SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 12 September 2025, Shift 2 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 4 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 13 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.

Which of the following alternatives will replace the question mark? Atom, Molecule, Cell, ?

(a)Tissue
(b)Proton
(c)System
(d)Gene

Answer

Why

Correct — A.
Rule: levels of organisation, each built from the one before.

Atoms combine into molecules.
Molecules make up cells.
Similar cells group together into a tissue.

The next level up from cell is tissue → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Proton — Proton is a particle inside an atom, so it lies below the first term. The series climbs from small to large, and a proton would take it back down.
(c)
System — System sits higher up the ladder: tissues form organs, and organs form organ systems. Choosing it skips tissue and organ, the two levels that come first.
(d)
Gene — Gene is a stretch of DNA, a molecule inside the cell. It belongs below the cell, not after it, so it breaks the upward order.

Concept

This is an ordered-series item: the words are steps on a known ladder, and the answer is the next rung.

The ladder of biological organisation runs atom, molecule, organelle, cell, tissue, organ, organ system, organism. Each level is built from the one before it. After the cell comes the tissue, a group of similar cells that work together for one function.

The question leaves out organelles between molecule and cell, so it lists steps rather than every rung. The direction still settles it: proton and gene lie below the cell, and system lies two levels above tissue.

Key facts

Levels of biological organisation: atom, molecule, organelle, cell, tissue, organ, organ system, organism.
A tissue is a group of similar cells that work together for one function.
A proton is a subatomic particle in the nucleus of an atom.
A gene is a segment of DNA, which is a molecule.

Study next

Levels beyond the organism: population, community, ecosystem, biosphereThe four basic animal tissues: epithelial, connective, muscle and nervousOrdered-series items built on other fixed sequences

Common traps

Choosing System because it is a biological level, without checking that tissue and organ come first
Choosing Gene because genes sit inside cells, which reverses the direction of the series

15 Sep 2025, 12:30, Reasoning Q.3 uses the same wording on a different fixed order, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, ?, and keys Epsilon, the next Greek letter.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Number Series — all 178 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.