19 November 2025 · Shift 3

Ratio and ages Let the present ages of Anuj and Brijesh be 6x and 7x years. Six years later the ratio is given, so $\frac{6x+6}{7x+6}=\frac{7}{8}$ Cross-multiplying: 8(6x+6)=7(7x+6) 48x+48=49x+42 x=6 Present age of Brijesh $=7x=7\times 6=42$ years, so option (b) is correct.

Interpersonal skill The frustration is described as temporary, so the aim is to slow the decision down, not to take it for him. Listening calmly first shows respect and lets him hear his own reasons aloud, which is what a hasty mind needs. Suggesting that he think it through keeps the choice his, so the relationship is not damaged. Instant agreement (a) helps him into a decision he may regret; a strong warning (c) sounds like a threat; talking about him to others (d) breaks trust outright. Hence option (b) is the most effective response.

Symbol substitution First write down what each symbol really stands for. Replacing the symbols in the given expression gives $7-9\times 8-6$ By BODMAS the multiplication is done first: $9\times 8=72$ So the value is 7-72-6 =-65-6=-71 Hence option (b) is correct.

Ranking in a row Bring both ranks to the same end. Position from the beginning = total - position from the end +1. For B: 24-11+1=14, so B is the 14th chair from the beginning. A is the 8th chair, so the chairs lying strictly between them are the 9th to the 13th. Chairs in between =14-8-1=5 Hence option (b) is correct.

Letter series Write the position value of each letter: X =24, T =20, P =16, L =12. Every letter is 4 places behind the one before it, so the next position is 12-4=8. The 8th letter of the alphabet is H. Hence option (c) is correct.

Mirror image The mirror stands on the vertical line AB at the right of the letters, so the image is the figure turned left to right; what is on top stays on top. In such an image the letter nearest the mirror comes first, so the order R h f g b q is read in the image as q b g f h R. Every letter is itself flipped as well: q becomes p, b becomes d, g and f face the other way, h turns its shoulder to the left and R becomes Я. So the required image begins with the pair p d and ends with Я. Only option (d) shows the letters in the reversed order with each letter also flipped, so option (d) is correct.

Paper folding and punching The first fold turns the upper-left half over the diagonal onto the lower-right half; the second turns the right part over the line joining the centre of the sheet to the bottom-right corner. What is left is the triangle whose base is the bottom edge of the sheet and whose apex is the centre of the sheet, so both slanting sides are folds and every punch on them repeats four times. The punch at the apex sits exactly where the two folds meet, so on opening it gives four equal pieces around the centre that together form one square hole in the middle. The corner punch lies on the bottom-right corner of the sheet, and unfolding sends its copy to the diagonally opposite corner, giving cuts at the top-left and bottom-right only. The notch on the bottom edge repeats on all four edges, and the round punch inside gives two holes near the bottom-right corner and two near the top-left. Only option (c) has a square central hole with the corner cuts at the top-left and bottom-right, so option (c) is correct.

Alternate number series The numbers rise and fall alternately, which means two separate chains are running together. Odd places: 6, 24, 96, 384 — each term is 4 times the previous one. Even places: 5, 20, ?, 320 — the same rule applies, so the missing term is $20\times 4=80$. The check works: $80\times 4=320$, which is the next even-place term. Hence option (b) is correct.

Alternate number series Split the sequence into the terms standing at odd places and those standing at even places. Odd places: 2, 7, 12, 17 — the difference is +5 each time. Even places: 7, 13, ?, 25 — the difference is +6, so the missing term is 13+6=19. The check works: 19+6=25, which is the last term. Hence option (b) is correct.

Letter analogy Give every letter its place value and compare the two groups letter by letter. D(4) $\to$ H(8) is +4, K(11) $\to$ H(8) is -3, N(14) $\to$ R(18) is +4. Apply the same three shifts to OSV: O(15)+4= S(19), S(19)-3= P(16), V(22)+4= Z(26). So OSV becomes SPZ. Hence option (d) is correct.

Cube-based number series The terms grow far too fast for a difference pattern, so test the cubes of the odd numbers. $3^3=27$, $5^3=125$, $7^3=343$ — each given term is just one away from these. The +1 and -1 alternate, so the fourth term must be $9^3-1$. $9^3=729$, hence the missing term is 729-1=728. The rule holds afterwards as well: ${11}^3+1=1332$ and ${13}^3-1=2196$. Hence option (c) is correct.

Managerial judgement The problem is the behaviour in meetings, not the employee's skill, so the response must correct the behaviour while keeping the contribution. A private conversation protects the person's dignity, clear expectations tell them exactly what must change, and monitoring makes the change last. Ignoring it (a) tells the whole team that talent excuses rudeness, and the interruptions will only grow. Public criticism (b) humiliates and hardens the employee, while immediate removal from projects (d) punishes before any warning has been given. Hence option (c) is the most appropriate response.

Embedded figure First list the parts of the question figure: a short horizontal at the top, a longer horizontal at the bottom, and three slanting lines between them. Two of the slanting lines cross to make the bow-tie, and the third runs from the right end of the top line down to the middle of the bottom line. Since rotation is not allowed, the top line must stay above and the slant from the top-right corner must still reach the bottom line at its middle. In (a) the figure is closed into a square with a tail, in (b) the two horizontals are broken by the roof-shaped top, and in (d) the top line is replaced by a peak, so the bow-tie cannot be traced whole. Option (c) carries every one of the five lines in the same position and direction, the extra lines of the option merely lying over them. Hence option (c) is correct.

Embedded figure The question figure is one open chain of six strokes: a tall vertical, a short step to the right, a shorter vertical, a horizontal, a short slant going up to the right and a final horizontal. The slant is the rarest stroke, so search each option for a short slant that has a horizontal on both of its ends. Option (a) has its slant inside a circle and no pair of unequal verticals joined by a step. In (c) the strokes are all vertical and horizontal, and in (d) the slant belongs to a closed box, so the chain breaks in both. Option (b) has the tall vertical, the step, the shorter vertical, the base horizontal, the slant rising to the right and the last horizontal, all joined in the same order and without rotation. Hence option (b) is correct.

Number in a grid Add the first three numbers of a row and compare the sum with the number in the last column. Row 1: 6+5+8=19 and $19\times 3=57$. Row 2: 9+3+4=16 and $16\times 3=48$. So the last column is always three times the sum of the first three numbers. Row 3: $51÷3=17$, so 8+4+?=17, giving ?=17-12=5. Hence option (c) is correct.

Counting triangles The drawing is a pinwheel of three right-angled triangles that meet at the point where the long horizontal line crosses the long vertical line, so count each part separately and add. Left part: one line is drawn from the right-angle corner to the middle of the hypotenuse. It gives 2 small triangles, and the whole triangle makes the 3rd — 3 triangles. Top-right part: the whole triangle, the 2 halves made by the line from the corner to the middle of the hypotenuse, the small triangle cut off by the second line, and the 2 tiny ones formed where the two inner lines cross — 1+2+1+2=6 triangles. Bottom part: exactly the same construction turned round, so it also gives 6 triangles. Total =3+6+6=15.

Venn diagram counting The circle stands for baskets and the triangle for keys, so "baskets that are keys" is the region common to the circle and the triangle. That common region falls in two pieces: 7 (the part that also lies inside the rectangle) and 48 (the part outside the rectangle). Required number =7+48=55.

Class relationship diagram The same man can be a father to his own child and an uncle to his brother’s child, so some fathers are uncles: the two classes partly overlap. An aunt is a woman, so no aunt can be a father or an uncle; "Aunts" shares nothing with either class and must stand apart. The diagram needed is therefore two intersecting circles plus a third circle kept separate, which is option (c). Option (a) wrongly makes aunts overlap the other two, (b) separates fathers from uncles, and (d) puts one class completely inside another.

Circular seating Everyone faces the centre, so each person’s right hand points anticlockwise and the left hand points clockwise. Seat S first. Two seats to S’s right gives Q, and two seats to Q’s right gives P. Only R and T are left. R may not sit beside P, so R takes the seat that is not next to P and T takes the seat next to P. Now move two seats to P’s left, i.e. two seats clockwise from P; that lands on Q. Hence the person second to the left of P is Q, option (b).

Pattern completion Each quarter of the big square carries the same drawing turned through a right angle: a black square near the outer corner, a slanting line joining it to the centre of the figure, and two step-shaped lines that meet that slanting line. In every quarter the step lines start on the two dividing lines, that is on the two edges of the quarter that meet at the centre of the big square. The blank quarter is the bottom-right one, so its slanting line must begin at its top-left corner (the centre of the figure) and run down to a black square near the bottom-right, with the step lines coming from the top edge and the left edge. Option (a) is exactly that piece. Option (c) is its mirror image and fits the top-right quarter, (d) has lost the black square and (b) has a tilted square; since rotation is not allowed, (a) is the answer.

Odd figure pair In every pair the second figure is the first figure with a short line drawn at the middle of each straight edge, at right angles to that edge and pointing outwards. The rhombus has 4 straight edges and gets 4 such marks; the hexagon has 6 edges and gets 6 marks; the D-shape has only one straight edge, its base, and gets exactly one mark below the middle of that base. The figure in (d) has 2 straight edges — the two arms of the V — yet only one mark is drawn, and that mark lies inside the figure instead of outside. So the pair that does not follow the rule is (d).

Odd figure pair Each box holds four elements, one in each corner; compare where every element sits before and after. In (b), (c) and (d) each element moves to the corner diagonally opposite it: top-left goes to bottom-right and top-right goes to bottom-left, and back again. For example in (d) the black square goes from the top-left to the bottom-right, the triangle comes from the bottom-right to the top-left, and 3 and 4 change places in the same way. In (a) the letter K is still sitting in the top-left corner of the second box, so one element has not moved at all while the other three merely shuffle round. That breaks the rule the other three pairs obey, so the odd figure pair is (a).

Figure series Count the ovals in each figure: 2, 3, 5, 7. After the second figure two more ovals are added every time, so the fifth figure must have 7+2=9 ovals. The shading follows its own rule: the first oval is dark and after that dark and light ovals alternate, so a row of 9 both begins and ends with a dark oval. A row of 9 ovals shaded dark, light, dark, light, dark, light, dark, light, dark is exactly option (b). Option (a) has 8 ovals and two dark ones together at the end, (c) has 8 ovals and ends with a light one, and (d) breaks the alternation near its end.

Letter coding Match the two words letter by letter, counting backwards through the alphabet and wrapping round from A to Z when needed. The 1st and 3rd letters move 5 places back, while the 2nd and 4th letters move 6 places back. The second pair confirms it: E-5=Z, F-6=Z, O-5=J, Z-6=T, giving ZZJT. Apply the same shifts to IBUT: I-5=D, B-6=V, U-5=P, T-6=N. So IBUT is coded as DVPN.

Word formation List the stock of letters in EARTHQUAKES: E, A, R, T, H, Q, U, A, K, E, S — A and E occur twice each, but R occurs only once. EARTH uses E, A, R, T, H once each — available; HEAR likewise. SEEK needs two E’s and one each of S and K, and both E’s are in stock — available. RATHER needs two R’s, but only one R is present, so this word cannot be formed.