Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Swap + ↔ − and × ↔ ÷, then use BODMAS.

1. $110\times 10-175÷5+29$ becomes $110÷10+175\times 5-29$.
2. $110÷10=11$; $175\times 5=875$.
3. $11+875-29=857$.

Trick: Rewrite the whole expression first, then solve — avoid swapping mentally while calculating.

Answer: (B) 857

Concept: Each figure has a small shape (left) and a big shape (right).

1. The small shape of a figure becomes the big shape (on the right) of the next figure: triangle → big triangle, rectangle → big rectangle, concave shape → big concave shape.
2. In figure 4 the small shape is a hexagon, so figure 5 must have a big hexagon on the right.
3. A new small shape appears on the left — only option (A) has a small shape on the left and the big hexagon on the right.

Trick: Follow the 'small today, big tomorrow' chain and keep the positions (small left, big right).

Answer: (A)

Concept: Compare corresponding letters of successive terms.

1. 1st letters: A, D, G → $+3$ → J.
2. 2nd letters: F, I, L → $+3$ → O.
3. 3rd letters: M, P, S → $+3$ → V. Next term = JOV.

Trick: Each term is the previous term with every letter moved $+3$.

Answer: (C) JOV

Concept: Substitute the real signs and use BODMAS.

1. $9+7\times 15-5÷5$ becomes $9\times 7-15÷5+5$.
2. $9\times 7=63$; $15÷5=3$.
3. $63-3+5=65$.

Trick: Write the new expression on paper before calculating to avoid sign errors.

Answer: (D) 65

Concept: Track the facing direction after each turn and the coordinates, taking A as $(0,0)$.

1. South 5 km → $(0,-5)$; facing South, left = East: 5 km → $(5,-5)$.
2. Right from East = South: 5 km → $(5,-10)$; right from South = West: 10 km → $(-5,-10)$.
3. Right from West = North: 10 km → $(-5,0)$ = B.
4. B is 5 km West of A, so he must drive $5\text{km}$ towards the East.

Trick: Net North–South $=-5-5+10=0$; net East–West $=5-10=-5$ → B is 5 km West of A.

Answer: (C) 5 km towards the east

Concept: Split the series into two alternate series.

1. Odd positions: G, I, K, ? → $+2$ each → M.
2. Even positions: Z, X, V, ? → $-2$ each → T.
3. Missing letters: M, T.

Trick: Mixed forward and backward letters in a series usually mean two interleaved series.

Answer: (B) M, T

Concept: Use reverse alphabetical positions (A = 26, B = 25, …, Z = 1), i.e. value $=27-\text{position}$.

1. HELLO: $19+22+15+15+12=83$ ✓.
2. SHELL: $8+19+22+15+15=79$ ✓.
3. MATCH: $M=14,A=26,T=7,C=24,H=19$ → $14+26+7+24+19=90$.

Trick: Normal-position sum of HELLO is 52 and $5\times 27-52=83$ — so code $=27\times (\text{letters})-\text{normal sum}$: MATCH $=135-45=90$.

Answer: (D) 90

Concept: Decode each part and draw the family tree.

1. R × S → R is the wife of S.
2. S − T → T is the sister of S.
3. T ÷ P → T is the mother of P; P + V → P is the father of V.
4. So T is the mother of V's father → T is V's father's mother.

Trick: Read the chain from V upward: V → father P → his mother T.

Answer: (A) Father’s mother

Concept: Each letter is written as (its alphabetical position $-2$).

1. WHILE: $23-2=21,8-2=6,9-2=7,12-2=10,5-2=3$ → 2167103 ✓.
2. DEPTH: $2,3,14,18,6$ → 2314186 ✓.
3. ROUND: $R=18-2=16,O=15-2=13,U=21-2=19,N=14-2=12,D=4-2=2$ → 161319122.

Trick: Last letter D gives 2 → the code must end in 2; only (C) does.

Answer: (C) 161319122

Concept: Draw the least-overlap Venn diagram; a conclusion follows only if it is true in every possible diagram.

1. All tablets are medicines → Tablets circle inside Medicines.
2. Some medicines are ointments → Ointments overlaps Medicines, but may lie completely outside the Tablets part.
3. I (Some tablets are ointments): not certain — Tablets and Ointments can be separate ✗.
4. II (All ointments are medicines): only 'some' is given; part of Ointments can be outside Medicines ✗.

Trick: 'Some A are B' never gives 'All B are A', and two 'some/all' links through the middle term do not connect the ends.

Answer: (A) Neither conclusion I nor II follows

Concept: With the mirror on the right side (vertical line MN), left and right are swapped; top and bottom stay the same.

1. The order of characters is reversed: the last character 's' comes first and 'J' comes last.
2. Every character is also flipped left-to-right (e.g. p looks like q, 3 looks like Ɛ, 7 faces the other way).
3. Nothing turns upside-down, so options with inverted characters are wrong.

Trick: Vertical mirror: reverse the order AND flip each character sideways; the height-wise shape never changes.

Answer: (B)

Concept: Terms are of the form $n^2+1$.

1. $4^2+1=17,5^2+1=26,6^2+1=37,7^2+1=50,8^2+1=65,9^2+1=82$.
2. Going back: $1^2+1=2$, $2^2+1=5$, $3^2+1=10$.
3. So the missing numbers are 5 and 10 (differences 3, 5, 7, 9, … also confirm).

Trick: Differences 9, 11, 13, 15, 17 are consecutive odd numbers → work backwards: 7, 5, 3.

Answer: (B) 5, 10

Concept: Replace each sign by its meaning, then apply BODMAS.

1. $168\times 14-8+90÷4$ becomes $168÷14\times 8-90+4$.
2. $168÷14=12$; $12\times 8=96$.
3. $96-90+4=10$.

Trick: Convert all signs in one go (× → ÷, − → ×, + → −, ÷ → +), then compute left to right after ÷ and ×.

Answer: (B) 10

Concept: Each corner is folded inward along a diagonal fold line; a punch through a folded corner makes two holes — one on the flap and its mirror image across the fold line.

1. The four corners are folded in, and one hole is punched through each folded corner region.
2. On unfolding, each punch gives 2 holes placed symmetrically about that corner's fold line, i.e. on the diagonal: one near the corner and one a little inside.
3. Total holes $=4\times 2=8$, in pairs along the diagonals near all four corners — option (D).

Trick: Unfold = reflect each hole across its fold line; every layer punched adds one hole.

Answer: (D)

Concept: Arrange letter by letter after the common first letter F.

1. Second letters: Faith (a) comes first; Feign, Ferment, Ferocious, Fervor (e); Fiction (i) last.
2. Among FE- words: Feign (i) before FER- words.
3. FERM, FERO, FERV → m < o < v: Ferment, Ferocious, Fervor.
4. Order: Faith, Feign, Ferment, Ferocious, Fervor, Fiction = 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3.

Trick: When several words share a prefix (FER-), compare the first letter after it.

Answer: (D) 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3

Concept: The 'o' stays in the centre; the three corner symbols move together one corner anticlockwise each step.

1. Follow the dollar sign: top-left → bottom-left → bottom-right → top-right (one corner anticlockwise every time).
2. '+' and '%' move the same way, so the empty corner also moves anticlockwise.
3. From figure 4, one more anticlockwise step brings the dollar sign to top-left, '+' to top-right and '%' to bottom-left — the same as figure 1, i.e. option (A).

Trick: Four anticlockwise quarter-moves complete a full turn, so figure 5 repeats figure 1.

Answer: (A)

Concept: Two operations alternate: $\times 2$ and $+2$.

1. $1\times 2=2$, $2+2=4$, $4\times 2=8$, $8+2=10$.
2. $10\times 2=20$, then $20+2=22$.

Trick: If differences look irregular (1, 2, 4, 2, 10), test alternating $\times$ and $+$.

Answer: (C) 22

Concept: Look at the differences between consecutive terms.

1. $33-31=2,37-33=4,43-37=6,51-43=8$.
2. Differences increase by 2, so the next difference is 10.
3. $51+10=61$.

Trick: Differences 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 — consecutive even numbers.

Answer: (A) 61

Concept: Check the steps between the letters of each cluster.

1. CGE: $C+4=G,G-2=E$.
2. MQO: $M+4=Q,Q-2=O$; GKI: $G+4=K,K-2=I$.
3. KON: $K+4=O$ but $O-1=N$ (not $-2$) → odd one.

Trick: Equivalent check: first and last letters differ by $+2$ (C→E, M→O, G→I) but K→N is $+3$.

Answer: (D) KON

Concept: Five symbols occupy five positions (four corners and the centre); each symbol moves one step along a fixed path every time.

1. Path of every symbol: top-left (1) → centre (2) → top-right (3) → bottom-right (4) → bottom-left (5) → back to top-left.
2. Check 'g': centre → top-right → bottom-right → bottom-left, so next it goes to top-left.
3. Likewise: % → bottom-right, the reversed hook-symbol → bottom-left, four-pointed star → top-right, six-pointed star → centre.
4. Option (B) shows exactly this arrangement.

Trick: Fix the movement path using one symbol, then just shift every symbol one step along it.

Answer: (B)