Logical Reasoning based on Rankings

Reasoning questions on Rankings involve an ordering of people objects based on their heights/weights/performance in an exam, etc. As the name suggests, in questions on rankings you are supposed to place people/objects in a decreasing or increasing order based on an attribute being measured.

Key skills required in solving Logical Reasoning questions based on rankings:

(i) The ability to visualise the structure in which the rankings have to be created

(ii) The ability to order the clues in the correct order of usage (as explained in the theory of logical reasoning)

(iii) The ability to perceive what indirect clues are talking about, and find the appropriate point in the solving process about how to use them

(iv) The ability to convert clues written in language form into visual cues so that you do not need to read the text again and again, and also are able to ‘see’ all the clues at one go.

The following illustrated examples (with the reaction tracker used to explain the solutions) would help you get acquainted with questions based on rankings. For each of the following questions first try to solve them on your own before looking at the reaction tracker process of solving the same.

Example 1

Directions for Questions 1 to 4 (Constraint Based Arrangement):

i. Six students A, B, C, D, E and F participated in a self-evaluation test of Quants and Data Interpretation (D.I.).

ii. The total marks of A in Quants was just above C and in D.I. just above F.

iii. Â was just above C in D.I. but he scored less than D in Quants.

iv. F got more marks than D and E in D.I. but did not perform as well in Quants as in D.I. as compared to D and E.

V. No one is in between C and D in Quant and C and A in D.I.

1. Who got the highest marks in D.I.?

(a) A

(b) B

(c) C

(d) Data inadequate

2. Which of the following students has scored the least in D.I.?

(a) Only D

(b) Only E

(c) Only D or E

(d) None of these

3. Who was just below D in Quants?

(a) B

(b) E

(c) C

(d) Data inadequate

4. Which of the given statements is not necessary to answer the questions?

(a) (ii)

(b) (iii)

(C) (iv)

(d) All are necessary