Civil Service Clerical Ability Practice Exam 2025 - Free Clerical Ability Practice Questions and Study Guide

When alphabetizing words, one begins by comparing the first letters of each word. In this case, 'c' is the first letter for all options provided. The second step involves looking at the subsequent letters in each word to determine their order.

Starting with 'catalog,' 'catch,' 'carbon,' and 'curb,' we analyze them letter by letter. The words can be broken down as follows:

- 'catalog' (second letter is 'a')

- 'catch' (second letter is 'a')

- 'carbon' (second letter is 'a')

- 'curb' (second letter is 'u')

Since 'catalog,' 'catch,' and 'carbon' share the same initial letters and second letters, we then consider the third letters: 't' in 'catalog,' 't' in 'catch,' and 'r' in 'carbon.' Here, we can conclude that 'carbon' comes before both 'catalog' and 'catch' due to having 'r' as the third letter.

At this point, we now compare 'catalog' and 'catch,’ both having 'ca' as the first three letters. Since 'catch' has 't' as the third letter and 'catalog' has 't