SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 19 September 2025, Shift 2 · 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 action that follows. Statement: Students often get distracted during online classes. Course of Action: 1. Introduce interactive tools and quizzes. 2. Ban online classes permanently.

(a)Only 1 follows
(b)Only 2 follows
(c)Both follow
(d)Neither follows

Answer

Why

Correct — A.
Rule: a course of action follows if it reduces the stated problem and is practical and proportionate.

Interactive tools and quizzes make students take part, which targets distraction directly. Action 1 follows.

Banning online classes permanently removes the classes, not the distraction, and goes far beyond the problem stated. Action 2 does not follow → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Only 2 follows — A permanent ban ends online classes instead of making them work, which is out of proportion to a distraction problem. This option also drops action 1, which does address it.
(c)
Both follow — Action 2 fails: a permanent ban is out of proportion when quizzes and interactive tools can reduce distraction. Both cannot follow if one of them fails.
(d)
Neither follows — Interactive tools and quizzes answer the stated problem, distraction, in a practical way. Rejecting action 1 leaves the problem with no response at all.

Concept

A course of action is judged on two tests. Does it reduce the problem the statement names? Is it practical and proportionate?

An action that fixes the problem inside the activity passes both.

An action that abolishes the whole activity fails the second test when a smaller fix is available: it trades a manageable problem for the loss of the activity itself.

A ban is not wrong by definition. What fails here is the word permanently: it removes online classes altogether when the problem is distraction within them.

Key facts

A valid course of action reduces the problem the statement names.
An action must be practical and proportionate to that problem.
Quizzes and interactive tools target distraction, while a permanent ban removes the classes altogether.

Study next

Statement-and-assumption itemsStatement-and-conclusion itemsCause-and-effect pairs of statements

Common traps

Picking the action that ends the problem most completely, even when it ends the activity too
Rejecting any action with the word ban in it without asking whether it is proportionate

19 Sep 2025, 16:00, Reasoning Q.5 is the contrast case: more service counters and online banking both cut branch wait times, so both actions follow there.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Critical thinking — all 23 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.