SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 22 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 13 of 98

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 from the given alternatives

(a)Classical Languages
(b)Tamil
(c)Sanskrit
(d)Kannada

Answer

Why

Correct — A.
Rule: three members and the name of their class.

Tamil, Sanskrit and Kannada are each a language the Government of India has declared classical.
'Classical Languages' is the name of that group, not a member of it.

The class name is the odd one out → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Tamil — Tamil is a member of the group. It was the first language to be declared classical, in 2004.
(c)
Sanskrit — Sanskrit is Indo-Aryan where Tamil and Kannada are Dravidian, but it is still a classical language, declared in 2005. The key picks the category, not a language family.
(d)
Kannada — Kannada is a member of the group. It was declared classical in 2008, together with Telugu.

Concept

Some odd-one-out sets mix three members of a class with the name of the class itself. The members stand level with one another. The class name stands one level up.

Tamil, Sanskrit and Kannada all hold classical-language status from the Government of India. 'Classical Languages' is the category that holds them. Ask of each option whether it is the same kind of thing as the others, and the category is what fails.

A second reading exists: Tamil and Kannada are Dravidian languages and Sanskrit is Indo-Aryan. The key does not take it. It takes the category-against-members reading instead.

Key facts

Tamil was the first language declared classical, in 2004.
Sanskrit followed in 2005, and Kannada and Telugu in 2008.
Malayalam was added in 2013 and Odia in 2014.
In October 2024 Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali were added, taking the list to 11.

Study next

India's classical languages and the year each was declaredOdd-one-out sets that mix a category with its members

Common traps

Picking Sanskrit because it is Indo-Aryan and the other two are Dravidian
Looking for a difference among the three languages and never testing the category word

15 Sep 2025, 12:30, Reasoning Q.19 turns on classical status the other way: Kalbelia, a folk dance, is keyed against Bharatnatyam, Kathak and Odissi.

20 Sep 2025, 09:00, Reasoning Q.14 also mixes a category with members (Geographical Phenomena, Earthquake, Cyclone, Volcano), yet its key is Cyclone, not the category. Treat the category word as a lead to test, not a rule.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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