13 November 2025 · Shift 3

Situational judgement Two needs pull against each other here: the business must survive, and Rohit does not want to lose his independence. The appropriate response is the one that serves both — take the partnership, but settle the terms before agreeing. Negotiating lets him share control in the areas the partner really needs while keeping his core interests protected. (a) and (d) sacrifice the business, and (b) sacrifices exactly the independence he values. Hence option (c) is correct.

Workplace judgement The trouble is not the helping itself but the one-sided arrangement, which has begun to damage your own deadlines. The professional response is to state your limits calmly and agree on a fair sharing of the work. (a) turns a work issue into a public quarrel, (b) is an over-reaction that harms the team, and (d) lets the problem grow. Hence option (c) is correct.

Ranking in a row Total number of cars =40, and A is 10th from the left, so A stands at position 10 from the left. For B, position from the left = total - position from the right $+1$. Position of B from the left =40-15+1=26. Cars strictly between the two =26-10-1=15. Hence there are 15 cars between A and B, and option (b) is correct.

Course of action A course of action follows only if it is practical and it treats the cause named in the statement — here, overspeeding. Course of action I bans every vehicle in the city; it stops all movement instead of controlling speed, so it is an extreme and impractical step and does not follow. Course of action II enforces stricter traffic rules and educates drivers, which acts directly on overspeeding, so it follows. Hence only II follows and option (b) is correct.

Letter series Write the position of each letter in the alphabet: F=6, I=9, L=12, O=15. Every term is 3 more than the term before it, since 9-6=3, 12-9=3 and 15-12=3. The next position is 15+3=18, and the 18th letter of the alphabet is R. Hence option (d) is correct.

Decision making The problem stated is a shortage of water, so the first step must add to the water available or stop the water being lost. Conservation measures cut the wastage and repairing the pipelines stops the leakage, so both raise the supply at once — this serves the public interest immediately. (a), (c) and (d) may be useful in themselves but none of them touches the shortage. Hence option (b) is correct.

Word formation List the letters of INSPIRATION with their counts: A, I (three times), N (twice), O, P, R, S, T. STAR needs S, T, A, R; PAIN needs P, A, I, N; RAIN needs R, A, I, N — every one of these letters is present and none is asked for more often than it occurs. PIPE needs the letter P twice and the letter E once, but INSPIRATION has only one P and no E at all. Hence PIPE cannot be formed and option (d) is correct.

Mirror image The mirror stands on the vertical line AB at the right of the figure, so the image is the figure turned left to right; top stays top and bottom stays bottom. The square is cut into eight equal triangles, so every triangle simply swaps with the triangle facing it across the vertical centre line. The two circles were in the upper half to the right of the centre line, so in the image they move to the upper half on its left. The two small triangles move the other way, from the left of the upper half to the right of it, just below the diagonal. In the same way the horizontal lines move to the upper-left wedge, the vertical lines to the right of the lower half, and the slanting lines to the bottom-left wedge. Only option (b) shows all these wedges in the swapped positions, so option (b) is correct.

Problem solving The budget is small while the demands cover every area, so the money must reach the places where it will do the most good. That means the first step is to find out which needs are the most urgent, and a survey of students and staff gives exactly that information. (a) is arbitrary, (b) settles nothing, and (c) spreads a small budget so thin that no area is really improved. Hence option (d) is correct.

Problem solving The same small set of questions is asked again and again, so the information should be made available without a person answering each time. A FAQ page together with an automated enquiry system answers these queries at once and frees the staff for the work only they can do. (a) removes the service itself, while (b) and (c) punish the users instead of meeting a genuine need. Hence option (d) is correct.

Letter pair analogy Write the alphabet positions of the first pair: A=1, D=4, and of the second pair: E=5, H=8. Each letter has moved forward by 4 places, since 1+4=5 and 4+4=8. Apply the same shift to JM: J=10, so 10+4=14 gives N; M=13, so 13+4=17 gives Q. Hence the missing pair is NQ and option (b) is correct.

Number series Take the differences of consecutive terms: 891-620=271, 1222-891=331, 1619-1222=397. These differences are not equal, so take their differences in turn: 331-271=60 and 397-331=66. The second differences rise by 6 each time, so the next one is 66+6=72. Therefore the next first difference is 397+72=469. Required term =1619+469=2088. Hence option (d) is correct.

Odd pair out Test each pair for the rule 'squares of two consecutive natural numbers'. $49=7^2$ and $64=8^2$; $121={11}^2$ and $144={12}^2$; $36=6^2$ and $49=7^2$ — all three pairs obey the rule. In 15, 22 neither number is a perfect square, since $3^2=9$, $4^2=16$ and $5^2=25$. Hence 15, 22 is the odd pair and option (b) is correct.

Symbol substitution Putting the real signs in place of the symbols, the expression becomes $14÷28+8-24$. By BODMAS the division is done first: $14÷28=\frac{1}{2}$. Now $\frac{1}{2}+8-24=\frac{1+16-48}{2}$. $\frac{1+16-48}{2}=\frac{-31}{2}$. Hence option (b) is correct.

Paper folding and punching The sheet is folded three times — the bottom half up, then the right half onto the left, then the right half onto the left once more. Three folds give $2^3=8$ layers, so each of the two punches cuts 8 marks and the opened sheet carries $2\times 8=16$ marks. Undoing the two vertical folds spreads the punched pair sideways into four identical columns, and a left–right flip does not change which mark is on top. So in the upper half every column shows the wide mark above the tall mark, exactly as it was punched. Undoing the horizontal fold copies the upper half into the lower half as a mirror image, so there the tall mark comes above the wide mark. Only option (c) shows four columns of that pattern in both halves, so option (c) is correct.

Embedded figure The given figure is a square whose inner square is cut by a middle vertical line, and each half carries a diagonal cross. The piece has to be found without turning it, so its lengths and slopes must match those of the figure exactly. Option (a) is a horizontal stroke as long as half the inner square, followed by a V whose arms are as steep as the diagonals of a half-square. The top edge of the left half, then the diagonal running from the top-middle corner down to the centre of the right half, and then the part of the other diagonal rising to the top-right corner trace option (a) exactly. In (b) and (c) the strokes meet at right angles and in (d) the slant is ${45}^{\circ }$, and the figure has no such lines, so option (a) is correct.

Number table logic Read the table row by row: the fourth number is built from the first three. Row 1: $\left(8+6+4\right)\times 2=18\times 2=36$. Row 2: $\left(9+8+5\right)\times 2=22\times 2=44$. Row 3: $\left(?+6+7\right)\times 2=32$, so ?+13=16. Hence ?=3, so option (b) is correct.

Counting triangles Name the corners A, B, C, D, E, F, let G be the point where BD and CE cross, and H the point where the short line from B meets AE. Seven small triangles have no line inside them: ABH, HBE, AFE, BCG, BGE, GED and CGD. Five more are made of two of these: ABE, BCE, BCD, BDE and CDE. One more is made of four of them: ACE. Total =7+5+1=13, so option (a) is correct.

Venn diagram counting Caps are shown by the circle and socks by the rectangle, so the region that belongs to the circle and to the rectangle is needed. The part that lies inside the circle and the rectangle but outside the triangle carries the number 5. The 7 beside it lies inside the triangle as well, so those items are caps, socks and watches together. Hence the number of caps that are socks is 5, so option (b) is correct.

Class relationship diagram Red and Yellow are both colours, so each of them lies completely inside the class Colour. No colour is red and yellow at the same time, so the two smaller classes neither touch nor overlap each other. The diagram therefore needs one big circle holding two separate circles inside it. Option (b) makes the two overlap, (a) leaves one of them outside and (d) keeps all three apart, so option (c) is correct.

Dictionary order Compare the words letter by letter: Creation, Creative and Creature all begin with Creat. Their sixth letter decides next — Creation and Creative have i, Creature has u, so Creature comes after both. Between Creation and Creative the seventh letter decides: o comes before v, so Creation is ahead of Creative. Credit has d as its fourth letter, which follows the a of Creat-, and Crisis has i as its third letter, which follows the e of Cre-. The dictionary order is Creation, Creative, Creature, Credit, Crisis, that is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, so option (a) is correct.

Pattern completion The big square is cut into four quarters; three of them are drawn and the one at the top right is missing. Every drawn quarter carries the same four things — the letter S in the outer corner of the square, two small circles and a triangle sitting in the corner nearest the centre. Going round the square each quarter is the one before it turned through ${90}^{\circ }$, so the missing quarter must show S in its top-right corner and its triangle in the bottom-left corner, next to the centre. Only option (c) has S at the top right with the triangle in the bottom-left corner and the two circles on the other diagonal, so option (c) is correct.

Figure analogy Compare the first two figures: the small square at the top left goes to the bottom left, the one at the bottom right goes to the top right, the circle moves from the bottom left to the bottom right and the short slanting line from the top right to the top left. That is exactly what one quarter turn anticlockwise does, and in the same turn the shaded half of the circle moves from the bottom to the right side. Turning the third figure the same way carries the triangle from the upper right to the upper left with its apex now pointing left, stands the small flat rectangle upright at the lower right, and swings the long line from the top-left–bottom-right direction to the bottom-left–top-right direction. Option (c) shows exactly this figure, so option (c) is correct.

Figure series Every figure of the series holds the same nine signs — a square, a heart, 7, T, F, X, 3, 8 and O — and at each step the signs only change their places in the grid. Carrying that movement one step further brings the square, the heart and 7 into the top row, X, F and T into the middle row and 3, 8 and O into the bottom row. This is exactly the grid of option (a), so option (a) is correct.

Letter coding Match the letters of the word with the letters of its code one place at a time. In KBQU → HYNR every letter moves three steps back: K-3=H, B-3=Y, Q-3=N, U-3=R, and RPFY → OMCV obeys the same rule. Applying it to NTIH: N-3=K, T-3=Q, I-3=F, H-3=E. So NTIH is coded as KQFE, and option (d) is correct.