SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 24 September 2025, Shift 2 · 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.

If in a code A=26, B=25, ..., Z=1, what is the code for CAT?

(a)24, 26, 7
(b)24, 26, 6
(c)25, 26, 7
(d)24, 27, 7

Answer

Why

Correct — A.
Rule: code = 27 − position (A = 26 down to Z = 1).

C is the 3rd letter: 27 − 3 = 24
A is the 1st letter: 27 − 1 = 26
T is the 20th letter: 27 − 20 = 7

CAT → 24, 26, 7 → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
24, 26, 6 — 6 is the code for U, the 21st letter. T is the 20th, so its code is 27 − 20 = 7. C and A are coded correctly here, which is what makes it tempting.
(c)
25, 26, 7 — 25 is the code for B, not C. C is the 3rd letter, so its code is 27 − 3 = 24. The codes for A and T are right.
(d)
24, 27, 7 — 27 is outside this code, which runs from Z = 1 up to A = 26. The question itself sets A = 26, so the middle number must be 26.

Concept

A reverse-alphabet code numbers the letters from Z instead of from A. The shortcut is 27 − position, because a letter's forward and reverse positions always add to 27: A is 1 and 26, M is 13 and 14, Z is 26 and 1.

So you never need to write the reversed alphabet out. Learn a few anchor positions, E = 5, J = 10, O = 15, T = 20, and subtract from 27.

Reading the code the ordinary way (A = 1) gives 3, 1, 20, which none of the options shows. The question's A = 26 is the signal that the count runs backwards.

Key facts

A letter's forward and reverse positions add up to 27.
Anchor positions: E = 5, J = 10, O = 15, T = 20.
Under this reverse code, C = 24, A = 26 and T = 7.

Study next

Opposite-letter pairs (A–Z, B–Y, C–X) in letter analogiesCodes that shift each letter's position by a fixed numberWord codes built from the sum of letter positions

Common traps

Counting T as the 21st letter and writing 6
Slipping back into the forward code, C = 3, A = 1, T = 20

Here SSC states the reverse code and asks you to apply it to a three-letter word.

14 Sep 2025, 09:00, Reasoning Q.12 uses the same 27 − position idea inside a letter analogy: DINS : WRMH swaps each letter for its opposite (D = 4 ↔ W = 23), and EKPT is keyed as VPKG.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Coding & de-coding — all 138 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.