Puzzle — RRB NTPC Reasoning
This topic carries roughly 9% of General Intelligence & Reasoning's 30 questions. Every puzzle has a unique solution reachable through pure deduction from the given clues — the skill is sequencing which clue to apply first, not brute-force guessing.
1. What RRB NTPC actually asks
Expect linear seating arrangements (a row of people, sometimes with a facing direction), ranking/ordering puzzles (by height, age, marks), and simple grouping puzzles (who belongs to which category).
2. The systematic approach
- Draw a blank structure first (a row of boxes for seating, a blank ranking list) — never try to track positions purely mentally.
- Apply the most restrictive clue first. A clue that fixes an exact position ("Q sits at position 3") is far more useful to start with than a relative clue ("P sits somewhere left of R").
- Fill in direct consequences immediately — if a clue says "P sits immediately left of Q" and Q's position is now fixed, P's position is now fixed too.
- Use elimination for the remaining clues, filling in what's left after the direct clues are placed.
- Verify every clue against the completed arrangement before answering — a single violated clue means an error was made somewhere.
3. Reading clue language precisely
"Immediately left/right of" means adjacent, in that exact direction. "Somewhere left/right of" means anywhere in that direction, not necessarily adjacent. "Between" means exactly in the middle of the two named entities. Misreading "immediately" as "somewhere" (or vice versa) is the most common source of puzzle errors.
Worked examples
Q1. Five friends A, B, C, D, and E are ranked by height (1 = tallest, 5 = shortest). A is taller than B but shorter than C. D is the tallest. E is shorter than B. C is not the tallest. Who is the second tallest?
Pick an option to check your answer.
Show explanation
Solution. D is the tallest (rank 1), and since C is not the tallest, C must be rank 2 or lower. A is shorter than C but taller than B, and E is shorter than B (making E the shortest among this trio).
Testing the ordering D, C, A, B, E: D(1) > C(2) > A(3) > B(4) > E(5). Check: A taller than B (3<4, correct), A shorter than C (3>2, correct), D tallest (correct), E shorter than B (5>4, correct), C not tallest (correct). This is the only arrangement satisfying all clues. Answer: (c).
Q2. Five people P, Q, R, S, and T sit in a row of 5 seats numbered 1 to 5, facing north. Q sits at position 3. P sits immediately to the left of Q. T sits at one of the two ends. R sits immediately to the right of Q. S does not sit at position 1. Who sits at position 1?
Pick an option to check your answer.
Show explanation
Solution. Q is fixed at position 3. P sits immediately left of Q, so P is at position 2. R sits immediately right of Q, so R is at position 4. This leaves positions 1 and 5 for S and T.
T must sit at an end (position 1 or 5), and S does NOT sit at position 1 — so S must be at position 5, leaving T at position 1. Answer: (c).
5. Common traps
- Misreading "immediately" as a loose, non-adjacent constraint, or vice versa — always check the exact wording.
- Trying to hold the entire arrangement in your head instead of drawing it out — this is where most careless errors happen under time pressure.
- Applying clues in the order given instead of starting with the most restrictive (position-fixing) clue.
- Forgetting to verify the completed arrangement against every clue — an error in an early step can silently propagate through the rest of the solution.
6. Guessing strategy
If a puzzle question runs long, use process of elimination on the answer options directly — testing whether a specific option satisfies all the given clues is often faster than fully solving the puzzle from scratch, especially for a "who sits where" single-answer question.
Summary
- Puzzle is roughly 9% of General Intelligence & Reasoning's 30 CBT 1 questions.
- Always draw a blank structure (row, list) first — never track positions purely mentally.
- Apply the most restrictive (position-fixing) clue first, then work outward through direct consequences.
- Distinguish "immediately" (adjacent) from "somewhere" (anywhere in that direction) precisely.
- Verify the completed arrangement against every clue before finalising an answer.
- For a single-answer question, testing a specific option against all clues can be faster than solving from scratch.
