ANT → BOU, TEAR → UFBS; MARK → ?

Solution: NBSL. Every letter +1.

VENUS → WCQQX, SATURN → TYWQWH; EARTH → ?

Solution: FYUPM. Shifts +1, −2, +3, −4, +5, −6 by position.

SEQUENCE → FDOFVRFT; CHILDREN → ?

Solution: OFSEMJID. Reverse (NERDLIHC), then +1 on each letter.

What are the common traps in Letter shifting / reversal questions?

Uniform-shift bait: for +1, +2, +3 … codes an option applies +1 everywhere. Reversed order: after reversing, the first shift belongs to the last letter of the original word. Near-miss options: ENQWE vs ENQWF differ only in the last letter; recompute that one position.

Start here · the first lesson of Letter shifting / reversal

Letter shifting / reversal

Coding-Decoding · for IPMAT Indore, IPMAT Rohtak and JIPMAT

The idea

In a letter-shift code every letter of the word is moved a fixed or patterned number of places (+1, +2; −2 then +2; +1, +2, +3 …), replaced by its opposite letter (A ↔ Z), or the word is first rearranged (reversed, halves swapped, pairs swapped, letters sorted) and then shifted. Rohtak asked three such items in 2019; JIPMAT asks one or two a year.

Textbook vs exam method

Textbook method

Convert the example word and its code to alphabet positions, find the difference at each position, and apply the same differences (or rearrangement plus differences) to the new word.

Exam method

Align and subtract. R O A S T over P Q Y U R gives −2, +2, −2, +2, −2: odd positions −2, even positions +2.JIPMAT 2025
Constant shift? Done. TOWEL → UPXFM is +1 throughout.
No pattern? Rearrange first. SEQUENCE → FDOFVRFT: reversed, ECNEUQES, then +1. IMTITJU → TMIIUJT: blocks of three reversed around the middle letter.Rohtak 2019
Opposites. FRUITS → UIFRGH pairs each letter with its mirror (F–U, R–I, T–G, S–H). A code that mixes big jumps (+19, −5 …) is usually the opposite-letter rule.
Answer by elimination. Code the first two letters of the asked word; usually only one option starts that way.