SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 14 September 2025, Shift 2 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 13 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 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.

In each of the following questions, a group of three numbers/symbols is given in each option. Identify the group that does NOT follow the same pattern as the others.

(a)A1@ : C3# : E5$
(b)B2% : D4^ : F6&
(c)C3* : E5( : G7)
(d)D4_ : F6@ : I9&

Answer

Why

Correct — D.
Rule: letters step +2, and each number is its letter's position.

(a) A1, C3, E5 · (b) B2, D4, F6 · (c) C3, E5, G7 all fit.

D4 : F6 : I9 keeps each number matched to its letter (I = 9), but the step breaks: D → F is +2, F → I is +3. Option (d) is the odd one.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
A1@ : C3# : E5$ — A, C, E step by 2 and carry 1, 3, 5, their own positions. Group (a) fits the rule, so it is not the odd one.
(b)
B2% : D4^ : F6& — B, D, F step by 2 and carry 2, 4, 6, their own positions. Group (b) follows the same pattern as (a) and (c).
(c)
C3* : E5( : G7) — C, E, G step by 2 and carry 3, 5, 7, their own positions. Group (c) fits the rule, and its symbols do not change that.

Concept

Each term packs three things: a letter, a number and a symbol. Test them one layer at a time.

Here every number is its letter's position (A = 1, C = 3 …), so the numbers add nothing new. The letter step decides: +2, +2 in groups (a), (b) and (c), but +2, +3 in D, F, I. Within each group the three symbols are all different, so they separate nothing.

Group (d) passes the number check, since D = 4, F = 6 and I = 9. Only the step between letters exposes it.

Key facts

D = 4, F = 6, I = 9: the numbers in group (d) are correct positions.
D → F is +2 but F → I is +3, which breaks the +2 step.
Groups (a), (b) and (c) each step +2 twice.

Study next

Letter-number groups where each number is the position plus a constantLetter-number groups that step backwards, such as K11 : I9 : G7Odd-one-out on letter clusters using positions and reverse positions

Common traps

Checking only that each number matches its letter, which group (d) passes

15 Sep 2025, 16:00, Reasoning Q.20 uses the same template, but its other three groups carry each letter's position + 1 (A2, C4, E6). The keyed D5_ : G9@ : J13$ steps its letters by +3 and breaks that rule: G = 7 prints 9, J = 10 prints 13.

12 Sep 2025, 09:00, Reasoning Q.21 keeps every letter step intact and keys J10_ : K11@ : L12@, the group whose symbol repeats.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Symbolic/Number Classification — all 45 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.