Verbal Reasoning Letter Series
The LEAPS method in under four minutes — one real question, solved step by step.
A Letter Series question shows a row of letter pairs, with the alphabet printed above to help. You find the next pair of letters in the series.
Each letter in the pair follows its own rule. Read the row as one long run, B, Z, D, U, G, Q, and it means nothing. A pair is two series, not one.
The video above and the worked example below take apart the same question. One thing is different: the video shows the four wrong pairs in another order. The answer, PL, is option E in both.
The method
Five steps: line up two rows, every hop counted on the alphabet, ask: does the hop change, push each row on one hop, see both letters match — and their first letters spell LEAPS, because the letters leap along the alphabet.
- Step 1 of 5
Line up two rows
Split every pair in your head. The first letters make one series and the second letters make another, so picture them as two rows, one above the other. - Step 2 of 5
Every hop, counted on the alphabet
In each row, count how far each letter moves along the printed alphabet, and which way: on or back. Count the letters you land on, not the one you start from. A count can run off the end: after Z comes A, and before A comes Z. - Step 3 of 5
Ask: does the hop change?
The hop can stay the same, grow (+2, +3, +4), shrink (−5, −4, −3) or flip back and forth (+2, −1, +2, −1). Whatever it does, the next hop does the same. The two rows often do different things. - Step 4 of 5
Push each row on one hop
Take one more hop in each row, from that row's last letter. Then put the two letters together, the top row's letter first. - Step 5 of 5
See both letters match
Find your pair in the options and check both letters. Half right is still wrong. If your pair is not there, count the hops again rather than taking the nearest pair.
About 30 seconds each.
Rules to watch
- Each letter has its own rule. In most of GL's questions the two rows follow different rules, and sometimes one row goes on while the other goes back.
- A hop of zero is allowed. A letter can stay put for a pair, or a hop can grow from nothing: 0, +1, +2. GL's own example shows each letter twice before its row moves on.
- Sometimes the pairs take turns. If a row's hops jump about with no pattern at all, try every other pair instead. The 1st, 3rd, 5th… pairs make one series, and the 2nd, 4th, 6th… make another.
- The top row gives the first letter. A few of GL's options have the right two letters the wrong way round.
Watch for these traps
We looked at all fourteen Letter Series questions in GL's practice papers, and at every wrong answer.
- Half right is still wrong. More than half of GL's wrong answers get one letter right. That is what they are for. In AZ CX EV GT the first letters go on two and the second letters go back two, so the answer is IR. Every wrong answer, HR, IS, JR and IQ, has one letter right.
- The hop can change. In six of the nine questions where a hop grows, shrinks or flips, GL offers the letter you get by repeating the last hop. In ZA YB XD WG VK UP the second hop grows by one each time, so the next is six on, to V: TV. Keeping the last hop gives U, and TU is offered too.
- After Z comes A. Count on round the end of the alphabet. Four of GL's fourteen need it, though none of our exam-level questions does yet. T, W, Z go three on each time: count on past Z, back round to A, and you land on C.
Stuck? Count each hop again on the printed alphabet, one landing letter at a time, and check both letters. Never leave a blank.
Try these yourself
Now have a go yourself — tap the pair that comes next.
Related
- The complete 11+ question-type guide
- VR: Letter Analogies — apply a letter shift to a new pair
- VR: Number Series — the same "find the rule, continue it" trick with numbers
- VR: Letter Codes — letters standing in for each other, where every jump is counted on the same alphabet
All example questions come from the Brainblox question bank — practise this question type inside 25+ learning 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.