Blood Relations — IBPS PO Reasoning

Blood relations trip people up for exactly one reason: they try to hold the family in their head. Draw a family tree with a fixed notation and the confusion vanishes. IBPS asks 2–3 of these — direct relations, "pointing" puzzles ("pointing to a photo, he said…"), and coded relations (where +, −, ×, ÷ stand for relationships). All three yield to the same tool: a small diagram with generations stacked in rows. These are 30-second marks once the notation is automatic.

1. What IBPS actually asks

• Direct: "A is the brother of B, B is the daughter of C — how is A related to C?"
• Pointing/conversation: "Pointing to a man, Radha said, 'He is the son of my grandfather's only son.'"
• Coded: "If A + B means A is the father of B, A − B means A is the wife of B… then what does P + Q − R mean?"

Mains sometimes wraps a blood-relation twist around a seating puzzle (a "family + arrangement" set).

2. The family-tree notation (draw, don't think)

Use a consistent set of symbols:

• Generations in rows: grandparents on top, parents next, children below. Same generation on the same line.
• Gender: + or a square for male, − or a circle for female; put the person's letter inside.
• Marriage: a double line = (or ↔) between spouses.
• Parent–child: a straight vertical/branch line down.
• Siblings: a horizontal line linking them.

Every clue adds one symbol to the tree. Never translate a chain in your head — put "A is B's father" straight onto paper as a downward line, and the answer reads off the finished tree.

3. The "read it backwards" trick for pointing puzzles

Conversation puzzles bury the relation in a long chain. Resolve it from the end (the speaker) backwards:

• "He is the son of my grandfather's only son." Work inward: my grandfather's only son = my father (assuming the speaker's father is the only son). So "he is the son of my father" = the speaker's brother (or the speaker himself, if male).
• Always start from the innermost phrase ("my grandfather") and unwrap outward to the speaker.

Watch the speaker's own gender — it often decides between "brother/sister" or "himself/herself".

4. Coded relations — decode the symbols first

When +, −, ×, ÷ encode relationships, rewrite the expression left to right as plain relations, then draw the tree:

• Given A + B = A is father of B, A × B = A is sister of B, etc., an expression like P + Q × R means: P is father of Q, and Q is sister of R ⇒ P is the father of R.
• Read the operators in order; each links two adjacent people. Build the tree as you decode.

The trap is direction: A + B (A father of B) is not the same as B + A. Respect who comes first.

5. Relation vocabulary that catches people

• Paternal vs maternal: "father's father" = paternal grandfather; "mother's brother" = maternal uncle.
• In-laws: "brother's wife" = sister-in-law; "husband's sister" = sister-in-law; "son's wife" = daughter-in-law.
• "Only" words matter: "only son", "only daughter" fix the family size — use them to close ambiguity.
• Cousin/nephew/niece are gender-neutral in English but questions may still test the parent link.

7. The protocol

1. Draw the tree — generations in rows, gender marked, spouses joined by =.
2. Add one clue at a time as a symbol; never chain relations in your head.
3. For pointing puzzles, unwrap from the innermost phrase to the speaker; watch the speaker's gender.
4. For coded relations, decode operators left to right into plain relations, respecting direction (A+B ≠ B+A).
5. Read the answer off the finished tree; use "only son/daughter" clues to settle any ambiguity.