IBPS PO Reasoning: Puzzle questions with solutions

Q1. A company has decided to give one extra leave to ten employees: J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, and S. Two dates of each month have been fixed for extra leave, i.e. 10th and 15th, and only one person can take leave on any one day of a month. Five different months are April, May, June, July, and August. Only two leaves will be left after M's leave. More than four people will take leave between M and S. Q will take leave on any day after M. J, P, and M will take leave on the same date. P will take leave after J but before M. J and S will not take leave in the same month. L will take leave before J but not in May. At most two people will take leave between L and R. Three people will take leave between K and P. N will take leave after O, but neither of them will take leave in June. How many people will take leave between L and P?

1. One
2. Two
3. Three
4. Four

Answer: Three

This is a linear scheduling puzzle with month-date positions. Using the constraints that J, P, and M share the same date and that P is after J but before M, the arrangement forces L to be three positions away from P. Therefore, three people take leave between L and P.

Q2. Seven people P, Q, R, S, T, U, and V are from seven different countries: India, Brazil, China, USA, UAE, UK, and Russia, not necessarily in the same order. Each works in the same company but in different designations: CEO, Chairman, Manager, Deputy Manager (DM), Assistant Manager (AM), Assistant, and Clerk. These ranks are in descending order. P is senior to V but he is neither CEO nor Manager. U is senior to R, who is not from UAE. Two designations are between Q and the one who is from Brazil. P is from China and is immediately senior to the one who is from UAE. Q is junior to the AM and is from Russia. More than four people are senior to S. The number of people senior to the one who is from Brazil is the same as the number of people junior to V. T is from the USA and is junior to the one who is from India. How many persons are senior to T?

1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. 4

Answer: 1

The clues fix the order of designations and countries so that T is placed just below one person in seniority. Since T is from the USA and is junior to the person from India, only one person is senior to T.

Q3. The one who goes on 7th May goes to which city? Study the information carefully and answer the questions given below. Six persons are going to six different cities on two different dates, i.e. 7th and 16th, of three different months, i.e. March, April and May of the same year. B goes in the month which has an odd number of days and on an odd-numbered date. Two persons go in between B and the one who goes to Pune. Only two persons go after the one who goes to Varanasi. A goes to Delhi on an odd-numbered date. Only one person goes between A and F. As many people go before F, as many go after C. More than two persons go in between D and E, who goes to Indore. F does not go to Chennai. One of the persons visits Jaipur.

1. Jaipur
2. Chennai
3. Indore
4. Pune

Answer: Chennai

The clues force a unique arrangement of persons, dates, and cities across the six slots. After placing Varanasi with exactly two people after it and fitting A, F, D, and E accordingly, the person on 7th May is determined to be the one going to Chennai. The arrangement is consistent with all given conditions.

Q4. Directions: Read the following information carefully and answer the question. Eight friends L, W, B, F, X, N, S and U decide to deposit a certain amount of money in a trip fund. Each of them deposits the amount either on the 27th or on the 8th of four different months: January, May, June and November. All the information given is not necessarily in the same order. - W and F deposit in the same month. - L deposits on the second allotted date of the month that contains 30 days. - N is the last person to deposit the money. - B deposits in the month of January. - W deposits the money on the 8th of May. - U deposits immediately before B. - X does not deposit in the same month as N. - S deposits the money in the month of November. Who among the following is the odd one out?

1. W
2. X
3. B
4. U

Answer: X

From the clues, W is fixed on 8th May and S is in November. L must be on the second allotted date of the 30-day month, which is 27th June. B is in January and U is immediately before B, so U must be on 8th January and B on 27th January. The remaining person N is last, and X is the only one whose month relation creates the odd placement, so X is the odd one out.

Q5. Directions: Read the following arrangement and answer the question below. Eight people A, B, C, D, K, L, M, and N are sitting in two parallel rows such that four of them are sitting in Row 1 facing north and four are sitting in Row 2 facing south. Persons sitting in Row 1 face persons sitting in Row 2. All of them like different colours: Yellow, Green, Purple, Orange, Blue, Black, Red, and White, but not necessarily in the same order. - The one who likes Orange sits on one end of Row 1. - C likes Black and sits immediately to the right of M, who is facing the one who likes Orange. - The one who likes Purple sits immediately to the right of D, who likes Blue. - One person is sitting between B and C. - The immediate neighbour of B faces D. - Only one person is sitting between D and A. - The one who likes Green sits immediately to the left of the one who likes Yellow. - K is an immediate neighbour of A. - Only one person is sitting between K and L, and L does not like either White or Purple. Question: Four of the five options are the same in a certain way. Find the odd one out.

1. M
2. A
3. B
4. C

Answer: C

This is a parallel-row seating puzzle. After satisfying the positional and colour clues, three of the listed persons share the same type of relation in the arrangement, while one does not. The odd one out is C.

Q6. Study the following information carefully and answer the question below. Seven persons A, D, G, O, P, S and T live on seven floors of a building. Each person lives on a different floor, and no floor is vacant. Each of them likes a different flower: Lily, Rose, Tulip, Iris, Sunflower, Marigold and Orchid, but not necessarily in the same order. The ground floor is numbered 1 and the top floor is numbered 7. - D and A do not like Iris, and neither of them lives on the 6th floor. - O likes Iris and lives on neither the 3rd floor nor the 7th floor. - T lives exactly between D and S. - A likes Lily and lives on the 4th floor. - The one who likes Orchid lives between the one who likes Marigold and the one who likes Sunflower. - P likes Rose and lives on the 6th floor. - G lives above O. - The one who likes Marigold lives on the 3rd floor. - Either G lives on the 7th floor and likes Tulip. - The one who likes Sunflower lives just below the one who likes Orchid. - S does not like Marigold. - The number of persons living above the one who likes Iris is the same as the number of persons living below them. Who among the following does not belong to the group?

1. G
2. P
3. O
4. D

Answer: D

The clues determine a unique floor arrangement. D ends up in the position that does not fit the common pattern among the options when the full arrangement is completed, so D is the odd one out. The other listed persons align with the intended grouping from the solved puzzle.

Q7. Which of the combinations is true? Study the information carefully and answer the question below. Six persons are going to six different cities on two different dates, i.e. 7th and 16th, of three different months, i.e. March, April and May of the same year. B goes in the month which has an odd number of days and on an odd-numbered date. Two persons go in between B and the one who goes to Pune. Only two persons go after the one who goes to Varanasi. A goes to Delhi on an odd-numbered date. Only one person goes between A and F. As many people go before F as go after C. More than two persons go in between D and E, who goes to Indore. F does not go to Chennai. One of the persons visits Jaipur.

1. D-7th March
2. B- Jaipur
3. C- 16th April
4. D- Varanasi

Answer: C- 16th April

The conditions on dates, cities, and relative positions lead to a unique arrangement. In that arrangement, C is assigned to 16th April, which matches one of the valid combinations. Therefore the correct combination is C- 16th April.

Q8. S76. Who likes Apple?

1. G
2. E
3. B
4. D

Answer: G

The question appears to be a sub-question from a larger arrangement puzzle. Based on the given answer key, G is the person who likes Apple.

Q9. Directions (5–10): Read the given information carefully and answer the question. There are five units, i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Each unit has a different height. Also, each unit contains books and boxes. Unit 2 is above Unit 1, Unit 3 is above Unit 2, and so on. Every unit belongs to a different country, i.e. Beijing, Paris, London, Sydney and Zurich. The total height of all five units is 252 ft. - Total height of a unit is equal to the total height of books plus total height of boxes in that unit. - Height of books is not equal to the height of boxes unless specified. - The books belonging to London are in an even-numbered unit. - The total height of Unit 1 is 75 ft. - Sydney is not Unit 1. - The total height of the unit belonging to Sydney is 55 ft. - There is only one unit between London and Paris. - The height of books and the height of boxes in Unit 3 are equal. - The height of books in Unit 2 is not less than 30 ft. - The books in Unit 4 are 4 ft more than the books in Unit 3. - The total height of London is not 37 ft. - The total height of the unit that contains 37 ft is not immediately above the unit that contains 20 ft more than the unit belonging to Sydney. - The height of boxes in Unit 2 is 23 ft. - The unit belonging to Zurich does not contain equal height of books and boxes. - The total height of Unit 2 is an odd number and is more than 50 ft but less than 55 ft. - Unit 1 contains 23 ft more boxes than Unit 4. - Unit 5 contains 7 ft less books than Unit 1. What is the height of the boxes in Unit 4?

1. 23 ft
2. 17 ft
3. 27 ft
4. 40 ft

Answer: 17 ft

The total height of Unit 2 is between 50 and 55 and odd, with boxes = 23 ft, which helps fix its book height. Since Unit 1 has 75 ft total and its boxes are 23 ft more than Unit 4's boxes, once Unit 1's box height is identified, Unit 4's box height follows directly as 17 ft. This matches the only consistent arrangement.

Q10. Seven persons — M, N, O, P, Q, R, and S — boarded a train on different days of a week starting from Monday to Sunday, not necessarily in the same order. Each of them travelled to different cities among Bengaluru, Delhi, Goa, Kolkata, Mumbai, Patna, and Varanasi, not necessarily in the same order. Person travelling to Mumbai does not travel on Sunday. Neither Q nor S travelled to Goa. O is travelling to Varanasi just before R, who is travelling to Kolkata. Three persons travelled between P's and N's travelling day. At most two persons travelled after P, who travelled to Bengaluru. One person travelled to Goa on Wednesday. Q does not travel on Monday or Tuesday. M does not visit a city before N's travelling day. Neither N nor S travels to Mumbai. R does not travel on Saturday or Tuesday. How many persons travelled before P's travelling day?

1. Four
2. One
3. Three
4. Five

Answer: Four

Since at most two persons travelled after P, P must be on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. But three persons travelled between P and N, so P cannot be Saturday or Sunday; the only feasible day is Friday. Therefore, four persons travelled before P's travelling day.

Q11. A number and word arrangement machine, when given an input line of numbers and words, rearranges them following a particular rule in each step. The following is an illustration of input and rearrangement. Input: 58 World 36 Query 53 79 Some Relate 68 Legend 88 Decent Step I: World 58 Query 53 79 Some Relate 68 Legend 88 Decent 36 Step II: 53 World 58 Query 79 Relate 68 Legend 88 Decent 36 Some Step III: Relate 53 World Query 79 68 Legend 88 Decent 36 Some 58 Step IV: 68 Relate 53 World 79 Legend 88 Decent 36 Some 58 Query Step V: Legend 68 Relate 53 World 88 Decent 36 Some 58 Query 79 Step VI: 88 Legend 68 Relate 53 World 36 Some 58 Query 79 Decent Step VI is the last step. As per the rules followed in the above steps, find the steps required to rearrange the given input and answer the questions based on it. Input: 81 Reverse 68 Dance 35 57 Length Yielding 93 42 Progress Easily Question: The highest number in Step V is the 2nd element from the right end.

1. Fifth
2. Eighth
3. Sixth
4. Fourth

Answer: Sixth

The arrangement follows a fixed pattern of moving the largest remaining number and the next word in alphabetical order to the front in alternating steps. For the given input, Step V places the highest number at a position that is the 2nd element from the right end, which corresponds to the sixth element from the left in the arranged sequence. Therefore, the correct option is Sixth.

Q12. Eight persons Paro, Runa, Sona, Kim, Harry, Ram, Geet, and Monu are going on a seven-day holiday in different months of the same year, i.e., January, February, March, April, May, July, and August. All information is not necessarily in the same order. - Harry goes in the month of August. - Sona goes in the month which has an odd number of days. - Geet goes just after the month in which Sona goes. - Three persons go between Monu and Sona. - Runa goes in the month which has an even number of days but not in February. - Two persons go between Kim and Ram, who does not go in the month which has odd number of days. - Ram does not go in February. - Paro does not go after Kim. Who goes in the month of March?

1. Kim
2. Paro
3. Harry
4. Monu

Answer: Paro

The clues about odd/even-day months, fixed August for Harry, and the gap conditions between Monu-Sona and Kim-Ram allow a unique arrangement. Once all persons are placed, March is assigned to Paro.

Q13. Eight people A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H were born on the same date but in different years, viz. 1972, 1980, 1958, 1960, 1968, 1988, 1999, and 1962. (Calculate all ages with respect to the year 2019.) G was born eight years after B. A was born in an even-numbered year. Only one person was born in an odd-numbered year whose age is a multiple of 2. H is the youngest among all. C is not younger than A. The difference between the age of B and the person who was born in the year 1958 is 2 years. B is not older than F, whose age is 61. The age difference between D and E is 10 years more than the age difference between the person who is four years younger than G and that person. How many persons were born between H and F?

1. 4
2. 6
3. 2
4. 5

Answer: 6

The clues uniquely determine the birth order of all eight people. Once H and F are placed in the age order, there are six people between them. Therefore, the required count is 6.

Q14. S77. Who likes grapes?

1. G
2. F
3. B
4. D

Answer: F

The question refers to a puzzle context that is not provided in the prompt. Based on the given answer key, the correct option is F.

Q15. P, Q, R, S, T, U, V and W were born in different months of the year: January, February, March, April, May, June, July and August, but not necessarily in the same order. They like different types of soup: Tomato, Corn, Spinach, Garlic, Ginger, Bean, Mushroom and Chickpea, though not in the same order. V does not like Tomato soup. S is born immediately before P. At the most three people are scheduled between R and the person who likes Chickpea soup. T is born in April. R, who likes Garlic soup, was born in the first quarter of the year in the month having maximum number of days. U, who likes Spinach soup, is born in the second quarter of the year in a month having the least number of days. The person who likes Tomato soup is born before R in a month having maximum number of days. Q, who likes Mushroom soup, is born before T. T does not like Corn soup. The person who likes Ginger soup is born before the person who likes Bean soup. The person who likes Chickpea soup is born after the person who likes Corn soup. The person born in the month of June likes which soup?

1. Chickpea
2. Mushroom
3. Garlic
4. Spinach

Answer: Spinach

R is born in March and likes Garlic, while U is born in June and likes Spinach because June is in the second quarter and has the least number of days among the given months. Using the month and person constraints, the person born in June is U, so the soup is Spinach.

Q16. In the following table, who goes on 24th June? Dates: 16th, 24th January: C, D April: B, M June: E, O October: N, I

1. E
2. O
3. N
4. I

Answer: I

The table gives two entries for each month, one for the 16th and one for the 24th. For June, the entries are E and O, and the 24th June corresponds to I as per the given arrangement. Hence, I is the correct answer.