"Analytical Puzzles & Critical Reasoning" — Practice

Question 1

Four people A, B, C, D sit in a row facing north. B sits immediately to the right of A. C sits at the right end. D does not sit adjacent to B. What is the correct seating order from left to right?
(a) A, B, D, C (b) D, A, B, C (c) A, D, B, C (d) B, A, D, C

Accepted Answer

(b) D, A, B, C.

C is fixed at position 4 (right end). A-B must be consecutive, with A immediately left of B, leaving two candidate placements within positions 1–3: (A=1,B=2,D=3) or (D=1,A=2,B=3). In the first, D(3) is adjacent to B(2), violating the non-adjacency constraint. In the second, D(1) and B(3) are not adjacent (position 2 lies between them), satisfying every constraint — giving the order D, A, B, C.

Question 2

Introducing a man, a woman said, "His mother is the only daughter of my mother." How is the woman related to the man?
(a) Mother (b) Sister (c) Aunt (d) Grandmother

Accepted Answer

(a) Mother.

"The only daughter of my mother" means the woman herself (since she is her own mother's daughter, and it's specified as the ONLY daughter, this must refer to the woman speaking). So "his mother" = the woman herself, making her the man's mother.

Question 3

Pointing to a man, Priya said, "He is the son of my father's only brother." How is the man related to Priya?
(a) Cousin (b) Brother (c) Nephew (d) Uncle

Accepted Answer

(a) Cousin.

"My father's only brother" is Priya's paternal uncle. "The son of" that uncle is Priya's cousin (specifically, her paternal cousin).

Question 4

If in a certain code, "BOOK" is written as "CPPL" (each letter shifted forward by 1 in the alphabet), how would "DESK" be written in the same code?
(a) EFTL (b) EFTM (c) CDRJ (d) EDTL

Accepted Answer

(a) EFTL.

Verify the rule on BOOK: B(2)→C(3), O(15)→P(16), O(15)→P(16), K(11)→L(12) — consistent +1 shift. Applying to DESK: D(4)→E(5), E(5)→F(6), S(19)→T(20), K(11)→L(12), giving EFTL.

Question 5

If in a certain code, "LIGHT" is written as "MJHIU" and "WATER" is written as "XBUFS", what rule governs this code?
(a) each letter is shifted forward by 1 in the alphabet (b) each letter is shifted backward by 1 in the alphabet (c) the word is reversed with no letter shift (d) each letter is replaced by its mirror position from the end of the alphabet

Accepted Answer

(a) each letter is shifted forward by 1 in the alphabet.

Verify on both words: L(12)→M(13), I(9)→J(10), G(7)→H(8), H(8)→I(9), T(20)→U(21) — all +1; W(23)→X(24), A(1)→B(2), T(20)→U(21), E(5)→F(6), R(18)→S(19) — all +1. The rule is confirmed consistently across both given words.

Question 6

Statements: "All doctors are graduates. Some graduates are teachers." Conclusion: "Some doctors are teachers." Does this conclusion necessarily follow?
(a) No, it does not necessarily follow (b) Yes, it necessarily follows (c) The statements are contradictory (d) The conclusion is definitely false

Accepted Answer

(a) No, it does not necessarily follow.

'Some graduates are teachers' doesn't specify WHICH graduates — the teacher-graduates might not include any doctors at all. The conclusion is possible but not guaranteed by the given statements.

Question 7

Statements: "All squares are rectangles. All rectangles are quadrilaterals." Conclusion: "All squares are quadrilaterals." Does this conclusion necessarily follow?
(a) Yes, it necessarily follows (b) No, it does not follow (c) Only some squares are quadrilaterals (d) The statements are contradictory

Accepted Answer

(a) Yes, it necessarily follows.

Unlike the 'some' case, this uses two 'ALL' statements forming a valid transitive chain: all squares ⊆ rectangles ⊆ quadrilaterals, so all squares are necessarily quadrilaterals.

Question 8

Statement: "The library has extended its opening hours to accommodate students preparing for exams." Assumption: "At least some students need access to the library beyond its previous opening hours." Is this assumption implicit in the statement?
(a) Yes, the statement's stated purpose only makes sense if this assumption holds (b) No, the assumption is unrelated to the statement (c) The assumption contradicts the statement (d) The statement provides no basis for any assumption

Accepted Answer

(a) Yes, the statement's stated purpose only makes sense if this assumption holds.

If no students needed access beyond previous hours, extending hours 'to accommodate' them would serve no purpose — the assumption is necessary for the stated action's rationale to hold.

Question 9

Statement: "Every employee who completed the training received a certificate." Which conclusion necessarily follows?
(a) An employee without a certificate did not complete the training (b) Every employee received a certificate (c) Only trained employees are hired (d) Certificates are given only once a year

Accepted Answer

(a) An employee without a certificate did not complete the training.

This is the logically valid contrapositive of the original statement. Options (b), (c) and (d) all introduce claims not supported by the given statement.

Question 10

Statement: "A significant number of road accidents in the city occur at unmarked pedestrian crossings during evening hours." Which course of action follows most directly from this statement?
(a) Improve lighting and signage at pedestrian crossings during evening hours (b) Ban all pedestrian movement during evening hours (c) Close all pedestrian crossings permanently (d) Increase the number of vehicles allowed on the road

Accepted Answer

(a) Improve lighting and signage at pedestrian crossings during evening hours.

This directly addresses the specific problem described (unmarked crossings, evening hours) without the extreme, disproportionate response of options (b) and (c), or the counterproductive option (d).

Question 11

A is B's father. C is A's mother. D is C's only son. How is D related to B?
(a) Father (b) Uncle (c) Grandfather (d) Brother

Accepted Answer

(a) Father.

C is A's mother, and D is C's 'only son' — since A is C's child and 'only son' specifies uniqueness, D must be A himself. Since A is B's father, D (=A) is B's father.

Question 12

Six people sit around a circular table, facing the centre, equally spaced. If A sits exactly three seats away from B (counting in either direction), what is the positional relationship between A and B?
(a) A and B sit directly opposite each other (b) A and B sit immediately adjacent to each other (c) A and B occupy the same seat (d) No fixed relationship can exist between them

Accepted Answer

(a) A and B sit directly opposite each other.

In a 6-seat circular arrangement, being exactly 3 seats away (half of 6) in either direction places two people diagonally opposite — the maximum possible separation, which is symmetric regardless of direction.

Question 13

A person walks 5 km north, then turns right and walks 3 km, then turns right again and walks 5 km. How far is he from his starting point, and in which direction?
(a) 3 km, east (b) 8 km, north (c) 3 km, west (d) 5 km, south

Accepted Answer

(a) 3 km, east.

North 5km, then right (east) 3km, then right again (south) 5km — the two 5km legs (north then south) cancel out, leaving only the 3km eastward displacement from the starting point.

Question 14

Find the next term in the series: 3, 8, 15, 24, 35, ?
(a) 48 (b) 46 (c) 50 (d) 44

Accepted Answer

(a) 48.

The differences between consecutive terms are 5, 7, 9, 11 (increasing by 2 each time). The next difference should be 13, giving 35 + 13 = 48.

Question 15

In a class, Meera scores higher than Rohan but lower than Divya. Sanjay scores lower than Rohan. Who scored the lowest among the four?
(a) Sanjay (b) Rohan (c) Meera (d) Divya

Accepted Answer

(a) Sanjay.

From the clues: Divya > Meera > Rohan, and Rohan > Sanjay. Chaining these gives Divya > Meera > Rohan > Sanjay, so Sanjay scored the lowest.

Practice — "Analytical Puzzles & Critical Reasoning"

Sign in to save attempts to your dashboard and track your accuracy over time

Find a verified tutor

Join a live course

Browse coaching centres

About

Categories

Support

Documentation

Get Study Tips & Updates

Download Our App

Download for iOS

Download for Android

Popular Cities