SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 16 September 2025, Shift 2 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 3 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.

Select the letter-cluster from among the given options that can replace the question mark (?) in the following series: HDZ LGB PJD TMF ?

(a)XPH
(b)XOH
(c)XPG
(d)WPH

Answer

Why

Correct — A.
Rule: read each position down the series: +4, +3, +2.

First letters: H, L, P, T (+4) → X.
Second letters: D, G, J, M (+3) → P.
Third letters: Z, B, D, F (+2, Z wraps to B) → H.

That gives X P H → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
XOH — X O H breaks the middle column. D, G, J, M climb by 3, so after M(13) comes P(16), not O(15).
(c)
XPG — X P G breaks the last column. Z, B, D, F climb by 2, so after F(6) comes H(8), not G(7).
(d)
WPH — W P H breaks the first column. H, L, P, T climb by 4, so after T(20) comes X(24), not W(23).

Concept

A letter-cluster series is three number series side by side. Convert letters to positions (A = 1 … Z = 26) and follow one position at a time down the terms.

Here each position has its own step: +4 in the first, +3 in the second, +2 in the third. The one place that needs care is Z + 2, which runs past Z and restarts at A, landing on B.

Each wrong option is X P H with one letter moved back by a single place, so a slip in any one column lands on an option.

Key facts

A = 1 through Z = 26 is the position code these series run on.
A step that runs past Z continues from A, so Z + 2 = B.
Columns here: H L P T X (+4), D G J M P (+3), Z B D F H (+2).

Study next

Letter-cluster series where the step itself changes from term to termFinding the one wrong cluster in a letter seriesBackward letter steps that wrap from A to Z

Common traps

Reading Z to B as a backward jump instead of Z + 2 wrapping round to B
Assuming all three columns share the same step

Separate steps for each position also appear at 12 Sep 2025, 16:00, Reasoning Q.2 (ACE, EIM, IOU, MUC, keyed QAK), where the columns climb +4, +6 and +8 and two of them wrap past Z.

12 Sep 2025, 09:00, Reasoning Q.5 (BRF, EUH, HXJ, KAL, keyed NDN) runs +3, +3, +2, with the middle column wrapping from X to A.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Semantic Series — all 125 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.