Puzzles Questions for SBI CLERK

Types of Puzzles You Will Face

SBI Clerk Prelims consistently features four core puzzle types. Linear seating has people sitting in a row facing north or south, or two rows facing each other. Circular seating has people around a round table facing inward or outward. Floor puzzles have people living on different floors of a building. Scheduling puzzles involve assigning people to days of the week or months of the year. Box or stack puzzles have objects stacked in a sequence. Hybrid puzzles combine two variables like floor plus city, or person plus colour plus day.

• Linear seating: watch for facing direction (north or south) as it flips left and right.
• Circular seating: facing inward means your left is clockwise; facing outward reverses it.
• Floor puzzles: ground floor is 1st, topmost is highest number — memorise this default.
• Scheduling puzzles: pin one confirmed person first and build the rest around them.
• Box/stack puzzles: above and below are absolute positions, not relative to a person.
• Hybrid puzzles: make a two-column or grid table immediately to avoid confusion.

Step-by-Step Solving Method

The universal approach works for all puzzle types. First, read all clues once without writing anything, just to get a feel. Second, pick definite clues — ones that give a fixed position or direct assignment — and place them first. Third, use conditional clues (if A then B) only after definite slots are filled. Fourth, keep tentative arrangements in pencil or mark them clearly if solving on screen. Fifth, eliminate options using contradiction — if placing X in slot 3 breaks another clue, X cannot be in slot 3. Finally, verify your final arrangement against all clues before answering.

• Start with definite clues: exact positions, fixed days, absolute floors.
• Use negative clues (A is not next to B) to eliminate, not to place — save them for last.
• Never assume direction in circular puzzles unless the clue says so.
• If two arrangements seem possible, carry both forward until one is eliminated.
• Always recheck the final answer against every clue — 1 minute saved here costs 4-5 marks.

Linear Seating — Core Rules

In a single row facing north, left of a person is towards the west end of the row (your physical left). Right is towards the east. When two rows face each other, the person directly opposite is the key link. Clues like 'three seats to the left of A' are absolute positional clues — use them to set the grid size. Clues like 'A is to the immediate left of B' are relative — they define adjacency only.

• Immediate left or right means directly next to — no gap.
• Second to the left means one person sits between them.
• End seats have only one neighbour — use this to eliminate candidates quickly.
• Two-row puzzles: person in row 1 faces the person directly across in row 2.
• If facing south, left and right directions in the puzzle get physically swapped — read carefully.

Circular Seating — Core Rules

All people sit around a circle. If facing the centre (inward), your left is the clockwise direction when viewed from above. If facing outward (away from centre), your left becomes anti-clockwise. This single rule trips up most aspirants. When a clue says A sits second to the right of B, count two seats in the clockwise direction from B to reach A (for inward-facing). Always draw the circle, mark north at the top, and place the first confirmed person there.

• Inward facing: left equals clockwise, right equals anti-clockwise (from bird's eye view).
• Outward facing: left equals anti-clockwise, right equals clockwise.
• Opposite seat in a circle of 8 persons is exactly 4 seats away.
• Use gaps (second to the right) to figure out how many empty slots exist between two people.
• Draw a fresh circle for each case if two possibilities arise — do not overwrite.

Floor and Scheduling Puzzles — Core Rules

Floor puzzles: Ground floor is floor 1, the topmost floor is the highest number. Clues like 'A lives above B' mean A has a higher floor number than B. 'Immediately above' means exactly one floor higher. In scheduling puzzles, treat days or months as a numbered sequence (Monday=1, Tuesday=2, etc.) and apply the same logic as floor puzzles. Both types are solved fastest by making a numbered list and filling slots top-down.

• Immediately above or below means a difference of exactly 1.
• Between X and Y in a floor puzzle means floors between their numbers — count carefully.
• In month puzzles, Jan=1 through Dec=12; treat clues like 'three months before' as subtraction.
• Day puzzles: use Monday to Sunday as 1 to 7 unless stated otherwise.
• Odd/even floor clues are elimination gold — use them first to halve the possibilities.

• Confusing left and right in circular puzzles: always check if people face inward or outward before assigning directions. This single mistake invalidates the entire arrangement.
• In two-row linear puzzles, forgetting that the person in row 1 faces south while the person in row 2 faces north — their lefts and rights are mirror images of each other.
• Treating 'second to the left' as one seat away instead of two seats away (there is one person between them, not zero).
• In floor puzzles, placing the ground floor at the top of your diagram instead of the bottom, then getting above and below clues backwards throughout the solution.
• Spending more than 8-9 minutes on a single puzzle set during the exam. If you are stuck after 6 minutes, mark for review and move on — every puzzle set has equal marks.

• CLAW rule for circular inward seating: Clockwise equals Left, Anti-clockwise equals Right When facing inward. Flip both for outward facing.
• DEFINITE FIRST rule: Always place D-efinite clues before C-onditional ones. Think D before C, just like in the alphabet.
• FLOOR BOTTOM rule: Ground is always at the Bottom of your diagram, just like in real life. Never draw it at the top.
• The GRID habit: For hybrid puzzles (person plus floor plus city), draw a grid with rows as floors and columns as attributes. Fill one column fully before starting the next.

• SBI Clerk Prelims 2023 and 2024 papers consistently had one circular puzzle, one linear puzzle, and one floor or scheduling puzzle. Expect the same pattern — prepare all three types equally.
• Difficulty in SBI Clerk puzzles is moderate, not as hard as SBI PO. Clues are usually straightforward with one or two conditional clues per set. You should aim to solve each set in 6-8 minutes.
• Questions within a puzzle set follow the arrangement order — the first question usually asks about a fixed position (who sits at the centre or on which floor does A live), which helps you confirm your arrangement before answering the harder questions.
• In the exam, attempt the puzzle set that looks most direct (fewer conditional clues, fewer variables) first. Do not go in order — scan all sets in 30 seconds and pick the easiest one.
• Never leave an entire puzzle set unattempted. Even if you cannot crack the full arrangement, partial clues can let you answer 1-2 questions correctly. Always attempt at least the direct-position question in each set.