# All 28 reasoning puzzle types for bank & govt exams — one real example of each

> See every reasoning type Deduce serves — 8 arrangement puzzles you solve on an interactive board (floor, circular, square, row, double-row, ranking, scheduling, box) and 20 exam-pattern MCQ types, each shown with a real engine-generated example proven to have exactly one answer. For IBPS, SBI, SSC, Railway and UPSC aspirants.

Source: https://deducepuzzles.com/reasoning-puzzle-types

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## All 28 reasoning puzzle types — one real example of each

Deduce isn't one puzzle repeated — the daily rotates across **28 exam-pattern reasoning types**, tuned to your exam (Banking, SSC, Railway, UPSC CSAT, State PSC, campus placement). Every example below was generated by the same engine that mints the daily, and machine-proven to have **exactly one correct answer** before it reached this page.

Two formats, like the real exam: BOARD arrangement puzzles you solve by placing people on an interactive board, and MCQ questions where you pick one option. The daily serves one type per day; [Coach](https://deducepuzzles.com/pro) lets you drill any type on demand.

### Solve on the board — 8 arrangement types

Place every person correctly. Your board grades each clue live — green when your placement satisfies it, red when it breaks it.

#### Floor arrangement BOARD

The classic building/floor puzzle — a staple of IBPS and SBI prelims.

5 people live on a 5-floor building — floor 1 is the lowest, floor 5 the top.

- Bhavna lives on an even-numbered floor.
- There is exactly 1 floor between Isha and Vikram.
- Sneha lives on the floor immediately above Isha.
- Bhavna lives on a floor somewhere above Aditi.

Can you work out who lives on which floor? In the app you solve this on an interactive board — every clue lights up green or red against your current placement.

Floor 1 (lowest): Aditi · Floor 2: Bhavna · Floor 3: Isha · Floor 4: Sneha · Floor 5 (top): Vikram

#### Circular seating BOARD

Round-table seating, where left and right depend on facing the centre.

6 people sit around a round table, all facing the centre.

- Isha sits next to Geeta.
- Farhan sits 2nd to the right of Anjali (all facing the centre).
- Farhan sits directly opposite Varun.
- Exactly 1 person sits between Farhan and Geeta (the shorter way).
- Exactly 2 people sit between Rohan and Geeta (the shorter way).

Can you work out who sits in each seat? In the app you solve this on an interactive board — every clue lights up green or red against your current placement.

Clockwise: Anjali → Varun → Geeta → Isha → Farhan → Rohan → back to Anjali

#### Square seating BOARD

Corner-and-middle seating where facing direction flips left and right.

8 people sit around a square table — 4 at the corners, 4 at the middle of the sides. A clue may note someone faces outward: their left and right are reversed.

- Geeta sits immediately to the right of Aditi (all facing the centre).
- Uma sits 2nd to the right of Rohan (all facing the centre).
- Sanjay sits next to Geeta.
- Kiran sits directly opposite Aditi.
- Geeta sits 2nd to the right of Divya (all facing the centre).
- Uma sits at the middle of one of the sides.
- Manish sits immediately to the right of Uma (all facing the centre).

Can you work out who sits in each seat? In the app you solve this on an interactive board — every clue lights up green or red against your current placement.

Clockwise (from seat 1): Aditi → Divya → Manish → Uma → Kiran → Rohan → Sanjay → Geeta → back to Aditi

#### Row seating BOARD

A single facing row — the fastest arrangement family to master.

5 people sit in a row, all facing the same way — seat 1 is the far left, seat 5 the far right.

- Gauri sits somewhere to the right of Jaya.
- Manish sits immediately to the left of Yash.
- Exactly 3 people sit between Harsh and Manish.

Can you work out who sits in each seat? In the app you solve this on an interactive board — every clue lights up green or red against your current placement.

Seat 1 (far left): Manish · Seat 2: Yash · Seat 3: Jaya · Seat 4: Gauri · Seat 5 (far right): Harsh

#### Double-row (facing) seating BOARD

Two facing rows; the left/right flip is the exam's favourite trap.

6 people sit in two equal rows facing each other — one row faces north, the other south. Left and right flip between the rows.

- Bhavna faces north.
- Farhan sits immediately to the left of Karan (both facing south).
- Farhan sits at an extreme end of their row.
- Bhavna sits at an extreme end of their row.
- Jaya faces north.
- Bhavna sits immediately to the left of Meera (both facing north).
- Omkar sits at an extreme end of their row.

Can you work out who sits where? In the app you solve this on an interactive board — every clue lights up green or red against your current placement.

North-facing row (west→east): Bhavna, Meera, Jaya · South-facing row (west→east): Omkar, Karan, Farhan

#### Order & Ranking BOARD

Order & ranking — taller/shorter, heavier/lighter, top/bottom chains.

5 people are ranked from 1 (highest) to 5 (lowest); no two share a rank.

- Bhavna is ranked higher than Uma.
- Anjali is ranked FIRST (highest).
- Uma is ranked immediately above Kiran.
- Kiran is ranked higher than Karan.

Can you work out each person's rank? In the app you solve this on an interactive board — every clue lights up green or red against your current placement.

Rank 1 (highest): Anjali · Rank 2: Bhavna · Rank 3: Uma · Rank 4: Kiran · Rank 5 (lowest): Karan

#### Scheduling puzzle BOARD

Day-of-week scheduling — appointments, lectures, exams.

5 people each have an appointment on a different day of the same week — Monday to Friday, one per day.

- Gauri's appointment is on a later day of the week than Aditi's.
- Gauri's appointment is on Tuesday.
- Gauri's appointment is on the day immediately before Chetan's.
- Nikhil's appointment is on an earlier day of the week than Vikram's.

Can you work out whose appointment falls on which day? In the app you solve this on an interactive board — every clue lights up green or red against your current placement.

Monday: Aditi · Tuesday: Gauri · Wednesday: Chetan · Thursday: Nikhil · Friday: Vikram

#### Box arrangement BOARD

A vertical stack of boxes — floor logic in disguise.

5 boxes are kept one above another in a stack — position 1 is the bottom, position 5 the top.

- Box F is kept at the top of the stack.
- Box D is kept 3rd from the bottom of the stack.
- Box G is kept immediately above Box C.
- Box C is kept somewhere below Box H.

Can you work out each box's position? In the app you solve this on an interactive board — every clue lights up green or red against your current placement.

Position 1 (bottom): Box C · Position 2: Box G · Position 3: Box D · Position 4: Box H · Position 5 (top): Box F

### Pick the right option — 20 MCQ types

One question, one correct option — the exam's own format. In the app every MCQ ends with a step-by-step worked solution.

#### Seating Arrangement MCQ MCQ

A seating puzzle posed exam-style as a single multiple-choice question.

Who sits second to the right of Harsh?

Meera, Imran, Chetan, Harsh, Divya sit in a row, all facing north. Seat 1 is the far-left end and seat 5 is the far-right end.

Divya sits somewhere to the left of Imran.

Chetan sits immediately to the left of Harsh.

Meera sits somewhere to the right of Harsh.

Divya sits immediately to the right of Meera.

- Divya
- Harsh
- Chetan
- Meera
- Imran

Divya

#### Data Sufficiency (floor) MCQ

Decide whether the statements are ENOUGH to answer — without fully solving.

Each person lives on a different floor (1–5). Which statements are sufficient to fix EVERY person's floor?

Statement I: Arjun lives on an odd-numbered floor; Arjun lives on the floor immediately above Gauri; Aditi lives on an even-numbered floor; Rohan lives on an odd-numbered floor; Gauri lives on an even-numbered floor.

Statement II: Aditi lives on a floor somewhere above Gauri; Sneha lives on an odd-numbered floor; Gauri lives on the floor immediately above Rohan; Sneha lives on a floor somewhere above Aditi; Sneha lives on a floor somewhere above Rohan.

- Statement I alone is sufficient, but II alone is not.
- Statement II alone is sufficient, but I alone is not.
- Each statement ALONE is sufficient.
- Both statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but neither alone.
- Even both statements together are NOT sufficient.

Both statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but neither alone.

#### Data Sufficiency (ranking) MCQ

Data sufficiency over an order-and-ranking scenario.

5 people are ranked from 1 (highest) to 5 (lowest), no ties. Read Statements I and II, then decide which, if any, are sufficient to fix EVERY person's rank.

Statement I: Yash is 4th from the bottom; Chetan is ranked FIRST (highest); Manish is ranked lower than Yash; Chetan is ranked higher than Rohan.

Statement II: Rohan is ranked immediately above Manish; Chetan is ranked immediately above Yash; Manish is ranked lower than Chetan; Isha is ranked lower than Chetan.

- Statement I alone is sufficient, but II alone is not.
- Statement II alone is sufficient, but I alone is not.
- Each statement ALONE is sufficient.
- Both statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but neither alone.
- Even both statements together are NOT sufficient.

Even both statements together are NOT sufficient.

#### Coding-Decoding (letter shift) MCQ

Letter-shift codes — crack the pattern, decode the word.

If "BOOK" is written as "WJJF" in a certain code, how is "MOON" written in that code?

Determine the coding pattern from the example and apply it to the target word.

- IKKJ
- JLLK
- GIIH
- FHHG
- HJJI

HJJI

#### Message Coding-Decoding MCQ

Word-to-code mappings across coded sentences.

What is the code for "green"?

"green paper river" is coded as "pa ro mi".

"green paper yellow" is coded as "su ro mi".

- su
- ne
- ro
- za
- to

ro

#### Classification (odd one out) MCQ

Odd one out among numbers.

Four of these five numbers are alike in a certain way and form a group. Which number does NOT belong to that group?

- 68
- 24
- 56
- 14
- 12

14

#### Number analogy MCQ

A : B :: C : ? — name the relationship, then apply it.

4 : 64 :: 3 : ?

Work out how the first number becomes the second, then apply the same rule to the third.

- 27
- 33
- 19
- 30
- 36

27

#### Letter Classification MCQ

Odd one out among letter groups.

Four of these five letter clusters follow the same alphabet-gap pattern. Which one is the odd one out?

Check the gap between consecutive letters inside each cluster.

All five clusters span the same distance, so compare the individual steps.

- ORW
- ILQ
- NQV
- PSX
- DIL

DIL

#### Syllogism (statements & conclusions) MCQ

Statements and conclusions — pure deductive logic.

Take the two statements to be true even if they differ from commonly known facts, then decide which conclusion logically follows.

Statements: All buses are cars. All cars are trains.

Conclusion I: Some trains are buses.

Conclusion II: Some buses are trains.

- Only conclusion I follows
- Only conclusion II follows
- Either conclusion I or II follows
- Neither conclusion I nor II follows
- Both conclusions I and II follow

Neither conclusion I nor II follows

#### Blood relations MCQ

Family-tree deduction from relation statements.

How is Manish related to Aman?

Use only the relationships stated below.

Manish is the father of Ramesh.

Ramesh is the father of Aman.

- grandson
- grandmother
- grandfather
- aunt
- nephew

grandfather

#### Coded Blood Relations MCQ

Relations written as symbols — decode first, then deduce.

If the expression is "Anjali / Rohan + Vihaan", how is Anjali related to Vihaan?

Code: A + B means A is father of B.

Code: A - B means A is mother of B.

Code: A * B means A is brother of B.

Code: A / B means A is sister of B.

- niece
- grandfather
- uncle
- aunt
- grandmother

aunt

#### Photograph Blood Relations MCQ

The 'pointing to a photograph' classic.

Pointing to the boy in a photograph, Riya said, "He is the son of my mother's only daughter." How is the boy related to Riya?

Read the statement from the speaker's point of view.

- nephew
- son
- aunt
- daughter
- sister

son

#### Coded Inequality MCQ

Coded comparison symbols — derive what must follow.

Which of the following conclusions is DEFINITELY true from the given expression?

Code: # = >, @ = >=, * = <, $ = <=, % = =

Expression: D # A, A # B, B # C

- A > C
- D < C
- D = C
- B <= C
- B > A

A > C

#### Number Series (find the missing term) MCQ

Find the pattern, supply the missing term.

What number replaces the question mark?

3, 7, ?, 31, 63, 127, 255

- 14
- 16
- 13
- 17
- 15

15

#### Alphabet Test MCQ

Positions, sequences and operations on the alphabet.

If the English alphabet is written in reverse order (Z first, A last), which letter will be 3rd to the left of the 11th letter from the right end?

- S
- M
- O
- H
- N

N

#### Input-Output (machine rearrangement) MCQ

Machine rearrangement — trace each step of the output.

A machine rearranges an input line of words and numbers step by step, following one fixed rule (study the sample below). How many steps does the machine need to complete the arrangement of the New Input?

Sample Input: kettle 50 bridge 33 87 drum

Step I: drum kettle 50 bridge 33 87

Step II: drum bridge kettle 50 33 87

Step II is the last step of the sample.

New Input: 59 77 stone 28 valley tiger

- 1
- 2
- 5
- 4
- 3

3

#### Uncertain persons MCQ

A row whose size you must deduce first.

How many persons are sitting in the row?

Some persons are sitting in a single row, all facing north. The total number of persons in the row is NOT known. Positions are counted from the left end unless a clue says otherwise.

Meera is 6th from the left end of the row.

Nikhil is 3rd from the right end of the row.

Meera sits 5th to the left of Nikhil.

- 14
- 16
- 13
- 10
- 15

13

#### Direction & distance MCQ

Direction & distance — track the path, find where it ends.

How far and in which direction is Divya from the starting point?

Divya starts from a point and walks 14 m towards West.

She then turns left and walks 10 m.

She then turns left and walks 9 m.

She then walks 5 m towards North.

- 5√2 m North-East
- 5√2 m South-West
- 7√2 m South-West
- 10 m South-West
- 5 m South-West

5√2 m South-West

#### Alphanumeric Series MCQ

Mixed letter-digit-symbol sequences.

Which element is 2nd to the right of the 5th element from the left end of the series?

& S @ 5 D L # 6 C 9 * P 7 3

- #
- 6
- L
- D
- C

#

#### Eligibility test (decision making) MCQ

Apply eligibility conditions to candidate profiles — decision making.

Study the eligibility criteria and the candidate's profile, then choose the course of action. Base the decision STRICTLY on the information provided — do not assume anything.

A bank is recruiting Probationary Officers. A candidate must —

(a) be not less than 22 years and not more than 33 years of age as on 1st March 2026.

(b) have secured at least 55% marks in graduation.

(c) have secured at least 60% marks in the written examination.

(d) have at least 3 years of work experience.

(e) have secured at least 45% marks in the personal interview.

However, if a candidate fulfils all the conditions EXCEPT (b), but holds a post-graduate degree, the case is to be referred to the General Manager.

Profile of Rakesh Sharma —

Rakesh was born on 22nd September 2005.

Rakesh secured 66% marks in graduation.

Rakesh holds a post-graduate degree.

Rakesh secured 74% marks in the written examination.

Rakesh has 4 years of work experience.

Rakesh secured 35% marks in the personal interview.

- Candidate is to be selected
- Candidate is not to be selected
- Case is to be referred to the General Manager
- Data inadequate — the decision cannot be taken

Candidate is not to be selected

### Why this variety matters

Bank and SSC reasoning sections don't repeat one puzzle type — prelims mix seating, ranking, coding, series, syllogisms and data sufficiency in a single hour. Practising one format on repeat builds a skill the paper never tests alone. Deduce's daily rotates the full set by date (weighted to *your* exam's mix), so over a month you touch every family — and [Saarathi, the AI coach](https://deducepuzzles.com/ai-reasoning-coach-for-bank-exams.html), spots which of the 28 you keep missing and tells you which to drill next.

Every type above runs on the same server-validated engine: freshly generated (never from a question bank), timed on the server, and always with a full worked solution at the end. [See everything Deduce does →](https://deducepuzzles.com/features.html)
