Tip to Solve Seating Arrangement Question in SSC Exams

Tip to Solve Seating Arrangement Question in SSC Exams

Reasoning has always been an important topic in any competitive exam and when it comes to SSC, almost in every exam reasoning plays an important role. In almost all the Preliminary (or Tier-1) exams (CGL, CHSL, CPIO etc.) of the SSC, reasoning is asked in one or the other. We have got multiple requests from our users on how to solve the “Seating Arrangement” questions in the SSC, so today in this post, we will describe about the seating arrangement questions in detail. The beauty of “Seating Arrangement” questions is that when you will solve it, you will get to answer all the corresponding questions correct.

Level of Questions

When you compare the seating arrangement questions in SSC recruitment exams with the banking examinations like IBPS or RBI or even with Insurance Examinations, the level is low. However, it is important to get the question right in little time. And since every “Seating Arrangement” problem is comprised of 2-3 linked questions, you will get 2-3 answers in very less time.

Type of Seating Arrangement Questions and How to Solve Those

The seating arrangement asked in any competitive exams can be divided into mainly into following types:

1. Circular Seating Arrangement
2. Linear Seating Arrangement

These can be further divided into :

• All people sitting in one direction
• Some sitting inwards and some outwards
• People sitting have some relation/occupation with each other

Now coming on to how to solve the reasoning questions in SSC exams, please keep in mind the following:

• The circular arrangement questions are not necessarily the questions regarding a situation wherein you will need to make the seating arrangement around a circular table. Circular Arrangement is an arrangement in a closed loop. It can be a square, hexagon or rectangle or any other figure.
• First read the question carefully and understand the question. Please don’t miss any point or line as all the information given in the question is important. Some information is positive (definite) and some information is negative. Here Negative information means the information which gives an idea to eliminate a possibility.
• Start with the positive (or definite) information and fix the position of the person accordingly. While doing this step, you might get several options. Just draw all the options. Example: Ram is sitting second to the left of Ajay.
• When you have fixed all the positive information, start using the negative information. Here you will be able to eliminate some of the options you got in the above step. Example: Ram is not sitting to the immediate right of Salman.

Meaning of some important terms in “Seating Arrangement” questions

In “seating arrangement” questions, students often confuse in the terms – who, adjacent & and. This will be clear in the following example:

Usage of “who”

If there are two sentences joined by “who”, the information given after “who” is talking about the second person.

Example: Varun is second to the left of Salman who is third to the right of Ranbir.

The above statement means that – Varun is sitting second to the left of Salman and Salman is sitting third to the right of Ranbir.  It does not mean that Varun is sitting second to the left of Salman and also Varun is sitting third to the right of Ranbir, which is wrong.

Usage of “adjacent”

If “adjacent” is used in the sentence, it means next to each other. It does not mean opposite to each other.

Example: Ranbir and Deepika are adjacent to each other.

The above statement means that which means Ranbir and Deepika are immediate neighbors of each other. Whenever you draw the circle, place Ranbir and Deepika next to each other.

Usage of “and”

If there are two sentences joined by “and”, the information given after “and” is talking about the first person. Please note the difference between “who” and “and” in the seating arrangement questions.

Example: Alia is third to the left of Varun and second to the right to Ranbir.

The above statement means that which means Alia is sitting third to the left of Varun and also Alia is sitting second to the right of Ranbir. It does not mean the Alia is sitting third to the left of Varun and Varun is sitting second to the right of Ranbir.

Sample Problem

The following problem is presented keeping in mind the level of Seating Arrangement questions in SSC exams. In IBPS, RBI etc., the questions are not as easy as this one.

Question: 6 people (A,B,C,D,E and F) all facing the center, are sitting around a circular table such that A is sitting very far away from C and B is sitting very far away from E. Find who is on the left of E if  D is on left of A, and right of E.

1. A
2. B
3. C
4. D
5. F

Solution: Now the definite items given here are:

1. A is sitting very far away from C
2. B is sitting very far away from E
3. D is on left of A
4. D is on right of E

Now when six people are sitting on a circular table, far away means there are two people between them.  The sequence of figures below describes how you should approach this problem.

So, the correct answer will be c)

What is atypical is that for the starting 2–3 statements, you will have multiple options possible. You need to create as much options as you can with every statement. Some sequences will get eliminated with negative statements as there will be no consistency.

To excel in these types of problems, practice the puzzles on seating arrangement as much as you. These types of questions take a lot of time if you are not habitual in solving these. But the silver lining is that if you can solve correctly you’ll be getting the entire corresponding question right.