alphabet, with A as 1 and Z as 26.

Position 1 reads Y25, blank, Q17, M13, I9 — the given terms fall by 4, so the blank is 25 minus 4 = 21 = U.
Position 2 reads Z26, blank, T20, Q17, N14 — a fall of 3, so 26 minus 3 = 23 = W.
Position 3 reads U21, blank, Q17, O15, M13 — a fall of 2, so 21 minus 2 = 19 = S.
Position 4 reads W23, blank, U21, T20, S19 — a fall of 1, so 23 minus 1 = 22 = V.

Stacking the four letters gives UWSV, option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
UWVS — The first two letters are right and the last two are swapped. Position 3 falls 2 from U and must be S, position 4 falls 1 from W and must be V.
(c)
USWV — Positions 2 and 3 are swapped. Position 2 falls 3 from Z to give W, and position 3 falls 2 from U to give S, so W must come before S.
(d)
WUSV — Positions 1 and 2 are swapped. Position 1 falls 4 from Y to give U and position 2 falls 3 from Z to give W, so U leads and W follows.

Concept

A four-letter series is four independent one-letter series printed side by side. Nothing connects the columns, so nothing is gained by reading the term as a word.

Convert each column to alphabet numbers, find the common difference from the terms you are given, then apply it once to reach the blank.

With the blank in second place the difference has to be read off the last three terms and then applied backwards from the first, which is the only wrinkle in the question.

Key facts

The four column steps are minus 4, minus 3, minus 2 and minus 1, one for each position.
On the standard scale Y is 25, Z is 26, U is 21 and W is 23.
With the blank second, the step is read from the three terms after it and then applied once to the first term.

Study next

Four-letter series where one column steps forward while another steps backwardSeries whose column step grows across terms, such as minus 1, minus 2, minus 3Alpha-numeric series that attach a number to a letter block, as at Reasoning Q.15 of this shift

Common traps

Starting from the first term and stepping forward, which cannot work when the blank sits second
Solving two columns, finding one matching option and marking before the other two are checked
Confusing options that contain the right four letters in the wrong order, as three of these do

SSC places the blank in the second slot precisely so the step has to be derived from the tail of the series.

The two-letter-plus-number version at Reasoning Q.15 of this shift is solved the same way, one track at a time.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.