← General Intelligence & Reasoning · RRB JE CBT-1

Chapter 12 of 15

Analytical Reasoning

In the RRB JE CBT-1 syllabus under General Intelligence & Reasoning · 2 parts

Puzzles · Seating Arrangement

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📑 Contents (14 sections)

Part 1 of 2

Puzzles

Last reviewed 22 Sept 2026 · 6 min read

Every matching puzzle is a grid

Five people, five cities, five subjects — that is two grids, or one table with three columns. Draw the table before reading the clues a second time.

Rows: the fixed set that never changes — usually the people, or the floors 1 to 7.
Columns: each attribute to be matched.
Fill a cell only when a clue forces it; write a small ✗ in a cell a clue forbids.
Re-read the clue list from the top every time a new cell is filled: clues that were useless often become decisive.

Exam TipThe order that saves time

Definite clues ("C lives on floor 3") → relative clues ("A lives two floors above B") → negative clues ("D does not teach physics"). A negative clue is worth little at the start and a great deal at the end.

Floor and stack puzzles

Seven floors, seven people: number the floors with 1 at the bottom and say so on your paper. Then:

"A lives above B" means A's number is larger.
"Exactly two people live between A and B" means their numbers differ by 3.
"A lives immediately above B" means $A = B + 1$ .
The topmost and bottommost floors are the most constrained — clues about them are usually the ones to use first.

The same layout handles boxes stacked one on another and books piled on a shelf.

Scheduling puzzles

Days of the week, months, or dates in a month. Write the days in order along the top and mark what is fixed. Watch for two traps: a week that runs Monday to Sunday versus Sunday to Saturday, and clues that talk about "the day before" a day that is itself unknown.

Carrying two cases

When a clue allows two placements, start Case 1 and Case 2 side by side. Continue both until a later clue contradicts one. Deciding early which case "feels right" is the commonest reason a puzzle takes twenty minutes instead of four.

A worked puzzle

Five friends — Amit, Bina, Chetan, Deepa and Esha — live on five floors of a building (1 at the bottom to 5 at the top). Each likes a different colour: red, blue, green, white, yellow.

Chetan lives on floor 4.
The one who likes red lives immediately below Chetan.
Amit lives on the topmost floor.
Bina does not live on floor 1.
The one who likes blue lives on floor 1.
Deepa likes green.
Esha does not like white.

Worked ExampleSolving it clue by clue

From 1 and 3: Chetan is on 4, Amit on 5. Floors 1, 2 and 3 are left for Bina, Deepa and Esha; by 4, Bina is on 2 or 3.

From 2: the red-lover is on floor 3. From 5: the blue-lover is on floor 1. From 6: Deepa likes green, so Deepa is not on floor 1 or 3 → Deepa is on floor 2, so Bina is on 3 and Esha on 1.

So Bina (floor 3) likes red and Esha (floor 1) likes blue. By 7 Esha does not like white, which is consistent. White and yellow are left for Amit and Chetan, and no clue separates them — the puzzle fixes the floors and three colours, and leaves white and yellow undetermined.

Floor	Person	Colour
5	Amit	white or yellow
4	Chetan	white or yellow
3	Bina	red
2	Deepa	green
1	Esha	blue

A real exam set would add an eighth clue, such as "Chetan does not like yellow", which finishes the grid at once. Noticing what is not determined is itself a skill: several questions ask exactly that.

Worked examples

Worked ExampleExample 1 — floors and a gap

In a seven-floor building, P lives on floor 2 and exactly three people live between P and Q. Where does Q live?

Solution. Their floor numbers differ by 4 → Q is on floor 6 (floor $- 2$ does not exist).

Worked ExampleExample 2 — immediately above

R lives immediately above S, and S lives on floor 3 of six. Who lives on floor 4?

Solution. R.

Worked ExampleExample 3 — a negative clue at the right time

Four people A, B, C, D take four subjects: maths, physics, chemistry, biology. A does not take maths or physics. B takes chemistry. C does not take biology. What does A take?

Solution. A takes chemistry or biology; chemistry is B's, so A takes biology. Then C takes maths or physics, and D takes the other.

Worked ExampleExample 4 — days

A meeting is on a day between Tuesday and Friday, but not on Wednesday. Which day is it?

Solution. Between Tuesday and Friday means Wednesday or Thursday; not Wednesday → Thursday.

Worked ExampleExample 5 — two cases

In a row of five boxes, box P is somewhere above box Q, and exactly one box lies between them. Box Q is not at the bottom. List the possible positions of P and Q.

Solution. Q at 2 → P at 4; Q at 3 → P at 5. Two cases survive, and neither can be ruled out without another clue.

Frequently tested points

Draw the grid first; fill only what a clue forces, and mark ✗ for what it forbids.
Use definite clues, then relative, then negative.
In floor puzzles, state which end is floor 1 on your own paper.
"Exactly $k$ between" means the numbers differ by $k + 1$ .
Carry two cases side by side rather than guessing.
Re-read the clue list after every new entry.

Common MistakeCommon mistakes

Filling a cell on a hunch and building the rest of the grid on it.
Reading "above" as a bigger number in one puzzle and a smaller one in the next — fix the convention once.
Treating "between A and B" as an order.
Abandoning a case too early, or forgetting to finish the second one.
Missing that the puzzle genuinely leaves something open.

Revision SummaryChapter summary

Matching puzzles are grids: rows for the fixed set, columns for each attribute.
Clues are used in order — definite, relative, then negative.
Floor and box puzzles need an explicit numbering convention before anything else.
When a clue allows two placements, both are carried until one is contradicted.
Recognising what the clues do not determine is part of the answer, not a failure.

Part 2 of 2

Seating Arrangement

Last reviewed 22 Sept 2026 · 6 min read

Work the clues in the right order

The arrangement is found by the order in which clues are used, not by cleverness:

Fixed positions — "P sits at the extreme left", "Q is third from the right".
Blocks — "R sits immediately to the left of S": treat RS as one piece and slide it along.
Relative clues — "T sits between U and V" (which may be either way round).
Negative clues last — "W does not sit at either end" eliminates, and elimination is only useful once there is something to eliminate.

Exam TipTwo diagrams beat one rubbing-out

When a clue allows two placements, draw both and carry them forward. Most puzzles kill one of them within two clues, and the person who rubbed out has to start again.

Linear arrangements

A single row of 6 to 8 people, all facing the same way (usually north). Then:

If all face north, your left is their left as drawn — the leftmost seat is position 1.
If all face south, left and right are reversed with respect to the paper.

Two rows facing each other: row 1 faces south, row 2 faces north; the person opposite is directly across. Then P's "right" in row 1 sits across from someone on Q's "left" in row 2 — mark the facing arrow on each row before placing anybody.

Circular arrangements

RememberThe rule that decides every circular puzzle

Facing the centre: clockwise is to a person's left, anticlockwise is to their right. Facing outward: the opposite — clockwise is to their right.

For $n$ people evenly spaced, the person opposite someone is $n /2$ places away (only when $n$ is even). In a circle, "third to the left of X" is counted going round in X's left direction, skipping two seats.

Square and rectangular tables

Common form: eight people, four at the corners and four at the middles of the sides; corner-sitters face the centre and middle-sitters face outward, or the reverse. The facing rule above then applies person by person, not to the whole table — which is exactly what the question is testing.

Reading the clue words

Clue	Means
"Immediately to the left of"	adjacent, no one between
"To the left of"	anywhere on that side
"Third to the left of"	exactly two people in between
"Between A and B"	either order unless stated
"Exactly between"	equidistant from both
"Not adjacent to"	at least one seat apart

Worked examples

Worked ExampleExample 1 — a simple row

Six friends A to F sit in a row facing north. C is at the extreme right. A is second from the left. B is immediately to the right of A. D is not at either end. Where does B sit?

Solution. Positions 1–6 from the left: A is 2, so B is 3, and C is 6. B sits third from the left.

Worked ExampleExample 2 — a block that can slide

In a row of five seats, P and Q sit together, and R sits at one end. How many arrangements place PQ in that order with R at the left end?

Solution. With R fixed at seat 1, the block PQ may occupy seats 2-3, 3-4 or 4-5 → 3 placements (the remaining two people fill the rest in $2! = 2$ ways each, giving 6 full arrangements).

Worked ExampleExample 3 — facing the centre

Five people sit round a circle facing the centre. B is to the immediate left of A. Who is clockwise from A?

Solution. Facing the centre, clockwise is towards a person's left → B.

Worked ExampleExample 4 — facing outward

Six people sit round a circle facing outward. If X is third to the left of Y, how many people sit between them going clockwise from Y?

Solution. Facing outward, left is anticlockwise, so X is three places anticlockwise from Y — that is three places clockwise the other way round the six-seat circle, leaving two people between them clockwise from Y.

Worked ExampleExample 5 — opposite seats

Eight people sit evenly round a circular table. Who sits opposite the person who is third to the right of P?

Solution. Third to the right of P is a definite seat; opposite is $8/2 =$ four seats further on, which is the person third to the left of P.

Worked ExampleExample 6 — two rows

Six people sit in two rows of three facing each other. A, B, C face south; D, E, F face north. A is opposite E, and B sits to the immediate right of A. Who is opposite B?

Solution. A faces south, so A's right is towards the paper's left. B is there, and the person opposite B is the one to E's left as E faces north — that is D or F, decided by the next clue. Without it, it cannot be determined.

Worked ExampleExample 7 — counting places

In a circle of ten facing the centre, if M is fourth to the left of N, how many sit between them on the other side?

Solution. Four places one way leaves $10 - 4 = 6$ places the other way, so five people sit between them going the long way round.

Worked ExampleExample 8 — negatives

Five students sit in a row. P is not at either end, Q is at the extreme left, and R sits immediately to the right of P. If S is at the extreme right, where does T sit?

Solution. Q is 1 and S is 5. P cannot be 5, and R follows P, so P is 2, 3 or 4 with R next. If P=2, R=3, T=4. If P=3, R=4, T=2. Both survive, so T sits at position 2 or 4 — a second clue is needed to fix it.

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