18 November 2025 · Shift 3

Odd one out: perfect squares Test every number for being a perfect square. $9=3^2$, $16=4^2$, $25=5^2$, $36=6^2$ and $49=7^2$. 41 lies between $6^2=36$ and $7^2=49$, so it is not the square of any whole number. Hence the odd one out is 41, option (c).

Pipes and cisterns Take the capacity of the tank as the LCM of 16 and 20, i.e. 80 units. P fills $\frac{80}{16}=5$ units in one hour, while Q empties $\frac{80}{20}=4$ units in one hour. With both open, net filling in one hour =5-4=1 unit. Time to fill the tank $=\frac{80}{1}=80$ hours. Hence the correct option is (c).

Value of an expression Substitute x=4 and y=5 in the expression 4x-3y+7. $=4\times 4-3\times 5+7$ =16-15+7 =8 Hence the correct option is (d).

Profit percentage Cost price = ₹600 and selling price = ₹950. Profit = ₹950 − ₹600 = ₹350. Formula: $\mathrm{Profit}\%=\frac{\mathrm{Profit}}{\mathrm{Cost}\mathrm{price}}\times 100$ $=\frac{350}{600}\times 100=\frac{175}{3}$ $=58.33\%$ Hence the correct option is (a).

Arithmetic progression The row counts form an AP with first term a=5 and common difference d=4. Formula: $a_n=a+\left(n-1\right)d$ $a_8=5+\left(8-1\right)\times 4$ =5+28=33 Hence the 8th row has 33 lamps, option (d).

Ratio and mixture Let milk =5k litres and water =3k litres, since milk : water =5:3. Milk is given as 40 litres, so 5k=40 k=8 Total mixture $=\left(5+3\right)k=8k=8\times 8$ =64 litres. Hence the correct option is (c).

Time and work Take the total work as the LCM of 14 and 16, i.e. 112 units. One day's work of (A + B) $=\frac{112}{14}=8$ units; one day's work of A $=\frac{112}{16}=7$ units. So B alone does 8-7=1 unit per day. Time taken by B $=\frac{112}{1}=112$ days. Hence the correct option is (d).

Direction sense Trace the path step by step from A. The 8 km walked east and the 8 km walked west are equal and opposite, so they cancel completely. Only the 7 km southward stretch is left, so the man finishes due south of A. Distance from A =7 km. Hence the correct option is (c).

Direction sense Trace the path step by step from the starting point. The 15 km walked east and the 15 km walked west are equal and opposite, so they cancel completely. Only the 8 km northward stretch remains, so he ends up due north of the start. Distance from the starting point =8 km. Hence the correct option is (d).

Letter series Write the position number of each letter: G = 7, K = 11, P = 16, V = 22. The gaps are +4, +5, +6, so they increase by one each time and the next gap must be +7. 22+7=29, and the alphabet has only 26 letters, so count on cyclically: 29-26=3. Position 3 is the letter C. Hence the correct option is (b).

Interchange of numbers As it stands, $7\times 5+4-8=35+4-8=31$, which is not 37, so an interchange is needed. Apply BODMAS after each interchange and compare with 37. Interchanging 8 and 7 turns the equation into $8\times 5+4-7$. =40+4-7=37, which matches the right-hand side. Hence the correct option is (c).

Palindromic numbers A palindromic number reads the same from left to right and from right to left. So reverse the digits of each option and compare. 1881, 15451 and 13331 stay unchanged on reversal. 4983 reversed becomes 3894, which is a different number. Hence 4983 is not palindromic, option (c).

Alphanumeric series Handle the letters and the numbers as two separate patterns. Letters: A, D, G, J each move three places forward, so the next letter is M. Numbers: 4, 8, 16, 32 double every time, so the next number is $32\times 2=64$. Putting the two together, the missing term is M64. Hence the correct option is (b).

Alphanumeric series Handle the letters and the numbers as two separate patterns. Letters: V, U, T, S each move one place backward, so the next letter is R. Numbers: $1=1^3$, $8=2^3$, $27=3^3$, $64=4^3$, so the next number is $5^3=125$. Putting the two together, the missing term is R125. Hence the correct option is (a).

Alphanumeric series Handle the letters and the numbers as two separate patterns. Letters: B, D, F, H, J each move two places forward, so the next letter is L. Numbers: 3, 6, 12, 24, 48 double every time, so the next number is $48\times 2=96$. Putting the two together, the missing term is L96. Hence the correct option is (d).

Number coding of words Notice that the code does not depend on which letters the word contains, but only on how many letters it has. APPLE has 5 letters and its code is $30=5\times 6$; BANANA has 6 letters and its code is $42=6\times 7$. So the rule is: code $=n\times \left(n+1\right)$, where n is the number of letters in the word. GRAPE also has n=5 letters, so its code $=5\times 6=30$. Hence the correct option is (b).

Symbol blood relation Each symbol stands for one relation, so a string of symbols is read from left to right, one link at a time. An aunt of Q is a sister of Q's father or of Q's mother, so we need a chain in which P is the sister of one of Q's parents. Option (a) reads: M is the husband of P, then P is the sister of R, then R is the father of Q. So R is the father of Q and P is the sister of R, which makes P the aunt of Q. In (b) the chain ends with P as the sister of Q, in (c) P becomes the sister of Q's grandfather, and in (d) the chain makes a wife the father of someone, so none of these gives the required relation. Hence the correct option is (a).

Calendar - odd days Count the odd days, that is the remainder left when the total number of days is divided by 7. 2000 complete years give 0 odd days, because 1600 years and 400 years each give 0. The 13 years from 2001 to 2013 contain 3 leap years (2004, 2008, 2012), so they give 13+3=16 days, and 16 divided by 7 leaves 2 odd days. From 1 January to 18 September 2014: 31+28+31+30+31+30+31+31+18=261 days, and 261 divided by 7 leaves 2 odd days. Total odd days =0+2+2=4. Counting 0 as Sunday, 1 as Monday and so on, 4 odd days is Thursday. Hence the correct option is (b).

Exact statement matching Compare each option with the reference 'America - July 4, 1776' character by character, checking the name, the hyphen, the month, the date, the comma and the year. Option (a) changes the year to 1778 and also adds a full stop at the end; option (c) changes the date to July 5; option (d) changes the year to 1876. Only option (b) repeats the city, the spaced hyphen, the month, the date '4', the comma and the year '1776' exactly as given. Hence the correct option is (b).

Exact statement matching Break the reference into its parts: the city 'New York:', the date '2024.12.31', a comma with one space, the time '23:59' and the zone 'EST'. Option (a) changes the year to 2025, option (c) changes the day to 32, and option (d) changes the month to 11 and also drops the space after the comma. Option (b) matches every part, including the single space after the comma, so it is the exact replication. Hence the correct option is (b).

Exact statement matching The reference has four parts: the city 'Berlin', a spaced hyphen, the date '9 Nov.' and the year '1989'. Option (a) changes the date to 10, option (c) changes the month to Dec. and option (d) inserts the stray characters '_n' after the city name. Option (b) alone keeps the city, the hyphen, the day '9', the abbreviation 'Nov.' and the year '1989' unchanged. Hence the correct option is (b).

Number series Check the gap between consecutive terms first. 90-80=10, 80-70=10 and 70-60=10, so every term is 10 less than the one before it. The next term is therefore 60-10=50. Hence the correct option is (a).

Number series The terms do not change by a fixed amount, so look at the differences between them. 7-4=3, 12-7=5 and 19-12=7, so the differences are the consecutive odd numbers 3,5,7. The next difference must be 9, so the missing term is 19+9=28. Hence the correct option is (b).

Number analogy sets In each set, multiply the three given numbers and then subtract 1 from the product. First set: $\left(4\times 2\times 3\right)-1=24-1=23$. Second set: $\left(6\times 5\times 3\right)-1=90-1=89$. Applying the same rule to the last set: $\left(8\times 6\times 2\right)-1=96-1=95$. Hence the correct option is (c).

Number analogy sets In each set, multiply the three given numbers and then multiply that product by 10. First set: $\left(3\times 4\times 7\right)\times 10=84\times 10=840$. Second set: $\left(5\times 4\times 3\right)\times 10=60\times 10=600$. Applying the same rule to the last set: $\left(7\times 2\times 8\right)\times 10=112\times 10=1120$. Hence the correct option is (a).