SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 19 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 25 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.

The series given below contains a sequence of numbers. Accordingly identify the incorrect combination.3 , 12 , 48 , 194 , 768 , 3074

(a)12, 194
(b)768, 3074
(c)48 , 194
(d)194, 3074

Answer

Why

Correct — D.
Rule: each term is the previous one × 4.

3 × 4 = 12 ✓
12 × 4 = 48 ✓
48 × 4 = 192, not 194 ✗

192 × 4 = 768 ✓
768 × 4 = 3072, not 3074 ✗

The wrong pair is 194, 3074 → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
12, 194 — 12 is exactly 3 × 4, on the rule. This pair catches 194 but not 3074, which should be 3072.
(b)
768, 3074 — 768 is right: it is 192 × 4, and 48 × 16. It only looks wrong beside the printed 194, since 194 × 4 = 776.
(c)
48 , 194 — 48 is 12 × 4, on the rule. This pair catches 194 but misses 3074, which should be 3072.

Concept

In a wrong-term item, find the rule from the terms that agree, then test every term against it. Here the correct series is 3, 12, 48, 192, 768, 3072, each term four times the last.

Test each term against the corrected value before it, not the printed one. 768 fails against the printed 194 (194 × 4 = 776) but fits the rule's 192.

Ratios show the break fast: 12 ÷ 3 and 48 ÷ 12 are exactly 4, while 194 ÷ 48 and 3074 ÷ 768 both come out just over 4.

Key facts

The × 4 series from 3 runs 3, 12, 48, 192, 768, 3072.
768 = 48 × 16, two × 4 steps from 48, which confirms 768 and exposes 194.
A wrong term can make its neighbour look wrong, so compare against the rule, not the printed neighbour.

Study next

Wrong-term series built on differences rather than ratiosSeries with two rules on alternate termsMultiply-then-add series such as × 4 + 1

Common traps

Marking 768 wrong because 194 × 4 = 776, when the check must use 192
Stopping at the first wrong term and picking a pair that holds only 194

Reasoning Q.6 in this shift asks for a single wrong number: 336, 246, 166, 94, 36, −14, keyed 94, since falls of 90, 80 and then 70 give 96.

17 Sep 2025, 16:00, Reasoning Q.25 uses the same 'incorrect combination' wording for one number: 25, 29, 37, 53, 87, keyed 87, since + 4, + 8, + 16 and then + 32 give 85.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Number Series — all 112 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.