SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 15 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 23 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.

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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.

If '+' means '÷', '−' means '×', '×' means '+', and '÷' means '−', then 18 + 6 − 2 × 3 = ?

(a)9
(b)6
(c)5
(d)15

Answer

Why

Correct — A.
Rule: swap each sign for its meaning, then apply BODMAS.

18 + 6 − 2 × 3 becomes 18 ÷ 6 × 2 + 3

Divide: 18 ÷ 6 = 3
Multiply: 3 × 2 = 6
Add: 6 + 3 = 9 → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
6 — 6 is where the working stands one step early: 18 ÷ 6 × 2 = 6. The swapped expression still ends + 3, which makes 9.
(c)
5 — 5 fits neither order of the ÷ and ×. Left to right gives 9, and 18 ÷ (6 × 2) + 3 gives 1.5 + 3 = 4.5.
(d)
15 — 15 is 3 × (2 + 3): it adds before multiplying. BODMAS takes 3 × 2 = 6 first and then adds 3, giving 9.

Concept

When all four signs are redefined, rewrite the full expression before calculating. Swapping as you go makes it easy to swap a sign twice or not at all.

After the swap, BODMAS applies as usual: ÷ and × first, left to right, then + and −.

Here that means 18 ÷ 6 = 3, then 3 × 2 = 6, and then + 3 = 9.

Key facts

Here + means ÷, − means ×, × means + and ÷ means −.
18 + 6 − 2 × 3 becomes 18 ÷ 6 × 2 + 3 = 9.
÷ and × are worked left to right before any + or −.

Study next

Symbol substitution with all four signs redefinedChoosing the equation that holds after a sign swapOrder of operations with ÷ and × of equal rank

Common traps

Adding 2 + 3 before multiplying, which gives 3 × 5 = 15.
Stopping at 18 ÷ 6 × 2 = 6 and forgetting the + 3.

17 Sep 2025, 16:00, Reasoning Q.23 runs the same routine on 10 − 5 + 3 × 2, which becomes 10 ÷ 5 × 3 − 2, keyed 4.

15 Sep 2025, 09:00, Reasoning Q.20 swaps the signs with a different table: 7 × 3 ÷ 4 + 20 − 5 becomes 7 − 3 + 4 ÷ 20 × 5, keyed 5.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Numerical Operations — all 148 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.