Letter and Symbol Series Questions and Answers

Answer: C

The next term is GTHS.

Each term alternates letters from the two ends of the alphabet. The 1st and 3rd letters run forward, A B, C D, E F, so next come G and H. The 2nd and 4th run backward, Z Y, X W, V U, so next come T and S.

Interleaved, that is G T H S. GXHW repeats X and W from the second term, and SHTG and STHO reverse or scramble the pattern.

Answer: C

The series is EJNQST.

Count the letters skipped between neighbours: E to J skips F, G, H, I (4); J to N skips K, L, M (3); N to Q skips O, P (2); Q to S skips R (1); S to T skips none (0). The gaps fall by one each time: 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.

BGKNPR gives 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, so it breaks at the end. CINRTU starts with 5, 4, 3 and then skips only 1. LQUXAP gives 4, 3, 2 and then jumps irregularly round the alphabet.

When counting gaps, count only the letters strictly between each pair; E and J, for example, have four letters between them, not five.

Answer: D

The group that does not obey the rule is HJMPT.

Count the skipped letters: H to J skips I (1), J to M skips K, L (2), but M to P skips only N, O (2) again, and P to T skips Q, R, S (3). The gaps 1, 2, 2, 3 are not 1, 2, 3, 4.

The other three follow the rule exactly. CEHLQ: 1 (D), 2 (F, G), 3 (I, J, K), 4 (M, N, O, P). DFIMR and GILPU give the same 1, 2, 3, 4 pattern.

The key is to count only the letters strictly between each pair, not the two letters themselves.

Answer: D

The Commission's key is None of these, because the series as printed does not fix its last letter.

Take the three letters of each term by their alphabet ranks:

\[ \begin{aligned} \text{BKS}&: 2, 11, 19 \\ \text{DJJ}&: 4, 10, 10 \\ \text{FIU}&: 6, 9, 21 \end{aligned} \]

The first letters rise by 2 (B, D, F, then H) and the second letters fall by 1 (K, J, I, then H), so the next term begins HH. The third letters S, J, U follow no rule as printed, so no third letter can be derived.

HJU and HBA fail already on the second letter. HHV would be right only if DJJ is a misprint of DJT, which would make the third letters S, T, U and the next one V. That is a guess about the printing, and the Commission's key treats the printed series as it stands, so None of these is the keyed answer.

Answer: D

The missing term is MAV.

The first letters go up by 3 (D, G, J, M), the second letters by 4 (O, S, W, then A after wrapping past Z), and the third letters by 5 (G, L, Q, V).

So the next term is M, A, V. MAT and MAU get the third letter wrong (it must be Q + 5 = V), and MBV gets the second letter wrong.

Answer: B

The missing term is OPT51.

The number in each term is the sum of the alphabet positions of its three letters: A + B + C = 1 + 2 + 3 = 6, D + F + G = 4 + 6 + 7 = 17, and J + L + N = 10 + 12 + 14 = 36.

For OPT, 15 + 16 + 20 = 51, which matches. XYZ would give 75, not 20; WXA gives 48, not 25; and YZB gives 53, not 51.

Answer: A

Correct answer: U

The letters run backwards through the alphabet, one step at a time: Z, Y, X, W, V. The next letter back from V is U.

Answer: B

Correct answer: N5

Two things advance together: the letters move on one place each time - J, K, L, M, then N - and the numbers count up 1, 2, 3, 4, then 5. So the next term is N5.

Answer: C

Correct answer: U

The gaps between the letters grow by one each time: A \( \xrightarrow{+2} \) C \( \xrightarrow{+3} \) F \( \xrightarrow{+4} \) J \( \xrightarrow{+5} \) O. The next gap is 6, and six letters on from O (the 15th letter) is the 21st - U.

Answer: D

Correct answer: U16

The letters advance one place at a time - Q, R, S, T, then U - while the numbers double: 1, 2, 4, 8, then 16. So the next term is U16.