21 February 2025 · Shift 1

Letter series with blanks The completed string has 20 letters, so break it into five groups of four. Read the groups down each column: E, G, I, K, M and B, D, F, H, J and F, H, J, L, N and K, M, O, Q, S - every column moves +2. The blanks are the 1st letter of group 1, the 2nd of group 2, the 3rd of group 3 and the 4th of groups 4 and 5. Filling them in order gives E, D, J, Q, S. Hence the correct option is (c).

Number coding Write the two pairs one below the other and look for what they share. A, R and T occur in both words, and the digits 7, 3 and 5 occur in both codes, so those three digits stand for A, R and T in some order. In 'RATE' the extra letter is E and the extra digit is 2, so E = 2. In 'PART' the extra letter is P and the extra digit is 6, so P = 6. Hence the correct option is (b).

Dice: opposite faces F lies on the top face in both positions, so F is the common face. The faces standing beside F are E and D in the first view and A and B in the second - four different letters, all adjacent to F. A cube has only six faces, so the one letter left over, C, cannot touch F: C must lie opposite F. Hence the face opposite C carries F. Hence the correct option is (c).

Number series Take the difference between one term and the next. The differences are +9, +10, +11, +12, +13 - each one bigger than the last by 1. So the missing term =470+11=481. Hence the correct option is (a).

Letter cluster series Handle the three letters of a cluster as three separate series. 1st letters E, I, M, Q rise by +4, so the next is U. 2nd letters I, G, E, C fall by −2, so the next is A. 3rd letters K, J, I, H fall by −1, so the next is G. The missing cluster is UAG. Hence the correct option is (d).

Circular seating Everyone faces the centre, so a person's left is the clockwise direction and their right is the anticlockwise one. Q sits immediately left of D and S immediately right of D, which fixes S, D and Q as three neighbours in clockwise order. E sits second to the left of Q and F third to the right of Q; R takes the only seat left. Counting from F towards its left we pass S, then D, then Q before reaching R. So three people sit between R and F. Hence the correct option is (a).

Letter-number analogy Compare the given pair place by place: N → Q is +3, T → R is -2 and 6 → 1 is -5. The second pair obeys the same rule: F+3=I, N-2=L, 8-5=3. Apply it to JL 16: J+3=M, L-2=J and 16-5=11. So JL 16 is related to MJ 11. Hence the correct option is (d).

Syllogism All onions are potatoes, so the onion circle lies wholly inside the potato circle. No potato is a tomato and no potato is a corn, so both of those circles stay outside the potato circle. Conclusion (I): the onions lie inside potatoes and potatoes never meet tomatoes, so no onion can be a tomato - it follows. Conclusion (II): tomatoes and corn are only known to be outside potatoes; nothing forces them to meet, so this is a possibility, not a certainty - it does not follow. Hence the correct option is (c).

Rearranging letters of a word Reverse English alphabetical order means the letters run from Z down to A. ACTIVITY has A, C, T, I, V, I, T, Y; sorted from Z to A they read Y, V, T, T, I, I, C, A. Comparing the two rows place by place, only the 3rd letter (T) and the 6th letter (I) stand where they stood before. So two positions remain unchanged. Hence the correct option is (d).

Number series Take the difference between one term and the next. The differences are the odd numbers +3, +5, +7, +9, so the next difference is +11. Missing term =591+11=602. Hence the correct option is (d).

Embedded figure Figure (X) is a tall narrow strip - two vertical lines joined by a short horizontal line at the top - cut by one straight line that touches both verticals at the same height and sticks out on both sides of the strip. In option (c) the middle column supplies the two verticals, the top edge of the square joins them, and the lower horizontal line of the left column and the lower horizontal line of the right column lie at exactly the same height, so together they make the crossing line with an arm on each side. That single detail - one straight cut at the SAME height on both sides of the middle strip - is what the other options lack: in (a) the two sides are cut at different heights, in (d) only the left side is cut, and (b) has no strip at all. Hence the correct option is (c).

Circular seating Everyone faces the centre, so a person's left is the clockwise direction and their right is the anticlockwise one. Seat E first. B sits third to E's right and G second to E's left, and F sits so that G is on F's immediate right; G is then not a neighbour of E, as required. A sits immediately right of B and C immediately left of E, so D takes the only seat left, between C and A. Counting from D towards its left we meet A and then B. So only one person sits between D and B. Hence the correct option is (d).

Word coding Write the two statements one below the other and look for the common word and the common code. 'breakfast' is the only word that appears in both sentences, and 'hk' is the only code that appears in both code strings. So 'hk' must stand for 'breakfast'. Hence the correct option is (b).

Figure series Each box holds six symbols standing in two columns, with the Ω in the free column beside them. From one box to the next every symbol takes one step clockwise round the six cells: up the left column, across the top into the right column, down the right column and back along the bottom. Figure 4 has 7, 9, 5 on the left and M, K, T on the right, so one more step gives 9, 5, T on the left and 7, M, K on the right. The block also swings back to the right-hand side of the box, with the Ω on the left, exactly as in figures 1 and 2. Only option (c) shows both of these - the right symbols and the block on the right of the box. Hence the correct option is (c).

Paper folding and cutting The sheet is folded twice - bottom over top, then right over left - so it ends up as one quarter and every cut is made through four thicknesses. Unfolding therefore repeats each cut four times, mirrored about the horizontal fold and about the vertical fold. The circle at the folded corner reappears at all four corners, and the circle near the open corner of the quarter reappears as four circles clustered round the centre; the triangle and the right-angled triangle likewise appear four times each. So the answer must show four corner circles AND four circles round the centre - only option (a) has both. (b) keeps the corner circles but leaves only two circles at the centre, (d) has two central circles and no corner circles at all, and (c) repeats nothing. Hence the correct option is (a).

Letter cluster analogy Check the first pair letter by letter: U → X, H → K, A → D, R → U. Every letter moves three places forward, and the second pair does the same: S+3=V, D+3=G, W+3=Z, C+3=F. Applying +3 to IMOS gives I+3=L, M+3=P, O+3=R, S+3=V, that is LPRV. Hence the correct option is (c).

Interchange of signs Swap the signs first: every + becomes $\times$, every $\times$ becomes +, every - becomes $÷$ and every $÷$ becomes -. So $51÷6+9\times 84-4$ is read as $51-6\times 9+84÷4$. By BODMAS do $\times$ and $÷$ first: $6\times 9=54$ and $84÷4=21$. Now 51-54+21=18. Hence the correct option is (c).

Venn diagram of classes Every tiger is an animal and every monkey is an animal, so both classes lie completely inside the class of animals. No tiger is a monkey, so those two circles must stay apart from each other. Option (b) shows exactly this: two separate circles, both inside one larger figure. In (a) only two classes are drawn and they overlap, in (c) just one class sits inside the third, and in (d) all three classes are drawn apart, leaving tigers and monkeys outside the animals. Hence the correct option is (b).

Odd one out (letter clusters) Measure the 2nd and the 3rd letter of each cluster from its 1st letter. BZC: B-2=Z (counting back from B wraps round to Z) and B+1=C. NLO: N-2=L, N+1=O. PNQ: P-2=N, P+1=Q. QPR gives Q-1=P, not Q-2, so it is the only cluster whose second letter is one step away instead of two. Hence the correct option is (c).

Coded blood relations Take the expression $P+Q\times R-S÷T$ one link at a time. P+Q: P is the daughter of Q. $Q\times R$: Q is the wife of R, so R is P's father. R-S: R is the brother of S. $S÷T$: S is the father of T. T's father is S, and S's brother is R, so R is T's father's brother. P is R's daughter, so P is T's father's brother's daughter. Hence the correct option is (c).