SSC CGL 2025 Tier-II · Paper-I, 19 January 2026 · Reasoning and General Intelligence · Question 23 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.

Each letter in a word is assigned a specific number. From the four given arrangements of these numbers, identify which one represents a meaningful word when the numbers are translated back to their corresponding letters. N, D, I, O, I, T, C, A, R 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

(a)4, 9, 1, 3, 2, 8, 6, 7, 5
(b)2, 5, 1, 8, 7, 3, 4, 6, 9
(c)5, 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 6, 4, 9
(d)5, 2, 1, 9, 8, 4, 3, 7, 6

Answer

Why

Correct — C.
Rule: swap each number for its letter, then read the row as a word.

The code: N = 1, D = 2, I = 3, O = 4, I = 5, T = 6, C = 7, A = 8, R = 9.
Both 3 and 5 stand for I.

5, 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 6, 4, 9
= I, N, D, I, C, A, T, O, R
= INDICATOR → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
4, 9, 1, 3, 2, 8, 6, 7, 5 — 4, 9, 1, 3, 2, 8, 6, 7, 5 decodes to ORNIDATCI. It uses all nine letters but spells nothing.
(b)
2, 5, 1, 8, 7, 3, 4, 6, 9 — 2, 5, 1, 8, 7, 3, 4, 6, 9 decodes to DINACIOTR: the same nine letters in an order that is not a word.
(d)
5, 2, 1, 9, 8, 4, 3, 7, 6 — 5, 2, 1, 9, 8, 4, 3, 7, 6 decodes to IDNRAOICT. It opens with 5 = I, just like the answer, so the check has to go past the first letter.

Concept

This is a decoding task. Every option lists all nine numbers once, so every option decodes to the same nine letters in a different order, and only the order matters.

You can decode each option in turn, or work backwards: spot the word in N, D, I, O, I, T, C, A, R, which is INDICATOR, and encode it back into numbers.

I appears twice in the list, at 3 and at 5, so INDICATOR has two valid number strings: 3, 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 6, 4, 9 and 5, 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 6, 4, 9. The second is the one among the options.

Key facts

The code is N 1, D 2, I 3, O 4, I 5, T 6, C 7, A 8, R 9.
Two numbers, 3 and 5, both decode to I.
Option (c) decodes to INDICATOR.

Study next

Forming a meaningful word from jumbled lettersLetter-to-number coding by alphabet positionArranging words in dictionary order

Common traps

Checking only the first number, when options (c) and (d) both open with 5 = I
Assuming each letter has one number, when I is both 3 and 5

This question lists nine letters under the numbers 1 to 9 and offers four orderings of all nine numbers, of which one spells an English word.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Problem Solving — all 77 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.