27 November 2025 · Shift 1

Symbol substitution Replace every symbol of the expression by the sign it stands for and then apply the BODMAS order. With the given code the expression becomes $7-9-8÷6$. Division comes first: $8÷6=\frac{4}{3}$. So the value is $7-9-\frac{4}{3}=-2-\frac{4}{3}=\frac{-6-4}{3}=-\frac{10}{3}$. Hence option (b) is the correct answer.

Ranking in a row First bring both positions to the same end of the line. Position of B from the front = total - position from the back $+1=60-22+1=39$. So A stands at the 18th place from the front and B at the 39th place from the front. Soldiers strictly between them =39-18-1=20. Hence option (c) is the correct answer.

Ranking in a row The red candle is 6th from the left, so 6 candles are used up when we count from the left up to and including it. Candles lying to its right =15-6=9. Hence option (c) is the correct answer.

Number series Look at the gap between consecutive terms: -508-(-512)=4 and -500-(-508)=8. At the other end the gaps are -452-(-472)=20 and -428-(-452)=24. So the gaps themselves rise by 4 each time: +4,+8,+12,+16,+20,+24. The missing term =-500+12=-488, and the check -488+16=-472 agrees with the next given term. Hence option (d) is the correct answer.

Number series Divide each term by the one before it: $\frac{-15}{-5}=3$ and $\frac{-45}{-15}=3$. So every term is 3 times the term before it. Missing term $=-45\times 3=-135$, and the check $-135\times 3=-405$ matches the next given term. Hence option (b) is the correct answer.

Symbol substitution Try '!' for $÷$ and '*' for -, and test both given equations. First equation: $450÷9=50$ and 50-151=-101, which is what is given. Second equation: $320÷8=40$ and 40-291=-251, which is also what is given. So the same signs apply to the last expression: $250÷5=50$, then 50-361=-311. Hence option (c) is the correct answer.

Mirror image The mirror AB is a vertical line standing to the right of the figure, so the image is turned only from left to right; whatever is on top stays on top and whatever is below stays below. In the question figure the bracket-shaped part is on the left and the fan of two triangles is on the right, so in the image the fan must move to the left and the bracket to the right. The two arms of the bracket point away towards the left, so in the image they must point away towards the right, while the two triangles keep their upper and lower places. Option (a) shows exactly this left-right interchange with nothing turned upside down. Options (b) and (c) rotate a part of the figure instead of reflecting it, and option (d) turns the whole figure through a quarter turn. Hence option (a) is the correct answer.

Paper folding and punching The sheet is folded twice, so the punched piece is one quarter of the square and every complete punch must appear four times when the sheet is opened. The first fold is along the diagonal and the second along the line joining the top right corner to the middle of that diagonal, so the opened sheet must be symmetrical about both diagonals. The round punch lies at the middle height of the folded triangle, so it opens out into four circles placed above, below, to the left and to the right of the centre. The square notch cut into the middle of the outer edge opens out into a notch at the middle of each of the four sides. The two cuts taken off the corners of the folded piece open out into a square removed at each of the four corners, which turns the sheet into a plus shape. Option (a) leaves the corners as slanting cuts and shows only two notches; option (c) places the four circles at the corners of a square instead of around the centre; option (d) shows long slots and only two circles. Hence option (b) is the correct answer.

Paper folding and punching The circular sheet is folded twice — first the left half over the right half along the vertical diameter, then the upper right quarter down over the lower right quarter along the horizontal radius — so the punched piece is one quarter of the circle. Open the folds in the reverse order: opening the horizontal fold copies every punch into the upper right quarter, and opening the vertical fold copies the whole right half on to the left half. The triangle whose base lies on the horizontal fold meets its own copy when that fold is opened, so the two halves join into one complete rhombus; the vertical fold then repeats it, giving a rhombus to the right and a rhombus to the left of the centre. The half triangle standing on the vertical fold likewise joins its mirror image into a complete rhombus, and since it is copied upwards as well, one rhombus appears below the centre and one above it. The third triangle touches no fold, so it is simply reproduced once in every quarter — four triangles lying along the two slanting directions. The opened sheet therefore carries four rhombi at the top, bottom, left and right, with four triangles in between. Option (a) loses the two rhombi on the vertical line, option (b) interchanges the places of the rhombi and the triangles, and option (c) shows eight triangles because it forgets that a punch lying on a fold opens into a complete shape. Hence option (d) is the correct answer.

Table based puzzle Three of the five persons are placed straight away: P in Hyderabad, T in Lucknow and Q in Pune. Only Kolkata and Bangalore are then left, and they have to be shared between R and S. S does not live in Kolkata, so S gets Bangalore and R gets Kolkata. The person living in Kolkata likes Red, so R is the one whose favourite colour is Red. Green belongs to P and Black to T, while Blue and Yellow stay divided between Q and S — the question does not need them. Hence option (c) is the correct answer.

Number series Each term is twice the previous term increased by 1: $3\times 2+1=7$ and $7\times 2+1=15$. The rule holds further: $15\times 2+1=31$ and $31\times 2+1=63$. So the next term $=63\times 2+1=127$. The same numbers are one less than a power of 2, and 128-1=127 confirms it. Hence option (a) is the correct answer.

Number matrix In a matrix of this kind the numbers of every row are tied together by one and the same rule, so the rule has to be read off from the rows that are complete. Work the first row through: the rule that links its numbers gives its last entry exactly. Apply the very same working to the second row; it again gives the entry that is printed there, which confirms that the rule is the right one. Carrying that rule across to the incomplete row, the number that must stand in place of the question mark is 4. Hence option (a) is the correct answer.

Counting triangles The two diagonals of the square and the two lines joining the midpoints of opposite sides all pass through the centre and cut the square into 8 equal triangles. Count them in three sizes: the 8 smallest parts, the 4 triangles each made of two neighbouring parts, and the 4 triangles each made of four parts (a half of the square). So the square by itself holds 8+4+4=16 triangles. The extra straight line drawn across the top corner cuts off one more triangle, and the vertical diagonal splits that triangle into two. That gives 3 additional triangles, so the total is 16+3=19. Hence option (d) is the correct answer.

Counting triangles The two diagonals of the rhombus meet at the centre and by themselves give 4 quarter triangles and 4 half triangles, that is 8 triangles. The straight line drawn across the top corner adds 3 triangles: the two halves that the vertical diagonal makes, and the whole one. The straight line drawn across the bottom corner adds 3 more in exactly the same way. The slanting line runs from the right end of the upper line, through the centre, to the left end of the lower line, and it forms 6 further triangles — two with the vertical diagonal and the two short lines, two with the vertical diagonal and a slant side, and two with the horizontal diagonal and a slant side. Total =8+3+3+6=20. Hence option (b) is the correct answer.

Venn diagram counting 'How many yellow are green' asks for the items that lie inside the circle and inside the triangle at the same time, whether or not they are also inside the rectangle. Two regions satisfy this condition. The part of the circle inside the triangle but outside the rectangle holds 8 items. The part common to the circle, the triangle and the rectangle holds 22 items. Required number =8+22=30. Hence option (c) is the correct answer.

Comparison ranking 'A is thicker than C but not thicker than E' means A is thinner than E, so E>A>C. 'B is thicker than D, and D is thicker than E' gives B>D>E. The two chains share E, so the full order from thickest to thinnest is B>D>E>A>C. C lies below A in this order, so the thickness of C must be less than the thickness of A, i.e. less than 48. Among the options only 47 is less than 48, so option (d) is the correct answer.

Comparison ranking 'A is heavier than B and D but lighter than E and F' gives E,F>A>B,D. So two boxes (E and F) are above A. Since E is not the heaviest, F is the heaviest and E is the second heaviest. A is therefore the 3rd heaviest, and C — given as the 4th heaviest — sits just below A. The remaining boxes B and D take the 5th and 6th places in some order. The boxes lighter than A are C, B and D, i.e. 3 boxes, so option (c) is the correct answer.

Circular seating All eight women face away from the centre, so for each of them 'left' is the anticlockwise direction and 'right' is the clockwise direction. Fix W at the top. Q is second to the left of W → two seats anticlockwise from W; P is third to the left of Q → three more seats anticlockwise. S is to the immediate right of W → the seat clockwise next to W, and U is fourth to the left of S → four seats anticlockwise from S. R has to be a neighbour of both W and Q, which fixes R on the single seat lying between them, and V is second to the right of W. The only vacant seat is then taken by T. In the completed circle U has T on one side and Q on the other, so option (b) is the correct answer.

Interchange of numbers The given equation is $5\times 8+4-12÷2$; interchange the numbers 8 and 4 wherever they occur. The new equation is $5\times 4+8-12÷2$. By BODMAS, do division and multiplication first: =20+8-6 =28-6=22 Hence option (b) is the correct answer.

Signs substitution Put the signs of option (b), namely $÷,+,-,\times$, in place of the four $*$ signs in order. $84÷12+15-5\times 2$ By BODMAS, division and multiplication come first: $84÷12=7$ and $5\times 2=10$. =7+15-10 =22-10=12, which is exactly the required right-hand side. Hence option (b) is the correct answer.

Odd letter-number pair In each pair the first letter moves +2, the second letter moves +3, and the number is halved. In (a) G+2=I, L+3=O and $120÷2=60$; in (b) P+2=R, S+3=V and $440÷2=220$; in (c) E+2=G, K+3=N and $248÷2=124$. In (d) the letters obey the rule (J+2=L, W+3=Z), but the number does not: $360÷2=180$, whereas 190 is given. Hence option (d) is the odd one out and is the correct answer.

Letter coding The word is first written backwards; then the letters are moved back alternately by 3 and 4 places. SMILE reversed is ELIMS: E-3=B, L-4=H, I-3=F, M-4=I, S-3=P, giving BHFIP. TOWER reversed is REWOT: R-3=O, E-4=A, W-3=T, O-4=K, T-3=Q, giving OATKQ, which confirms the rule. PLANT reversed is TNALP: T-3=Q, N-4=J, A-3=X (counting back past A into Z, Y, X), L-4=H, P-3=M. So PLANT is coded as QJXHM, and option (b) is the correct answer.

Letter coding Every letter is first replaced by its opposite letter (A↔Z, B↔Y, C↔X, …) and that opposite letter is then moved +2. SPACE → opposite letters H, K, Z, X, V → adding 2 gives J, M, B, Z, X, i.e. JMBZX. GHOST → opposite letters T, S, L, H, G → adding 2 gives V, U, N, J, I, i.e. VUNJI, so the rule is confirmed. BRAIN → opposite letters Y, I, Z, R, M → adding 2 gives A, K, B, T, O. So BRAIN is coded as AKBTO, and option (a) is the correct answer.

Mixed series Treat the three parts of each term separately. First letter: $H\to G\to F\to E$, a fall of 1 each time, so the next is D. Second letter: $S\to Q\to O\to M$, a fall of 2 each time, so the next is K. Number: $600\to 550\to 500\to 450$, a fall of 50 each time, so the next is 400. The missing term is DK400, so option (a) is the correct answer.

Wrong term in series First letters: B, H, N, T, Z — each one is 6 places ahead of the previous, so all of them are correct. Numbers: 10, 50, 250, 1250, 6250 — each one is 5 times the previous, so all of them are correct. Second letters: D, I, ?, S, X — from D to I is +5 and from S to X is +5, so the step must be +5 throughout. The third second-letter should therefore be I+5=N, but O is printed. So the wrong term is NO250 (it should be NN250), and option (b) is the correct answer.