SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 16 September 2025, Shift 3 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 23 of 75

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.

If 'A' means '−', 'B' means '÷', 'C' means '+', and 'D' means ‘×’ what is the value of the following expression? 25 B 5 C 3 D 2 A 4=?

(a)7
(b)14
(c)21
(d)28

Answer

Why

Correct — A.
Rule: decode the letters, then apply BODMAS.

25 B 5 C 3 D 2 A 4 = 25 ÷ 5 + 3 × 2 − 4
Division: 25 ÷ 5 = 5
Multiplication: 3 × 2 = 6
Then 5 + 6 − 4 = 7 → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
14 — 14 is not reached even by working left to right: (25 ÷ 5 + 3) × 2 − 4 = 8 × 2 − 4 = 12. With BODMAS the value is 7.
(c)
21 — 21 is three times 7. The decoded terms are fixed, 25 ÷ 5 = 5 and 3 × 2 = 6, and 5 + 6 − 4 leaves 7.
(d)
28 — 28 is larger than 11, the value of 25 ÷ 5 + 3 × 2 before anything is taken away. Subtracting 4 brings it down to 7, never up to 28.

Concept

Here letters stand for operators: A is −, B is ÷, C is +, D is ×. Rewrite the expression with real signs first, then evaluate.

The order of working is BODMAS: division and multiplication before addition and subtraction. 25 ÷ 5 and 3 × 2 are done first, and only then are the results added and subtracted.

The options 7, 14, 21 and 28 are all multiples of 7, so a rough estimate cannot separate them. The exact working has to decide it.

Key facts

A = −, B = ÷, C = +, D = ×.
Decoded: 25 ÷ 5 + 3 × 2 − 4.
BODMAS gives 5 + 6 − 4 = 7.

Study next

Symbols such as #, @ and $ standing for operatorsSign interchange before evaluating an expressionFinding which letter code makes an equation true

Common traps

Working left to right instead of by BODMAS, which gives 12
Mixing up C and D, the letters for + and ×, which gives 13

13 Sep 2025, 12:30, Reasoning Q.21 codes the operators as W, X, Y and Z: 15 W 3 X 2 Y 4 decodes to 15 ÷ 3 + 2 − 4 and is keyed 3.

12 Sep 2025, 09:00, Reasoning Q.25 uses symbols instead of letters: 9 # 2 @ 3 $ 1 becomes 9 × 2 − 3 + 1, keyed 16.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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