Best Tricks to learn ranks of alphabets in Reasoning Section

We all know that there are 26 letters in the alphabet series. So, the no. of alphabets is 26.

Letters	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N	O	P	Q	R	S	T	U	V	W	X	Y	Z
Rank	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26

Now let us have a look at the tricks to learn the ranks of alphabets

The first 4 letters A to D`s, rank is 1 to 4 and no trick is required to learn them.

Now comes the letter E. For this, you have to learn the one-word EJOTY                                                                                                 

E	J	O	T	Y
5	10	15	20	25

• Learning this word helps you to learn the rank of 5 letters which are the multiple of 5.
• Coming to the next letter it is F. You know F for Fix and Fix and Six are rhyming words.  You can also learn it as F for FRIENDS. FRIENDS is of 6 letters. So, the rank of F is 6.
• Then it is G. Everybody knows G-7 Nations. The rank of the letter G is 7.
• After that, it is H. Now if we join the 2 lines of H, it will become 8 or you can say H looks like 8. Thus Rank of the letter H is 8.
• Coming to the next letter, it is I, if you write I in cursive writing, it looks like 9. Hence, the Rank of the letter I is 9.

• Then, the letter is J. Remember the term EJOTY. The rank of J is 10. 
• Here it comes the letter K. K for Kelvin and which is similar to Eleven in pronunciation or K`s rank is 11.
• Now, the letter is L. Speak together L Twelve Sounds like Homonyms. The rank of L is 12.
• Next letter is M. Total letters in the Alphabet series is 26. Half of 26 is 13 or the middlemost letter in the series is M. The rank of the letter M is 13.
• After the letter M, it is N, N for November, and November 14 is Children`s Day. Thus, the Rank of Letter N is 14. 

• Here it comes O, again the term EJOTY. The rank of O is 15. 
• Next two letters are P and Q. Learn them together as P16 and Q17. Also, you can learn them with the help of the reverse method which will be explained later. 
• Here the turn of R and S come, pronounce ATTARRAHH and UNISSSS they are the ranks of R and S respectively.

• Again, it is EJOTY the letter is T. Rank of the letter T is 20. You can also remember it as T-20 matches. 
• Coming to the next letter, it is U. From U, the country is the USA which stands for UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Counting all the letters of UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, it is 21. The rank of U is 21. You can also remember it as U are a graduate(21). Usually, a person completes his/her graduation at the age of 21.
• Next letter is V. V for Victory. A person requires two fingers to represent Victory. The rank of the letter V is 22. 
• Now, if we reverse the letter W, it looks like 3, its rank is 23.
• In X, it is being divided into four parts. The rank of the letter X is 24. 
• Coming to Y, it is again EJOTY. The rank of the letter Y is 25.

 

• The last letter is Z or its rank is 26. 

Let’s have a quick look at the trick to learn the rank of letters:

Letters	Rank	Trick
1	A	1 to 4 ranks are easy to remember
2	B
3	C
4	D
5	E	EJOTY
6	F	Fix-Six (6), FRIENDS – 6 letters
7	G	G-7 Nations
8	H	H looks like 8
9	I	I look like 9
10	J	EJOTY
11	K	Kelvin-Eleven (Same Pronunciation)
12	L	L Twelve (Same Pronunciation)
13	M	Middle letter
14	N	November 14
15	O	EJOTY
16	P	P16
17	Q	Q17
18	R	ATHARAHHH
19	S	UNISSSSS
20	T	EJOTY
21	U	In USA, there are 21 letters
22	V	For Victory, two fingers are required.
23	W	On the reverse, it looks like 3.
24	X	It has 4 legs
25	Y	EJOTY
26	Z	Last letter

Example of questions on Alphabet Series:

Example 1. Which element is 8th to the right of the 15th letter from the left of the alphabet series?

Sol. In the case of the same directions i.e, right to right or left to left, we subtract the numbers, and in the case of opposite directions i.e, right to left or left to right, we add the numbers. Here, directions are opposite, so we have to find (8 + 15)th letter from the left end i.e, the 23rd letter. And we know the rank of ‘W` is 23. 

The answer is W.

Now, in some questions, you are generally asked to find out the rank of the letter from the reverse side or right side of the alphabet series. Now, you can find the rank of letters from the reverse side in the way (27 – Rank of the letter from the left side).

Example 2. If the alphabet series is reversed, then which letter is 6th to the right of the 9th letter from the left side?

Sol. Here, there are opposite directions, so, the addition will be there i.e, (6 + 9)from the right side or 15th from the left side. Now we know the 15th letter from the left side is O and as this series is reversed, so we will find the 15th letter from the right side i,e. 27 – 15 = 12 i.e, Letter L.  

Example 3. If the first half of the English alphabet is reversed and the second half of the English alphabet is reversed so as ‘A’ takes the position of ‘M’ and ‘N’ takes the position of ‘Z’ then which letter will be 5th to the left of 19th letter to the right of 9th letter from the left?

Sol. In the new series, 5th to the left of the 19th letter to the right of the 9th letter from the left = 5th to the left of (19+9) 28th letter from the left = (28-5) 23rd letter from the left.

In the new series, it is a letter Q.  

Example 4. Which letter is the ninth letter to the right of the letter which is the eighth letter to the left of the last but one letter of the alphabet series?

Sol. Last but one letter of the alphabet series is Y.

8th letter to the left of Y or 25th letter is the 17th letter i.e, Q 

Now, the 9th letter to the right of Q is Z i.e, 26th letter.

Important Rank-based Examples

Here are some questions which are asked in banking exams and require the use of ranks of letters.

Q1. If TEACHER is coded as WHDFKHU, then how the word MANAGER will be coded?

Sol. At first, let us write the ranks of all the letters of word and code.

T (20)	E (5)	A (1)	C (3)	H (8)	E (5)	R (18)
W (23)	H (8)	D (4)	F (6)	K (11)	H (8)	U (21)

Here we can see that from word to code there is an increase of 3.

This way, the MANAGER will be coded as 

M (13)	A (1)	N (14)	A (1)	G (7)	E (5)	R (18)
(16) P	(4) D	(17) Q	(4) D	(10) J	(8) H	(21) U

Q2. If TO is coded as 35 and COMB is coded as 33. What is the code of BLUE?

Sol. From the term EJOTY we know T`s rank is 20 and O`s rank is 15. So, (T + O)rank = 35

Then, in COMB, C is 3, O is 15, M is 13 and B is 2. Adding them, 3 + 15 + 13+ 2 = 33.

So, the code of BLUE will be the sum of the rank of B, L, U, and E i.e, 2 + 12 + 21+ 5 = 40.

Q3. How many pairs of letters are there in the word SEQUENTIAL which has as many letters between them in the word as in the alphabet in both directions?

Sol. Four pairs. Let`s see how ranks help to get the answer quickly. 

S	E	Q	U	E	N	T	I	A	L
19	5	17	21	5	14	20	9	1	12

1. 19 _ 17 or S R Q

2. 19 _ _ _ _ 14 or  S R Q P N M 

3. 5 _ _ _ 1 or E D C B A

4. 17 _ _ 14 or Q U E N

Q4. Fill the series: TAI, UCL, VEO, _____,  XIU

Here if we see the series, the first letter is incremented by 1, the second letter is incremented by 2, and the third letter is incremented by 3. You can easily analyze the pattern by just knowing their ranks. 

The answer is WGR.

Q5. If ADVERSITY is coded as XACUOGAQK, then how would GENERATOR be coded as?

Sol. If we analyze the pattern: 

A (1)	D (4)	V(22)	E(5)	R(18)	S(19)	I(9)	T(20)	Y(25)
X (24)	A (1)	C (3)	U (21)	O (15)	G (7)	A (1)	Q (17)	K (11)

                             

Thus, the answer is PBICOGTLV.

There can be several questions like this where ranks of letters play a major role. You can remember it in any way which seems easier to you.

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