SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 19 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 8 × 4 + 2 − 2 = ?

(a)10
(b)8
(c)6
(d)11

Answer

Why

Correct — D.
Rule: replace × with +, + with −, − with ÷, then apply BODMAS.

8 × 4 + 2 − 2 becomes 8 + 4 − 2 ÷ 2

Divide first: 2 ÷ 2 = 1
Then left to right: 8 + 4 − 1 = 11 → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
10 — 10 is 8 + 4 − 2, which drops the final ÷ 2. The division comes first: 2 ÷ 2 = 1, so 12 − 1 = 11.
(b)
8 — 8 comes from leaving the last − as minus: 8 + 4 − 2 − 2 = 8. The stem redefines − as ÷.
(c)
6 — 6 would need 6 taken from 8 + 4 = 12, but the last term is 2 ÷ 2 = 1. The value is 11.

Concept

This legend redefines three symbols: × becomes +, + becomes −, and − becomes ÷. Convert the whole expression before any arithmetic, then evaluate by BODMAS.

The converted line, 8 + 4 − 2 ÷ 2, ends in a division. Doing it first (2 ÷ 2 = 1) is what separates the keyed 11 from 10.

The legend gives no new meaning to ÷, and none is needed: ÷ does not appear in the printed expression, only in the converted one.

Key facts

BODMAS puts division before addition and subtraction, wherever it sits in the line.
8 + 4 − 2 ÷ 2 = 8 + 4 − 1 = 11.
Convert every symbol in one pass before calculating.

Study next

Four-symbol substitution itemsWhich-equation-is-correct items after a symbol swapSign-interchange items

Common traps

Working strictly left to right and subtracting before dividing
Leaving one symbol unconverted, which gives 8 here

17 Sep 2025, 16:00, Reasoning Q.23 uses a three-symbol legend of the same kind (+ → ×, × → −, − → ÷): 10 − 5 + 3 × 2 becomes 10 ÷ 5 × 3 − 2 = 4 (keyed d).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.