Types seen in SBI Clerk
- Linear row: all facing north, all facing south, or mixed (some north, some south). Sometimes with an unknown number of persons.
- Two parallel rows: e.g. five persons in Row 1 facing south and five in Row 2 facing north, so each person faces someone.
- Circular table: facing the centre, facing outside, or mixed.
- Square / rectangular table: persons at corners face the centre and persons at the middle of the sides face outside (or all face the centre).
Left and right - the rules that decide everything
| Situation | Right means | Left means |
|---|---|---|
| Row, facing north | towards east (your right on paper) | towards west |
| Row, facing south | towards west (your left on paper) | towards east |
| Circle, facing centre | anticlockwise | clockwise |
| Circle, facing outside | clockwise | anticlockwise |
Memory aid: for a person facing the centre, imagine standing at the bottom of the circle looking up - your left hand points clockwise.
Method
- Draw the structure (a line with seat marks, or a circle with equally spaced seats).
- Place the person in a definite clue first (an extreme end, the middle, "opposite").
- For mixed facing, mark the facing direction with an arrow under each name as soon as it is known; then apply the right/left rule for that person's direction.
- Draw cases when a clue allows two seats, exactly as in puzzles.
- In a circle, "n persons between A and B" is ambiguous unless the direction is given ("counted from the left of A"); check both arcs.
Worked example
Eight persons sit around a circle facing the centre. E sits opposite A; B sits immediately to the left of E; G sits second to the left of E. Facing the centre, left = clockwise, so going clockwise from E we get B, then G. H is a neighbour of both C and E, so H sits on E's other side (anticlockwise) and C next to H. If F is immediately to the right of C (anticlockwise from C), F lands beside A, and the last seat (between G and A) goes to D. One clean ring answers every question.
Square and rectangle tips
Number the seats clockwise. On a square table with corner seats facing the centre and side seats facing outside, every alternate seat changes facing direction. On a rectangular table, "opposite" means directly across the table - a seat on one long side faces the seat directly across on the other long side, and the two end seats face each other.
Time target
Linear or circular with eight persons: about 4-5 minutes for five questions. Mixed facing or parallel rows: 6 minutes. Answer "Who sits opposite / second to the left" questions by reading the diagram, never from memory.