PARMAR'S TOPPERS REASONING BATCH | ALPHABET TEST (DEMO LEC)

Alphabet Test: Summary

The lecture presents the alphabet test as a foundational topic for competitive-exam reasoning. It supports later work on coding–decoding, letter series, alphanumeric puzzles, and order-and-ranking questions.

The instructor recommends memorizing the positions of the English letters from A = 1 to Z = 26, mainly by repeatedly saying and using them aloud. The class combines basic rules with practice questions described as previous-year or exam-style questions.

Rules and Methods Covered

1. Convert a Letter’s Position Between the Left and Right Ends

Let L be a letter’s position from the left, R its position from the right, and T the total number of letters.

• Use the formula: T = L + R − 1.
• For the English alphabet, T = 26, so L + R = 27.
• To convert a position from one end to the other, make the two positions add up to 27. For example, the letter in position 7 from the left is in position 20 from the right.
• The −1 accounts for the same letter being included when counting from both ends; it must not be counted twice.
• Unless a direction is specified, the instructor treats alphabet positions as counted from the left.

2. Find Opposite or Mirror Letters

Opposite letters are paired so their positions, counted from the left, add up to 27: A–Z, B–Y, C–X, and so on.

To find the opposite of a letter, subtract its position from 27, then identify the letter at the resulting position.

The instructor distinguishes this from Rule 1:

• Rule 1 uses the two ends to find the position of the same letter.
• Rule 2 uses positions from the left to find a different, opposite letter.

3. Form Pairs by Relative Distance

• Write the position value of each letter in the given word.
• Starting from a letter’s value, count upward in numerical order, one step at a time. A pair is formed when a number in that count matches another letter’s position value in the word.
• The number of steps between the letters in the word must match the gap between their positions in the alphabet. The letters themselves do not need to be the same.
• Unless the question restricts the direction, check in both directions along the word. If it says “left to right,” “forward,” or “same sequence,” count only that way.
• Continue checking a letter even after it has formed one pair, since it may form more than one.
• To save time, the instructor suggests not counting from the letter with the highest position value, because there is no larger value for it to match when counting upward.
• Some questions specify a particular gap—for example, exactly two or three letters between a pair. Count only pairs that meet that exact condition.
• Do not wrap around after Z. Although the alphabet starts again in other contexts, the instructor says repetition is not allowed for this pair-formation rule.

4. Find the Letter Midway Between Two Letters

Convert both letters to position values and calculate their average:

(position 1 + position 2) ÷ 2

• The two positions must be measured from the same end. If one is given from the left and one from the right, convert one first.
• If both positions are from the right, their average is also a right-end position; convert that result to the left to identify the letter.
• If the average is not a whole number, there is no letter exactly midway between them.

5. Arrange the Letters of a Word Alphabetically

Arrange all the letters in ascending alphabetical order, preserving repeated letters. If reverse alphabetical order is requested, arrange them in the opposite direction.

• When asked for a letter at a particular position from an end, avoid rearranging the entire word if only a few letters are needed. Use the total number of letters, N, and the relation left position + right position = N + 1 to find an equivalent position from the nearer end.
• To count the letters strictly between two letters, subtract their position values and then subtract 1.
• For questions about letters whose positions remain unchanged—or change—compare each letter’s original position with its position after rearrangement.

6. Arrange Words in Dictionary Order

Compare words letter by letter from the beginning. The first letter at which two words differ determines which word comes first alphabetically.

• If the first letters match, compare the second; if those match, compare the third, and continue as needed.
• Do not decide based simply on which word is shorter.
• The instructor recommends using the answer choices to reduce work: compare only the words needed to establish the requested position or sequence rather than arranging every word unnecessarily.

New-Word Formation

The lecture begins a section on forming meaningful words from a specified set of letters. The letters must be rearranged into a valid dictionary word, and the question may ask for its first letter.

In the example, E, M, T, and U form MUTE, so the first letter is M. The instructor warns that if a question seems to allow multiple plausible answers and the student is uncertain, it may be safer to skip it, particularly when there is negative marking. This section begins but is not completed in the subtitles.

Speakers and Sources

• Kamal Sir — the instructor delivering the lesson.
• Exam-question sources named in the lecture — SSC CPO 2025, SSC CGL 2025, SSC CHSL, Selection Post 2025, and Delhi Development Authority (DDA) exams. Delhi Police is also mentioned.

The instructor presents several questions as previous-year or exam-style examples.