Alphabet and word-based questions for IBPS Clerk

Alphabet questions test one skill: how fast you can move along A to Z without counting on your fingers. A candidate who knows that R is 18 and that 18 from the other end is I will answer these in ten seconds. A candidate who counts "A, B, C…" each time will take a minute and still drift by one.

They appear as quick single questions and as short sets based on one word or a group of words. The good news is that the whole topic rests on a few facts you can memorise in an evening.

The tools

The 13 opposite pairs are worth learning as a list: A–Z, B–Y, C–X, D–W, E–V, F–U, G–T, H–S, I–R, J–Q, K–P, L–O, M–N.

Worked examples

Example 1 (relative position). Which letter is 7th to the right of the 12th letter from the left?

1. 12 + 7 = 19.
2. S.

Example 2 (from the right end). Which letter is 8th to the left of the 6th letter from the right end of the alphabet?

1. 6th from the right is 27 − 6 = 21, which is U.
2. 8 to the left: 21 − 8 = 13.
3. M.

Example 3 (alphabetical order). If the letters of PLANT are arranged in alphabetical order, which letter is in the middle?

1. Arranged: A L N P T.
2. N.

Letter pairs in a word

This is the question type that costs the most time. It reads: "How many pairs of letters in the word have as many letters between them in the word as in the alphabet?"

A pair counts when the gap in the word equals the gap in the alphabet. In this guide we count pairs in either direction (the letters can be in alphabetical or reverse order in the word). Some questions say "forward direction only" or "both directions". Read that phrase and follow it.

Example 4. How many such pairs are there in the word DEPOSIT?

1. Check each letter against every letter after it. Word gap is the difference in places; alphabet gap is the difference in positions.
2. D–E: word gap 1, alphabet gap 1. A pair.
3. D–I: word gap 5, alphabet gap 9 − 4 = 5. A pair.
4. E–I: word gap 4, alphabet gap 9 − 5 = 4. A pair.
5. P–O: word gap 1, alphabet gap 1 (reverse order). A pair.
6. P–T: word gap 4, alphabet gap 20 − 16 = 4. A pair.
7. No other pair matches.
8. Five pairs. (If the question asked for the forward direction only, P–O would drop out, leaving four.)

Word-based questions

Example 5 (same place after sorting). If the letters of LEDGER are arranged in alphabetical order, how many letters stay in the same place?

1. LEDGER: L E D G E R. Sorted: D E E G L R.
2. Compare place by place: L/D no, E/E yes, D/E no, G/G yes, E/L no, R/R yes.
3. Three.

Example 6 (swapping letters). In the word CLERK, the first and second letters are swapped, then the third and fourth. The fifth letter stays. Which letter is 4th from the right in the new word?

1. C L becomes L C. E R becomes R E. K stays.
2. New word: L C R E K.
3. From the right: K, E, R, C.

Common mistakes

• Counting on your fingers instead of using anchors, then slipping by one.
• Using 26 − position for reverse positions. It is 27 − position, for the same reason a row of n people uses n + 1.
• Checking only neighbouring letters in pair questions. Pairs can be several places apart, like D and I in DEPOSIT.
• Ignoring the direction phrase in pair questions ("forward", "backward", "both").
• In swap questions, forgetting the letter that stays in place.

Practice

Aim for five minutes.

1. If the letters of BRAIN are arranged in alphabetical order, which letter is second?
2. Which letter is 5th to the left of the 20th letter from the left?
3. Which letter is opposite M?
4. How many pairs of letters in the word DREAM have as many letters between them in the word as in the alphabet (either direction)?
5. Which letter is 10th to the left of the 4th letter from the right end of the alphabet?
6. If the letters of CLIENT are arranged in alphabetical order, how many letters stay in the same place?
7. How many pairs of letters in the word TICKET have as many letters between them in the word as in the alphabet (either direction)?
8. How many letters are there between the 8th letter from the left and the 5th letter from the right of the alphabet?

Answers:

1. B. Arranged: A B I N R.
2. O. 20 − 5 = 15.
3. N. 27 − 13 = 14.
4. One. D(4) R(18) E(5) A(1) M(13). D and A are 3 apart in the word and 3 apart in the alphabet. No other pair matches.
5. M. 4th from the right is 27 − 4 = 23 (W). 23 − 10 = 13.
6. Four. CLIENT sorted is C E I L N T. C, I, N and T stay in place.
7. Two. I–K: 2 apart in the word (places 2 and 4) and in the alphabet (9 and 11). C–E: places 3 and 5, alphabet 3 and 5.
8. 13. The 8th letter is H (8) and the 5th from the right is V (22). 22 − 8 − 1 = 13.

What to do next

• Learn the 26 positions and the 13 opposite pairs until you can recite them backwards in under a minute.
• Solve five letter-pair questions a day for a week, using the table layout from Example 4.
• Practise coding–decoding next, which runs on exactly the same position table, and then alphanumeric series.