Alphabet Test Questions and Answers

Answer: C

Correct answer: R

Apply the three swaps to TRANSLATION: 1st with 7th (T and A), 2nd with 8th (R and T), 3rd with 9th (A and I). The word becomes

A T I N S L T R A O N

The 9th letter from the right, in eleven letters, is the 3rd from the left: I. Five to the right of it is the 8th letter, R.

The swaps must be made before any counting; counting first and swapping afterwards gives a different letter.

Answer: D

Correct answer: No such letter

H is the 8th letter and S the 19th, so the midpoint is

\[ \frac{8+19}{2} = 13.5 \]

which falls between M and N rather than on a letter. There are ten letters between H and S, an even number, so no single letter can sit exactly in the middle.

The check is quick: a midpoint letter exists only when the two positions have the same parity, and 8 and 19 do not.

Answer: C

Correct answer: S

Build the new arrangement first. The second half comes first, then the first half reversed:

N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z M L K J I H G F E D C B A

Counting from the right, A is 1st and the 16th is X, at position 11 from the left. The 5th letter to the left of X is therefore at position 6, which is S - counting W, V, U, T, S without including X itself, which is the convention used throughout this set.

Answer: B

The new alphabet series is :
Z  Y  X  W  V  U  T  S  R  Q  P  O  N
M  L  K  J  I  H  G  F  E  D  C  B  A
The sixteenth letter from the left is K.
Counting from K towards the left, the twelfth letter is W.

Answer: D

Correct answer: X

The second half of the alphabet is N to Z, so its third letter is P.

Counting eight to the right of P, without including P itself: Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X. The answer is X.

Two steps, each easy to slip on: identifying the second half as starting at N rather than at M, and counting from the letter after P rather than from P.

Answer: C

The new alphabet series is :
A  b  C  d  E  f  G  h  I  j  K  l  M
n  O  p  Q  r  S  t  U  v  W  x  Y  z
Clearly, 'SEPTEMBER' will be written as 'SEptEMbEr'.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Q

Write out the new arrangement. A to M are unchanged in positions 1 to 13, and N to Z reversed occupy positions 14 to 26:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M Z Y X W V U T S R Q P O N

The 16th letter from the left is X. Counting seven to the right of it - W, V, U, T, S, R, Q - gives Q.

Only the second half is reversed, so the first thirteen positions are unaffected.

Answer: B

a  g  r  h  t  n  m  b  c  n  m  l  b  u  v  n  m  h  e  r  h
n  m  g  f  e  h  n  m  e  c  n  m  w  q  a  n  m  h  l  b

Answer: C

Correct answer: T

Apply the three interchanges to DOCUMENTATION: 3rd with 10th (C and T), 4th with 7th (U and N), 2nd with 6th (O and E). The word becomes

D E T N M O U T A C I O N

With thirteen letters, the eleventh from the right is the third from the left:

\[ 13 - 11 + 1 = 3 \rightarrow T \]

Converting the count before reading off is quicker than counting backwards through the string, and less error-prone.

Answer: A

Correct answer: 4

Subtracting one from each number gives

Q 1 2 B 8 V 4 L S R F P

There are twelve items, so the tenth from the right is the third from the left, which is 2.

Four to the right of that position is the seventh item, which is 4.

The subtraction must be done first: in the original series the third item is 3 and the seventh is 5, so working on the unaltered series gives the wrong answer at both steps.