www.logiqids.

com

Topic Note: Ability to Identify Trends/ Relationships

The questions in this category can broadly be classified in two categories:

1) Sequencing: The questions in this category typically present a sequence and ask the child to
identify either the next term or a missing term in the sequence. Some questions also ask the
child to identify the wrong term in the sequence.
e.g.: What would be the next term in the sequence: A, C, E, G?
Fill in the missing term in the sequence: 1z, 3y, 5x, ___, 9v.
Find the wrong term in the sequence: 1, 4, 7, 11, 13, 16, 19
2) Ability to Identify Relationships: The questions in this category typically present a particular
relationship between two or more words / phrases and the student has to decipher what the
relationship is between the two words / phrases and apply the same to a new word. Alternately
the student could also get a question where four or more words / terms are presented and the
student has to find the odd one out.
e.g.: If in a certain coded language BAT is written as TAB, then how will AND be written as?

Please note that each topic note contains some questions which some children could find
relatively difficult. However we have preferred to keep them in the topic note to give the student
and parent an idea about various different type of questions. These relatively difficult questions
have been highlighted in red font.

SEQUENCING
These questions typically consist of a series of numbers, alphabets or symbols or a combination of
either of these, which are typically connected by way of a rule or pattern. The key to solving these
questions is to identify the trend or pattern and accordingly either find out the next term in the pattern
or a missing term in the pattern or identify a wrong term in the pattern.

The following explains the broad categories of patterns which one can find:

IMAGE BASED PATTERNS:

These questions consist of images or symbols – two or more which follow a particular pattern. The
pattern either consists of repeating images or the images are linked by a common rule. The key here is
to identify the repeating pattern or the rule which connects them. These questions could be broadly
classified into three categories:
 Repeating pattern – In this case, the images / symbols form a pattern which repeats itself
 Rule based pattern – In these questions, the images are linked by way of a common rule.
Some examples of such rules could be
o Movement of the shape or part of the shape in clockwise or anticlockwise direction

For any queries, contact us on [email protected] or whatsapp us on +91-7045 345345

 www.logiqids.com

o A part getting added and subtracted in the shape

o Abstract Pattern – these are also rule based patterns, but the patterns are not so obvious
as movement in clock-wise / anti clock-wise direction or addition / subtraction in the
shape, but instead follow a slightly abstract rule like increasing number of sides of the
object or colours appears in the order in which they appear in the rainbow, etc.

SOLVED EXAMPLES

1) Identify the next term in the sequence:

?

Solution: Clearly as shown above the pattern is repeating itself. Thus in the above

question, after circle, the next term would be a square again and hence the answer is
The above example is a very simple form of a symbolic sequencing problem. The type of
problems could vary significantly ranging from slightly longer pattern to more abstract
concepts being implemented. Few of such examples are given below:

2) Identify the next term in the sequence:

Solution: The above question can be broken down to a pattern which repeats itself as follows:

A B C

Clearly as shown above the pattern is repeating itself.

Block C should follow the same layout as Block AA or Block B and so after the square,
B we

should have a circle. So the next term in the sequence is

A B
If a child is facing difficulty in identifying such patterns, one best way is to make him do it
from basics. Get him to choose an alphabet for each shape, say A for and B for . Now
rewrite the pattern in alphabets, it can be written as ABAABABAABAB? Now let’s choose
first two terms in this pattern – AB. Check if they are getting repeated. The next two terms
after AB is AA. So clearly AB is not the repeating pattern. Now let’s take three alphabets –
ABA and check if they are repeating. The three alphabets after ABA are also ABA. But after

For any queries, contact us on [email protected] or whatsapp us on +91-7045 345345

 www.logiqids.com

that is BAA. So ABA is not the repeating pattern. Continue this way till you find the repeating
pattern.
This is one of the easiest way for a child to find the repeating pattern. This is exactly how
our brain thinks and identifies the pattern, but just that it works so fast that we do not realize
each of these steps.

A slightly more complicated question could be where the symbols are not getting repeated but
following a certain pattern:

3) Find the next term in the sequence:

Solution: In this question, though no pattern is being repeated, like in the questions above, all
the symbols / shapes seem to be following a certain rule: “Every shape in the sequence has
one more side than the previous shape”. So the next shape in the sequence should be a

heptagon (one which has seven sides)

4) Find the next term in the sequence:

Solution: In this question also, though no pattern is being repeated, all the symbols / shapes
seem to be following a certain rule: “The arrow inside the square is at 45degrees in the
clockwise direction compared to the arrow in the previous square” So the next shape in the
sequence should have an arrow pointing at 45 degrees clockwise from south west direction. So

the next square should have an arrow pointing in west direction

5) Which colour will come in place of question mark in the last circle?

?
Solution: This is a more difficult kind of abstract question. There is no set approach to solve
such abstract questions. One needs to identify a way by which the shapes / symbols are related.
For instance in the given question, the colour in the circles are following the sequence of
rainbow colours: Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange. So the next circle should have
the Red colour to complete the sequence of rainbow colours.

NUMERICAL SERIES:

For any queries, contact us on [email protected] or whatsapp us on +91-7045 345345

 www.logiqids.com

These consist of various numbers which are connected by certain rule. The numbers could be arranged
in ascending or descending order or could follow some other rule. Some examples of these patterns
could be:
1) Numbers in an ascending or descending order having a constant difference between them. For
example:
a. 2,5,8,11,14 – first term is 2 and constant difference between two consecutive terms is 3

2) Numbers in an ascending or descending order but with the difference between them following
a certain pattern. Some examples are given below:
a. 1,3,7,13, 21 – first term is 1 and the difference between two consecutive term is itself
another pattern 2,4,6 and so on i.e. numbers with a difference of 2
1 3 7 13 21

2 4 6 8

2 2 2

b. 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 – first term is 1 and then every subsequent term is obtained by

multiplying the previous term by 2.
3) Sequence with two numbers in each term, where one or both the numbers show an increasing
or decreasing pattern. For example:
a. 11/12, 15/11, 19/10, 23/9,.. – Here the top term (or the numerator) i.e. 11 keeps
increasing by 4 for each term, while the bottom term i.e. 12 keeps on decreasing by 1
for each term. Thus 11 becomes 15, then 19, then 23 and so on. While 12 becomes 11,
then 10, and so on.

4) Mixed series – where the terms are from two or more series. In a case like this, the difference
between two consecutive terms is UNLIKELY to follow a pattern and that’s a hint that the
given series is formed by two of more series
a. 11, 15, 13, 19, 15, 23, 17 – Here the difference between two consecutive terms follows
the order 4, -2, 6, -4, 8, -6 and so on. Given the difference is increase and then decreasing
and then increasing again, one must examine if this sequence has two or more series.
Lets first look for two series. Taking alternate numbers in the sequence, we get two series
as 11, 13, 15, 17 and 15, 19, 23. Clearly the sequence consists of two series – the first
one having a difference of 2 between two consecutive terms and the second one having
a difference of 4 between two consecutive terms.

The best way to solve a numerical sequence problem is to follow the following steps:

 Find the difference between two consecutive terms for the full sequence
 If the difference is constant, the question is solved and you can find the next term by adding the
difference to the last term

For any queries, contact us on [email protected] or whatsapp us on +91-7045 345345

 www.logiqids.com

 If the difference is not constant identify if the difference follows a particular pattern, e.g 2, 4, 6,
8. If it does, identify what the next term should be in the sequence of differences (eg in 2,4,6,8,
the next term will be 10). Add this difference to the last term and find out the next term
 If the difference is not constant, the student should check if the given sequence comprises two
or three series. To check if it’s a combination of two series, the student should take alternate
terms together and see if they comprise a series. To check if it’s a combination of three series,
the student should take terms which are separated by two terms between them and see if they
comprise a series.
 If none of the above thing works, it is very likely that the question comprises an abstract series.
For which student can check for things like:
o If the term is the sum of terms before
o If it’s obtained as multiplication of terms before
o If it involves squares or cubes (not relevant for students below grade 4)

ALPHABETICAL SERIES:

These questions comprise of various letters which are arranged in alphabetical or non-alphabetical
letter and follow a certain rule. Some examples are given below:

1) Alphabets in an alphabetical or reverse alphabetical order where the difference between every
two consecutive terms follows a pattern. Some examples are given below:
a. A, C, E, G, I – first term is A and then the alphabets appear in an alphabetical order but
skip each alternate alphabet
b. S, R, Q, P – first term is S and alphabets are following reverse alphabetical order. The next
term will be O.
c. A, B, D, G, K – first term is A and the difference follows the following pattern:
 No alphabet skipped between A and B
 One alphabet skipped between B and D
 Two alphabets skipped between D and G
 Thus if we take the number of alphabets which are skipped between two consecutive
terms, they follow the pattern 0,1,2,3, etc. Thus the alphabetical pattern derives itself
from a numerical pattern for difference between two consecutive terms.
d. BDF, CFI, DHL, EJO – first, second and third letters of each term are moved forward by
one, two and three places respectively to obtain the first, second and third letter of the next
term.
 B moved forward by one becomes C
 D moved forward by two becomes F
 F moved forward by three becomes I
So BDF becomes CFI and similarly CFI would become DHL and so on.

For any queries, contact us on [email protected] or whatsapp us on +91-7045 345345

 www.logiqids.com

e. QPO, NML, KJI, ___, EDC - Each term of the series consists of letters in a reverse
alphabetical order. Thus the missing term is HGF
f. Word appearing in alphabetical / order – e.g. ABACK, ACID, ADDITION, AEON.. Here
the second letter in the word follows the alphabetical order starting from B. In such a
question there can be multiple possible answers for the next term, but out of the four options
only one will fit. So the student should select the one which is the correct answer from the
options.

2) Alphabets arranged in a particular pattern with some letters missing in the pattern:
a. a b c a b c a b c _ b _: Alphabets are following the pattern a b c which is getting repeated
and hence the missing alphabets are a and c
b. a a b b a a b b _ a b _ : Here a a b b is getting repeated. Hence the missing letters are a and
b so that they complete the sequence a a b b

3) Alphabets related by some abstract rule. Some examples are given below:
a. Find the missing term in A, E, I, _ , U – the alphabets given here are vowels arranged in
alphabetical order. So the missing alphabet is O

b. Find the missing term in U, O, I, _ , A – the alphabets given here are vowels arranged in
reverse alphabetical order. So the missing alphabet is E
c. Find the missing term in V, I, R, A, T, K, O, _, L, I – the alphabets given here seem to
represent the name of a famous cricketer VIRAT KOHLI, So the missing term is H
d. ELFA, GLHA, ILJA, ______, MLNA - The second and fourth letters in the series, L and
A , are static. The first and third letters consist of an alphabetical order beginning with the
letter E. So the missing word will have L and A at the second and fourth place respectively.
And the remaining letters will be such that they continue the alphabetical order series which
started with the first term. E and F in the first term, G and H in the second term, I and J in
the third term and so K and L in the fourth term. So the missing term is KLLA

ALPHABETICAL + NUMERICAL SERIES

Sometimes the question involves both numerical and alphabetical term. Such questions can broadly be
of two types:

 Given sequence comprises two series, where one series involves alphabets and second series
involves numbers
Eg: 1A, 3B, 5C, 7D, .. – this involves two series 1,3,5,7 and A, B, C, D…
 The numbers are related to the alphabets. Some examples of such relationship could be:
o Number represents the position of the alphabet in the English alphabet e.g. A is 1, B is
2 and so on e.g.: A1, E5, I9, and so on – here the series moves as the vowel and the
number represents the position of the letter in the English alphabet.
o Number represents reverse position of the alphabet / position considering Z as 1 e.g. A
is 26, B is 25.

For any queries, contact us on [email protected] or whatsapp us on +91-7045 345345

 www.logiqids.com

o In case of a word, the number could represent 1) the number of letters in the word e.g.:
WORD4, 2) the number of vowels in the word egWORD1 3) the number of consonants
in the word egWORD3 4) the number of repeating letters in the word e.g. WORD0,
WOOD2 5) the sum or product of the positions of each letter in the word number
obtained eg: BAD7 or BAD8 – here B is 2, A is 1 and D is 4 – their positions in the
English alphabet. So in BAD7, 7 represents the sum of 1+2+4 and in BAD8, 8
represents the product of 1x2x4.

ABILITY TO IDENTIFY RELATIONSHIPS

In these cases, you are typically given two words which are related by some rule and one needs to
decipher that rule and apply it on the other word given in the question. Some examples are given below:

1) Deciphering the code

Question: If in a certain code language, 15789 is written as EGKPT and 23461 is written as
ALURE, how will 23549 be written be written as
Solution: In this case, the student needs to study which number relates to which alphabet and just
apply those codes to the given questions. Thus for 23549, one can see that 2 corresponds to A, 3
to L, 5 to G, 4 to U and 9 to T. So the answer is ALGUT.

2) Coding by reversing the order of the alphabets

Question: If in a certain code language, BAT is written as TAB, how will AND be written as
Solution: In this case, the alphabets in the words BAT are reversed to arrive at the coded word
TAB. So AND when coded will become DNA.

3) Coding by following a certain rule for movement of alphabets in a word

Question: If in a certain code language, GIFT is written as TGFI, how will BEST be written as
Solution: In this case, the alphabets in the words GIFT are rearranged in a particular order, which
needs to be applied to BEST too. In GIFT the first and fourth letters are interchanged and placed
in first and second positions (TG) and second and third letters are interchanged and placed in third
and fourth positions (FI). Applying the same rule BEST will be coded as TBSE.

4) Coding based on number of alphabets appearing in a given word

Question: If in a certain code language, BAD is coded as 3, GIFT is coded a 4, FLIGHT is coded
as 6, how will CHILDREN be coded as
Solution: In this case, the code represents the number of alphabets in a given word. Since BAD
has three alphabets, the code is 3; similarly for GIFT, the code is 4 and for FLIGHT the code is 6.
So for CHILDREN the code should be 8, as CHILDREN has 8 alphabets.

5) Coding by replacing alphabets by numbers where numbers represent their position in the
English alphabet; i.e. A is replaced by 1, B by 2, C by 3 and so on

For any queries, contact us on [email protected] or whatsapp us on +91-7045 345345

 www.logiqids.com

Question: If in a certain code language, BAD is coded as 214, how will CAP be coded as
Solution: In this case, the alphabets are replaced by numbers which represent their position in the
English alphabets. Since B is the second letter in English Alphabet, it is replaced by 2. Similarly
since D is the 4th letter, it is replaced by 4. Thus CAP would be coded as 3116.

6) Coding by replacing alphabets by the next alphabet which occurs in the English language; i.e.
A is replaced by B, B by C, C by D and so on
Question: If in a certain code language, BAT is coded as CBU, how will CAP be coded as
Solution: In this case, the alphabets are replaced by another alphabet, which occurs next in the
English language. So in BAT, B is replaced by C, A is replaced by B and T is replaced by U.
Following the same rule for CAP, C should be replaced by D, A by B and P by Q. So the answer
is DBQ.

7) Coding by replacing alphabets with the corresponding alphabet in the reverse alphabetical
order i.e. replace A by Z, B by Y, C by X and so on.
Question: If in a certain code language, BAT is coded as YZG, how will CAP be coded as?
Solution: In this case, the alphabets are replaced by corresponding alphabet in revere alphabetical
order; i.e. Replace A by Z, B by Y, C by X and so on. In BAT, B is replaced by Y, A by Z and T
by G (T is the 20th alphabet from the beginning; G is the 20th alphabet from the end). Following
the same rule for CAP, C should be replaced by X, A by Z and P by K. So the answer is XZK.
There could be some abstract questions also for relationship type questions. Few such examples
are given below:

8) If in a certain code language, SYSTEM is coded as ESYSTM and CLIMATE is coded as

IAECLMT, how will COMPUTER be coded as?
Solution: In this case, the coding rule being followed is that all the vowels in a word are being
moved at the beginning of the word and then they are followed by the consonants in the word.
Thus in SYSTEM, there is only one vowel i.e. E which is moved to the beginning of the word and
the remaining letters come as is. So SYSTEM is coded as ESYSTM. Similarly, for CLIMATE,
the vowels are I, A and E. Putting all the vowels upfront (in the same order in which they occur
in the word), we get IAECLMT. So COMPUTER should be coded as OUECMPTR.

ODD ONE OUT

Similar to above questions, the student could also be asked to find the odd one out from a group
of things given to them. Most of the time, the student would need to think on the same concepts
as that of sequencing or coding (as explained above) and figure out a relationship connecting the
various things. An example is given below

 Find the odd one out from: 2, 6, 9, 12, 18 – Answer is 9 as it is the only odd number

For any queries, contact us on [email protected] or whatsapp us on +91-7045 345345

 www.logiqids.com

 Find the odd one out from: BD, IK, NP, XY, AC – The odd one out here is XY as all the
other terms have letters which are separated by one alphabet in English language. i.e. B
and D are separated by C; I and K are separated by J, and so on

Given above are just a few examples of questions to get students started in thinking about solving
such questions. There could be several other ways of arriving at such relationships, which the
students will need to work out themselves looking at the question.

For any queries, contact us on [email protected] or whatsapp us on +91-7045 345345

 www.logiqids.com

PRACTICE QUESTIONS:

Directions for Questions 1 to 14: Find the next term in the series:

1)

2)

3)

For any queries, contact us on [email protected] or whatsapp us on +91-7045 345345

 www.logiqids.com

4)

5)

6)

Directions for Questions 7 to 14: There is a problem figure on the left hand side, which
represents a series, while there are a few options on the right hand side, one of which is the
answer. Find the image from the answer figures which will form the next term or the missing
term of the series:

For any queries, contact us on [email protected] or whatsapp us on +91-7045 345345

 www.logiqids.com

7)

8)

9)

10)

11)

12)

13)

14)

15) Find the next term in the series: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, ?

For any queries, contact us on [email protected] or whatsapp us on +91-7045 345345

 www.logiqids.com

A. 7 B. 10
C. 12 D. 13

16) Find the next term in the series: 7, 10, 8, 11, 9, 12,?
A. 7 B. 10
C. 12 D. 13

17) Find the next term in the series: P, O, N, M, L,?

A. K B. Q
C. R D. J

18) Find the next term in the series: A, D, G, J, ?

A. K B. L
C. M D. J

19) Find the next term in the series: 36, 34, 30, 28, 24, ?
A. 22 B. 20
C. 23 D. 26

20) Find the next term in the series: 22, 21, 23, 22, 24, 23, ?
A. 22 B. 25
C. 24 D. 27

21) Find the next term in the series: 2A, 4D, 6G, 8J, ?
A. 12M B. 12L
C. 10M D. 10J

22) Find the next term in the series: 53, 53, 40, 40, 27, 27, ?
A. 53 B. 14
C. 24 D. 27

23) Find the next term in the series: 21, 9, 21, 11, 21, 13, 21,
A. 16 B. 21
C. 24 D. 15

24) Find the next term in the series: 3, 4, 7, 8, 11, 12, ?

A. 22 B. 15
C. 14 D. 17

For any queries, contact us on [email protected] or whatsapp us on +91-7045 345345

 www.logiqids.com

25) Find the next term in the series: 8, 22, 8, 28, 8, 34, 8 ?
A. 28 B. 24
C. 40 D. 27

26) Find the next term in the series: 1Z, 2X, 3V, ___

A. 4W B. 5W
C. 4Y D. 4T

27) Find the missing term in the series: SCD, TEF, UGH, ____,WKL
A. VIJ B. VKL
C. WIJ D. TKL

28) Find the missing term in the series: CMM, EOO, GQQ, _____, KUU
A. ISS B. JKK
C. MSS D. JMM

29) Find the missing term in the series: A1B2C3D4E5__G7H8

A. F6 B. F9
C. 6F D. E6

30) Find the next term in the series: 3, 6, 12, 21, 33, 48, ?
A. 56 B. 66
C. 76 D. 68

31) Identify the odd one out:

A. FOREST0 B. TREE2
C. NATION2 D. FOLLOW2

32) Identify the odd one out:

A. FOREST6 B. TREE4
C. NATION5 D. FOLLOW6

33) If BOWLED is coded as LEDWOB, how will SINGLE be coded as?

A. ELGSIN B. GLESIN
C. GLENIS D. ELGNIS

34) If NISHIT is coded as IINSHT, how will DEEPTI be coded as?

A. EEPTID B. EEIDPT
C. EEITPD D. EEIDTP

For any queries, contact us on [email protected] or whatsapp us on +91-7045 345345

 www.logiqids.com

35) Find the next 5 terms in the series: 122333444455555666?

A. 66677 B. 77777
C. 67777 D. 66777

36) Find the next term in the series: 12345 4321 123 21?
A. 5 B. 4
C. 3 D. 1

37) Find the next term in the series: 5671234 6712345 7123456 ?
A. 5671234 B. 4567123
C. 3456712 D. 1234567

For any queries, contact us on [email protected] or whatsapp us on +91-7045 345345

 www.logiqids.com

ANSWERS

1) D
2) B
3) B
4) A
5) A
6) A
7) 2
8) 3
9) 5
10) 5
11) 4
12) 4
13) 4
14) 3
15) D
16) B
17) A
18) C
19) A
20) B
21) C
22) B
23) D
24) B
25) C
26) D
27) A
28) A
29) A
30) B
31) D
32) C
33) C
34) B
35) A
36) D
37) D

For any queries, contact us on [email protected] or whatsapp us on +91-7045 345345