Two to three marks every shift, and AAI reuses the same four mechanisms year after year. Six of the questions in this chapter are lifted straight from the real papers.
This whole chapter rests on one thing: knowing the position number of every letter without counting. Everything after that is arithmetic.
Nothing in this chapter works until letter positions are automatic. Counting from A every time costs you the question. Use the five anchors instead.
Any letter is now at most two steps from an anchor. R is two after O, so R = 17. W is two after T, so W = 22. For the reverse position, subtract from 27: the reverse of R is 27 − 18 = 9.
A uniform shift adds the same number to every letter, wrapping around from Z back to A. Test the first letter pair to find the shift, then confirm with the last. If both agree, apply it to the answer word without checking the middle.
Never verify all seven letters. Check letter one, check the final letter, and if the shift matches, trust it. That habit alone saves twenty seconds per question.
PARENTS is related to TEVIRXW, and ACHIEVE is related to EGLMIZI. To which option is PROUDLY related?
When a uniform shift refuses to fit, two things are usually going on: the word has been reversed before coding, or the shift changes position by position. The 2021 Shift 2 paper used both at once.
If the first letters do not fit a shift, immediately test the first code letter against the last original letter. If that fits, the word is reversed. Then read the shifts across the reversed word — they often descend 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 or ascend 1, 2, 3.
The moment a straight shift does not work on letter one, write the word backwards. Two-thirds of the time the pattern appears immediately.
ABOUT is written as YYRDB, and ACUTE is written as JXXEB. How is ANGLE written?
This is the format AAI has used in both 2025 shifts. A word is given a two-digit number, and you have to find the arithmetic. Nine times out of ten it is built on the sum of the letter positions.
Compute the plain sum for the first given word and compare it with its code. The gap is your constant. Then verify that same gap on the second word. If it matches, apply it.
Add the letter positions first, always. The difference between your sum and the given code is the constant, and AAI has used +6 in both 2025 shifts.
LOUNGE is coded as 80 and PARCEL is coded as 61. What is the code for ZEALOT?
Here whole words are replaced by nonsense words. You are given two or three coded sentences and asked for the code of one word. The method is pure intersection — no alphabet, no arithmetic.
If a word appears in two sentences and one code word appears in the same two sentences, they are the same thing. No other reasoning is needed.
'Tudo Bem' is written as 'All Fine', 'Como Esta' is written as 'How You', and 'Bem Como' is written as 'Fine You'. How is 'Tudo Esta' written?
AAI is fond of three-letter clusters like FPJ, BLF, JTM, MWQ, where you must find the internal gap pattern. The 2025 papers carried several, sometimes as odd-one-out and sometimes as analogy.
Convert the cluster to numbers, then write the differences between consecutive letters. Three of the four clusters will share the same difference pattern; the fourth is your answer, or the pattern carries over to a new cluster.
Never stare at letter clusters as letters. Convert all four to numbers in one pass, then compare gaps. The odd one becomes obvious in five seconds.
Four pages of practice covering all five code types, with a blank alphabet-position grid and working space left for your letter arithmetic. Print it, solve it, keep it.
Nine question formats, building in difficulty. Full solutions are in the downloadable PDF above.
| Column I — code type | Column II — method |
|---|---|
| (a) LOUNGE = 80 | (i) Reverse then shift 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 |
| (b) ABOUT = YYRDB | (ii) Intersection of shared words |
| (c) 'Bem Como' = 'Fine You' | (iii) Sum of letter positions plus a constant |
| (d) PARENTS = TEVIRXW | (iv) Uniform shift of +4 |
Live classes cover every reasoning, aptitude, English and GK topic with the same method — find the rule, prove it on two words, then apply. Fees are kept low on purpose.