18 February 2025 · Shift 1

Linear seating No one sits to the left of B, so B takes seat 1 of the row of seven. Only four people sit between B and N, so N is four seats away from B: N takes seat 6. Only three people sit to the right of L, so L takes seat 4. Seats 2, 3, 5 and 7 are left. M sits immediately left of S, and 2-3 is the only pair of empty seats that are next to each other, so M is at 2 and S at 3. A is not a neighbour of L (seat 4), so A cannot take seat 5; A takes seat 7 and T takes seat 5. Moving left from A at seat 7: N (6th), T (5th), L (4th) - so L sits third to the left of A. Hence the correct option is (c).

Circular seating Everyone faces the centre, so each person's LEFT is the next seat clockwise and their RIGHT is the next seat anticlockwise. R is immediate left of Q and immediate right of O, so clockwise the order runs Q, R, O. M is immediate left of O and immediate right of L, so clockwise the order runs O, M, L. P is immediate left of L and immediate right of N, so clockwise the order runs L, P, N. Joining the three chains gives the clockwise circle Q, R, O, M, L, P, N and back to Q. Q's neighbours are R and N; P's neighbours are L and N. The only person common to both is N. Hence the correct option is (d).

Blood relations R is the mother of Q, so Q belongs to the generation below R. S is the wife of Q and T is the daughter of S, so T is the daughter of Q and S; Q is T's father. T's father is Q, and Q's mother is R, so R is T's father's mother. P is the brother of R, so P is the brother of T's father's mother. Hence P is T's father's mother's brother, and the correct option is (b).

Paper folding and punching The sheet is folded twice: first the top half is folded DOWN on to the bottom half, then the right half is folded LEFT on to the left half, leaving the bottom-left quarter. Unfolding reverses the folds, and each fold acts as a mirror. Undoing the left-right fold copies the quarter into the bottom-right quarter, reversed left to right. Undoing the top-bottom fold copies the whole bottom half into the top half, turned upside down - so in the top half the half-disc sits ABOVE the letters instead of below them. So the top-right quarter must be BOTH reversed and upside down. That happens only in option (a): (b) turns the top half over but does not reverse the right column, (d) reverses the right column but never turns the top half over, and (c) repeats the same mark four times with no mirroring at all. Hence the correct option is (a).

Paper folding and cutting The sheet is folded in half along a vertical line, and the half is folded in half again along a vertical line, so the folded piece is one QUARTER of the width and the full height. The cuts are made on that narrow strip: from the top a circle, an upward triangle, a downward triangle and a circle. Unfolding restores four vertical strips of equal width, and the strip of four cuts is reproduced in every one of them. So the opened sheet shows 4 columns x 4 cuts = 16 marks, arranged as a row of four circles, a row of four upward triangles, a row of four downward triangles and a row of four circles. Option (b) shows only two columns, which is what a single fold would give; options (a) and (d) do not repeat the strip in all four columns. Hence the correct option is (c).

Alphabetical rearrangement The word is HOSTILE; its letters in English alphabetical order are E, H, I, L, O, S, T, giving EHILOST. Now compare the two words position by position. H-E, O-H, S-I, T-L, I-O, L-S, E-T: not a single position carries the same letter in both words. So the position of zero letters remains unchanged, and the correct option is (a).

Interchange of signs The instruction swaps two pairs of signs, so replace every sign in the expression by its partner. $97+70-35\times 5÷4$ becomes $97\times 70÷35+5-4$. Apply BODMAS: division and multiplication first, from left to right. $97\times 70=6790$ and $6790÷35=194$. 194+5-4=195. Hence the correct option is (c).

Number series Take the difference between consecutive terms. 201-200=1, 200-197=3, 197-192=5, 192-185=7. The numbers subtracted are the odd numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, so the next subtraction is 9. 185-9=176. (The same pattern seen another way: the terms are $201-0^2,201-1^2,201-2^2,201-3^2,201-4^2$, so the next term is $201-5^2=176$.) Hence the correct option is (a).

Letter series with blanks The twenty places split into five groups of four: _DGC / E_JF / HJ_I / KMP_ / NPS_. Read the groups down each column. The third letters that are given are G, J, M, P - a chain rising by +3 - so the first letters must also rise by +3 and the last letters likewise. First letters: the second group starts with E, so the first group starts with E-3=B. Second letters: D, _, J, M, P rises by +3, so the missing second letter of group 2 is D+3=G. Third letters: G, J, _, P, S rises by +3, so the missing third letter of group 3 is J+3=M. Fourth letters: C, F, I, _, _ rises by +3, so they are I+3=L and L+3=O. Reading the blanks in order gives B, G, M, L, O, and the correct option is (d).

Code from common letters Compare the two words and the two codes. POLE and PLOT share the letters P, O and L; their codes 6431 and 4635 share the digits 6, 4 and 3. So {P, O, L} uses the digits {6, 4, 3} in some order. The letter left over in POLE is E, so E is coded 1; the letter left over in PLOT is T, so T takes the remaining digit 5. Hence T is coded as 5 and the correct option is (a).

Mirror image MN is a vertical mirror placed to the RIGHT of the figure, so the image is turned left to right; top and bottom stay where they are. The crossed circle at the top has both a horizontal and a vertical diameter. It is symmetric about a vertical line, so in the image it still shows BOTH diameters. The hanger below it is not symmetric: the solid black dot hangs from the LEFT arm and the hollow dot from the RIGHT arm, so in the mirror the solid dot must hang from the RIGHT arm. So the image needed has a crossed circle with both diameters and the solid dot on the right - which is option (c). Option (b) puts the solid dot on the right but drops the horizontal diameter of the circle; (a) keeps the solid dot on the left; and (d) replaces the cross by a diagonal cross. Hence the correct option is (c).

Odd letter-cluster Measure the gaps inside each cluster using the positions of the letters in the alphabet. TYV: $T\left(20\right)\to Y\left(25\right)$ is +5 and $Y\left(25\right)\to V\left(22\right)$ is -3. RWT: $R\left(18\right)\to W\left(23\right)$ is +5 and $W\left(23\right)\to T\left(20\right)$ is -3. LQN: $L\left(12\right)\to Q\left(17\right)$ is +5 and $Q\left(17\right)\to N\left(14\right)$ is -3. XCA: $X\left(24\right)\to C\left(3+26=29\right)$ is +5, but $C\left(3\right)\to A\left(1\right)$ is only -2. The second step breaks the pattern only in XCA, so it does not belong to the group. Hence the correct option is (c).

Syllogism Draw the smallest picture that keeps every statement true. 'Some saucers are plates' makes the two sets overlap; 'no plate is a bowl' and 'no plate is a fork' keep bowls and forks completely outside plates. Nothing forbids a bowl from touching the part of the saucers that lies outside plates, so some saucers may well be bowls - conclusion (I) does not follow. Nothing forces forks and bowls to meet either; they can be drawn apart, so conclusion (II) does not follow. A conclusion follows only if it is true in EVERY valid diagram, so neither conclusion follows. Hence the correct option is (b).

Letter-number analogy Treat the two letters and the number separately. YE $\to$ WG: Y-2=W and E+2=G. CS $\to$ AU: C-2=A and S+2=U. So the first letter moves two steps back and the second two steps forward. For the numbers: $12\to 3$ and $44\to 11$, and in both cases $12÷4=3$, $44÷4=11$, so the number is divided by 4. For DH 36: D-2=B, H+2=J and $36÷4=9$. So DH 36 is related to BJ 9, and the correct option is (c).

Letter-cluster series Compare the clusters position by position. First letters: A, D, G, J - each is +3 from the one before, so the next is J+3=M. Second letters: C, F, I, L - again +3, so the next is L+3=O. Third letters: K, N, Q, T - again +3, so the next is T+3=W. The missing cluster is MOW, and the correct option is (a).

Venn diagram of classes Every cat is an animal, but not every animal is a cat, so the circle for cats lies completely INSIDE the circle for animals. A box is neither a cat nor an animal, so its circle stands completely apart from both. The diagram wanted is therefore one small circle inside a bigger one, plus a third circle that touches neither. Only option (b) shows that; (a), (c) and (d) all make boxes overlap the other classes, and none of them puts cats inside animals. Hence the correct option is (b).

Number series Take the difference between consecutive terms. 921-911=10, 930-921=9, 938-930=8, 945-938=7. The amount added falls by 1 each time, so the next addition is 6. 945+6=951. Hence the correct option is (c).

Code from common letters Compare the two words and the two codes. FLAG and GOLF share the letters F, L and G; their codes 1764 and 4726 share the digits 7, 6 and 4. So {F, L, G} uses the digits {7, 6, 4} in some order. The letter left over in FLAG is A, and the digit left over in 1764 is 1, so A is coded 1. (The same check on GOLF leaves O with 2.) Hence the correct option is (a).

Letter-cluster analogy Compare the clusters letter by letter. TFIM $\to$ VEKL: T+2=V, F-1=E, I+2=K, M-1=L. YADS $\to$ AZFR: Y+2=A (counting on past Z), A-1=Z, D+2=F, S-1=R - the same +2, -1, +2, -1. Apply it to JFQZ: J+2=L, F-1=E, Q+2=S, Z-1=Y. That gives LESY, and the correct option is (b).

Figure series Count the sides of each figure in the strip instead of looking at its outline as a whole. Figure 1 is a plain pentagon - five sides. Figure 2 is a square whose top side is replaced by a V, which still leaves five sides. Figure 3 is a diamond with one wedge cut out of its upper-right side - again five sides. Figure 4 is a square whose bottom side is replaced by a peak - five sides once more. So every figure of the series is a closed figure with exactly FIVE sides, and the missing figure must have five sides too. Option (a) is a five-sided figure. Option (b) is a double arrowhead with six sides, option (c) also has six sides, and option (d) is a seven-sided arrow. Hence the correct option is (a).