SSC CGL Missing Number Questions 2026 (Number Matrix, Row & Column Patterns) — Free Chapter Wise Practice Test

Missing Number Tests — Pick a Level and Start

Tap a level to see every test in it. Level 1 is set at real SSC CGL difficulty — start there the day you finish the concept. Level 2 is pitched above the exam, to push accuracy under pressure.

Every missing number question comes down to two steps: find one rule that every complete row (or column) obeys, then apply it to the line with the question mark. The grid hides the rule, but the arithmetic is always simple once the rule is found — a sum, a product, a square, a fixed number added or taken away.

Marks are lost in three places. The first is trusting a rule that fits only one row — with one row, many rules fit by chance, and that chance value is usually among the options. The second is reading only across when the pattern runs down the columns. The third is breaking BODMAS inside the rule, for example working a × b + c as a × (b + c).

How Many Missing Number Questions Are Asked in SSC CGL?

Missing number is a regular part of General Intelligence — usually one question in a Tier I shift, sometimes two, and the same matrix questions appear in CHSL. The forms it takes are listed below, most common first.

Questions where signs are coded or interchanged are practised in the separate Mathematical Operations chapter.

What You Will Practice in the Missing Number Chapter

One-step rules

• c = a + b, c = a − b and c = a × b, across the rows or down the columns
• The same rules with a fixed number added or taken away (c = a × b − 3)
• (a + b) × k, (a − b) × k, k × a ± b and a × b ÷ k
• The middle number as the average of the outer two, and rows with the same total

Squares, cubes and mixed rules

• a² ± b, a² + b², a² − b², (a + b)² and (a − b)²
• a³ ± b and ab ± (a + b)
• The result placed first or in the middle of the line instead of last

Four numbers in a line

• (a + b) × c, (a − b) × c, a × b ± c and a × b × c
• a × b ÷ c and a² + b² ± c
• Four numbers with a constant total

Rules worth knowing instantly

A rule is accepted only when it works on every complete line in the same direction — check two rows (or two columns) before you use it.

The three mistakes that cost the most marks

• Stopping after one row. 5, 7, 12 fits a + b, but if the next row is 6, 9, 54 the rule is not addition.
• Never trying the columns. When the rows show nothing, the pattern almost always runs down the columns.
• Breaking BODMAS inside the rule. a × b + c is (a × b) + c, not a × (b + c).

Solved Examples — SSC CGL Missing Number

How the Missing Number Tests Work

• 25 questions per test, with a full question palette — answered, skipped, marked for review, not visited.
• Every form in every level — row-wise and column-wise grids, one-step rules, constants, squares and constant totals are mixed in each test, with cubes and four-number lines added in Level 2.
• One answer only — every grid was tested with each option filled in against about thirty kinds of rule, across both rows and columns, and only the correct option fits any of them, so no second answer can be defended.
• Optional 15-minute timer — with the clock to build exam speed, without it while you are still learning the chapter.
• Marking: +2 correct, −0.5 wrong, 0 unattempted — the same scheme as the real paper.
• Solutions, shortcut tricks and concept notes open after you submit, question by question — the rule is stated, checked on both complete lines, then applied, and the one-row trap is shown where it exists.
• English and हिंदी, chosen at the start of every test.
• Free with a TrickySSC account — sign in once with Google or your mobile number, and every test is open to you.

How to Prepare Missing Number for SSC CGL

1. Start with the largest number in each complete line. Its size tells you whether to try addition, multiplication or squares.
2. Write the rule with letters. “c = a × b − 3” is easy to test on every line; a vague idea is not.
3. Check two complete lines before answering. One line proves nothing; the option that fits only one line is the usual trap.
4. If the rows fail, turn to the columns. Read them from top to bottom with the same letters.
5. When the question mark feeds the rule, test the options. Put each option into the rule and keep the one that gives the known result.
6. Do Level 1 untimed first, then with the 15-minute clock. Move to Level 2 once Level 1 is steady, and then check yourself on a previous year paper.

Related SSC CGL Reasoning Chapters

Missing number uses the same number sense as number analogy, number classification and series. Practising them together makes each one faster.

All SSC CGL Chapter Wise Tests

Every chapter below has its own free Level 1 and Level 2 tests with full solutions.

SSC CGL Missing Number — Frequently Asked Questions

More Free SSC CGL Practice