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

Concept: Find one rule that works for both given pairs.

1. $12\times 3+4=40$ ✓
2. $9\times 3+4=31$ ✓
3. $16\times 3+4=48+4=52$.

Trick: Differences: $12\to 9$ is $-3$ and $40\to 31$ is $-9$, so the multiplier is 3; then fix the constant ($+4$).

Answer: (A) $52$

Concept: Treat each letter position as a separate series.

1. 1st: F, G, ?, I → $+1$ → H.
2. 2nd: D, C, ?, A → $-1$ → B.
3. 3rd: K, M, ?, Q → $+2$ → O.
4. 4th: I, G, ?, C → $-2$ → E.
5. Missing term: HBOE.

Trick: Pattern $+1,-1,+2,-2$ – all options start with HB, so only the last two letters (O, E) need checking.

Answer: (B) HBOE

Concept: Find how the middle and last numbers come from the first.

1. $(9,36,12)$: $9\times 4=36$ and $\frac{36}{3}=12$.
2. $(12,48,16)$: $12\times 4=48$ and $\frac{48}{3}=16$ ✓.
3. Option (D): $21\times 4=84$ and $\frac{84}{3}=28$ ✓.
4. (A) has 24 instead of 28; (B) and (C) have 81 instead of 84.

Trick: Last number $=\frac{4}{3}\times$ first ($9\to 12$, $12\to 16$, $21\to 28$).

Answer: (D) $(21,84,28)$

Concept: With a vertical mirror MN on the right, the order of characters is reversed and each character is flipped left–right; nothing turns upside down.

1. Given: L 2 7 A e f. Mirror order: f e A 7 2 L.
2. Each character is laterally inverted: f and e face left, A stays the same (symmetric), 7 and 2 face the other way, L opens to the left.
3. Option (D) shows this. (B) does not flip 2 and 7, (A) turns A upside down, and (C) turns some characters upside down.

Trick: Symmetric letters like A, H, M, O, T, V, W, X, Y look unchanged in a vertical mirror – use them as checkpoints.

Answer: (D)

Concept: Find the shift for each letter position; here it is $+4,-4,+4,-4$.

1. RACE → VWGA: $R(18)+4=V$, $A(1)-4=W$, $C(3)+4=G$, $E(5)-4=A$.
2. BANK → FWRG: $B+4=F$, $A-4=W$, $N+4=R$, $K-4=G$ ✓.
3. STEM: $S(19)+4=W$, $T(20)-4=P$, $E(5)+4=I$, $M(13)-4=I$.
4. So STEM → WPII.

Trick: Alternate $+4$ and $-4$; the second letter T − 4 = P already picks option (D).

Answer: (D) WPII

Concept: Compare letter by letter; the first different letter decides the order.

1. All begin with "Li". 3rd letter: Listen has s, the others have t → Listen (4) first.
2. Among "Lit-": 4th letter a (Litany), e (Literacy, Literature), h (Lithograph) → 3, then 1 and 2, then 5.
3. Literacy vs Literature: "Litera" is common; next letter c comes before t → Literacy (1) before Literature (2).
4. Order: 4, 3, 1, 2, 5.

Trick: Group by the common start (Lis-, Lit-), then by the next letter (a, e, h).

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

Concept: Place each set of signs in the blanks and evaluate with BODMAS.

1. (C): $6\times 2+0+8=12+0+8=20$ ✓
2. (A): $6+2\times 0+8=6+0+8=14$ ✗
3. (B): $6+2+0\times 8=8$ ✗; (D): $6-2\times 0+8=14$ ✗

Trick: Anything multiplied by 0 becomes 0 – to keep a big value, the × must not touch the 0.

Answer: (C) $\times ,+,+$

Concept: Faces seen together are adjacent; the face adjacent to four others is opposite the remaining sixth face.

1. 7 is common to both positions.
2. Neighbours of 7: 5 and 3 (first position), 6 and 2 (second position).
3. So 7 touches 2, 3, 5, 6; the only number left is 8.
4. Hence 8 is opposite 7.

Trick: Common face + four different neighbours → the missing number is opposite.

Answer: (D) $7$

Concept: Follow each symbol through the five positions: top-left (TL), top-right (TR), centre (C), bottom-left (BL), bottom-right (BR). Every symbol moves one place along the fixed cycle TL → C → TR → BR → BL → TL.

1. Æ: TL → C → TR → BR, so next BL.
2. @: TR → BR → BL → TL, so next C.
3. A: C → TR → BR → BL, so next TL.
4. "::": BL → TL → C → TR, so next BR; E: BR → BL → TL → C, so next TR.
5. Fig 5: A top-left, E top-right, @ centre, Æ bottom-left, "::" bottom-right = option (B).

Trick: Track just one symbol (Æ) to find the cycle, then confirm with a second one.

Answer: (B)

Concept: A sub-group is drawn inside its group; an unrelated group is a separate circle.

1. Labrador is a breed of dog, so Labradors lie inside Dogs.
2. Cats are different animals – no cat is a dog or a Labrador – so Cats is a separate circle.
3. This is option (B). (A) wrongly puts dogs inside cats.

Trick: Breed ⊂ animal type; a different animal type stays outside.

Answer: (B) Labradors inside Dogs, Cats separate

Concept: When a folded paper is cut and opened, every cut is reproduced as a mirror image across each fold line.

1. Fold 1 brings the top half down; fold 2 brings the left half onto the right, so only the bottom-right quarter receives the cut.
2. Opening fold 2 mirrors the design into the bottom-left quarter (about the vertical line).
3. Opening fold 1 mirrors both into the top quarters (about the horizontal line), so the sheet is symmetric about both centre lines with the curved notch in every corner design.
4. Only option (B) shows all four corner designs, including the curved cuts, as exact mirror images of one another.

Trick: Two folds = 4 copies. Check one corner, then confirm the design is mirrored (not just copied) on both centre lines.

Answer: (B) the second figure

Concept: Find the operation linking the three numbers in each given set and test it on the options.

1. (53, 36, 25): $53-17=36$ and $36-11=25$.
2. (71, 54, 43): $71-17=54$ and $54-11=43$.
3. Rule: second $=$ first $-17$, third $=$ second $-11$.
4. (99, 82, 71): $99-17=82$ ✓, $82-11=71$ ✓. Others fail, e.g. $41-17=24\ne 23$.

Trick: Check the first difference (17) quickly in every option; only one survives.

Answer: (B) (99, 82, 71)

Concept: When two positions of a dice share one common face in the same place, the other faces seen around it follow one cyclic order, which fixes the opposite pairs.

1. Common face 1 is on top in both views, so the face opposite 1 is the unseen character 3.
2. Around 1 we see B→2 in view 1 and A→C in view 2; the only cyclic order around 1 is B, 2, A, C.
3. In a cycle of four faces, alternate faces are opposite: B ↔ A and 2 ↔ C.

Trick: Common top face → write the four side faces in one ring; faces two steps apart are opposite.

Answer: (B) 2

Concept: Look for an alternating (repeating) pattern among the problem figures.

1. Figure 3 is exactly the same as figure 1, so the series alternates: 1, 2, 1, 2, …
2. Hence the 4th figure must be the same as figure 2.
3. Figure 2: large inverted triangle with the right half black and a small line at its lower right; small upright triangle with the lower band black and top white.
4. Option (B) matches all details; (A) and (D) have the small triangle's top shaded, (C) is upright.

Trick: If figures 1 and 3 are identical, answer = copy of figure 2.

Answer: (B) the second figure

Concept: Find the repeating block of letters that fits the series.

1. Try a block of six letters: a b a b b a.
2. Series: a b a b b a | a b a b b a | a b a b b a.
3. So the blanks are a, b, a.

Trick: Total letters = 18; try blocks of 6 (18 ÷ 6 = 3 repeats).

Answer: (B) a, b, a

Concept: Check the differences between consecutive terms.

1. $171-144=27$, $200-171=29$ – differences increase by 2.
2. Next difference $=31$: $200+31=231$.
3. Check: $231+33=264$ ✓.

Trick: Differences 27, 29, 31, 33 are consecutive odd numbers.

Answer: (D) 231

Concept: Track each letter position separately using alphabet positions.

1. 1st letters: F, C, ?, W, T → $-3$ each: F→C→Z→W→T.
2. 2nd letters: O, K, ?, C, Y → $-4$: O→K→G→C→Y.
3. 3rd letters: H, E, ?, Y, V → $-3$: H→E→B→Y→V.
4. 4th letters: V, R, ?, J, F → $-4$: V→R→N→J→F.

Trick: Pattern −3, −4, −3, −4 for the four positions; wrap around after A (B − 3 = Y).

Answer: (B) ZGBN

Concept: If one face is common and in the same place in two views, the four faces around it follow a single cyclic order; alternate faces in that ring are opposite.

1. A is on top in both views, so the face opposite A is the unseen B.
2. Around A: view 1 shows 1→2, view 2 shows 3→C; the ring is 1, 2, 3, C.
3. Alternate faces are opposite: 1 ↔ 3 and 2 ↔ C.

Trick: Common face fixed → ring of four → faces two apart are opposite.

Answer: (B) 1

Concept: Compare the word and its code letter by letter.

1. BLOCK → LBCON: pairs swapped (BL→LB, OC→CO) and last letter $+3$ (K→N).
2. CABIN → ACIBQ: CA→AC, BI→IB, N$+3$→Q ✓.
3. SUITE: SU→US, IT→TI, E$+3$→H ⇒ USTIH.

Trick: Swap letters in pairs (1-2, 3-4) and shift the 5th letter forward by 3.

Answer: (A) USTIH

Concept: The given figure must appear inside an option in the same size and orientation (no rotation).

1. Key features: a long vertical line on the right, a stepped outline on its left joined to it by a short horizontal stub, and a slanting line running from the step down to the lower end of the vertical line.
2. In option (C) this is traced on the right-hand side: the right border is the vertical line, the small box and the square give the step and the stub, and the descending diagonal gives the slanting line.
3. In the other options the stepped part lies on the wrong side of the vertical line or the diagonal slopes the other way.

Trick: Match a distinctive part first (here the slant meeting the vertical line), then trace the rest.

Answer: (C) the third figure