Verbal Reasoning Letter Codes

A Letter Codes question shows one word and its secret code. You work out the jump each letter makes along the alphabet. Then you make the same jumps on a new word.

The rule is never written down for you, and every letter gets its own jump.

The method

Five beats: read which way, stack and count, name the family, turn the row and run it, check every letter.

1. Read which way round it goes. "What is the code for CAT" turns a word into code. "What word has the code JJMH" turns code back into a word. Two of every three go the first way, so the other catches people. The direction changes from question to question, so underline the words.
2. Stack the pair and count every jump. Write the example word, then its code straight underneath, one letter under the other. Side by side hides the jumps. Stacked shows them. Now count each jump on the printed alphabet and write a number over each pair. Point at the next letter along and count from there. Four letters means four numbers, and you need all four. That row of numbers is your jump row.
3. Name the family. Read the row, not the letters. Same number all the way, taking turns, growing, or huge — the four families are below.
4. Turn the row round if you are decoding, then run it letter by letter. Making a code? Use the row as it stands. Turning code back into a word? Every sign flips, so −1 +1 −1 +1 becomes +1 −1 +1 −1. Then work along the printed alphabet, not in your head, writing each new letter down as you get it.
5. Check every letter against your row. Count each jump again, backwards along your answer. This step wins the mark.

About 30 seconds each.

Rules to watch

There are four families. Count the jump row first and it tells you which one you have.

• The same jump every time. SUN becomes TVO, jump row +1 +1 +1. Twenty of our fifty questions. The jump is always 1, 2 or 3 places, forward or back.
• Jumps that take turns. LION becomes MHPM, jump row +1 −1 +1 −1. Also twenty of our fifty — exactly as common as the one above, so never assume you have the easy one.
• Jumps that grow. Each letter moves by its own place in the word. HAT becomes ICW, jump row +1 +2 +3. Eight of our fifty.
• A mirror. Each letter swaps with its partner from the far end, so A goes to Z, B to Y, C to X. BEG becomes YVT. Two of our fifty. The tell is a row that makes no sense: some jumps forward, some back, at least one bigger than 10. Test it by folding the alphabet between M and N, or by number — counting A as 1, a letter and its partner always add up to 27. Do not go by size alone: in LAD becoming OZW, the L only moves three places, because L sits near the fold.

Our codes never run past Z. A real paper can, and then the alphabet loops back round to A.

Watch for these traps

Every wrong option is built out of a real mistake. Here they are in the order they turn up in our bank.

• One letter wrong, the rest right. Much the most common: 60 of the 200 wrong options, with another 67 wrong on two letters. Together, well over half the list. It looks right because most of it is. Count every jump back before you choose.
• Flattening a row that takes turns. You count the first jump, call it the rule, and use it on every letter. It happens on 15 of our 20 alternating questions. DESK's true row is +1 −1 +1 −1, and both EFTL (all +1) and CDRJ (all −1) are waiting there.
• The whole shift out by one. Every letter moves, but two places instead of one. 22 of the 200. This is counting the letter you stand on as "one". Point at the next letter along.
• Inventing turns that are not there. The opposite slip, on 15 of our 20 same-jump questions. MILK shifts back one all the way to LHKJ, and LJKL — back, forward, back, forward — is offered.
• Starting the turns on the wrong sign. Right family, wrong foot: DESK gives CFRL instead of EDTJ. 9 of the 200. Write the first jump with its sign before anything else.
• Going the wrong way along the alphabet. You shift forward when the code shifts back. 11 of the 200, always on a "what is the code for" question. Circle the minus signs in your row.

Stuck? Write the jump row out in full — never decide from the first letter. A row with a jump bigger than 10 in it is a mirror, not a miscount. Then choose from what is left. Never leave a blank.

Try these yourself

Now have a go yourself — tap the code that is right.

Related

• The complete 11+ question-type guide
• VR: Number Codes — jumbled number codes matched to words, where the digits are labels rather than alphabet places
• VR: Letters for Numbers — here A really is 1 and Z is 26. There the key is made up and A might be 54
• VR: Letter Series — spot the jump row and carry it on

All example questions come from the Brainblox question bank — practise this question type inside 15 arcade games, timed mock exams and focused practice. Brainblox is an independent app: not affiliated with, endorsed by or licensed by any exam board, school or assessment publisher, and it contains no past papers.