SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 13 September 2025, Shift 2 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 12 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.

Find the best option that best completes the analogy. CAB : EDF :: GIH : ?

(a)JKL
(b)KJI
(c)ILL
(d)JLI

Answer

Why

Correct — C.
Rule: letter by letter, +2, +3, +4.

C(3) + 2 = E(5), A(1) + 3 = D(4), B(2) + 4 = F(6).

G(7) + 2 = I(9)
I(9) + 3 = L(12)
H(8) + 4 = L(12)

GIH becomes ILL → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
JKL — JKL is the group of letters after GHI, but CAB does not jump a group that way: C + 3 would be F, and EDF starts with E. The steps are +2, +3, +4.
(b)
KJI — KJI moves G by +4 and both I and H by +1. The pair CAB → EDF fixes the steps at +2, +3, +4, in that order.
(d)
JLI — JLI gets the middle letter right, I + 3 = L, but moves G by +3 and H by +1. The first letter must move +2 and the last +4.

Concept

In a letter analogy, find how far each letter moves from the first term to the second, then apply the same moves, in the same order, to the third term.

CAB → EDF moves its letters +2, +3, +4. Applied to GIH, I + 3 and H + 4 both reach 12, so the answer repeats L. Two different letters can land on the same letter when their steps differ.

CAB, EDF and GIH are jumbles of ABC, DEF and GHI, which tempts JKL, the next three letters. That reading cannot say what order the answer takes, because CAB and EDF are jumbled differently. The letter-by-letter rule is fixed, and ILL follows it.

Key facts

C = 3, A = 1, B = 2 and E = 5, D = 4, F = 6, so the steps are +2, +3, +4.
G = 7, I = 9 and H = 8 become I = 9, L = 12 and L = 12.
Different letters can land on the same letter when their steps differ, as I + 3 and H + 4 do.

Study next

Letter analogies where every letter moves by the same stepFour-letter analogies with a step per positionLetter analogies built on opposite letters, A ↔ Z

Common traps

Rejecting ILL because a repeated letter looks like a misprint
Picking JKL by treating each term as a jumbled group of three consecutive letters

12 Sep 2025, 09:00, Reasoning Q.14 also gives each position its own step: TIME : VJOG moves +2, +1, +2, +2, and WORD becomes YPTF.

12 Sep 2025, 12:30, Reasoning Q.12, NPR : OQS :: XYZ : ?, moves every letter +1 and keys YZA.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Symbolic/Number Analogy — all 210 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.