SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 17 September 2025, Shift 3 · 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 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.

If '+' means '×', '×' means '−', '−' means '÷', then 10 − 5 + 3 × 2 = ?

(a)1
(b)2
(c)3
(d)4

Answer

Why

Correct — D.
Rule: swap every symbol first, then apply BODMAS.

10 − 5 + 3 × 2 becomes 10 ÷ 5 × 3 − 2
Divide: 10 ÷ 5 = 2
Multiply: 2 × 3 = 6
Subtract: 6 − 2 = 4 → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
1 — 1 is not reachable once the swaps are right. 10 ÷ 5 × 3 is 6, and the expression then subtracts just 2, leaving 4.
(b)
2 — 2 comes from subtracting first: 3 − 2 = 1, then 10 ÷ 5 × 1 = 2. BODMAS does the × before the −, giving 6 − 2.
(c)
3 — 3 comes from turning the last '×' into '÷': 10 ÷ 5 × 3 ÷ 2 = 3. The key sends '×' to '−', and it is '−' that becomes '÷'.

Concept

A symbol-substitution item tests two things in order. First, rewrite the whole expression with the new meanings, symbol by symbol, before calculating anything.

Second, evaluate the rewritten expression by BODMAS: division and multiplication before addition and subtraction, and within each pair, left to right.

Convert every symbol from the original expression in one pass. The swaps chain (+ becomes ×, and × becomes −), so re-reading a symbol you have already converted turns + into − by mistake.

Key facts

Key for this item: + → ×, × → −, − → ÷.
BODMAS: ÷ and × first, left to right, then + and −.
10 ÷ 5 × 3 is (10 ÷ 5) × 3 = 6, not 10 ÷ 15.

Study next

Sign-interchange items: which two signs to swap to balance an equationSubstitution items whose options are whole equations to checkBODMAS on longer chains mixing ÷ and ×

Common traps

Doing the subtraction before the multiplication, which gives 2
Evaluating 10 ÷ 5 × 3 as 10 ÷ 15
Converting a symbol twice because the swaps chain (+ → × → −)

14 Sep 2025, 12:30, Reasoning Q.24 uses the identical three swaps on 20 + 5 × 2 − 10, which becomes 20 × 5 − 2 ÷ 10 = 100 − 0.2, keyed 99.8.

19 Sep 2025, 09:00, Reasoning Q.23 redefines all four signs: 20 + 5 × 4 − 2 becomes 20 − 5 ÷ 4 × 2 = 17.5, the keyed answer.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Numerical Operations — all 92 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.