SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 18 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 8 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.

Read the following statement carefully and identify the conclusion that follows. Statement: Thousands of students appeared for the entrance exam conducted across the country. Conclusions: I. The exam is popular and competitive. II. All students who appeared will get admission.

(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 — A.
Rule: a conclusion follows when the statement supports it, and fails when it claims more.

I: thousands of students sat one entrance exam across the country. That shows the exam draws many candidates, which the key reads as popular and competitive. Follows.

II: an entrance exam decides who gets in, and nothing says all who appeared will get admission. Does not follow.

Only I → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Only Conclusion II follows — Only II picks the conclusion that overreaches. Nothing in the statement says all who appeared will be admitted, and an entrance exam exists to decide admission.
(c)
Both I and II follow — Both I and II accepts II, which claims all candidates will get admission. The statement gives the number who appeared, not the number of seats.
(d)
Neither I nor II follows — Neither rejects I, but thousands of candidates across the country is what shows an exam is popular and contested.

Concept

Statement–conclusion items reward reading what the statement supports. A large turnout supports claims about demand: the exam is sought after, and many candidates compete in it.

A conclusion fails when it claims more than the statement gives. 'All students who appeared will get admission' is a claim about results, and the statement says nothing about results or seats.

Conclusion I bundles two words. Popular follows directly from thousands appearing, while competitive rests on the reading that an entrance exam has fewer seats than candidates, which the key accepts.

Key facts

A conclusion with 'all' fails when the statement gives no ground for everyone.
Turnout supports claims about demand, not about results.

Study next

Conclusions that overreach with 'all' or 'only'Statement–assumption items on the same kind of news-style statementCause-and-effect items built on news-style statements

Common traps

Rejecting I because the statement never uses the words 'popular' or 'competitive'
Accepting II because many candidates appeared, without asking about seats

19 Sep 2025, 09:00, Reasoning Q.13 rejects the same overreach: from 'India imports large quantities of crude oil every year', 'All oil consumed in India is imported' does not follow (keyed Only Conclusion I).

17 Sep 2025, 12:30, Reasoning Q.10 reads the mirror image: fewer applicants for teaching posts is taken as teaching losing popularity (keyed Both I and II).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Drawing inferences — all 90 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.