SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 22 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 7 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:

(a)X1 $ ,
(b)Y2 $ ,
(c)Z3 $ ,
(d)W4 $

Answer

Why

Correct — D.
Rule: letter position − number = 23 (letter and number rise together).

X1: 24 − 1 = 23
Y2: 25 − 2 = 23
Z3: 26 − 3 = 23
W4: 23 − 4 = 19

W comes before X, so W4 breaks the run → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
X1 $ , — X1 fits: X is the 24th letter and 24 − 1 = 23. It starts the run X, Y, Z matched with 1, 2, 3.
(b)
Y2 $ , — Y2 fits: Y is the 25th letter and 25 − 2 = 23. Letter and number have each moved up one from X1.
(c)
Z3 $ , — Z3 fits: Z is the 26th letter and 26 − 3 = 23. It completes the run that W4 breaks.

Concept

Each option is a letter, a number and a $ sign. The $ appears in all four, so it cannot decide. Turn the letter into its place in the alphabet (A = 1 … Z = 26) and compare it with the number.

In X1, Y2 and Z3 the letter and the number climb together by one, so position − number stays 23. W4 moves the number up to 4 but the letter back to W, before X.

Options (a) to (c) print a trailing comma and (d) does not. The key matches that too, but do not lean on it: the 16 Sep 2025 item cited below prints the same commas and keys an option that carries one.

Key facts

X, Y and Z are the 24th, 25th and 26th letters, and W is the 23rd.
Position minus number is 23 for X1, Y2 and Z3, and 19 for W4.
A symbol printed in every option, like the $ here, cannot separate them.

Study next

Odd-one-out items pairing a letter with its alphabet positionLetter-number groups where one element breaks a rising pattern

Common traps

Choosing by the trailing comma instead of by a rule on the letters and numbers
Taking W as the letter after Z and missing that it comes before X

16 Sep 2025, 09:00, Reasoning Q.6 uses the same layout: A@1A, B@2B, C@4C, D@4D. There the number should equal the letter's position, so C@4C is keyed, since C is the 3rd letter.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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