Alphabet Position

Alphabet Position

Quick — without peeking, what is the 5th letter of the alphabet? If you said E, you have just used your first alphabet position skill! In Verbal Reasoning, every letter has a secret number: A is 1, B is 2 — all the way up to Z, which is 26. Once you can swap between letters and their numbers, a whole family of questions becomes easy marks. Let's crack the code!

In this lesson you'll learn:

1. The position number of every letter (A = 1 to Z = 26)
2. The anchor trick for finding any letter fast
3. How to count the gap between two letters
4. How to find a letter's position from the end

Every Letter Has a Number

Picture the alphabet as a row of 26 numbered lockers. The position of a letter is simply how far along it sits, counting from the start.

• A is at position 1, B at 2, C at 3 — and so on.
• The very last letter, Z, is at position 26.

You will use this line again and again, so it is worth getting friendly with it. But here is the good news: you do not need to memorise all 26. There is a clever shortcut.

The Anchor Trick

Learn just six anchor letters — the two ends (A = 1 and Z = 26) plus the four that sit on neat multiples of 5 (E, J, O, T):

A = 1 — E = 5 — J = 10 — O = 15 — T = 20 — Z = 26

A handy way to remember the middle four: Every Jolly Orange Tastes great (E-J-O-T = 5-10-15-20)!

To find any letter, jump to the nearest anchor and count a tiny hop forwards or backwards.

Want the position of P? The nearest anchor is O = 15. P comes one letter later, so P = 15 + 1 = 16. No counting from A needed!

Top tip: You can hop backwards too. To find R, start at T = 20 and count back two letters: R = 20 - 2 = 18.

Counting the Gap Between Letters

Some questions ask how many letters come between two given letters. The trap is including the end letters by mistake — "between" means strictly in the middle.

The quick method is subtract the positions, then take away 1:

• D is position 4, J is position 10.
• Letters in between = 10 - 4 - 1 = 5.
• Check: E, F, G, H, I — yes, 5 letters!

Tricky trap! If the question asks how many steps from D to J (not "in between"), that is just 10 - 4 = 6. Read carefully whether the end letters count!

Position From the End

Examiners love asking for the Nth letter from the end. The end is Z, working backwards: Z is 1st from the end, Y is 2nd, X is 3rd.

The neat shortcut uses the fact that the alphabet has 26 letters:

Position from the end = 27 - position from the start.

So the 4th letter from the end is at start-position 27 - 4 = 23, which is W. (Count back to check: Z, Y, X, W — the 4th. Spot on!)

In the Exam

Alphabet position questions usually appear as:

• What is the position of letter X? Hop from the nearest anchor.
• Which letter is at position N? Hop from the nearest anchor number.
• How many letters are between X and Y? Subtract the positions, then take away 1.
• What is the Nth letter from the end? Work out 27 - N and find that letter.

Your Turn: Find the Position of W

Question: What position is the letter W?

Let's solve it step by step:

1. Find the nearest anchor. The closest anchor to W is T = 20.
2. Count the hop. From T, count on: U (21), V (22), W (23).
3. Answer: W is at position 23.

Double-check with the from-the-end trick: W is the 27 - 23 = 4th letter from the end (Z, Y, X, W). It matches — brilliant work!

Level up! Real questions often chain two steps. Try: "Which letter is 4 places before the 22nd letter?" First find the 22nd letter (V), then count back 4: U, T, S, R. Answer: R. Take it one step at a time and even tricky ones fall apart!

Quick Recap

• Every letter has a position: A = 1 to Z = 26.
• Learn the anchors (A=1, E=5, J=10, O=15, T=20, Z=26) and hop from the nearest one.
• Letters between two letters = subtract their positions, then take away 1.
• Nth from the end = the letter at position 27 - N.
• Always read whether the question wants the position, the letter, a gap, or counting from the end.

You have cracked the alphabet code — now those number-and-letter questions are easy points! Head to the exercises and give them a go!