Alphabet Test and Word Formation

Alphabet test questions use the 26-letter A-to-Z sequence as their data: finding a letter's position, the letter nth from the left or right, or the letter midway between two others. Word formation asks how many meaningful English words you can build from the letters of a given word. Both are pure-speed items in SBI Clerk, worth two to four marks, and both reward a small amount of memorised structure over slow counting on your fingers.

Memorise the Anchor Positions

You cannot afford to count A, B, C every time, so fix a few anchors: E is 5, J is 10, O is 15, T is 20, Y is 25, and Z is 26. Any letter's position is then a short hop from the nearest anchor — N is one after M, and M is one before N, both easy from O at 15. The reverse position (from Z) is simply 27 minus the forward position, a rule that removes all right-side counting. Spend one focused session drilling these six anchors until each letter's number arrives instantly, because every position question in the paper then collapses to a single subtraction rather than a nervous crawl through the alphabet under the clock.

Position from right = 27 - (position from left). Anchors: E5, J10, O15, T20, Y25, Z26.

The 'Nth From Left/Right' Shortcut

When a question asks for the letter that is, say, 7th from the right in the alphabet, convert it: 27 minus 7 is 20, so it is the 20th from the left, which is T. For 'nth from left of the nth from right' style combinations, find the reference letter first, then step the stated number of places in the named direction. Doing the conversion in one line beats crawling through the alphabet twice. Keep the two directions clearly labelled on your rough sheet, since a single question can mix 'from the left' and 'from the right' in one sentence precisely to trip a reader who is moving too fast.

The Midpoint Between Two Letters

To find the letter exactly midway between two letters, add their two positions and halve the sum. Between H (8) and P (16), the midpoint is (8 + 16) / 2 = 12, which is L. If the sum is odd there is no exact middle letter, and the question will usually then ask for a nearby element instead — a useful check that you have read the letters correctly. A common twist adds a small shift, such as 'the letter midway between the two, then moved three places to the right'; find the midpoint first and apply the shift afterwards, in that order, so the two steps never blur into one careless jump.

Solved Examples

Q1: Which letter is 9th from the right? 27 - 9 = 18 = R. Q2: How many meaningful words can be formed from the first, fourth and fifth letters of 'CHAIR'? Letters are C, I, R — these give the word 'RIC'? No; only no valid word forms, so the answer is 'none', a common correct option worth trusting.

✗ Counting from Z one letter at a time to find position from right  |  ✓ Using 27 minus the left position for an instant answer