SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 20 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 19 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.

You're an administrative officer. You see bias in staff recruitment. What should you do?

(a)Stay silent to avoid conflict
(b)Raise objection with evidence
(c)Inform selected candidate quietly
(d)Delay the joining process

Answer

Why

Correct — B.
Rule: deal with the problem itself, openly, through the proper channel.

Bias in recruitment wrongs every candidate who was passed over, so doing nothing is not neutral. An officer who sees it has to act.

Raising an objection with evidence acts on the record, and the evidence lets the objection be checked rather than dismissed as opinion. That is option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Stay silent to avoid conflict — Staying silent leaves a biased selection in place. It spares the officer a conflict but does nothing for the candidates or the fairness of the process.
(c)
Inform selected candidate quietly — Telling the selected candidate quietly changes nothing: the biased decision stands, and the matter is raised off the record with the person who gained from it.
(d)
Delay the joining process — Delaying the joining stalls the result without testing whether bias happened, and it penalises the selected candidate before anything has been proved.

Concept

Situational-judgement items describe a workplace problem and ask for the best action. Test each option three ways: does it address the actual problem, is it done openly, and does it follow proper procedure?

Silence avoids the problem, a quiet word hides it, and a delay stalls it without resolving it. A documented objection passes all three tests.

The stem names no law or service rule, so the item tests judgement rather than knowledge. The answer rests on fairness and proper procedure.

Key facts

A good response addresses the problem, is done openly, and follows proper procedure.
Evidence turns a complaint into something that can be checked.

Study next

Situational-judgement items on integrity at workReporting wrongdoing through proper channelsConflict of interest in public office

Common traps

Choosing silence because it sounds calm and avoids conflict.
Picking the delay because it feels like action, though it resolves nothing.

A workplace-judgement item is also set at 21 Sep 2025, 16:00, Reasoning Q.14, where the keyed response to a task you do not know how to do is to seek help or guidance.

Reasoning Q.21 in this shift, a doctor's disclosure of patient data, is a related professional-ethics item.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.