SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 23 September 2025, Shift 3 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 1 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.

Which letter lies exactly between H and P in the English alphabet?

(a)K
(b)N
(c)L
(d)M

Answer

Why

Correct — C.
Rule: the middle letter sits at the average of the two positions.

H is letter 8 and P is letter 16.
(8 + 16) ÷ 2 = 12, and letter 12 is L.

Check by counting: I, J, K, L, M, N, O lie between H and P, and L is fourth of the seven, with three on each side → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
K — K is letter 11: three places after H but five before P. It sits left of the middle, so the two gaps are unequal.
(b)
N — N is letter 14: six places after H and only two before P. It is much nearer P than H.
(d)
M — M is letter 13: five places after H but three before P. It sits one step past the middle.

Concept

A letter exactly between two others is equally far from both. Convert the letters to positions (A = 1 … Z = 26), take the average, and turn it back into a letter.

This works only when the two positions add to an even number. Here 8 + 16 = 24, so a single middle letter exists: L, four places from each end.

Key facts

Letter positions: H = 8, L = 12, P = 16.
Seven letters lie strictly between H and P: I, J, K, L, M, N, O.
A single middle letter exists only when the two positions add to an even number.

Study next

Reverse letter positions, where Z = 1 and A = 26Counting the letters strictly between two lettersLetter-cluster series built on fixed position gaps

Common traps

Counting H but not P among the letters, which leaves eight and no single middle
Stopping at the average without checking that both gaps are equal

Here SSC asks for the letter midway between two given letters.

12 Sep 2025, 09:00, Reasoning Q.9 uses letter positions differently: it arranges STUDENT alphabetically and asks how many letters lie between two of them, keyed 13.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Indexing — all 53 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.