SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 20 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 7 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.

Find the odd one out:

(a)3 + 4 = 7
(b)5 + 6 = 11
(c)2 + 2 = 5
(d)8 + 1 = 9

Answer

Why

Correct — C.
Rule: check whether each equation is true.

3 + 4 = 7, 5 + 6 = 11 and 8 + 1 = 9 all hold.
2 + 2 = 4, not 5, so this equation is false.

The false equation is the odd one out → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
3 + 4 = 7 — 3 + 4 = 7 is a true sum, like 5 + 6 = 11 and 8 + 1 = 9, so it belongs to the group.
(b)
5 + 6 = 11 — 5 + 6 = 11 is true. Its two-digit total is a surface difference; what groups three options is that the sum is right.
(d)
8 + 1 = 9 — 8 + 1 = 9 is true. Adding 1 is a surface difference; the sum itself is correct, so it stays in the group.

Concept

An odd-one-out item asks for the option that breaks a property the other three share. Try the plainest property first; here that is whether each equation is arithmetically true.

Three sums are correct and one is not, so truth splits the options three to one. A digit pattern is worth hunting for only when the plain test leaves no single odd option.

Option (c) is also the sum with equal addends. The key does not rest on that: 2 + 2 is 4, so the equation is false whatever else is true of it.

Key facts

2 + 2 = 4, so 2 + 2 = 5 is false.
3 + 4 = 7, 5 + 6 = 11 and 8 + 1 = 9 are all true.
The property that groups three options decides the fourth.

Study next

Odd-one-out items where a hidden operator links the numbersOdd-one-out number sets built on primes, squares or cubesOdd-one-out items built on word categories

Common traps

Looking for a digit pattern before checking whether each sum is true
Picking 5 + 6 = 11 because its total has two digits

15 Sep 2025, 12:30, Reasoning Q.9 hides the rule behind a symbol: 6 @ 2 = 16, 7 @ 3 = 20 and 4 @ 4 = 16 fit 2 × (a + b), and 7 @ 1 = 14 does not (keyed b).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Semantic Classification — all 59 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.