SSC CPO Paper I 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024 PYQs

Concept: Break the chain from Roshni's side.

1. Roshni's mother's father's wife = Roshni's maternal grandmother.
2. Her only son = Roshni's mother's brother, i.e. Roshni's maternal uncle (Mama).
3. The maternal uncle's wife is Roshni's maternal aunt (Mami).

Trick: Mother's father's wife = grandmother; her only son = mother's only brother.

Answer: (B) Maternal uncle's wife (Mami)

Concept: Find the operation between the first pair and check it with the third pair.

1. $88.4-64=24.4$ and $96.2-71.8=24.4$.
2. So the second term = first term $-24.4$.
3. $72.8-24.4=48.4$.

Trick: With decimals, try a constant difference first.

Answer: (D) $48.4$

Concept: Place the cities on a grid, north up.

1. B at the centre, A north of B, D east of B; C west of D lies on the B–D line.
2. E is south of C and south-west of A, so C must be to the west of A's line, i.e. west of B.
3. Thus C – B – D lie in a row from west to east: B is to the east of C.

Trick: Use the ‘south-west of A’ clue to fix which side of B the city C lies.

Answer: (C) East

Concept: The given four-sided shape (a long slanting left edge, a pointed bottom vertex, rotation not allowed) must appear exactly inside the option.

1. The figure has a vertical left side, a short slanting top edge, a slanting right side forming a point on the right, and a lower slanting edge meeting at the bottom.
2. In option (B), in the left-middle part of the design, these lines form exactly this shape with the same orientation.
3. In the other options the needed vertical line or slanting line is missing or placed differently.

Trick: Hunt for the most unusual line (the vertical segment inside the left half) first.

Answer: (B) Option figure (B)

Concept: Compare letter by letter; all words start with ‘Me’.

1. Third letters: Mea(surement), Mel(anin), Mer(itorious), Met(aphor), Met(hodology).
2. a < l < r < t, so Measurement, Melanin, Meritorious come first in that order.
3. Metaphor vs Methodology: 4th letters a < h → Metaphor first. Order: 1, 3, 5, 4, 2.

Trick: Remove the common start ‘Me’ and sort by the next letter.

Answer: (B) 1, 3, 5, 4, 2

Concept: When one face is common in two views, read the other faces around it in the same rotational order.

1. Face 5 is common (right side) in both views.
2. Around 5, view 1 reads 6 → 4 and view 2 reads 3 → 6.
3. Joining: 3 → 6 → 4 → x around 5. Faces two steps apart are opposite, so 3 is opposite 4 (and 6 is opposite the remaining face).

Trick: Rotating about the common face: faces separated by one face in the cycle are opposite.

Answer: (B) $4$

Concept: Pair is country : its currency.

1. Russia's currency is the Ruble.
2. Myanmar's currency is the Kyat.
3. Baht – Thailand; Dirham – UAE/Morocco; Peseta – Spain's former currency.

Yaad rakhein: Myanmar – Kyat, Thailand – Baht, Cambodia – Riel, Laos – Kip.

Answer: (C) Kyat

Concept: Draw the minimum Venn diagram allowed by the statements.

1. Some pens are markers, and all markers are crayons → the pens that are markers are also crayons.
2. So ‘some crayons are pens’ is definite → II follows.
3. I says no pen is a crayon – this contradicts the above, so I does not follow.

Trick: Some A are B + All B are C ⇒ Some A are C (and Some C are A).

Answer: (D) Only conclusion II follows

Concept: Write the alphabet positions and check the gaps.

1. ADEJ: 1, 4, 5, 10 → $+3,+1,+5$.
2. LOPU: 12, 15, 16, 21 → $+3,+1,+5$; FIJO: 6, 9, 10, 15 → $+3,+1,+5$.
3. PSTZ: 16, 19, 20, 26 → $+3,+1,+6$ – different.

Trick: Only the last gap differs – check it carefully in every option.

Answer: (A) PSTZ

Concept: Look at the differences and how they grow.

1. Differences: $2,4,12,48$.
2. $4=2\times 2,12=4\times 3,48=12\times 4$ → next $=48\times 5=240$.
3. Next term $=114+240=354$.

Trick: Differences multiplied by 2, 3, 4, … grow very fast – check this when the last jump is large.

Answer: (C) $354$

Concept: Track the small corner triangle and the main star-and-circle figure separately.

1. The small black triangle moves one corner clockwise: top-left → top-right → bottom-right → next bottom-left.
2. The star with the circle turns ${90}^{\circ }$ clockwise each step: circle at top → right → bottom → next at left.
3. Rotating Fig 3 by ${90}^{\circ }$ clockwise puts the black part of the circle on its upper side. Option (C) matches; (A) has the shading on the wrong side.

Trick: Decide the corner element first – it removes options quickly; then check the shading.

Answer: (C) Option figure (C)

Concept: Find the repeating group of letters.

1. The series has 21 places; try the block ‘gbcppsc’ (7 letters) three times.
2. g b c p p s c | g b c p p s c | g b c p p s c fits every given letter.
3. Blanks in order: b, p, s, g, p, c, b, p.

Trick: 21 places → try blocks of 3 or 7.

Answer: (C) b p s g p c b p

Concept: Letters are shifted alternately −2 and +2.

1. GROUP → G−2=E, R+2=T, O−2=M, U+2=W, P−2=N → ETMWN ✓.
2. PACTED → NCAVCF ✓ with the same −2, +2 pattern.
3. LIONS → L−2=J, I+2=K, O−2=M, N+2=P, S−2=Q → JKMPQ.

Trick: Alternating ± shifts: write the shift under each letter.

Answer: (A) JKMPQ

Concept: Put each option's signs in order and check that both sides are equal.

1. Option (D): ÷, +, =, −, ×, +.
2. LHS: $\sqrt{729÷9}+67=\sqrt{81}+67=9+67=76$.
3. RHS: $81-(4\times 6)+19=81-24+19=76$. LHS = RHS ✓.

Trick: Look for the option whose ‘=’ can split the expression sensibly – here only the 3rd sign as ‘=’ gives 76 = 76.

Answer: (D) ÷, +, =, −, ×, +

Concept: Count odd days between the two dates; going back in time, move the day backwards.

1. From 2 March 2006 to 2 March 2022 = 16 years.
2. Leap days (29 Feb) in between: 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 = 4.
3. Odd days $=16+4=20$, and $20÷7$ leaves remainder 6.
4. Wednesday − 6 days = Thursday.

Trick: Going back 6 days = going forward 1 day: Wednesday + 1 = Thursday.

Answer: (C) Thursday

Concept: South-facing people have their left on the east; north-facing people have their left on the west.

1. V is at the left end of Row I (south-facing) → east end; T opposite V → east end of Row II.
2. E is next to V and opposite P.
3. Row II's left end is the west end; C sits next to it and opposite O. The west end of Row II is then I (and L faces him).

Trick: Draw both rows on one W–E line before placing anyone.

Answer: (C) I

Concept: Find a rule linking the first two numbers to the third.

1. $(3,11,92)$: $3^4+11=81+11=92$.
2. $(4,8,264)$: $4^4+8=256+8=264$.
3. Option (C): $5^4+35=625+35=660$ ✓. (D): $6^4+12=1308\ne 676$.

Trick: When the third number is close to a perfect power of the first (81, 256), test $a^4$.

Answer: (C) $(5,35,660)$

Concept: Mirror on the right (vertical): left ↔ right; top and bottom unchanged.

1. Object: triangle part on the left, square part on the right.
2. Image: squares come to the left, the pointed triangle part to the right.
3. Top square stays outlined, bottom square stays black; top small triangle stays black, bottom one outlined – option (A).

Trick: Check one shaded element (black square at bottom) – it stays at the bottom in a vertical mirror.

Answer: (A) Option figure (A)

Concept: Use conversion of statements and the minimum Venn diagram.

1. ‘No truck is a bus’ converts to ‘No bus is a truck’ → I follows.
2. ‘Some buses are cars’ converts to ‘Some cars are buses’ → III follows.
3. Nothing links cars to trucks, so ‘All cars are trucks’ (II) does not follow.

Trick: ‘No’ and ‘Some’ statements can always be reversed; ‘All’ cannot.

Answer: (D) Both conclusions I and III follow.

Concept: Find the rule from the first and third pairs.

1. $21\to 40$: $21\times 2-2=40$.
2. $26\to 50$: $26\times 2-2=50$.
3. $16\times 2-2=30$.

Trick: Second term is just under double the first → try $2n-2$.

Answer: (C) $30$