24 November 2025 · Shift 3

Symbol substitution Replace every symbol by the real sign it stands for, and only then apply the BODMAS order. So 11 & 15 * 30 % 3 becomes $11\times 15-30+3$ Multiplication first: $11\times 15=165$ 165 - 30 + 3 = 135 + 3 = 138 Hence the required value is 138, i.e. option (d).

Symbol substitution Put the real sign in place of each symbol first; the expression then has only $÷$ and $\times$, so it is worked strictly from left to right. So 8 ^ 27 % 9 % 4 becomes $8÷27\times 9\times 4$ $8÷27=\frac{8}{27}$ $\frac{8}{27}\times 9=\frac{8}{3}$ $\frac{8}{3}\times 4=\frac{32}{3}$ Hence the required value is $\frac{32}{3}$, i.e. option (a).

Blood relation coding 'M is the maternal uncle of N' means that M must be the brother of the mother of N. So the expression has to say two things at once: M is somebody's brother, and that somebody is the mother of N. Take option (d), $M\times Q-P+N$, and read it sign by sign. $M\times Q$ means M is the brother of Q; Q - P means Q is the wife of P; P + N means P is the father of N. Q is the wife of the father of N, so Q is the mother of N - and M is her brother. In (a) M becomes the brother of the father, i.e. a paternal uncle; in (b) M is a daughter, hence female; in (c) M is the parent of Q, so none of them fits. Hence the correct option is (d).

Syllogism The first statement is particular affirmative: at least one teacher lies inside the circle of honest people. The second statement is universal affirmative: the whole circle of honest people lies inside the circle of hardworking people. That teacher is therefore inside 'hardworking' as well, so 'Some teachers are hardworking' is bound to be true - conclusion I follows. Conclusion II turns the second statement round. A hardworking person need not be honest, so a hardworking teacher need not be honest either; II does not follow. Hence only conclusion I follows, option (a).

Ranking in a row Total number of trees = 75. Tree A is 20th from the left and tree B is 25th from the right. Bring both trees to the same end. Position of B from the left = 75 - 25 + 1 = 51 Trees standing between two positions = (larger position) - (smaller position) - 1 = 51 - 20 - 1 = 30 Hence 30 trees stand between A and B, option (a).

Mirror image The mirror AB is a vertical line standing to the right of the figure, so the image is the left-right reflection of the figure. In such a reflection the left half and the right half change places, and every shape inside them is itself turned round from left to right; nothing moves up or down. So the top row of the image must read: triangle pointing right, then the chequered square with its black cell now at the top-left. The bottom row must read: the solid arrow pointing up on the left, the hollow arrow pointing down on the right. Options (c) and (d) keep a plain upward triangle or a left-pointing triangle at the top-left, and (a) interchanges the two arrows. Hence the correct option is (b).

Mirror image The mirror AB again stands vertically to the right of the figure, so the image is the left-right reflection: whatever is on the left appears on the right and each shape is itself reversed sideways. The circle is shaded in its lower half; an up-down feature is untouched by a left-right flip, so the circle keeps its lower half black and only moves to the left. The hexagon was shaded on its right; after the flip the shading sits on its left, and the hexagon moves to the right. The arrow points straight up, so it stays pointing up, and the triangle, black on its left half, becomes black on its right half. Option (b) turns the arrow downwards, (c) keeps the triangle black on the left and (d) keeps the hexagon black on the right, so all three are ruled out. Hence the correct option is (a).

Paper folding and punching The square is first folded along the diagonal that runs from the bottom-left corner to the top-right corner, and then along the line from the top-left corner to the centre of the sheet. Two folds means four thicknesses of paper, so every punch made on the folded piece opens out into four punches. Unfold the second fold first: reflect the punches in the line from the top-left corner to the centre; then unfold the first fold: reflect everything in the main diagonal. The rectangle was cut on the folded edge of the sheet, so it opens as a notch, and its four copies sit at the middle of the four sides. The triangle was cut with its point towards the centre of the sheet; reflection keeps that, so all four triangles point inwards - down at the top, up at the bottom, right at the left and left at the right. Option (a) turns the top and bottom triangles outwards, (b) shows the rectangles as whole cuts inside the sheet with only two triangles, and (d) shows eight circles instead of four. Hence the correct option is (c).

Number series Read the digits in pairs, as a series of two-digit numbers: 30, 52, 74, 9? 52 - 30 = 22 and 74 - 52 = 22, so every number is 22 more than the one before it. Next number = 74 + 22 = 96 The digit that goes in place of the question mark is therefore the units digit of 96, i.e. 6. Hence the correct option is (a).

Letter-cluster analogy Compare LAMB and KZLA letter by letter: L → K, A → Z, M → L, B → A. Every letter moves one step backward in the alphabet (-1); A goes back to Z because the alphabet is treated as a closed ring. Apply the very same rule to GOAT: G → F, O → N, A → Z, T → S. So GOAT : FNZS, and the correct option is (a).

Letter series Take the three letter-positions of the groups one column at a time. First letters E, G, I move +2 each time, so the next first letter is I +2 = K. Second letters N, O, P move +1 each time, so the next second letter is P +1 = Q. Third letters S, R, P fall by -1 and then by -2, so the next fall is -3: P -3 = M. The missing term is therefore KQM, option (b).

Address matching Read the master address piece by piece and check each candidate against it, watching the full stops, the commas and the spelling of every word. Option (a) writes 'Flat No 12B' - the full stop after 'No' has been dropped. Option (b) shortens 'Green Park Extension' to 'Green Park Extn.', which changes both the spelling and the punctuation. Option (d) repeats every word, every full stop, every comma and the PIN code exactly as they stand in the master address. Hence the correct option is (d).

Address matching Compare each candidate with the master address element by element: the sector, the flat number, the locality, the landmark and the PIN. Option (a) writes 'Sector 5' with a space in place of the hyphen of 'Sector-5'. Option (b) writes 'Flat No 18A' without the full stop after 'No'. Option (d) shortens the landmark 'Near City Hospital' to 'Near City Hosp.'. Only option (c) keeps the hyphen, the full stop, the full word 'Hospital' and the PIN exactly as in the master address. Hence the correct option is (c).

Number matrix In a matrix of this kind every row is built on one and the same rule, so the rule has to be read off from the rows that are complete. Test a rule on the first row; if it works, confirm it on the third row before using it. Applying that verified rule to the numbers of the second row gives 24. Hence the number that belongs in place of the question mark is 24, option (a).

Number matrix Once again all three rows of the grid follow a single rule, and the two complete rows are what reveal it. Frame the rule from the first row and check that the third row obeys it as well; only then is it safe to use. Applying that rule to the numbers of the second row gives 34. Hence the number that belongs in place of the question mark is 34, option (c).

Venn diagram of classes Compare the three classes two at a time and ask whether one can also be the other. A woman who is somebody's sister can at the same time be somebody else's aunt, but not every sister is an aunt and not every aunt is a sister, so Sister and Aunt partly overlap. An uncle is a male relative, so no uncle can ever be a sister or an aunt; that class stands completely apart. The diagram therefore needs two intersecting circles for Sister and Aunt and one circle standing separately for Uncle. Hence the correct option is (c).

Venn diagram - counting First fix what each number stands for: 40 is water only, 15 water and spirit, 20 water and tea, 8 all three, 12 spirit only, 18 spirit and tea only, 50 tea only. Spirit is the whole circle, so it covers the regions 15, 8, 12 and 18. Total spirit =15+8+12+18=53, so statement I is correct. Tea is the whole triangle; the parts of it that lie outside the rectangle (water) are 18 and 50. Tea which is not water =18+50=68, so statement II is also correct. Hence the correct option is (c).

Direction sense - turns A right turn is ${90}^{\circ }$ clockwise and a left turn is ${90}^{\circ }$ anticlockwise, so one right turn cancels one left turn. Net turning =10-9=1 right turn, that is ${90}^{\circ }$ clockwise. He set out facing north, and ${90}^{\circ }$ clockwise from north is east. Note that only the number of turns matters here, not the order in which he made them. Hence the correct option is (a).

Statement and conclusion 'Either P or Q' guarantees that at least one of the two possibilities must happen. Here P is 'the examination will be cancelled' and Q is 'it will be conducted online'. The second sentence rules P out, so the only possibility left is Q. So the examination will definitely be conducted online; 'may be conducted online' is too weak for a certainty, and offline mode was never one of the two choices. Hence the correct option is (c).

Completing the pattern The figure is a big square cut into four quarters by its two centre lines, with a smaller square drawn inside it. A diamond sits at the mid-point of each side of the inner square, and each mid-point lies on one of the two centre lines. The diamonds on the top side and on the left side are drawn in full; the diamond on the right side is missing its lower half and the diamond on the bottom side is missing its right half. Both missing halves fall inside the bottom-right quarter, which is exactly the quarter marked '?'. So the missing piece must carry the bottom-right corner of the inner square, a downward triangle hanging from the top edge of the piece and a rightward triangle standing on its left edge. Only option (d) places the corner near the middle of the piece with both triangles cut by those two lines; in option (b) the corner is pushed far into the bottom-right of the piece. Hence the correct option is (d).

Figure analogy - mirror Compare the first two figures. The circle that was at the top is now at the bottom, the pentagon that was at the bottom is now at the top, the plus keeps its place on the right and the triangle keeps its place on the left but is turned upside down. That is exactly the effect of turning the whole box upside down, i.e. reflecting it in a horizontal mirror. Apply the same mirror to the third figure: 'p' travels from the top to the bottom and its reflection is 'b'. '=' travels from the bottom to the top and looks unchanged, '+' stays at the middle-left unchanged, and 'g' stays at the middle-right but appears inverted. Hence the correct option is (d).

Figure series - rotation Each box uses four places - top, right, bottom and left - and only three of them are filled at a time, so track every symbol separately. The plus moves bottom → right → top and the circle moves top → left → bottom, so both step one place anticlockwise every time. The diamond moves left → top → right, that is one place clockwise every time. Continuing one more step: the plus reaches the left, the circle reaches the right and the diamond reaches the bottom, leaving the top place empty. The shading also alternates - the circle is solid in figures 1 and 3 and the diamond is solid in figure 2 - so in figure 4 the diamond is solid and the circle is hollow. Hence the correct option is (d).

Figure series - rotation Follow the arrow first. It sits at the top-left, then the top-right, then the bottom-right, so it moves one corner clockwise each time, and it points down, then left, then up, so it also turns ${90}^{\circ }$ clockwise each time. In the fourth figure it must therefore reach the bottom-left corner and point to the right. Now follow the hexagon. It sits at the top-right, then the top-left, then the bottom-left, i.e. one corner anticlockwise each time, and its shaded half is upper, lower, upper. In the fourth figure it must therefore reach the bottom-right corner with its lower half shaded. The star appears in the first and the third figure only, so it is absent from the second and from the fourth. Hence the correct option is (b).

Symbol substitution Replace every letter by the sign it stands for. The expression becomes $30+40-20÷10\times 4$. By BODMAS, division comes first: $20÷10=2$. Then multiplication: $2\times 4=8$. Finally 30+40-8=70-8=62. Hence the correct option is (d).

Interchange of signs Swap the two signs everywhere: every $\times$ becomes $÷$ and every $÷$ becomes $\times$. The equation becomes $90÷10\times 12-96+20$. By BODMAS, division and multiplication are done from left to right: $90÷10=9$. Then $9\times 12=108$. Now 108-96+20=12+20=32. Hence the correct option is (b).