Introduction / Context:
This aptitude question belongs to the input–output or sequential output tracing category. A set of words is rearranged from one time slot to the next following a fixed pattern. You are given several successive passwords for one example and must use that pattern to work backwards from the 11 a.m. to 12 noon password in another case to recover the first-batch password of the day.
Given Data / Assumptions:
- Example base words: is, not, ready, cloth, simple, harmony, burning.
- First batch (9–10 a.m.): is not ready cloth simple harmony burning.
- Second batch (10–11 a.m.): ready not is cloth burning harmony simple.
- Third batch (11 a.m.–12 noon): cloth is not ready simple harmony burning.
- Fourth batch (12 noon–1 p.m.): not is cloth ready burning harmony simple.
- Fifth batch (1–2 p.m.): ready cloth is not simple harmony burning.
- For another set of words, third-batch (11–12) password is given as: soap shy miss pen yet the she.
Concept / Approach:
We first determine the pattern that maps the first-batch arrangement to the third-batch arrangement in the example. Then we apply the same mapping in reverse: using the third-batch arrangement for the new words to find what the corresponding first-batch arrangement must have been for that day.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: In the example, label the original words in first batch as w1 = is, w2 = not, w3 = ready, w4 = cloth, w5 = simple, w6 = harmony, w7 = burning.
Step 2: The third-batch password is “cloth is not ready simple harmony burning”. In terms of w1–w7 this becomes [w4, w1, w2, w3, w5, w6, w7].
Step 3: Therefore, the mapping from the first batch to the third batch is: position 1 in third batch comes from w4, position 2 from w1, position 3 from w2, position 4 from w3, and positions 5, 6 and 7 stay as w5, w6 and w7 respectively.
Step 4: For the new set of seven words, we treat the third-batch words as: t1 = soap, t2 = shy, t3 = miss, t4 = pen, t5 = yet, t6 = the, t7 = she.
Step 5: According to the pattern, we must have: t1 = w4, t2 = w1, t3 = w2, t4 = w3, t5 = w5, t6 = w6, t7 = w7 for the new day.
Step 6: So we back-calculate: w1 = t2 = shy; w2 = t3 = miss; w3 = t4 = pen; w4 = t1 = soap; w5 = t5 = yet; w6 = t6 = the; w7 = t7 = she.
Step 7: The first-batch password is simply w1 w2 w3 w4 w5 w6 w7 in order, which is: shy miss pen soap yet the she.
Verification / Alternative check:
We can test our logic by re-applying the mapping to our recovered first-batch phrase. Starting from “shy miss pen soap yet the she” as [w1, w2, w3, w4, w5, w6, w7], the third-batch arrangement should be [w4, w1, w2, w3, w5, w6, w7] = “soap shy miss pen yet the she”, which matches the given third-batch password perfectly.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
pen miss shy soap she the yet: This merely mixes the words but does not respect the specific position mapping extracted from the example.
soap pen miss shy she the yet and miss shy soap pen she the yet: These also ignore the pattern and place “soap” or “miss” incorrectly at the starting positions.
miss soap shy pen yet the she: Again, the order does not generate the correct third-batch phrase when the known mapping is applied.
Common Pitfalls:
Students often confuse which batch is being compared with which and sometimes try to track hour-by-hour changes from first to second and second to third, which is more complicated than necessary. The smarter approach is to directly compare first and third batches in the example to deduce the overall permutation of positions and then apply that inverse mapping carefully to the new data.
Final Answer:
Therefore, the first-batch password for the second set of words is
shy miss pen soap yet the she.
Discussion & Comments