SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 23 September 2025, Shift 3 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 20 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.

If @ = −, % = ×, # = +; then 10 % 2 @ 4 # 3 = ?

(a)19
(b)12
(c)9
(d)23

Answer

Why

Correct — A.
Rule: replace the symbols, then follow BODMAS: × before + and −.

@ = −, % = ×, # = +, so the expression is
10 × 2 − 4 + 3

Multiply first: 10 × 2 = 20
Then left to right: 20 − 4 = 16, and 16 + 3 = 19 → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
12 — 12 would need 8 taken off 20, but the expression takes off only 4 and then adds 3. After 10 × 2 = 20 the result is 19.
(c)
9 — 9 is 10 − 4 + 3, the value you get by dropping the % 2. That % means × 2, and the multiplication runs first.
(d)
23 — 23 is 20 + 3: it loses the − 4. The @ stands for minus, so 4 comes off before the 3 goes on.

Concept

A symbol-substitution item has two separate steps. First rewrite the expression with the real signs, then evaluate it by the usual order of operations.

BODMAS puts division and multiplication before addition and subtraction. Addition and subtraction, being of equal rank, are then done left to right.

Here the multiplication already sits at the front, so a straight left-to-right reading also gives 19. That will not always hold: 4 # 3 % 2 is 4 + 3 × 2 = 10, while left to right would give 14.

Key facts

BODMAS: brackets, orders, division and multiplication, then addition and subtraction.
Operations of equal rank, such as + and −, are done left to right.
With @ = −, % = × and # = +, the expression reads 10 × 2 − 4 + 3 = 19.

Study next

Interchanging signs: which swap makes an equation trueSymbol substitution with ÷, where the order of operations changes the resultFilling missing operators in a given equation

Common traps

Reading % as per cent or as a remainder instead of the × the stem assigns.
Dropping a term while substituting, which gives 23 (no − 4) or 9 (no × 2).

17 Sep 2025, 12:30, Reasoning Q.24 uses the same % = × and # = +, with $ for −: 18 % 2 $ 3 # 1, keyed 34.

23 Sep 2025, 09:00, Reasoning Q.18 assigns the signs differently (@ = +, # = −, $ = ×) in 8 $ 2 @ 6 # 3, keyed 19.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Numerical Operations — all 148 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.