SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 12 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 12 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 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Find the option that best completes the analogy. AG : IO :: CM : ?

(a)KO
(b)KU
(c)KS
(d)KW

Answer

Why

Correct — B.
Rule: +8 on each letter.

A(1) + 8 = I(9), and G(7) + 8 = O(15).
C(3) + 8 = K(11), and M(13) + 8 = U(21).

Check: A→G is +6 and I→O is +6. C→M is +10, and K→U is +10 too.
So CM : KU → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
KO — KO gets K right but moves M only +2, to O. The first pair moved both letters by 8, so M must go to U.
(c)
KS — KS moves M by +6, to S. That is the gap inside AG, not the shift between the pairs, which is +8.
(d)
KW — KW moves M by +10, to W. That is the gap inside CM, not the +8 shift that carries A to I and G to O.

Concept

A letter-pair analogy asks how the second cluster is made from the first. Convert to positions and take the difference letter by letter: A to I is +8, and G to O is +8.

All four options start with K (C + 8), so the second letter decides. A useful cross-check: a constant shift keeps the gap inside a pair, so CM's +10 must reappear as the +10 of KU.

Options (c) and (d) match the two gaps that sit inside the pairs, +6 in AG and +10 in CM. The rule is the gap between the pairs, +8.

Key facts

A(1) to I(9) and G(7) to O(15) are both +8.
C(3) + 8 = K(11) and M(13) + 8 = U(21).
A constant shift keeps the gap within a pair: AG and IO are both +6, CM and KU both +10.

Study next

Letter-cluster analogies with a different shift on each letterBackward shifts that wrap from A to ZOpposite-letter coding, where A pairs with Z

Common traps

Using the gap inside a pair (+6 or +10) as the shift
Checking only the first letter, which all four options share

A constant shift on every letter appears at 24 Sep 2024, 09:00, Reasoning Q.7 (LOI : QTN :: VES : AJX, +5, so AND → keyed FSI) and at 18 Sep 2024, 09:00, Reasoning Q.2 (JAP : BSH :: NDZ : FVR, −8, so LCX → keyed DUP).

12 Sep 2025, 09:00, Reasoning Q.14 (TIME : VJOG) shifts its letters by +2, +1, +2, +2, so check every letter rather than assuming one constant.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Symbolic/Number Analogy — all 145 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.