Wednesday Warm-Up Quiz: 15 Puzzles and Seating Arrangement Questions for Banking Mains Exam

Quick Answer: This Wednesday Warm-Up Quiz contains 15 puzzles and seating arrangement questions for Banking Mains, split into three sections: five linear seating arrangement puzzles, five blood relation questions and five syllogisms. The target time for the full set is approximately 30 minutes — 60–90 seconds per seating puzzle, 45–60 seconds per blood relation question and 30–45 seconds per syllogism. Detailed solutions and a time-benchmark table are included.

Quick Answer: What This Wednesday Warm-Up Quiz Covers

This timed set mirrors the reasoning section pattern of IBPS PO Mains, SBI PO Mains and RBI Grade B prelims-stage reasoning. The mix is deliberate: seating arrangement carries the highest weightage in Banking Mains reasoning, while blood relations and syllogisms are the fastest scoring areas. Attempt all 15 questions in one sitting, ideally in the morning before your daily study block, and score yourself honestly using the answer key at the end.

How to Attempt This Timed Quiz

• Set a 30-minute timer before reading the first question. Do not pause it midway.
• No calculators, no notes. Reasoning questions in Banking Mains are solved mentally or with rough diagrams only.
• Draw every arrangement. Use symbols consistently: squares for males, circles for females, arrows for generations, plus/minus for facing north/south.
• Self-score strictly. Award marks only for fully correct answers — partial conclusions in syllogisms earn nothing in the actual exam.
• Record your section-wise time so you can compare it against the benchmark table below.

Quiz Section A: Linear Seating Arrangement (Q1–Q5)

Directions (Q1–Q2): Eight persons A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H sit in a row facing north. E sits fourth to the right of A. B sits at an extreme end. Only two persons sit between B and D. C is an immediate neighbour of A. F sits to the immediate left of G, who is not a neighbour of E.

Q1. Target time: 90 seconds. How many persons sit between A and H if H sits second from the left end?

Q2. Target time: 60 seconds. Who sits exactly in the middle of the row?

Directions (Q3–Q4): Five friends P, Q, R, S and T sit in a row facing south. R sits in the middle. P sits at one end. Q sits to the immediate right of R (from R’s perspective, facing south).

Q3. Target time: 60 seconds. If T sits at the other end, who sits between P and R?

Q4. Target time: 75 seconds. If S and T exchange positions, who now sits second from the right end (from the solver’s view)?

Q5. Target time: 90 seconds. In a row of 40 students facing north, Riya is 12th from the left end and Meera is 18th from the right end. If they interchange positions, what is Riya’s new position from the right end?

Quiz Section B: Blood Relations (Q6–Q10)

Q6. Target time: 45 seconds. Pointing to a photograph, Ravi said, “She is the daughter of my grandfather’s only son.” How is the girl related to Ravi?

Q7. Target time: 60 seconds. A is B’s sister. C is B’s mother. D is C’s father. E is D’s mother. How is A related to D?

Q8. Target time: 45 seconds. Introducing a man, a woman said, “His wife is the only daughter of my father.” How is the man related to the woman?

Q9. Target time: 60 seconds. X + Y means X is the father of Y; X − Y means X is the sister of Y. What does A + B − C mean for A and C?

Q10. Target time: 60 seconds. Pointing to a man, Sneha said, “His mother is the only daughter of my mother.” How is Sneha related to the man?

Quiz Section C: Syllogisms (Q11–Q15)

Directions: In each question, two statements are followed by conclusions I and II. Mark: (a) only I follows, (b) only II follows, (c) both follow, (d) neither follows.

Q11. Target: 30 sec. Statements: All pens are books. Some books are copies. Conclusions: I. Some pens are copies. II. Some copies are books.

Q12. Target: 40 sec. Statements: No cat is a dog. All dogs are animals. Conclusions: I. Some animals are not cats. II. No animal is a cat.

Q13. Target: 45 sec. Statements: Some mangoes are sweet. All sweet things are tasty. Conclusions: I. Some mangoes are tasty. II. All tasty things are sweet.

Q14. Target: 35 sec. Statements: All teachers are readers. Some readers are writers. Conclusions: I. Some teachers are writers. II. Some writers are readers.

Q15. Target: 40 sec. Statements: Some cups are plates. No plate is a spoon. Conclusions: I. Some cups are not spoons. II. No cup is a spoon.

Answer Key with Detailed Solutions

Q1–Q2. From the clues: B at an end; two persons between B and D; E fourth to the right of A; C beside A. The arrangement (north-facing, left to right) is: B, D, C, A, F, H, E, G. Q1: Two persons (F sits between A and H positions — A is 4th, H is 6th, so one person sits between A and H). Q2: H sits exactly in the middle (5th position from left when counting B, D, C, A positions — the middle occupant is F/H block; per the fixed arrangement, H occupies the central seat).

Q3. Arrangement (solver’s view, all facing south): P, Q, R, S, T — since Q is to R’s right facing south, Q is left of R in solver’s view. Between P and R sits Q.

Q4. After S and T swap: P, Q, R, T, S. Second from the right end is T.

Q5. Meera’s position from the left = 40 − 18 + 1 = 23rd. After interchange, Riya sits 23rd from left, so from right = 40 − 23 + 1 = 18th from the right end.

Q6. Grandfather’s only son = Ravi’s father; his daughter = Ravi’s sister. Answer: Sister.

Q7. D is A’s mother’s father — A’s grandfather.

Q8. Only daughter of the woman’s father = the woman herself. So the man’s wife is the woman — the man is her husband.

Q9. B is A’s child, and B is C’s sister — so C is also A’s child. A is C’s father.

Q10. Only daughter of Sneha’s mother = Sneha. Sneha is the man’s mother. Answer: Mother.

Q11. (b) Only II follows — “some books are copies” reverses to “some copies are books”, but pens need not overlap copies.

Q12. (a) Only I follows — dogs are animals and no dog is a cat, so some animals (the dogs) are not cats; cats could still be other animals.

Q13. (a) Only I follows — mangoes that are sweet are tasty; “all tasty are sweet” reverses the universal incorrectly.

Q14. (b) Only II follows — “some readers are writers” reverses validly; teachers may not overlap writers at all.

Q15. (a) Only I follows — cups that are plates cannot be spoons, so some cups are not spoons; other cups may or may not be spoons.

Time Analysis: Did You Meet the Target Times?

If you crossed into the warning zone in any section, revisit that topic the same day — delayed diagnosis is the biggest reason reasoning scores stagnate before Mains.

Common Mistakes in Puzzles and Seating Arrangement

• Left-right confusion: For south-facing rows, left and right reverse from the solver’s perspective. Always note the facing direction before positioning anyone.
• Assuming uniqueness: If a clue gives two possible arrangements, carry both forward instead of guessing one — this is how toppers avoid wrong full-set elimination.
• Syllogism reversals: “Some A are B” implies “Some B are A”, but “All A are B” never implies “All B are A”. Most wrong answers in Q11–Q14 style questions come from this trap.
• Neglecting “possibility” cases: A conclusion that is true in at least one valid diagram but not all diagrams does not follow — verify against every possible Venn case.
• Misreading blood-relation gender: “Only son” and “only daughter” clues fix gender; missing them breaks the entire family tree.

Exam Relevance for Banking Mains (IBPS, SBI, RBI)

In IBPS PO Mains and SBI PO Mains, the reasoning and computer aptitude section typically carries 45 questions for 60 marks in 60 minutes, with puzzles and seating arrangement alone accounting for roughly 20–25 questions — the single largest chunk. RBI Grade B’s Phase I reasoning portion follows a similar bias toward arrangement sets. Exam patterns and vacancies are revised each cycle, so always confirm the latest pattern from the official notifications at ibps.in, sbi.co.in and rbi.org.in before planning section strategy.

Preparation Tips for Reasoning Section

• One timed set daily: Solve 10–15 puzzle questions under a clock every day; untimed practice builds knowledge but not exam speed.
• Fix a symbol code: Standardise your family-tree notation (gender shapes, generation arrows) and use it every single time so it becomes automatic.
• Venn-first syllogisms: Sketch the minimal diagram, then test each conclusion with the “least possibility” rule rather than intuition.
• Start with the clue that fixes most: In seating puzzles, begin with extreme-end or position-counting clues, then layer relative clues.
• Maintain an error log: Record every wrong answer with the reason (misread clue, reversal error, time pressure) and review it weekly.

Next Wednesday Warm-Up and More Practice Sets

Bookmark this series — the next Wednesday Warm-Up will cover floor-based and box puzzles for Banking Mains. Pair your weekly quizzes with our daily current affairs digest to keep GA preparation running parallel, and revisit last week’s warm-up for circular seating practice. Consistency across reasoning, quantitative aptitude and current affairs is what converts a prelims score into a Mains call.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How much time should I spend per puzzle question in Banking Mains?

Target 60–90 seconds for seating arrangement puzzles, 45–60 seconds for blood relations and 30–45 seconds for syllogisms. Anything beyond these ranges signals the need for more timed drilling.

Q: Are seating arrangement questions compulsory in Banking Mains reasoning?

Yes — puzzle and seating arrangement sets typically carry the highest weightage in the reasoning section of IBPS, SBI and RBI-pattern Mains papers, often 20–25 questions.

Q: How can I improve speed in solving blood relation questions?

Draw quick family-tree diagrams using fixed symbols for gender and generations, and decode statements from the end of the sentence backwards. This cuts solving time by nearly half.

Q: What is the best way to solve syllogisms accurately?

Use Venn diagrams and verify each conclusion against all possible cases. A conclusion follows only if it holds in every valid diagram, not just the obvious one.

Q: Where can I find more weekly warm-up quizzes for bank exams?

Explore the weekly quiz archive and the daily current affairs section on our site for fresh timed practice sets every week.

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