Continuous Pattern Series
Continuous pattern series generally consists of small letters of English alphabet where the letters are arranged following a certain pattern.
The candidate is required to identify the pattern and accordingly find the missing letters from the given alternatives.
How to approach Continuous pattern series questions?
Read the series and see if any pattern is evident. Sometimes reading a series quickly may do the trick.
Counting the number of elements in the given series may give a clue of the length of the group of letters being repeated, i.e. 3, 4 or 5 etc.
If no pattern is evident then make use of the options smartly. Ideally this may be done in the second round of the paper being attempted so as to avoid getting stuck.
How to smartly make use of the options in Continuous pattern series questions?
Let us consider an example…
Q. Find the missing letters in the following series:
a_aaaba ba_ab
(a) aababa (b) abaaaa (c) abaaba (d) ababaa
(SSC Question)
Explanation:
No pattern is visible in the series as such.
So, let’s count the number of terms/elements in the series.
Number of elements = 16
So, repeated group is probably 4 elements long.
Hence, we will make use of the options. Let’s see …
The first letter in all the options is ‘a’. So, the first missing letter in the given series must be ‘a’.
The last letter in all the options is ‘a’. So, the last missing letter in the given series must be ‘a’.
Hence, the given series effectively becomes:
aa_aaaba_ _ba_aba
Now, we can see that the given series is a repetition of ‘aaba’. It has been represented in the diagram given below:
Answer: (b)
Types of Continuous pattern series
Let us consider a few cases …
Type 1: Repetition of same group in same form
These questions are the easiest and the most common of Continuous pattern series questions.
Q. Find the missing letters in the following series:
m _ m _ am _ a _
(a) mama (b) amaa (c) ammm (d) amam
Explanation:
Number of elements = 9
So repeated group is probably 3 elements long.
Now, we can see that the given series is a repetition of ‘mam’. It has been represented in the diagram given below:
Answer: (c)
Type 2: Repetition of two groups in same form
Q. Find the missing letters in the following series:
l_n_mllm_n_l
(a) mnmm (b) nmmm (c) mnmn (d) mnnm
Explanation:
Number of elements = 12
So repeated groups are probably 3 or 4 elements long.
The given series has been represented in the diagram given below:
Answer: (d)
Type 3: Cyclic Series
Q. Find the missing letters in the following series:
_ ab _ b _ bc _ ca _
(a) abacb (b) cacab (c) accbb (d) abcca
(SSC Question)
Explanation:
Number of elements = 12
So repeated groups are probably 3 or 4 elements long.
The given series has been represented in the diagram given below:
You can see that the elements are moving in a cyclic fashion; in clockwise direction to be precise.
Answer: (b)
Type 4: Swap Series
Q. Find the missing letters in the following series:
_ cb _ ca _ bacb _ ca _ bac_ d
(a) addddb (b) addbbb (c) bbbddd (d) badddb
(SSC Question)
Explanation:
Number of elements = 20
So repeated groups are probably 4 or 5 elements long.
The given series has been represented in the diagram given below:
You can see that the elements are constantly swapping their places in pairs.
Answer: (a)
Type 5: Increasing/Decreasing Series
Q. Find the missing letters in the following series:
ZX_TR_NLJ_F
(a) VRH (b) UPJ (c) VPH (d) UPJ
(SSC Question)
Explanation:
Number of elements = 11
We can tell by looking at the given series that it’s continuously decreasing (when seen from left to right).
The given series has been represented in the diagram given below:
Answer: (c)