MH Police Bharti · Bite-size lessons
Problem Solving
About 7 min · Intellectual Test (Reasoning) · English
Time worked out from the lesson's 456 words at 150 words a minute, plus a minute for each question.
Problem Solving is one of the most scoring yet challenging sections in the Maharashtra Police Bharti reasoning paper. These puzzles test your ability to organise information systematically and draw logical conclusions. Unlike direct formula-based questions, puzzles require you to build a mental (or written) model from scattered clues.
Key ideas
- Seating Arrangement: People sit around a circular table or in a linear row. You must determine each person's exact position and often their facing direction (inward/outward for circular; left-right orientation for linear).
- Linear vs Circular: In linear arrangement, there are two ends; in circular, everyone has exactly two neighbours with no endpoints.
- Ordering/Ranking: Arranging items or people based on a parameter—height, age, score, floor number, or sequence of events. Focus on relative positions (A is taller than B) rather than absolute values.
- Grouping/Distribution: Assigning people to teams, departments, or categories based on given conditions. Often combined with additional attributes like gender, profession, or city.
- Definite vs Comparative Clues: Definite clues fix a position ("Ramesh sits at the left end"). Comparative clues show relation ("Suresh sits to the right of Ramesh"). Always start with definite clues.
Watch out for
- Confusing left-right in circular arrangements: Students forget that "left" changes direction based on whether people face inward or outward. → Always note facing direction first and fix your convention.
- Ignoring negative clues until the end: Waiting too long to apply "X does not sit next to Y" causes rework. → Apply negative clues immediately after each placement to eliminate invalid options.
- Miscounting "second to the right": "Second to the right" means skip one person, not two. → Count: immediate = 1 step, second = 2 steps.
Quick reference
- Circular facing centre: Left = Clockwise, Right = Anticlockwise.
- Linear row: Always clarify who is facing which direction before solving.
- Start with definite clues (fixed positions), then comparative, then negative.
- Ranking formula: Total = Rank from top + Rank from bottom − 1.
- Between A and C: Excludes both A and C from the count.
Check yourself: 3 questions
1. Six students A, B, C, D, E and F are standing in a circle facing the centre. A is to the immediate left of D. C is between E and B. F is between D and E. Who is to the immediate right of B?
2. Five police officers—A, B, C, D, and E—are sitting in a row facing North. A sits at one of the ends. C sits second to the right of A. B sits between C and D. Who sits at the other end?
3. In a police station, there are 60 officers. If 40% are involved in patrolling and 25% are doing administrative work, and the rest are on leave, how many officers are on leave?
This lesson is cut from the topic's note, not rewritten. Fact-checked on 21 Oct 2026: an AI-assisted check of this note against cited sources; the errors it found were corrected that day. Some errors may remain. The questions are from Shishya's validated question bank.
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