SBI PO Reasoning Ability Syllabus

In linear seating, if a person faces SOUTH, how do their left and right reverse compared to a north-facing person?

They are reversed: a south-facing person's right is towards your left, and their left is towards your right. Always orient left/right from the seated person's own perspective.

In a double-row (two parallel rows) arrangement, how are the facing directions typically set?

One row faces NORTH and the opposite row faces SOUTH, so members sit facing each other in pairs. Person 1 of the north row faces person 1 of the south row, etc.

In a double-row puzzle, if Row 1 faces south and Row 2 faces north, how does 'immediate right' differ between the rows?

Because the rows face opposite directions, a clue like 'to the right of' moves in opposite physical directions for each row — always apply right/left from each person's own facing direction.

In circular seating, when all persons face the CENTRE, is the arrangement clockwise or anticlockwise for a person's left and right?

For a person facing the centre, their LEFT is the clockwise direction and their RIGHT is the anticlockwise direction.

In circular seating, when all persons face OUTWARD (away from centre), how do left/right relate to clockwise direction?

For a person facing outward, their LEFT is anticlockwise and their RIGHT is clockwise — exactly opposite to facing-centre arrangements.

In a circular arrangement of 8 people facing centre, what is the position of the person sitting exactly opposite (in front of) a given person?

The person directly opposite sits 4 seats away (n/2 for n people), i.e., with 3 people between them on each side.

In a rectangular/square table seating, how are people typically distributed and which face which way?

People sit on the sides/corners; commonly those at the middle of sides and corners may face the centre or outside as specified. In a square with one person per side facing centre, opposite persons face each other; clue interpretation of left/right still follows each person's facing direction.

In floor-based puzzles, what numbering convention is standard for floors?

The lowest/bottom floor is numbered 1 and the topmost floor is the highest number (e.g., in a 7-floor building, floor 1 is ground/lowest and floor 7 is the top).

In a floor puzzle, what does the clue 'P lives immediately above Q' tell you about their floor numbers?

P's floor number = Q's floor number + 1 (P is exactly one floor higher than Q).

In flat-and-floor puzzles (building with multiple floors and flats per floor), what two coordinates define each person's position?

The floor number (vertical position) and the flat number/side (e.g., Flat 1 on the west, Flat 2 on the east), so each person is fixed by a floor AND a flat column.

In box/stack arrangement puzzles, what is the difference between 'above' and 'immediately above'?

'Above' means anywhere higher in the stack (one or more boxes higher); 'immediately above' means directly adjacent on top with no box in between.

In a stack of boxes, if there are 'as many boxes above X as below Y', how do you use this to fix positions?

Count gaps: the number of boxes above X equals the number below Y, which constrains X and Y to symmetric positions, often pinning them once total count is known.

In day-scheduling puzzles across a week (Mon–Sun), how many gaps does 'three days after' span?

If an event is three days after a given day, you add 3 to that day (e.g., three days after Monday = Thursday). 'After' moves forward in the week.

In month-scheduling puzzles, what is the standard set of months and a common trick about days in months?

12 months Jan–Dec; common puzzles use months with 30 days (Apr, Jun, Sep, Nov), 31 days (Jan, Mar, May, Jul, Aug, Oct, Dec), and 28/29 (Feb). Clues like 'a month with 30 days' narrow the options.

In date-based scheduling (e.g., events on the same date across months), what does 'gap of n days between two dates in consecutive months' depend on?

It depends on the number of days in the earlier month; you must know whether that month has 28/29/30/31 days to count the gap correctly.

In comparison/ranking puzzles, what does 'A is taller than B but shorter than C' establish?

The order is C > A > B in height (C tallest, then A, then B). Combine such pairwise relations to build a complete ranking chain.

In order/ranking puzzles, if a person ranks 'm-th from the top and n-th from the bottom', what is the total number of persons?

Total = m + n − 1 (the person is counted once in both ranks, so subtract 1).

In ranking puzzles, how do you convert a rank from the top to a rank from the bottom given the total N?

Rank from bottom = N − (rank from top) + 1. Likewise, rank from top = N − (rank from bottom) + 1.

In comparison puzzles, what does the statement 'only two people are older than X' tell you about X's position?

X is the 3rd oldest (third from the top in age), since exactly two people rank above X.

In letter-coding (letter-shift / alphabet) problems, what numeric positions correspond to the first and last letters, and the reverse-pair rule?

A=1 ... Z=26. The reverse position of a letter = 27 − (its forward position) (e.g., A↔Z, B↔Y, M↔N), known as the EJOTY/opposite-letter (27-rule) pairing.

What is the EJOTY trick used for in letter coding?

EJOTY gives quick reference positions: E=5, J=10, O=15, T=20, Y=25. From these you can quickly compute any letter's position by counting forward/backward.

In letter coding, how do you decode a word coded by shifting each letter forward by a fixed number (e.g., +3)?

Shift each letter of the code backward by the same number (−3), wrapping from A back to Z if needed, to recover the original letters.

In number coding, when each letter of a word is assigned a unique number (substitution coding), how do you decode a new word?

Compare common letters across given word-code pairs to map each letter to its number, then apply those known mappings to the target word.

What is 'conditional/substitution coding' in coding-decoding, where digits are replaced by symbols under given conditions?

Each element is coded by symbols/letters, but special conditions modify the code (e.g., if first and last are both odd, swap their codes; if a vowel is sandwiched between consonants, code differently). You apply the matching condition to each given case.

In coding-decoding by 'analogy', if APPLE is coded relative to its letters' positions, what general method finds the logic?

Find the relationship between each plaintext letter's alphabet position and its code (constant shift, position sum, reverse position, or alternating shift), then verify it holds for every letter before applying it.

In syllogism with the word 'Only a few A are B', what two conclusions are implied?

'Only a few A are B' implies 'Some A are B' is true AND 'All A are B' is false (equivalently 'Some A are not B' is true).

In syllogism, what does the possibility-type conclusion 'All A being B is a possibility' require to be true?

It is true unless a premise makes it impossible — i.e., if no negative relation forbids A from being entirely within B, the possibility holds. A definite 'Some A are not B' would make 'All A are B' impossible (so that possibility would be false).

In linear arrangement, what does 'P is third to the left of Q' mean about the count of people between them?

There are exactly two people between P and Q, with P positioned three places to Q's left side.

In circular seating, what does the clue 'A and B are immediate neighbours' restrict?

A and B sit directly next to each other with no one in between; A is on one side of B (left or right), to be fixed by other clues.

In scheduling/day puzzles, what does 'neither on Monday nor on Friday' do to the solution set?

It eliminates Monday and Friday as options for that event, reducing the remaining possible days that must satisfy all other constraints.

In box-stacking puzzles, if 'only one box is between Box X (at top) and Box Y', and X is above Y, what are their relative positions?

X and Y are separated by exactly one box, with X higher — e.g., if X is at the top, Y is the third box from the top (positions differing by 2).