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

Concept: Two 'All' statements chain together: All A are B, All B are C ⇒ All A are C.

1. Farmers lie inside Doctors, and Doctors lie inside Magicians.
2. So all farmers are magicians – I follows.
3. II ('No farmer is a magician') directly contradicts I – it does not follow.

Trick: All + All = All (in the same direction).

Answer: (C) Only conclusion I follows

Concept: Row rule: third number $=\frac{\text{first}\times \text{second}}{2}$.

1. Row 1: $\frac{14\times 26}{2}=182$ ✓. Row 2: $\frac{24\times 16}{2}=192$ ✓.
2. Row 3: $\frac{?\times 22}{2}=187\Rightarrow ?\times 11=187$.
3. $?=17$.

Trick: If the third number is large, try product (or half product) of the first two.

Answer: (D) $17$

Concept: Unfold step by step; each cut is mirrored across the fold line.

1. The diamond was folded right-to-left along the vertical diagonal, then bottom-to-top along the horizontal diagonal; cuts are in the top-left quarter: an upward triangle, a rectangle and a small square near the centre.
2. Opening the upward fold mirrors the cuts downward: the lower triangle points down, rectangle–square pairs appear just below the centre line.
3. Opening the side fold mirrors the left half to the right: square nearer the centre, rectangle outside.
4. This is figure (D): ▲▲ on top, ▼▼ below, four rectangle–square pairs symmetric about both diagonals.

Trick: After a horizontal fold, shapes flip up ↔ down (▲ becomes ▼); after a vertical fold, left ↔ right.

Answer: (D) the figure with ▲▲ at top and ▼▼ at bottom, squares next to the centre

Concept: A word common to two sentences takes the digit common to their codes.

1. 'I like chocolates' = 958 and 'we bought chocolates' = 153 → chocolates = 5.
2. 'I like chocolates' and 'we like them' (816) → like = 8; so I = 9.
3. 'we bought chocolates' and 'we like them' → we = 1; so bought = 3 and them = 6.
4. 'I bought them' → 9, 3, 6 → 936.

Trick: Compare sentences two at a time and strike out the common word–digit.

Answer: (A) $936$

Concept: Column rule: bottom $=(\text{top}+1)\times (\text{middle}+1)$.

1. Column 1: $(17+1)\times (21+1)=18\times 22=396$ ✓.
2. Column 2: $(18+1)\times (22+1)=19\times 23=437$ ✓.
3. Column 3: $(19+1)\times (?+1)=520\Rightarrow ?+1=26\Rightarrow ?=25$.

Trick: 396 is close to $17\times 21=357$ – such near-misses hint at adding 1 to each factor.

Answer: (C) $25$

Concept: Consonants and vowels are shifted differently.

1. VOWEL → ZPAFP: consonants V, W, L move $+4$ (Z, A, P); vowels O, E move $+1$ (P, F).
2. FRICK: consonants F, R, C, K $+4$ → J, V, G, O; vowel I $+1$ → J.
3. Code: JVJGO.

Trick: If shifts look irregular, check whether vowels and consonants follow separate rules.

Answer: (D) JVJGO

Concept: Track each letter position separately.

1. 1st letters: K, J, I, H → $-1$ → G.
2. 2nd letters: O, P, Q, R → $+1$ → S.
3. 3rd letters: Y, X, W, V → $-1$ → U. Answer: GSU.

Trick: Three-letter series: make three columns and read each down.

Answer: (B) GSU

Concept: Column rule: bottom $=\sqrt[3]{\text{top}}\times \text{middle}$.

1. Column 1: $\sqrt[3]{125}\times 27=5\times 27=135$ ✓.
2. Column 3: $\sqrt[3]{64}\times 72=4\times 72=288$ ✓.
3. Column 2: $\sqrt[3]{8}\times 55=2\times 55=110$.

Trick: Top row 125, 8, 64 are perfect cubes – use their cube roots.

Answer: (C) $110$

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

1. (X) has a horizontal top arm going left, a long vertical stem, and a foot turning right at the bottom.
2. In option (C) the inner lines of the grid trace exactly this outline: top bar, stem going down through the middle, and the step to the right at the bottom.
3. In (A), (B) and (D) the arms point the wrong way or the stem length does not match.

Trick: Trace one distinctive corner of (X) first, then follow the outline in the option.

Answer: (C) option (C)

Concept: Find the rule: second $=3\times (\text{first}{)}^2$.

1. $14:588$ → $3\times {14}^2=3\times 196=588$ ✓.
2. $18:972$ → $3\times {18}^2=3\times 324=972$ ✓.
3. Others: $3\times {20}^2=1200$, $3\times {12}^2=432$, $3\times {11}^2=363$ – do not match.

Trick: Divide the second number by the first: $588÷14=42=3\times 14$.

Answer: (B) $18:972$

Concept: Each position follows its own rule.

1. 1st letters: T, D, V, F, X → alternate terms T, V, X and D, F, (H) each $+2$ → H.
2. 2nd letters: H, I, J, K, L → $+1$ → M.
3. 3rd letters: C, U, E, W, G → alternate terms C, E, G and U, W, (Y) each $+2$ → Y. Answer: HMY.

Trick: When a column jumps around, check alternate terms.

Answer: (C) HMY

Concept: Decide 'inside', 'overlap' or 'separate' for each pair.

1. Every father is a male → Fathers circle lies inside Males.
2. Some infants are male → Infants overlaps Males.
3. No infant is a father → Infants stays outside the Fathers circle. This is diagram (A).

Trick: Subset → circle inside; partly common → overlap; nothing common → separate.

Answer: (A) the diagram with one circle inside a big circle and a third circle overlapping only the big one

Concept: Females who are both food-lovers and lawyers lie in the common part of all three shapes.

1. Circle = Lawyers, Rectangle = Food-lovers, Hexagon = Females.
2. The number lying inside the circle, the rectangle and the hexagon together is 12.
3. 7 is in rectangle and hexagon but outside the circle; 27 is in circle and hexagon but outside the rectangle.

Trick: 'Both A and B' among C → the region common to all three figures.

Answer: (B) $12$

Concept: The option figure must be traceable inside (X) without rotation.

1. Figure (X) contains a tall narrow rectangle on the left whose lower end narrows into a triangle at the bottom-left.
2. Option (A) – a vertical rectangle with a triangle attached at its foot – matches these lines exactly in the same orientation.
3. (B), (C), (D) need a rounded shape, an arrow tip or grid lines in positions that (X) does not have.

Trick: Match the most unusual part first (here the triangle at the bottom), then check the rest.

Answer: (A) option (A)

Concept: Find common words and common codes between sentences.

1. 'fast and furious' = co mo jo; 'do it fast' = cha mo ga → fast = mo.
2. 'do it fast' and 'she did it' (ga la nop) → it = ga.
3. In 'do it fast' = cha mo ga, the remaining word 'do' = cha.

Trick: Eliminate known words one by one; the last one left gets the last code.

Answer: (C) cha

Concept: Track the circle and the lines separately.

1. Lines: 1 vertical (left side) → 2 horizontal (top) → 3 vertical (right side) → next 4 horizontal at the bottom; they move clockwise and increase by one.
2. Circle: top-right → bottom-right → bottom-left → next top-left (moving clockwise corner to corner).
3. The white stripe of the circle alternates: lower-left, upper-right, lower-left → next upper-right.
4. (B) and (C) both have 4 bottom lines and a top-left circle, but only (C) has the stripe at the upper-right.

Trick: When two options look alike, compare the tiny detail (here the stripe in the circle).

Answer: (C) option (C)

Concept: Compare letter by letter from the left.

1. All start with 'Pr'. Pristine has 'i' as the third letter, the rest have 'e' → Pristine comes last.
2. Prec-: Precaution (a) before Precious (i).
3. Pres-: Pressure (s) before Presume (u).
4. Order: Precaution, Precious, Pressure, Presume, Pristine → 5, 2, 3, 4, 1.

Trick: Look for the first position where the words differ.

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

Concept: Draw the family tree and link the two families through marriage.

1. Virat is the son of Devansh; Preeti is Virat's only sister → Preeti is Devansh's only daughter.
2. Devansh is Manoj's father-in-law → Manoj is married to Preeti.
3. Manoj is the son of Dileep and Maaya → Maaya is the mother of Preeti's husband.
4. So Maaya is Preeti's mother-in-law.

Trick: Husband's mother = mother-in-law.

Answer: (A) Mother-in-law

Concept: East then a right turn means South; the two legs are at a right angle, so use Pythagoras.

1. Bismita goes 200 m East, turns right (South) and goes 210 m.
2. Shortest distance $=\sqrt{{200}^2+{210}^2}=\sqrt{40000+44100}$.
3. $=\sqrt{84100}=290\text{m}$.

Trick: $20:21:29$ is a Pythagorean triplet, so $200:210:290$.

Answer: (B) $290\text{m}$

Concept: Each letter becomes two letters: its opposite letter, then the next letter.

1. P → K (opposite, $16+11=27$) and Q ($+1$); L → O, M; U → F, V; M → N, N. So PLUM = KQ OM FV NN.
2. B → Y, C; I → R, J; G → T, H.
3. BIG = YCRJTH.

Trick: Opposite letter = $27-\text{position}$.

Answer: (D) YCRJTH