In the word 'COLLABORATION', all consonants are replaced with their preceding letters, and all vowels are replaced with their succeeding letters and in the word 'DETERMINATION', letters appearing before N in the English alphabetical series are replaced with their succeeding letters, while letters appearing after N are replaced with their preceding letters and N remains as it is. After that, combine the transformed letters from both words into a single sequence, arrange them in alphabetical order. Now, determine which of the following letter is 3rd to the right of the 2nd letter from left end?

### Concept & Logic Alphabet test questions involving positional shifts require careful application of transformation rules. After transforming the strings, concatenate them. To find a relative position, use the formula: `New Index = Starting Index + Shift Right`. For sorting, you do not need to sort the entire sequence if the target index is near the beginning. ### Step-by-Step Solution **1. Transform the first word: COLLABORATION** * **Rule:** Consonants replaced with preceding letters (-1). Vowels replaced with succeeding letters (+1). * C (cons) -> B * O (vowel) -> P * L (cons) -> K * L (cons) -> K * A (vowel) -> B * B (cons) -> A * O (vowel) -> P * R (cons) -> Q * A (vowel) -> B * T (cons) -> S * I (vowel) -> J * O (vowel) -> P * N (cons) -> M * **Sequence 1:** B, P, K, K, B, A, P, Q, B, S, J, P, M **2. Transform the second word: DETERMINATION** * **Rule:** Letters before N (A-M) -> succeeding (+1). Letters after N (O-Z) -> preceding (-1). N -> remains as it is. * D (before N) -> E * E (before N) -> F * T (after N) -> S * E (before N) -> F * R (after N) -> Q * M (before N) -> N * I (before N) -> J * N (is N) -> N * A (before N) -> B * T (after N) -> S * I (before N) -> J * O (after N) -> N * N (is N) -> N * **Sequence 2:** E, F, S, F, Q, N, J, N, B, S, J, N, N **3. Combine and Sort (Target Index)** * The question asks for the letter "3rd to the right of the 2nd letter from left end". * Target Index = 2 (left end) + 3 (right) = 5th letter from the left end. * Since we only need the 5th letter in alphabetical order, let's extract the earliest letters from both sequences: * From Sequence 1: A (1), B (3) * From Sequence 2: B (1), E (1), F (2) * Total count of earliest letters: A = 1, B = 4. * The sorted sequence begins: A, B, B, B, B, E, F... * The 5th letter is B. ### Exam Strategy & Shortcut Instead of wasting time writing out and sorting all 26 letters of the combined sequence, determine your target position first. Once you know you only need the 5th character, simply tally the occurrences of 'A' and 'B' from your transformed lists. Seeing one 'A' and four 'B's immediately gives you the answer. ### Common Pitfall Misapplying the specific instructions for the letter N. The prompt explicitly states "N remains as it is" for the second word. Applying a shift to N will cascade into sorting errors. Also, unnecessarily sorting the entire 26-character sequence wastes valuable exam time. ### Final Answer Therefore, the correct answer is **B**.