About this IBPS PO Reasoning practice test

Reasoning Ability is one of the highest-weightage sections across every stage of IBPS PO, worth 35 marks in Prelims and assessed as part of a combined 60-mark Reasoning & Computer Aptitude paper in Mains, and Puzzles combined with Seating Arrangement alone can account for a third of that. The section spans Puzzles (Floor, Box, Month, Day-based), Seating Arrangement (Linear and Circular), Syllogism, Inequalities, Coding-Decoding, Blood Relations, Direction and Distance, Alphanumeric and Number Series, Data Sufficiency and Input-Output, and strong reasoning performance is consistently the single biggest differentiator in bank PO shortlisting — the same skill set carries over directly to SBI PO, RBI Grade B and IBPS Clerk.

IBPS PO Reasoning Practice Test sample questions

These starter questions help you launch a reasoning mock test quickly. Swap them with your own worksheet, notebook, or textbook questions any time.

1. 1. Seven people – A, B, C, D, E, F and G – live on seven different floors of a building, the lowest floor numbered 1 and the topmost numbered 7 (not necessarily in this order). Only three people live below E's floor. G lives immediately above E. A lives immediately above G. F lives on the topmost floor. Only one person lives between B and C. D lives immediately above C. More than two people live between C and G. Who lives on floor number 4?

2. 2. (Based on the same building puzzle as Q1.) How many people live above D's floor?

3. 3. (Based on the same building puzzle as Q1.) On which floor does B live, and who lives immediately below B?

4. 4. (Based on the same building puzzle as Q1.) How many people live between the floors of A and C?

5. 5. Eight people – J, K, L, M, N, O, P and Q – sit around a circular table, some facing the centre and the rest facing outside (away from the centre), not necessarily in the same order as their names. J, K, M and P face the centre, while L, N, O and Q face outside. K sits immediately to the right (clockwise) of J. M sits third to the right (clockwise) of J. L is an immediate neighbour of both K and M. N sits exactly opposite J. O is the immediate clockwise neighbour of N. Q is an immediate neighbour of J. Who sits exactly opposite L?

6. 6. (Based on the same seating arrangement as Q5.) How many people sit between O and Q, counting clockwise starting from O?

7. 7. (Based on the same seating arrangement as Q5.) Other than M and P, which two people face the centre?

8. 8. (Based on the same seating arrangement as Q5.) Who is the immediate neighbour of M, other than L?

9. 9. Statements: Some rivers are lakes. All lakes are oceans. Conclusions: I. Some rivers are oceans. II. All oceans are lakes. Which conclusion(s) follow?

10. 10. Statements: No teacher is a student. Some students are scholars. Conclusions: I. No scholar is a teacher. II. Some scholars are not teachers. Which conclusion(s) follow?

11. 11. Statements: A > B ≥ C > D; E < D. Conclusions: I. A > D. II. C > E. Which conclusion(s) follow?

12. 12. In a certain code, '%' means '≥', '@' means '>', '$' means '=', and '&' means '≤'. Statement: M % N @ O $ P & Q. Conclusions: I. M @ Q. II. N @ P. Which conclusion(s) follow?

13. 13. Statements: X ≤ Y < Z ≤ W. Conclusions: I. X < W. II. X = W. Which conclusion(s) follow?

14. 14. In a certain code language, 'flowers are red beautiful' is written as 'ta ke lo mi', 'red roses are fresh' is written as 'lo si ke da', and 'beautiful fresh flowers bloom' is written as 'mi da ta ho'. What is the code for 'roses'?

15. 15. In a code, the 1st letter of a word is moved 1 step forward in the alphabet, the 2nd letter 2 steps forward, the 3rd letter 3 steps forward, and so on. What is the code for CHAIR?

16. 16. In a certain code, '367' means 'sky is blue', '759' means 'grass is green', and '265' means 'blue looks green'. Which digit represents 'sky'?

17. 17. Introducing a man, a woman says, "His mother is the only daughter of my mother." How is the woman related to the man?

18. 18. Pointing to a man in a photograph, Rekha said, "His brother's father is the only son of my grandfather." How is the man related to Rekha?

19. 19. B is the father of A. C is the sister of B. D is the son of C, and E is the daughter of C. F is the maternal uncle of D. How is F related to A?

20. 20. Starting from her house, Neha walks 8 km towards north, then turns right and walks 6 km, then turns right again and walks 8 km. How far and in which direction is she from her starting point?

21. 21. Point A is 15 m to the north of point B. Point C is 20 m to the west of point A. Point D is 15 m to the south of point C. What is the shortest distance between B and D, and in which direction is D from B?

22. 22. Find the next number in the series: 4, 9, 21, 47, 101, ?

23. 23. Study the sequence: K 3 # T $ 7 M & 5 P * Q 9 @ N 2. How many symbols in this sequence are immediately preceded by a number and immediately followed by a letter?

24. 24. Find the missing term: B2D, D6F, F12H, H20J, ?

25. 25. Six friends P, Q, R, S, T and U sit in a row facing north. What is T's position from the left end? Statement I: Exactly two people sit between T and R, and R sits at the rightmost end (position 6). Statement II: Q sits third from the left, and T sits somewhere to the right of Q. Which statement(s) alone are sufficient?

26. 26. Is P the tallest among six people P, Q, R, S, T and U? Statement I: P is taller than Q and R, but shorter than S. Statement II: T is taller than P, and U is shorter than Q. Which statement(s) alone are sufficient?

27. 27. What is the code for 'BOOK' in a certain code language? Statement I: In this code, letters of a word are replaced by other letters, but not necessarily by the same shift for every letter. Statement II: In this code, the 1st letter of 'BOOK' is shifted by +1, the 2nd by +2, the 3rd by +3, and the 4th by +4. Which statement(s) alone are sufficient?

28. 28. A word-number arrangement machine, when given an input, rearranges it step by step. Input: gold 82 pearl 36 bronze 45 silver 19. In each step, the machine moves the next-smallest remaining number and the next alphabetically-first remaining word to the front (in that order), keeping the untouched elements in their original relative order after them, until fully sorted. What is Step II of this arrangement?

29. 29. (Based on the same input-output machine as Q28.) How many steps are required to completely arrange the input, and what does the final step look like?

30. 30. (Based on the same input-output machine as Q28.) In Step III, which element is at the 5th position from the left?

Answer key & quick explanations

Short answers for the sample questions above. Use this to self-check before generating a fresh AI-built mock test.

1. 1. Floor puzzle – who lives on floor 4

   E lives on floor 4.

   Only three people live below E fixes E on floor 4. G is immediately above E (floor 5), and A is immediately above G (floor 6), with F on the topmost floor 7. The remaining floors 1–3 go to B, C and D, resolved using the B–C gap and D-above-C clues.

2. 2. Floor puzzle – people above D

   5 people live above D.

   D is immediately above C, and the only-one-between-B-and-C clue forces C=1, D=2, B=3. That leaves floors 3 through 7 (B, E, G, A, F) above D — 5 people.

3. 3. Floor puzzle – B's floor and neighbour below

   B lives on floor 3; D lives immediately below B.

   Since C must sit at floor 1 for the 'one person between B and C' clue to be consistent with D directly above C, D takes floor 2 and B takes floor 3, making D B's direct lower neighbour.

4. 4. Floor puzzle – people between A and C

   4 people live between A and C.

   A is on floor 6 and C is on floor 1, so floors 2–5 (D, B, E, G) fall between them — 4 people.

5. 5. Circular seating – opposite of L

   P sits exactly opposite L.

   Fixing J's seat as a reference, K is one seat clockwise of J and M is three seats clockwise of J, so L (adjacent to both K and M) sits in the single seat between them. Opposite pairs in an 8-seat circle are 4 seats apart, which places P directly opposite L once N, O and Q are fixed via the remaining clues.

6. 6. Circular seating – people between O and Q

   1 person (P) sits between them.

   N sits opposite J, O is N's immediate clockwise neighbour, and Q is J's other neighbour (since K already occupies one side of J). Tracing clockwise from O, only P separates O from Q before reaching Q.

7. 7. Circular seating – other centre-facers

   J and K face the centre.

   The puzzle directly states J, K, M and P face the centre; since M and P are excluded by the question, J and K are the remaining two.

8. 8. Circular seating – M's other neighbour

   N is M's other neighbour.

   M's two immediate neighbours are L (fixed as the seat between K and M) and N (fixed by the opposite-J and clockwise-of-N clues), so excluding L leaves N.

9. 9. Syllogism – rivers/lakes/oceans

   Only conclusion I follows.

   'Some rivers are lakes' + 'All lakes are oceans' combine validly to give 'Some rivers are oceans' (I). A universal statement like 'All oceans are lakes' can never be validly concluded from a particular premise, so II fails.

10. 10. Syllogism – teacher/student/scholar

    Only conclusion II follows.

    The students who are also scholars cannot be teachers (since no teacher is a student), which proves 'Some scholars are not teachers' (II). But scholars outside that overlap could still be teachers, so the universal claim 'No scholar is a teacher' (I) is not guaranteed.

11. 11. Direct inequality chain

    Both I and II follow.

    A > B ≥ C > D chains to give A > D directly (I). Since C > D and E < D, we get C > D > E, so C > E (II). Both are forced by transitivity.

12. 12. Coded inequality chain

    Only conclusion II follows.

    Decoding gives M ≥ N > O = P ≤ Q. N > O = P gives N > P directly, so II holds. But P ≤ Q says nothing about how M compares to Q since Q could be far larger or only marginally larger than P, so I cannot be determined.

13. 13. Direct inequality chain with equality test

    Only conclusion I follows.

    X ≤ Y < Z ≤ W chains to a strict X < W (I), because the Y<Z link guarantees at least one strict step. Since X < W is definite, X = W (II) is automatically false, not just unproven.

14. 14. Word-coding – roses

    roses = si

    'fresh' is the only word common to sentences 2 and 3, so it must be the only code common to both, giving fresh = da. In sentence 2, removing da from {lo, si, ke, da} leaves lo, si, ke for red, roses, are; since red and are are shared with sentence 1 (coded lo, ke there), the leftover code si must belong to roses.

15. 15. Positional-shift letter coding – CHAIR

    CHAIR → DJDMW

    Each letter shifts forward by its position number in the word: C(+1)=D, H(+2)=J, A(+3)=D, I(+4)=M, R(+5)=W, giving DJDMW.

16. 16. Number-coding – sky

    sky = 3

    'is' is common to the first two sentences, so its code is the digit shared by {3,6,7} and {7,5,9}, which is 7. 'green' is common to the last two, giving code 5. Working through the remaining overlaps, 'blue' is pinned to 6, leaving 3 as sky's code by elimination.

17. 17. Blood relation – only daughter of my mother

    The woman is the man's mother.

    'The only daughter of my mother' is a self-referential phrase that identifies the speaker herself. So 'his mother' equals the woman speaking, making her the man's mother.

18. 18. Blood relation – brother's father

    The man is Rekha's brother.

    'The only son of my grandfather' identifies Rekha's father uniquely. So the man's brother's father is Rekha's father, meaning the man shares the same father as Rekha, which makes the man Rekha's brother.

19. 19. Blood relation – maternal uncle chain

    F is A's father.

    D's maternal uncle is C's brother; since B is stated to be C's sibling, F must be B. As A is B's son, F (being B) is A's father.

20. 20. Direction – three-turn walk

    6 km, east of the starting point.

    Plotting the walk on a coordinate grid: north 8 km reaches (0,8); turning right (facing east) 6 km reaches (6,8); turning right again (facing south) 8 km reaches (6,0). The straight-line distance from (0,0) to (6,0) is 6 km due east.

21. 21. Direction – four-point distance

    20 m, west of B.

    Taking B as the origin, A is at (0,15), C is at (−20,15), and D is at (−20,0). The distance from B(0,0) to D(−20,0) is 20 m, directly west.

22. 22. Number series

    211

    Each term equals double the previous term plus the next odd number: 4×2+1=9, 9×2+3=21, 21×2+5=47, 47×2+7=101, so 101×2+9=211.

23. 23. Alphanumeric symbol series

    2 symbols qualify.

    Checking each symbol: '#' is preceded by '3' (number) and followed by 'T' (letter) — qualifies. '@' is preceded by '9' (number) and followed by 'N' (letter) — qualifies. '$', '&' and '*' are each preceded by a letter, so they fail the condition. Total = 2.

24. 24. Alphanumeric letter-number series

    J30L

    The outer letters skip by 2 (B, D, F, H, J, L), and the middle numbers follow n(n+1): 1×2=2, 2×3=6, 3×4=12, 4×5=20, 5×6=30. The next term is J30L.

25. 25. Data sufficiency – row seating

    Statement I alone is sufficient; statement II alone is not.

    Statement I fixes R at the rightmost seat (position 6) with exactly two people between T and R, which forces T into position 3 — a unique answer. Statement II only says T is somewhere to the right of Q (3rd from left), leaving T's exact position ambiguous among three possible seats.

26. 26. Data sufficiency – tallest person

    Either statement alone is sufficient.

    Statement I alone shows S is taller than P, which already proves P is not the tallest. Statement II alone shows T is taller than P, which independently proves the same thing. Since each statement alone answers the question (with a definite 'No'), either alone suffices.

27. 27. Data sufficiency – coding rule

    Statement II alone is sufficient; statement I alone is not.

    Statement II gives the exact shift for each letter of BOOK (+1,+2,+3,+4), which is enough to compute the code (CQRO) directly. Statement I only makes a vague qualitative claim about the coding scheme with no usable shift values, so it cannot answer the question alone.

28. 28. Input-output – Step II

    19 bronze 36 gold 82 pearl 45 silver

    Step I moves the smallest number (19) and the alphabetically first word (bronze) to the front: 19 bronze gold 82 pearl 36 45 silver. Step II then moves the next-smallest number (36) and next alphabetical word (gold) right after them, giving 19 bronze 36 gold 82 pearl 45 silver.

29. 29. Input-output – total steps and final step

    3 steps; final step (Step III): 19 bronze 36 gold 45 pearl 82 silver.

    Step I extracts 19-bronze and Step II extracts 36-gold, and Step III extracts 45-pearl, which leaves only 82 and silver — already in the correct number-then-word order relative to each other. Since the machine's own rule runs 'until fully sorted', no further step is needed once Step III's result already matches the fully sorted arrangement, so sorting completes in exactly 3 steps.

30. 30. Input-output – Step III, 5th position

    45

    By Step III, the arrangement reads 19 bronze 36 gold 45 pearl 82 silver, since three number-word pairs (19-bronze, 36-gold, 45-pearl) have already been moved to the front in order. Counting positions 1 through 8, the 5th position holds 45.

Curriculum Mapping & Learning Guide

Use this breakdown to identify which skills each question tests and guide post-test review.

IBPS PO Reasoning units covered

1. Chapter 1: Puzzles (Floor, Box, Month, Day-based)
2. Chapter 2: Seating Arrangement (Linear and Circular)
3. Chapter 3: Syllogism
4. Chapter 4: Inequalities (Direct and Coded)
5. Chapter 5: Coding and Decoding
6. Chapter 6: Blood Relations
7. Chapter 7: Direction and Distance
8. Chapter 8: Alphanumeric and Number Series
9. Chapter 9: Data Sufficiency
10. Chapter 10: Input-Output (Machine-based problems)

Reasoning practice tests for other exams and classes

Continue the same reasoning thread across nearby exams and school classes for year-on-year revision.