SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 15 September 2025, Shift 2 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 11 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.

Read the following statement carefully and identify the conclusion that follows. Statement: The school library is open from 9 AM to 5 PM. Conclusions: I. Students can borrow books after 5 PM. II. The library is not accessible before 9 AM.

(a)Only Conclusion I follows
(b)Only Conclusion II follows
(c)Both I and II follow
(d)Neither I nor II follows

Answer

Why

Correct — B.
Rule: a conclusion follows only if the statement guarantees it.

Open from 9 AM to 5 PM means closed before 9 AM and after 5 PM.

I: borrowing books after 5 PM needs the library open then. It is closed, so I does not follow.
II: not accessible before 9 AM is exactly the closed window, so II follows.

II alone → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Only Conclusion I follows — After 5 PM the library is closed, so borrowing then is ruled out, not implied. I contradicts the very hours it claims to follow from.
(c)
Both I and II follow — I fails: borrowing after 5 PM needs the library open after 5 PM, and the statement closes it at 5.
(d)
Neither I nor II follows — II does follow. Opening at 9 AM means the library is shut before 9 AM, which is exactly what II says.

Concept

Statement-conclusion items reward reading the statement literally. Opening hours of 9 AM to 5 PM tell you two things: the library is open in that window and closed outside it.

Check each conclusion against those two facts. A conclusion that contradicts them, like I, fails. One that restates them, like II, follows.

II says 'not accessible' where the statement gives opening hours. The words differ, but outside its opening hours a library is closed, so II restates the statement rather than adding to it.

Key facts

Open from 9 AM to 5 PM means closed before 9 AM and after 5 PM.
A conclusion must be guaranteed by the statement, not merely possible.
A conclusion that contradicts the statement can never follow.

Study next

Statement and assumption questionsConclusions that turn on absolute words such as all, only or neverSyllogisms with All, Some and No

Common traps

Reading the opening hours loosely and allowing borrowing after 5 PM
Rejecting II because the statement never uses the word closed

18 Sep 2025, 12:30, Reasoning Q.12 sets a library statement too, closed on Sunday due to renovation, and keys Both I and II.

19 Sep 2025, 09:00, Reasoning Q.13 keys Only Conclusion I on crude-oil imports, rejecting II because 'All oil consumed in India is imported' goes beyond the statement.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Problem Solving — all 74 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.