SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 23 September 2025, Shift 3 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 21 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.

We doubt SSC's key on this question.

The standard possibility test passes conclusion II — no statement rules out every planet being a star, and SSC's own key accepts the same form at 16 Sep 2025, 09:00, Reasoning Q.23 — so the working points to option (a), Only Conclusion II follows, not the keyed (d).

The answer below is still the option SSC's key marks, and we solve to that option.

Statements: Some stars are planets. Some planets are moons. Conclusions: I. Some moons are stars. II. All planets being stars is a possibility.

(a)Only Conclusion II follows
(b)Only Conclusion I follows
(c)Both I and II follow
(d)Neither I nor II follows

Answer

Why

Correct — D. SSC's key marks Neither I nor II follows, and this page is written to that key. Read the note on this card before you rely on it.

Rule: two 'some' statements through a middle term give no definite link between the two ends.

Some stars are planets and some planets are moons, but nothing says they are the same planets. So Some moons are stars is not certain, and conclusion I fails.

Conclusion II says all planets being stars is a possibility. SSC's key rejects it as well, so neither conclusion is marked as following → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Only Conclusion II follows — Only Conclusion II is not what SSC keyed: the key rejects conclusion II along with conclusion I. The note on this card sets out the dispute over II.
(b)
Only Conclusion I follows — Conclusion I needs a definite overlap between moons and stars. The star-planets and the moon-planets can be different planets, so no moon has to be a star.
(c)
Both I and II follow — It needs conclusion I, and I fails: two 'some' links through planets never force any moon to be a star. The key rejects II as well.

Concept

In a syllogism, some means at least one, and possibly all. A definite conclusion must hold in every diagram that fits the statements. A possibility conclusion needs just one such diagram.

For conclusion I, draw stars and moons each overlapping planets but not each other. Both statements hold and no moon is a star, so I fails.

The key on this page was read from a candidate's response sheet, which does not say whether it carries SSC's tentative or final key.

Key facts

'Some A are B' means at least one A is B.
'Some A are B' leaves open both 'all A are B' and 'all B are A'.
Two 'some' statements joined through a middle term give no definite conclusion about the end terms.
A possibility conclusion follows when at least one diagram that fits the statements makes it true.

Study next

Possibility conclusions against a 'no' statement, which can rule a possibility outThree-statement syllogisms whose 'all' links do give definite conclusionsComplementary pairs, where 'either I or II follows'

Common traps

Chaining two 'some' statements into a definite 'Some moons are stars'.
Reading 'some' as 'some but not all'.

16 Sep 2025, 09:00, Reasoning Q.23 asks 'All gases being elements is a possibility' after 'Some elements are gases' and keys it as following: Only Conclusion II follows.

9 Sep 2024, 09:00, Reasoning Q.21 keys 'All tears being streams is a possibility' as following too, within Both II and III.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Drawing inferences — all 90 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.