Analogy, Classification & Odd One Out: previous-year questions

Answer: (B) Bicycle

Car, bus and train are driven by engines or motors, while a bicycle is moved by human muscle power, so the bicycle is the odd one out, as in PSC's key. A second possible grouping exists (car, bus and bicycle run on roads, the train on rails), which is why such questions should be answered by the most basic difference: here, the source of power. Bicycle is also the only two-wheeler and the only vehicle in the list that needs no fuel or electricity.

Answer: (B) Circle

Square, triangle and rectangle are polygons, closed figures made of straight sides meeting at vertices, whereas a circle is a curved figure with no sides or corners, so the circle is the odd one out. A second pattern might be tried (the triangle has three sides while the square and rectangle have four), but it does not separate one figure from the other three, because the circle fits neither group. Always choose the property that isolates exactly one option.

Answer: (C) Plagiarism

Misappropriation is the dishonest taking of someone else's money; the matching wrong for writing is plagiarism, passing off someone else's writing as one's own. Theft and deception are general wrongs not specific to writing, and a mistake is not dishonest at all.

Answer: (C) Ice

An ocean is a huge mass of water, and a glacier is a huge mass of ice. Mountains are where glaciers are found and a refrigerator makes ice, but neither is what a glacier is made of.

Answer: (A) 3

Add the letters' alphabet positions and reduce to a single digit: P + S + T = 16 + 19 + 20 = 55, then 5 + 5 = 10 and 1 + 0 = 1. Likewise N + P + R = 14 + 16 + 18 = 48, then 4 + 8 = 12 and 1 + 2 = 3. So the answer is 3.

Answer: (D) XW

Each letter is replaced by its opposite in the alphabet: A ↔ Z and B ↔ Y, so AB : ZY. In the same way C ↔ X and D ↔ W, so CD : XW. WX has the right letters in the wrong order.

Answer: (D) gala

'acme' rearranged (reversed) gives 'emca' — but checking: 'mace' is an anagram of 'acme'. Similarly, the letters of 'alga' rearranged give 'gala'. The relationship is: one word is an anagram of the other word. A-L-G-A rearranged = G-A-L-A.

Answer: (B) Rain

The real colour of the sky is blue, and in the given language 'Blue is called Rain', so the answer is 'Rain'. The trap is option A: 'Blue' in this language is the new name of Tree. Method for all such questions: first answer in normal language, then find what that word 'is called'.

Answer: (A) KKK

Treat the first, second and third letters as three separate series. First letters: A, F, K, P ($+5$ each time). Second letters: C, G, K, O ($+4$). Third letters: E, H, K, N ($+3$). The missing term is therefore K-K-K. Check with the last term: P, O, N fits all three series, which confirms the pattern.

Answer: (D) J58Q

Split each term into three parts. First letters: B, D, F, H, so the next is J ($+2$). Last letters: E, H, K, N, so the next is Q ($+3$). Numbers: 2, 5, 12, 27 follow $\times 2 + 1$, $\times 2 + 2$, $\times 2 + 3$, so the next is $27 \times 2 + 4 = 58$ (the differences 3, 7, 15, 31 also work). The next term is J58Q.

Answer: (C) NLMK

Every letter moves back by 4 places from one term to the next. First letters: Z, V, R, N, J. Second letters: X, T, P, L, H. Third letters: Y, U, Q, M, I. Fourth letters: W, S, O, K, G. So the fourth term is N-L-M-K. Check with the fifth term JHIG, which fits each of the four series.

Answer: (B) Hearing

Stammering is an impediment to speech (the act of speaking). By the same relationship, Deafness is an impediment to Hearing (the act of hearing). The analogy pairs a disability with the function it impairs, not the organ involved.

Answer: (D) Patient

A school exists to serve students, who are its beneficiaries; in the same way a hospital exists to serve patients. Doctors and nurses correspond to teachers and staff (those who provide the service), and medicine corresponds to books or teaching aids (the means). So the analogy is institution : the person for whom it functions - School : Student :: Hospital : Patient. Similar pairs: court : litigant, shop : customer, hotel : guest.

Answer: (C) Greece

The Duma (State Duma) is the lower house of Russia's parliament, the Federal Assembly; in the same way the Ecclesia was the popular assembly of citizens in ancient Athens, Greece. Other legislatures: Bhutan - Tshogdu (National Assembly) and National Council; Afghanistan - Shora (Wolesi Jirga and Meshrano Jirga); Germany - Bundestag and Bundesrat; Israel - Knesset; Japan - Diet; Iran - Majlis; Bangladesh - Jatiya Sangsad; USA - Congress; Norway - Storting. Modern Greece's parliament is the Hellenic Parliament (Vouli).

Answer: (C) 81

27 = 3³, 64 = 4³, 125 = 5³ are all perfect cubes, whereas 81 is not a perfect cube (it is 3⁴ or 9²), making it the odd one out.

Answer: (D) Philosophy

Zoology, Physiology and Botany are all branches of biological/life science, while Philosophy is unrelated to biology, making it the odd one out.

Answer: (A) Africa

An igloo is a dome-shaped dwelling traditionally built by Arctic peoples such as those in Canada; a rondavel is a traditional round, thatched-roof hut characteristic of Southern Africa, completing the analogy of a region and its traditional dwelling type.

Answer: (D) TwXz

In BdEg, KmNp and PrSu, each successive letter is two places ahead of the previous one in the alphabet (B+2=d, d+2... and so on within each group's pattern). TwXz breaks this consistent pattern, making it the odd one out.

Answer: (D) Kiln

Coins are made in a mint, and in the same way bricks are baked in a kiln, so the relation is 'product : place of manufacture'. A foundry is where metal is melted and cast, a furnace is used for smelting or heating metals, and a cemetery is a burial ground. India's government mints are at Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Noida.

Answer: (D) Hand

To squint is an action of the eye (to look with the eyes partly closed), and to squeeze is an action done with the hand (to press firmly), so the relation is 'action : organ that performs it'. Cloth or the throat may be the thing that is squeezed, but they are objects of the action, not the organ doing it.