TNPSC Group IV · Bite-size lessons
Puzzles
About 6 min · Aptitude and Mental Ability Test · English
Time worked out from the lesson's 385 words at 150 words a minute, plus a minute for each question.
Puzzles form a critical scoring area in the TNPSC Group IV Aptitude and Mental Ability section. Unlike formula-based questions, puzzles test your ability to organize scattered information, draw logical connections, and arrive at a definite arrangement. Mastery here directly boosts your score.
Key ideas
- Linear Seating: People sit in a row facing one direction (North or South). Positions are numbered left to right. "Left of A" means toward position 1; "right of A" means toward the higher position number.
- Circular Seating: People sit around a table. Clarify whether they face the center (most common) or face outward. "Immediate left" in a center-facing circle means clockwise-next person from that seat's perspective.
- Scheduling Puzzles: Assign persons to days, time slots, or floors. Create a grid with slots as rows and fill names based on conditions. Treat it like a matching problem.
- Grouping Puzzles: Divide a set into teams or categories (e.g., Team A vs Team B, or departments). Use Venn-style groupings or columns to track membership.
- Definite vs Possible Positions: Some conditions fix a position ("A sits at the left end"). Others give relative info ("B is two places from C")—these create multiple scenarios until resolved.
Quick reference
- Start with the most restricted person—the one appearing in multiple conditions.
- Linear row: Left = toward position 1; Right = toward higher position.
- Circular center-facing: Your left = clockwise in bird's-eye view.
- Draw every time—boxes for linear, circle for round table.
- Check negative conditions last to confirm no rule is violated.
Check yourself: 3 questions
1. Five friends — Arul, Bala, Chitra, Devi and Ezhil — are sitting in a row facing north. Arul sits at one end. Chitra sits second to the left of Ezhil. Bala sits between Arul and Chitra. Who sits at the other end?
2. Six persons — P, Q, R, S, T and U — are sitting around a circular table facing the centre. P sits second to the right of Q. R sits immediate left of S. T is not an immediate neighbour of Q. U sits second to the left of T. Who sits immediate right of S?
3. A, B, C, D and E have different heights. A is taller than B but shorter than C. D is the tallest. E is shorter than B. Who is the second tallest?
This lesson is cut from the topic's note, not rewritten. Fact-checked on 17 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.
Read the full noteFlashcards for this topic
Saves this lesson and its 3 questions in this browser on this phone. No sign-in; nothing about you is saved or sent. A saved copy is not updated until you save it again. Parts that load from the server when you use them (the AI tutor, adaptive practice, sign-in) still need a connection.