11+ Verbal Reasoning: How to Solve Alphabet Sequence Questions

Why Alphabet Sequences Come Up So Often

Alphabet sequences are one of the most reliable question types in 11+ Verbal Reasoning. Both GL and CEM-style papers use them, and they appear under several names: letter series, alphabet codes, or letter pair sequences.

The format is always similar. Your child sees a run of letter pairs and must supply the next one:

A C — B E — C G — D I — ?

At first glance this looks intimidating, particularly to a child who has just spent twenty minutes on comprehension. But there is a single, dependable strategy that unlocks almost every question of this type, and once a child has it, these become some of the fastest marks on the paper.

The Core Strategy: Split the Pair

The whole method rests on one idea: the two letters in each pair have nothing to do with each other. They follow completely separate patterns. So your child should never look at “AC” as a unit — they should look at the first letters as one sequence and the second letters as another.

Working through the example above:

1. First letters: A, B, C, D. This is straightforward — each letter moves forward by one. The next first letter is E.
2. Eliminate immediately. Any answer option that does not begin with E can be crossed out on the spot. This is often enough to remove two or three of the five choices before the harder half of the question is even attempted.
3. Second letters: C, E, G, I. Less obvious. Using the printed alphabet, C to E is a jump of +2. E to G is +2. G to I is +2 again. The next letter is K.
4. Answer: EK.

That two-step split — work out the first letter, eliminate, then work out the second letter — is the backbone of every question in this strand.

Tip: Teach your child to write the jump size above the gap between letters, like this: C →⁺² E →⁺² G. Making the pattern visible on paper is far more reliable than holding it in working memory, and it takes about two seconds.

Use the Alphabet Strip Properly

Nearly every 11+ paper prints the alphabet at the top of the letter reasoning section, and it is there to be used. Children who try to count in their heads make far more errors than children who put a pencil on the letter and physically count the jumps.

Encourage your child to:

• Touch and count. Place the pencil tip on the starting letter and tap each letter as they count forward or backwards.
• Say the direction out loud (silently in the exam): “backwards three”.
• Number the jump, not the letters. Counting “1, 2, 3” as they move avoids the classic off-by-one error of counting the starting letter as one.

The Three Patterns to Recognise

Almost all alphabet sequence questions fall into one of three shapes. Recognising which one your child is looking at is half the work.

Constant Backward Jumps

Backward sequences trip children up simply because counting backwards is less automatic. Take P, M, J, G. From P to M is three letters backwards, so −3. M to J is −3, and J to G is −3. Three letters back from G gives D.

The good news is that the method is identical — only the direction changes. Plenty of practice counting backwards along the alphabet strip removes the hesitation entirely.

The Changing Jump Trap

This is the trap worth drilling hardest. Consider the first letters A, B, D, G:

• A to B is +1
• B to D is +2
• D to G is +3

A child who sees “+1” and assumes the pattern is +1 throughout will confidently pick the wrong answer. The next jump here is +4, which takes G to K.

The same idea works in reverse. In the second letters M, L, J, G, the jumps are −1, −2, −3, so the next is −4, giving C. The full answer is KC.

Did you know? Exam writers deliberately place a +1 as the first jump in these questions. It is the most tempting jump to assume is constant, and it catches children who commit after one step. The habit of always checking three jumps is worth more marks than any other single tip in this strand.

Handling the End of the Alphabet

The other classic trap is running off the end. Suppose the second letters go W, X, Y, Z with a jump of +1. What comes after Z?

The alphabet wraps around: one step forward from Z is A. Likewise, one step back from A is Z. Children who have never met this before often freeze, assume they have made an error, and waste a minute rechecking correct work.

Tip: Practise the wraparound explicitly. Ask your child to answer quickly: “Two forward from Y?” (A). “Three back from B?” (Y). A handful of these each week makes the behaviour automatic, and the fear disappears.

A Step-by-Step Method to Teach

Give your child a fixed routine so they are never deciding how to approach the question under time pressure:

1. Split the pairs — first letters in one line, second letters in another.
2. Work out the first-letter pattern using the alphabet strip.
3. Write the jumps above each gap (+2, +2, +2).
4. Check three jumps before committing to a pattern.
5. Predict the next first letter and cross out every option that does not start with it.
6. Repeat for the second letter.
7. Wrap around if you go past Z or before A.
8. Match your predicted pair to the remaining options.

This routine also makes marking practice papers much easier: when a child gets one wrong, you can see immediately which step failed rather than guessing.

Common Mistakes and Their Fixes

How This Fits with Other Code Questions

Alphabet sequences sit inside a wider family of letter and code questions. The counting skill your child builds here transfers directly to letter codes, where words are shifted along the alphabet, and to the numerical equivalents. If your child is working through this strand, it is worth reading our guides to cracking verbal reasoning code questions and number code questions alongside it, since the same alphabet-strip discipline underpins all three.

For a broader picture of how the different Verbal Reasoning strands fit together and which ones deserve the most revision time, our overview of the key verbal reasoning methods every child should know is a useful starting point.

A Sensible Practice Routine

Three short sessions a week is plenty. The aim is speed and confidence rather than volume — a child who can reliably solve an alphabet sequence in under thirty seconds has banked several easy marks and bought time for the harder comprehension questions later in the paper.

Practise Alphabet Sequences in Our Apps

Alphabet sequences reward repetition more than almost any other Verbal Reasoning strand, and structured practice makes the counting automatic.

The 11+ Verbal Reasoning Methods & Techniques app is the right place to start. It covers 1,050 questions and detailed study notes across 22 topics, including word codes, letter series, and analogies — so your child learns the method for each strand properly before being tested on it under time pressure.

Once the method is secure, move on to the 11+ Verbal Reasoning Practice Papers app, which offers 1,920 questions across 24 practice papers covering analogies, comprehension, letter series, number series, and word puzzles. Full papers are where children learn to apply the split-the-pair strategy quickly, with the clock running and other question types competing for attention.

Both apps are part of our suite of 7 specialist 11+ apps containing over 8,100 questions across Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning, Non-Verbal Reasoning, and Vocabulary — everything your child needs to prepare thoroughly for grammar school entrance exams.