Alphabet Test Chapter Notes | Science Olympiad Class 4 PDF Download

What is the Alphabet Test?

Before going to the next part let us now understand what an Alphabet Test is? In general, arranging the known alphabet letters which are given in jumbled letters or in word form sequence, are known as Alphabetic Arrangement.
When the arrangement of letters or words sequence involves two or more patterns of letters including numbers and symbols with an equal occurrence and all together making some pattern in general are called patterns of words or letters in general.
So in Alphabet Test questions are based on finding the place of an English letter to the left or right of another English letter in the alphabetical order. Sometimes the questions are based on finding the number of English letter/s between two different letters.
This type of questions vary on the arrangement of alphabetical order. It can be backward, first half backward, second half, backward, multiple letter segments in changed order etc. Some of the questions asked in this section are based on finding the middle letter of two specified letters and in some questions it is asked which letter/s do not change their place/s after the alphabetical arrangement. 

Types of Alphabet Test

As now we know what consists of an Alphabet Test reasoning section. Let us see the various types of Alphabet Test one by one from below. 

1. Number Series (Group Based)

The first type in the Number Series in which a group of numbers will be given and based on that multiple operations need to be performed on them such as Addition, Multiplication, Interchanging of digits and so on.
Given Series: 567 289 376 189 852
Example: If 1 is added to the 2nd digit of each number and then the position of the first and last digits are interchanged, which of the following will be the highest number? 

Solution:

Given Series: 567 289 376 189 852
By adding 1 with  the 2nd digit we get: 577 299 386 199 862
Now if we interchange the first and last digits then we get: 775 992 683 991 268
Therefore, 992 is the highest number which came from 289

2. Alphabet Series (Group Based)

In this type of Series a group of alphabets will be given and based on that multiple operations need to be performed on them such as arrange in dictionary or reverse dictionary order, interchanging of alphabets and so on. 

Given Series: DEW BIG RAW FAN DOG
Example: If the position of the first and last alphabets of each word are interchanged and arranged in dictionary order then, which word comes last? 

Solution: Given words are DEW BIG RAW FAN DOG 

On interchanging the first and last alphabet we get the series as 

WED GIB WAR NAF GOD 

Now if we arrange the series in dictionary order then we get the series like this 

GIB GOD NAF WAR WED

3. Mixed Series 

Mixed Series involves the arrangement of numbers, letters and symbols in a certain way. Various types of Mixed Series are given below. 

(a) Simple Series 

Questions from Simple Series will involve questions based on positions only. No types of operations will need to be performed in these types of questions.
Given Series: A B 6 P 7 2 Z @ X ? V T W # & N S L %
Example: What element in 6th to the left of the 12th element from the left end?

Solution:

If we carefully observe the given series then the 12th position from the left end is T.  (A B 6 P 7 2 Z @ X ? V T W # & N S L %)

Whereas, the 6th position to the left of the 12th element is 2. (A B 6 P 7 2 Z @ X ? V T W # & N S L %)

Therefore, the answer will be 2 is the 6th to the left of the 12th element from the left end.

(b) Operation Based Series 

In this type of mixed series candidates need to apply a few operations asked in the question to get the desired result. Examples regarding this type of mixed series are given later in this article. 

4. Creating New Words

In this type of Alphabet Test reasoning section candidates will be given a few letters from which they need to find if the given letters are making a meaningful word or not. If meaningful words are present or can be formed using the given letters then questions such as how many meaningful words can be formed at any position can also be asked. 

Example: How many meaningful English words can be formed with the help of letter T, A, E such that no letter is missed, and no letter is repeated. 

Solution:
T A E, we can clearly see that various words can be formed by using these 3 letters such as TEA, EAT and ATE. So the answer is 3 meaningful words can be formed.  

5. Position of Letters and Numbers in a Word 

In this type of questions, candidates need to find the pairs of letters or digits which may have as many letters or digits between them as in words or numbers between them in the English Alphabetical Series and Number Sequence explained above. 

Example: How many such letters are there in the word “INTERNET’” after arranging the letters of the word in alphabetical order each of which has as many letters between them in the word, as they have between them in English Alphabetical series? (forward direction) 

Solution: The word “INTERNET” can be represented as follows. 

As we can see, 2 such pairs are there such as NT and IN. 

How to Solve Question Based on Alphabet Test – Know all Tips and Tricks

Candidates can find various tips and tricks from below for solving the questions related to the Alphabet Test reasoning section. 

• Tip 1: For questions such as the example of the Number Series type alphabet test reasoning highest number after interchanging the first and last digits were asked. To solve these types of questions candidates don’t need to add 1 to the 2nd digit of every number, instead they should check the last digit of each number only.
• Tip 2: For questions where the lowest number after arranging the digits in increasing order is asked, candidates should check which number has the lowest digit.
• Tip 3: For the questions where the number of words are starting with vowels after replacing vowels of each word by its next letter and consonant by its previous letter is asked. Candidates must replace only the first letter of the word which is starting with a consonant.
• Tip 4: Left – Left means from the left end, Right + Left means from left end, and Right – Right means from the right.

Alphabet Test Formula

Candidates can find the various formulas related to the Alphabet Test reasoning section from below. 

Formula 1: (Related to Simple Series) 

• Left – Left = From the left end 
• Left + Right = From the right end 
• Right – Right = From the right end 
• Right + Left = From the left end

Formula 2: (Related to Operation Based Series) 

For solving this type of question candidates need to sequence the steps as asked in the question. 

• Step 1: The vowels are exchanged with its next letter. 
• Step 2: The symbols are exchanged with 8. 
• Step 3: Numbers are increased by 1 

Note: For other formulas related to the Alphabet Test reasoning section candidates can refer to the “Points to Remember” section of this article. 

Alphabet Test Sample Questions 

Q.1. Given Series: 567 289 376 189 852, now if all the digits are arranged in increasing order within the numbers then which number will be the lowest? (Related to Number Series – Group Bases) 

Solution: For Given Series: 567 289 376 189 852, if we arrange all the digits in an increasing order then we get: 567 289 367 189 258. 

As we can see here, 189 is the lowest number which comes from 189.

Q.2. Given Series: 567 289 376 189 852, now if the position of the first digits of each number are replaced by its previous number, how many numbers will have minimum two same digits? (Related to Number Series – Group Bases) 

Solution: For Given Series: 567 289 376 189 852, if the position of the first digit of each number are replaced by it’s next number and last digits of each number are replaced by its previous number then it becomes like this: 666 388 375 288 951

Q.3. Given Series: DEW BIG RAW FAN DOG, now if the positions of first and last alphabets of each word are interchanged, then how many meaningful words are formed? (Related to Alphabet Series – Group Bases) 

Solution: For Given Series: DEW BIG RAW FAN DOG, if we exchange the alphabets we get: WED GIB WAR  NAF GOD, from the words 4 are meaningful words such as WED, GIB, WAR and GOD. 

Q.4. Given Series: A B 6 P 7 2 Z @ X ? V T W # & N S L %, which element is 4th to right of the 11th element from the left end? (Related to Simple Series)

Solution: 11th element from the left end of the given series is V (A B 6 P 7 2 Z @ X ? V T W # & N S L %).

And the 4th element to the right of the 11th element is & (A B 6 P 7 2 Z @ X ? V T W # & N S L %) 

Q.5. Given Series: A B 6 P 7 2 Z @ X ? V T W # & N S L %, which element is the 5th to the right of the 9th element from the right end? (Related to Simple Series)

Solution: 9th element from the right end is A B 6 P 7 2 Z @ X ? V T W # & N S L %, and 5th to the right of the 9th element from the right end is N (A B 6 P 7 2 Z @ X ? V T W # & N S L %)

Q.6. Given Series: N P L B S % & 1 E 4 G 4 $ T G 2 I 0 U K @ 1 7 V A, how many 8 are there in the mixed series after completing step 2? ( Related to Operation based series) 

Solution: 

• Step 1: First we need to exchange the vowels with its next letter and it becomes like this: N P L B S % 1 F 4 G 4 $ T G 2 J 0 V K @ 1 7 V B
• Step 2: Then the symbols need to be exchanges with 8 and we get series like this: N P L B S 8 8 1 F 4 G 4 8 T G 2 J 0 V K 8 1 7 V B
• Step 3: Then we need to increase the number by 1 and we get: N P L B S 9 9 2 F 5 G 5 9 T G 3 J 1 V K 9 2 8 V B 

So, as we can see there are four 8 in the series after completing the Step 2. 

Q.7.  How many meaningful English words can be formed with the help of 4th, 5th, 7th and 13th letter of INTERNATIONAL such that no letter is repeated? 

Solution: E, R, A, L are the 4th, 5th, 7th and 13th letter of INTERNATIONAL so the meaningful words that can be formed are Real, Earl, Rale (3 words). 

Q.8. If it is possible to make only one meaningful English word with the 1st, 5th, 6th and 8th letter of the word INFORMATION, which of the following will be the fourth letter of that word? If no such word can be made then give “X” as the answer and if more than one such word can be made then give “Y” as the answer. 

Solution: The 1st, 5th, 6th and 8th letter of the word INFORMATION is I, R, M, T. If you observe carefully then we can say that only one word is possible and that is TRIM. The fourth letter of that word is M so the answer is “M”. 

Q.9. How many such pairs of letters are there in the word “REPRESENT” each of which has as many letters between them in the word (in both forward and backward directions) as they have between them in the English alphabetical series? 

Solution: The word “REPRESENT” can be represented as follows. 

As we can see, 3 such pairs are there such as RP, RN and PS. 

Question 10: How many such pairs of digits are there in the numbers “2651894” after arranging the digits of the number in increasing order each of which has many digits between them in the number, as they have between them the sequence? (Both Directions) 

Solution: The number “2651894” can be represented as follows. 

As we can see, 3 such pairs are there such as 12, 45, 46, 56, and 89.