Consider two Statements and a Question:
- Statement-1: The last day of the month is a Wednesday.
- Statement-2: The third Saturday of the month was the seventeenth day.
- Question: What day is the fourteenth of the given month?
Which one of the following is correct in respect of the Statements and the Question?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (b) Statement-2 alone is sufficient to answer the Question
Knowing the third Saturday is the 17th fixes every date: Saturdays fall on the 3rd, 10th and 17th, so the 14th is a Wednesday. The last day being a Wednesday does not help without knowing how many days the month has.
- Statement-2: the third Saturday is the 17th, so Saturdays fall on the 3rd, 10th and 17th.
- The 14th is 4 days after Saturday the 10th — a Wednesday. Statement-2 alone answers the Question.
- Statement-1: the last day is a Wednesday, but the month may have 28, 29, 30 or 31 days, so the 14th could be Wednesday, Tuesday, Monday or Sunday — not sufficient.
- So Statement-2 alone is sufficient.
- ✗ (a) Without the month's length, the last day being Wednesday leaves four possibilities for the 14th.
- ✓ (b) Saturday the 17th means Saturday the 10th, so the 14th is a Wednesday.
- ✗ (c) Statement-1 is not needed.
- ✗ (d) Statement-2 alone is sufficient.
Remember · A dated weekday fixes the whole month; a 'last day' clue also needs the month's length.
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·