In the following pattern of seven letter strings AAAAAaA, AAAAaAA, AAAaAAA, AAaAAAA, AaAAAAA, ? a single lowercase a appears in a different position each time. Which of the following terms correctly comes next?

Introduction / Context:
This question is a simple position based pattern involving one lowercase a among capital A letters. The given terms are AAAAAaA, AAAAaAA, AAAaAAA, AAaAAAA, AaAAAAA, followed by a missing term. We must determine where the lowercase a should appear in the next term. Such problems focus on positional shifts rather than arithmetic operations on letter values.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Terms: AAAAAaA, AAAAaAA, AAAaAAA, AAaAAAA, AaAAAAA, ? • Each term has length seven and contains exactly one lowercase a, all other letters being capital A. • Options: aAAAAAA, AAAAAAa, AAAAAaA, AAAAaAA • Assumption: The lowercase a moves one position at a time from right to left or left to right in a systematic way.

Concept / Approach:
We number positions in each seven letter string from left to right. The only informative element is the position of the lowercase a, so we track how this position changes as we move from term to term. Recognising whether the position shifts leftward or rightward by one position at each step allows us to predict its location in the missing term and choose the correct string from the options.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Label positions 1 to 7 from left to right in each term. Step 2: In the first term AAAAAaA, the lowercase a is at position 6. Step 3: In the second term AAAAaAA, the lowercase a is at position 5. Step 4: In the third term AAAaAAA, the lowercase a is at position 4. Step 5: In the fourth term AAaAAAA, the lowercase a is at position 3. Step 6: In the fifth term AaAAAAA, the lowercase a is at position 2. Step 7: We see the lowercase a moving left by one position at each step: 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and so the next must be 1. Step 8: If the lowercase a stands at position 1, all remaining six characters from positions 2 to 7 must be capital A, giving aAAAAAA.

Verification / Alternative check:
The numeric pattern of positions of the lowercase a is a clear decreasing sequence: 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, ?. The natural continuation is 1. Among the options, only aAAAAAA has the lowercase a in the first position, with all other letters capital A. Choices like AAAAAAa place the lowercase a at the last position and would imply a direction reversal that is unsupported by earlier terms.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
AAAAAAa places the lowercase a at position 7, moving it from position 2 directly to the opposite extreme, which does not match the one step left shift pattern. AAAAAaA and AAAAaAA simply repeat earlier terms where the lowercase a was at positions 6 and 5; those are already in the series and cannot represent the next new step.

Common Pitfalls:
Sometimes students focus on counting the number of capital As rather than the exact position of the lowercase a, missing the clear and simple leftward motion. It is also easy to miscount positions, especially if you do not write them under the letters. Marking each position clearly and listing positions of the special symbol as a separate sequence helps keep the reasoning accurate.

Final Answer:
The correct next term in the series is aAAAAAA.