Methods to Solve Alphabetical Series Questions Easily

Alphabetical series questions are made up of strings of letters, either in a single file or combined, and this string of letters comes together according to a certain rule. This rule should be discovered by the candidate, and their answers at the end should reflect this discovery. The most common scenario is when an alphabet series is given and you must find the missing term. There are other situations where you may have to find a term that does not belong in the sequence or the wrong term. This article will discuss the concepts in depth, including alphabet series tricks to solve alphabet series questions easily.

Alphabet Series Tricks

The Concept of EJOTY

One of the most common alphabet series tricks is the simple concept of EJOTY. In this concept, the alphabet’s positions can be remembered easily, and you can determine any letter’s position without much effort. However, it is recommended to learn the positions of each letter of the alphabet.

To find the 24th letter in the alphabet, we are asked to find it from the left. Since we know that the 25th letter on the left is Y, we only need to identify the letter that precedes Y, which is X.

Opposite Letter

With the help of an additional method, it is possible to find the opposite letter of every letter of the English alphabet. The English alphabet is made up of 26 letters. If the sum of the alphabetical order of two letters is 27, then any two letters of the English alphabet are opposite to each other. For instance, B’s positional value is 2 and Y’s positional value is 25. So, the sum of B’s and Y’s positional value 2 + 25 = 27. Hence, B and Y are opposite of each other.

How to Solve the Alphabet Series Questions

It will be helpful to remember the positions of the letters of the alphabet to properly answer every question based on this topic using the following table:

The alphabet is made up of 26 letters in English. From the table above, we can conclude that from A to M, the alphabet completes the first 13 letters, or the first half, after which the second half starts with the 14th letter, starting with N and concluding with Z.

• Alphabetical order (first half): 1 to 13, that is, A to M
• Similarly, alphabetical order (second half): 14 to 26, that is, N to Z

The table above is used to find a better and easier approach to solve questions based on the alphabetical series as follows:

• Positional alphabetical peries: According to the letter’s position in the English alphabet, the term in the positional alphabetical series questions creates a pattern.

For instance, in this alphabetical series question, you will spell the following terms as: G, I, K, M, …?

 In this series, the first, second, and third letters have shifted two spaces forward to correspond to their meanings.

G – – – ( +2) – – -> I – – – (+2) – – -> K – – – (+2) – – -> M – – – (+2) – – – > O

Thus, the missing letter would be ‘O’, two letters forward ‘M’, and as a result, ‘O’ is the omission in the series.

• Alpha-numeric series: Mixed numerical and alphabetic series of questions are used in these types of tests. As a result, the terms of the given series consist of a combination of letters and numerals moving in a set pattern.

For instance, continue with the alpha-numeric series by finding the next term:

A2Z, C3X, E5V, G7T, I11R, K13P, …?

Letters are arranged in the following patterns: 

A – – – ( +2) – – -> C – – – (+2) – – -> E – – – (+2) – – -> G – – – (+2) – – – > I – – – (+2) – – ->K – – – (+2) – – -> M

Z – – – [-2] – – -> X – – – [-2] – – -> V – – – [-2] – – -> T – – – [-2] – – – > R – – – [-+2] – – -> P – – – [-2] – – -> N

The first letter of each word is obtained by adding two jumps in the alphabetical series, and the third letter of each word is obtained by subtracting two jumps in the alphabetical series. The numerals form a series made up of prime numbers: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17.

Therefore, “M17N” would be the missing term.

Characteristics of Alphabet Series

The characteristics of alphabet series are:

• To figure out how that pattern was derived and then find the answer based on it.
• To test the candidate’s pattern recognition and logical thinking abilities.
• To enhance visual development while cultivating enlightenment of thought.
• To figure out the person’s manipulative ability.

Conclusion

We have discussed the methods to solve alphabetical series questions easily with the help of some examples. These questions involve the examiner giving us a series of letters that follow a specific pattern, and we, as the examinee, have to figure out how that pattern was derived, and then find the answer based upon it. The questions from this topic are very common across the spectrum of examinations, as it tests the candidate’s pattern-recognition and logical thinking abilities.