Basic tips and tricks to solve coding-decoding

The approach to solve the questions of this section?

• Observe alphabets or numbers given in the code keenly.
• Find the sequence it follows whether it is ascending or descending.
• Detect the rule in which the alphabets/numbers/words follow.
• Fill the appropriate letter/number/word in the blank given.

Some Basics which we need to learn before solving the questions of this topic are:

• Letter position (A=1, B=2, C=3, D=4 …… Y=25, Z=26)
• Opposite position of letters (A=26, B=25 …… Z=1)
• Opposite of each letter (A is opposite to Z and B is opposite to Y and C is opposite to X …… and so on)

Various types on which Coding and Decoding are classified are (as per Bank Exams):

• Letter Coding
• Substitution
• Mixed Letter Coding
• Mixed Number Coding

LETTER CODING:

In this type the real alphabets in a word are replaced by certain other alphabets according to a specific rule to form its code. The candidate is required to detect the common rule and answer the questions accordingly.

For Example:

In a certain code, “CODING” is written as “DPEJOH”. How will DECODING be written in that code?

Explanation:

Compare 1st letter of CODING with 1st letter of DPEJOH.

C is converted to D.

You know C’s next letter in alphabets is D.

O’s next letter is P.

D’s next letter is E.

I’s next letter is J.

N’s next letter is O.

G’s next letter is H.

This was how CODING was converted to DPEJOH. Now in the same way you have to convert DECODING.

So D is converted to E.

E-F, C-D, O-P, D-E, I-J, N-O, G-H

So DECODING should be converted to EFDPEJOH.

SUBSTITUTION:

In this section an object names are substituted with different object names. We should carefully trace the substitution and answer given question.

For Example:

If white is called blue, blue is called red, red is called yellow, yellow is called green, green is called black, black is called violet and violet is called orange, what would be the colour of human blood?

1. Red

2. Green

3. Yellow

4. Violet

5. Orange

Ans: C

Explanation:

The colour of the human blood is ‘red’, and as it is given that ‘red’ is called ‘yellow’. So, the colour of human blood is ‘yellow’.

MIXED LETTER CODING:

In Mixed letter coding type of questions, three or four complete messages are given in the coded language and the code for a particular word is asked. To analyse such codes, any two messages bearing a common word are picked up. The common code word will mean that word. Proceeding smilarly by picking up all possible combinations of two, the entire message can be analysed.

For Example:

In a certain code language,

1. ‘pod na joc’ means ‘very bright boy';

2. ‘tam nu pod’ means ‘the boy comes';

3. ‘nu per ton’ means ‘keep the doll';

4. ‘joc ton su’ means ‘very good doll’.

Which of the following means ‘bright’ in the same code language?

1. joc   2. pod   3. ton   4. na    5.None of these

Ans: D

Explanation:

In statements (a) and (b), the common code word is ‘pod’ and the common word is ‘boy’.

So, ‘pod’ stands for ‘boy’.

In statements (a) and (d), the common code word is ‘joc’ and the common word is ‘very’.

So, ‘joc’ stands for ‘very’.

So, in (a) ‘na’ stands for ‘bright’.

MIXED NUMBER CODING:

In this type of questions, a few groups of numbers each coding a certain short message, are given. Through a comparison of the given coded messages, taking two at a time, the candidate is required to find the number code for each word and then formulate the code for the message given.

For Example:

In a certain code,

‘786’ means ‘study very hard’,

‘958’ means ‘hard work pays’

‘645’ means ‘study and work’.

Which of the following is the code for ‘very’?

1. 7   2. 5   3. 8  4.6  5. Either 6 or 7

Ans: 1

Explanation:

In the first and second statements, the common word is ‘hard’ and the common code digit is ’8’. So, ‘8’ means ‘hard’.

In the first and third statements, the common word is ‘study’ and the common code digit is ‘6’. So, ’6’ means ‘study’.

Thus, in the first statement ‘7’ means ‘very’.

Now, since you have understood the Concepts and Shortcuts for Coding- Decoding,

We saw some major changes in the pattern of Coding-Decoding questions last year. To help you all prepare for this, we are now going to share some important tips and approach for Coding – Decoding questions based on new pattern. We will also discuss some different patterns of Coding-Decoding questions that you may come across in this year’s bank exams.

How to solve Coding - Decoding based on New Pattern

Example(1-3)

Study the following information carefully and answer the questions given below:In a certain code language
‘given  time  simple  plan’ is written as ‘@E4  &N4  %N5  #E6’
‘tired  solution  plant  great’ is written as ‘#N8  @D5  %T5  &T5’
‘sick  point  good  turn’ is written as ‘#K4  %D4  @N4  &T5’
‘garden  sister  phone  team’ is written as ‘&E5  #R6  %N6  @M4’
1.Which of the following code for ‘translate’?
A. @E8
B. @E9
C. #E8
D. #T8
E. #T9
2. Which of the following code for ‘plan’?
A. %N5
B. @E4
C. &N4
D. #E6
E. None of these
3.In the given code language, what does the code ‘%D4’?
A. point
B. turn
C. sick
D. good
E. None of these

How to Solve this Coding-Decoding:Here are some points to keep in minds when we solve these kinds of questions-

• As we all know there is always a concept behind this so we need to find it. When we look at that kind of questions we can see that in all steps all the 4 words start with same alphabet. They all start with- G, T, S and P and there code words also starts with same symbol in each steps- @, %, & and #. So we just have to find which of the first alphabet represent the particular symbol.
• Now we can see that theirs code words end with digits. When we look at that digits are total number of letters for each word.
• Now we can see the middle code word is last letter of that particular word. Now we solve the questions. 

Answer 1: B 

We have to find ‘translate’ code. As we can see that this word is not given in any steps but as we know the idea of that so we can solve it.
Step I: first we will count the letters of that word that is 9, then we put digit 9 at the right end.
Step II: we will put the last letter of that word then it will like- E9
Step III: at the last step ‘t’ is coded for ‘@’(first letter of each word is coded by a specific symbol like here ‘t’ is coded for ‘@’. We can find the first coded symbol by looking at the other given words. Answer will be - @E9

Answer 2: CWe have to find ‘plan’ code-
Now the same steps follow. plan is given in first step. Total count of letters is 4 and last letter is N and ‘p’ is coded as & so Final answer will be- &N4

Answer 3: DWe have given ‘%D4’ and we have to find it’s word.  So we can say that the number of letters will be 4 and last digit will be D and ‘%’ is represent to G. so in 3rd step we can find this word, final answer will be –Good

Example (4-8):

 Consider the following statements and the questions that follow. We will analyse this problem in detail after that.
In a certain code language 
“login groupup and scroll” is written as “&3d  @6l  *5n  %7p”
“scroll for sbi exam” is written as  “@6l  @3i  $3r  #4m”
“study exam related notes” is written as “#4m  @5y  !7d  =5s”
“read notes get job” is written as “+3b  !4d  =5s  %3t”
4. Which of the following code is for groupup?
A. @6l
B. &3d
C. %7p
D. *5n
E. None of these

5. According to the above information, code !7d is used for?
A. study
B. exam
C. related
D. notes
E. read

6. What will be the code for “exam groupup sbi job”?
A.  +3b #4m %7p =5s
B. %3t @6l @5y !7d
C. %7p +3b #4m @3i
D. !4d $3r @6l &3d
E. None of these

7. According to the coding, what will be the code for banking?
A. @7g
B. &7h
C. $7t
D. one of these
E. can’t say

8. What will be the code for probationary?
A. $12y
B. %11n
C. ^12y
D. *13t
E. #12p

Let’s analyse the above information in detail. 
Firstly, read the statements and their given codes properly. You can see that there are some words which are common in given statements like scroll, exam, notes and in the codes as well - @6l, #4m, =5s. In codes there are also some special characters which are repeating in different sentences like @ is repeating in all three statements.
 From statement 1 and statement 2
“login groupup and scroll” is written as “&3d  @6l  *5n  %7p”
“scroll for sbi exam” is written as  “@6l  @3i  $3r  #4m”
i.e. scroll is common in both statements, so we look for the common code in these two statements, which is @6I. 
Similarly, From statement 2 and 3“scroll for sbi exam” is written as  “@6l  @3i  $3r  #4m”
“study exam related notes” is written as “#4m  @5y  !7d  =5s”
From statement 3 and 4
“study exam related notes” is written as “#4m  @5y  !7d  =5s”
“read notes get job” is written as “+3b  !4d  =5s  %3t”
Now scroll = @6l, exam = #4m, notes = =5s

Now, let us understand how the words are coded. 
1. Last letter of codes is alphabet and it is same as the last letter of given word.
2. Given number in coding is total letter of words.
So, it is clear that in codes, number represents the total letter of words and the code letter is the last letter of the word
3. But special characters are different for all words. Now our next step is to decode them.
We can see that in statement 2, @ has been used two times in coding and s is also first letter of two words (i.e scroll and sbi). To become sure we can check another words like gradeup and get, both have same % special characters. Similarly, related and read have same (!) special characters.

l	g	a	s	f	e	r	n	j
*	%	&	@	$	#	!	=	+

Hence code of word is given as code of first letter, total no. of letters in word and last letter of word. 
IMPORTANT:In this question, short clue is total no. of letters in word is given as it is in code. 
As per this information,

 
Answer 4: (C)As we can see in word groupup
 first letter g = %
total letter = 7
last letter = p
So, code is %7p
Answer 5: (C) !is code for r, 7 total letters and d is the last letter.So we can say that related is the word.
Answer 6: (C) Exam = #4m, Groupup = %7p, sbi = @3i, job = +3b
Hence answer is C.
Answer 7:(E) can’t say. Because we don’t have code for first letter “b” of banking.
 All given special character in answer code are @=s, $=f and & = a. 
Answer 8:(C) In this question our approach will be options elimination method. As first letter of probationary is ‘p’ and we don’t have any code for p. But in options A, B ,D and E, code of first letter is same as mentioned in above table. So options A,B, D and E are eliminated and our answer will be C.
This was a new pattern question that was introduced in last year’s exams. Let us now have a look at what other sort of pattern changes you can face in Coding-Decoding.