Alphabet Series Reasoning is an important topic which is asked in almost all the competitive exams like SSC, Banking, Railway, UPSC, and other government exams. This topic is designed to test the candidates’ logical thinking, pattern recognition, and understanding of alphabetical arrangement.
In this topic, you have to understand the alphabet order, missing letters in the series, and the pattern of coding. If you understand the basic concept of this topic correctly, then you can easily solve the questions based on it in less time.
In this post, we are providing you the complete concept of Alphabetical Series, easy tricks, and hundreds of practice questions which are very useful for all competitive exams
Table of Contents
What is Alphabet Series?
In Alphabet Series, group of letters are arranged in a hierarchical manner which follows a specific type of rule. To solve Alphabet Series, the given question is solved as per its rules and by following the rules. Alphabet series is asked in competitive exams held in India like SSC, UPSC, UPPCS, all Banking exams, competitive exams of defense etc. Alphabet series is asked in all these exams. It is necessary for the candidates preparing for competitive exams to understand alphabet series. Alphabet series has special importance in reasoning subject.
Basic Concept of Alphabetical Series
There is a group of 26 letters in the alphabet series. We arrange them in a simple order according to numbering which is as follows –
Alphabetical Position Forword Series
In the forward series of alphabet series, all the letters are arranged in a sequential order along with their place values. Which is given below in the form of a table and a picture. Candidates can memorize all the letters of English and their place values through the table and picture. This will help them solve the questions asked in the competitive exam in less time.
| Letter | Position |
|---|---|
| A | 1 |
| B | 2 |
| C | 3 |
| D | 4 |
| E | 5 |
| F | 6 |
| G | 7 |
| H | 8 |
| I | 9 |
| J | 10 |
| K | 11 |
| L | 12 |
| M | 13 |
| N | 14 |
| O | 15 |
| P | 16 |
| Q | 17 |
| R | 18 |
| S | 19 |
| T | 20 |
| U | 21 |
| V | 22 |
| W | 23 |
| X | 24 |
| Y | 25 |
| Z | 26 |

Backword Alphabetical Series
In the backward series of alphabet series, all the letters are arranged in reverse order along with their place values. Which is given below in the form of table and picture. Candidates can memorize all the letters of English and their place values through table and picture. This will help them solve the questions asked in competitive exams in less time.
| Letter | Position |
|---|---|
| Z | 26 |
| Y | 25 |
| X | 24 |
| W | 23 |
| V | 22 |
| U | 21 |
| T | 20 |
| S | 19 |
| R | 18 |
| Q | 17 |
| P | 16 |
| O | 15 |
| N | 14 |
| M | 13 |
| L | 12 |
| K | 11 |
| J | 10 |
| I | 9 |
| H | 8 |
| G | 7 |
| F | 6 |
| E | 5 |
| D | 4 |
| C | 3 |
| B | 2 |
| A | 1 |

Even Alphabetical Series
In Even alphabet series, the place value of letters is even digits. Most of the questions in competitive exams are made from this series and the candidate should remember and understand this series well so that all the questions asked in the exam from this series can be solved in less time. Below is given the table and picture of this series which will make it easier to understand.
| Letter | Position |
|---|---|
| B | 2 |
| D | 4 |
| F | 6 |
| H | 8 |
| J | 10 |
| L | 12 |
| N | 14 |
| P | 16 |
| R | 18 |
| T | 20 |
| V | 22 |
| X | 24 |
| Z | 26 |

Odd Alphabetical Series
In the Odd alphabet series, the place value of letters is odd digits. Most of the questions in competitive exams are made from this series and the candidate should remember and understand this series well so that all the questions asked in the exam from this series can be solved in less time. The table and picture of this series is given below which will make it easier to understand.
| Letter | Position |
|---|---|
| A | 1 |
| C | 3 |
| E | 5 |
| G | 7 |
| I | 9 |
| K | 11 |
| M | 13 |
| O | 15 |
| Q | 17 |
| S | 19 |
| U | 21 |
| W | 23 |
| Y | 25 |

E,J,O,T,Y Consept
As we know there are total 26 letters in English alphabet out of which 21 are consonants and 5 are vowels(A,E,I,O,U).
EJOTY is a word in which distance of each letter is 5. Place value of E is 5, place value of J is 10, place value of O is 15, place value of T is 20, place value of Y is 25.
With this EJOTY Concept it will be easy for us to find out the place value of all letters of alphabet.
| Letter | Position |
|---|---|
| E | 5 |
| J | 10 |
| O | 15 |
| T | 20 |
| Y | 25 |
Example:
If we want to find the place value of G and we know the place value of all letters in EJOTY concept, then to find the place value of G we have to see to which letter G is closest in EJOTY. G is closest to E. Then the place value of E is 5. We know that G comes after the letter E, so the place value of G is 7. In this way we can find the place value of any letter.
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Note:
If any question of alphabet series is asked in terms of direction (left and right) then left side will always be considered as ABC i.e. your left will also be considered as the left side of alphabet series. Similarly, right side will always be considered as XYZ side. In the same way, your right is also the right side of the series.
Important
There can be four cases in English alphabet series. In the question, letter can be asked from left to left. Letter can be asked from right to right and letter can be asked from left to right. Letter can be asked from right to left.
There can be four positions in the English alphabet series. In the question, the letter can be asked from left to left. The letter can be asked from right to right and the letter can be asked from left to right. It can be easily understood and solved by the formula given below.
| L, L, | – |
| R, R, | – |
| L, R, | + |
| R, L, | + |
This formula can be understood from the given question.
Q. Which letter in the English alphabet will be the 10th letter from the 5th left to the right?
Solution:-
According to the given question, L, R have been asked and our formula tells us to add for this situation. Then if we add 5 more to 10, the answer will be 15. In the question, the letter has been asked from the left, so the 15th letter from the left is O, this is our answer.
Conclusion
Alphabet Series is an important chapter of Reasoning which is asked in all competitive exams. It is important for all candidates to read and understand this chapter well and practice its questions on a daily basis. It is not difficult to score good marks in this topic by practicing daily. If you understand its concepts well and practice the questions, then you can score good marks in it. In this blog post, the concept of Alphabet Series is explained well.
Remember, the only way to master this subject is constant practice. The more you practice, the better your speed and accuracy will be.
If you are preparing for SSC, Bank, Railway or any other competitive exam, then definitely include Alphabet Series in your daily practice. This will not only help you save time but will also help you score better in the exam.
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Which letter in the English alphabet will be 6 to the right of 4 from the left?
According to the given formula, if we add 4 from the left and 6 from the right, we get 10. The 10th letter from the left is J.
Answer:- J -
Which letter in the English alphabet will be 7th to the right of 17th letter from the left?
According to the given formula, if we add 17 from the left and 7 from the right, we get 24. The 24th letter from the left is Y.
Answer:- Y -
Which letter in the English alphabet will be 7th to the left of the 17th letter from the left?
According to the given formula, if we subtract 17 from left and 7 from right, we get 10. 10th letter from left is J.
Answer:- J -
Which letter in the English alphabet will be 7th to the left of the 11th letter from the right?
According to the given formula, if we add 7 from the left to 11 from the right we get 18. 18th letter from the right is I.
Answer:- I -
Which letter in the English alphabet will be 5th to the right of 15th letter from the right?
According to the given formula, if we subtract 5 from the right hand side of 15 then we get 10. 10th letter from the right hand side is Q.
Answer: Q
