SSC CGL 2025 Tier-II · Paper-I, 19 January 2026 · Reasoning and General Intelligence · Question 2 of 150

We transcribed this text from the pictures of a candidate's response sheet for this paper; the answer is the key SSC marked with a green tick on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. This paper reaches us as a candidate's response sheet saved as pictures, so we transcribed the text from those pictures, and a second reader checked every question against them; where the layout carries meaning, we show the picture too. Each answer is the key SSC marked with a green tick 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. UnlockIAS wrote the solutions.

In a certain language, COMPUTER is coded as OCPMTURE. How is KEYBOARD coded in that code?

(a)EKYOBARD
(b)EKBYAODR
(c)KYEOBARD
(d)KYEOBADR

Answer

Why

Correct — B.
Rule: swap each pair of neighbouring letters, counting pairs from the first letter.

COMPUTER = CO | MP | UT | ER
Flip each pair: OC | PM | TU | RE = OCPMTURE, the given code.

KEYBOARD = KE | YB | OA | RD
Flip each pair: EK | BY | AO | DR

That gives EKBYAODR → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
EKYOBARD — EKYOBARD flips KE correctly, then leaves Y in place and flips B with O. The pairs are fixed from the start — KE, YB, OA, RD — so Y and B trade places next.
(c)
KYEOBARD — KYEOBARD keeps K in front, so the first pair was never flipped. COMPUTER's code starts with its second letter, O, so KEYBOARD's must start with E.
(d)
KYEOBADR — KYEOBADR also leaves K in front. It flips RD into DR correctly, but pairs the middle letters wrongly and never turns KE into EK.

Concept

A rearrangement code moves letters without changing any of them. Line the word up against its code and see which positions trade places.

COMPUTER and OCPMTURE hold the same eight letters, and every pair is simply reversed: CO → OC, MP → PM, UT → TU, ER → RE. KEYBOARD also has eight letters, so it splits into four pairs the same way, counted from the first letter.

All four options use KEYBOARD's own eight letters. The letter set decides nothing here, only the positions do.

Key facts

COMPUTER → OCPMTURE swaps letters 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8.
The code keeps every letter and changes only positions.
KEYBOARD pairs as KE, YB, OA, RD, which flip to EK, BY, AO, DR.

Study next

Codes that reverse part of a word, such as its first seven lettersCodes that reverse each half of a wordLetter-shift codes where each position moves by a fixed number

Common traps

Checking only the start of the code, when EKYOBARD and EKBYAODR both begin EK
Flipping the wrong neighbours after the first pair, as EKYOBARD does with B and O

At 13 Sep 2024, 12:30, Reasoning Q.7 the letters are also only rearranged, by a different rule: RETAINED → ENIATERD reverses the first seven letters and keeps the last, keyed LAWERIFL for FIREWALL.

19 Jan 2026, 11:00 AM, Reasoning Q.25 changes the letters instead of moving them: WOODLAND → ZIRXOUQX shifts them alternately +3 and −6.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Coding & de-coding — all 94 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.