SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 21 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 5 of 99

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.

Select the letter-cluster from among the given options that can replace the question mark (?) in the following series: B E Y B I U B M Q B Q M ?

(a)BCA
(b)BVA
(c)BUI
(d)BHA

Answer

Why

Correct — C.
Rule: first letter fixed at B, second letter +4, third letter −4.

Second letters: E(5), I(9), M(13), Q(17), each +4 → U(21)
Third letters: Y(25), U(21), Q(17), M(13), each −4 → I(9)

B + U + I = BUI → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
BCA — BCA keeps B but puts C (3) second. The second letters climb by 4 from Q, so the next is U (21), not C.
(b)
BVA — BVA has V (22) second and A (1) third. Q + 4 is U, one short of V, and M − 4 is I, not A.
(d)
BHA — BHA puts H (8) second and A (1) third. The second letter must rise from Q to U and the third must fall from M to I, and neither matches.

Concept

A letter-cluster series is several letter series written side by side. Split the clusters into columns and read each column on its own, using alphabet positions (A = 1 … Z = 26).

Here the first column never changes: B. The second climbs E, I, M, Q by +4, and the third falls Y, U, Q, M by −4. The fifth cluster is B, U, I.

A second check: the second and third letters of every cluster add up to 30 (E + Y = 5 + 25, I + U = 9 + 21). BUI keeps that total, 21 + 9, while BCA, BVA and BHA do not.

Key facts

E = 5, J = 10, O = 15, T = 20 and Y = 25 are quick anchors for letter positions.
In this series the second and third letters of every cluster add up to 30.
BQM is followed by BUI: Q + 4 = U and M − 4 = I.

Study next

Letter-cluster series whose steps wrap past Z back to AFour-letter cluster series with a different step in each positionLetter pairs whose positions add up to 27, such as A and Z

Common traps

Reading the clusters as one long letter string instead of separate columns
Adding 4 to the third letter as well, which turns M into Q instead of I

14 Sep 2025, 12:30, Reasoning Q.2 uses the same frame: RXD, RUJ, RRP, ROV with R fixed, the second letter −3 and the third +6, keyed RLB (option d), where V + 6 wraps past Z to B.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Semantic Series — all 125 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.