Question 1

Five friends—Arun, Bhavna, Chetan, Deepa, and Esha—are sitting in a row facing North. Arun is to the left of Bhavna. Chetan is to the right of Deepa. Bhavna is to the left of Chetan. Deepa is to the left of Bhavna. Who is sitting in the middle (3rd position)?

Accepted Answer

Using the given constraints, arrange them left to right: Deepa < Bhavna < Chetan and Arun < Bhavna. Since Deepa < Bhavna < Chetan and Arun < Bhavna, we need to place Arun and Deepa. Deepa must come before Bhavna. If Arun < Bhavna and Deepa < Bhavna, the order is: Arun, Deepa, Bhavna, Chetan, Esha OR Deepa, Arun, Bhavna, Chetan, Esha. Testing: Deepa < Bhavna < Chetan and Arun < Bhavna means Deepa and Arun both precede Bhavna. The only valid arrangement is: Deepa, Arun, Bhavna, Chetan, Esha. The 3rd position is Bhavna.

Question 2

Three friends—Vikram, Wanda, and Xavier—have different ages. Vikram is older than Xavier. Wanda is younger than Vikram. If Wanda is older than Xavier, who is the oldest?

Accepted Answer

This is a basic three-person comparison puzzle with a conditional constraint, testing logical deduction from given conditions.

Question 3

Six boxes—A, B, C, D, E, F—are stacked vertically. Box B is heavier than Box A. Box D is lighter than Box C. Box E is heavier than Box F. Box C is lighter than Box B. Box F is heavier than Box A. Which box is definitely lighter than Box B?

Accepted Answer

This is a weight comparison puzzle requiring transitive reasoning to establish definite ordering relationships.

Question 4

Five friends—Arun, Bhavna, Chitra, Deepak, and Esha—are sitting in a row facing North. Arun is to the left of Bhavna. Chitra is to the right of Deepak but to the left of Esha. Deepak is to the left of Bhavna. Who is sitting in the middle (3rd position)?

Accepted Answer

This is a linear arrangement puzzle requiring careful ordering of five people based on relative position constraints.

Question 5

Three boxes—Red, Blue, and Green—contain different numbers of marbles. The Red box has fewer marbles than the Blue box. The Green box has more marbles than the Blue box. The Red box has more marbles than 10. The Blue box has fewer marbles than 25. How many marbles could be in the Blue box?

Accepted Answer

Constraints: Red < Blue, Green > Blue, Red > 10, Blue < 25. From Red < Blue and Red > 10, we get 10 < Red < Blue. From Blue < 25 and Blue > Red > 10, we get 10 < Red < Blue < 25. So Blue must be between 11 and 24 inclusive. Any value from 12 to 24 works (since Red must be at least 11 and strictly less than Blue). The only option that satisfies 10 < Red < Blue < 25 is 20 (with Red = 15, for example).

Question 6

Four students—Priya, Qasim, Ravi, and Sana—scored different marks. Priya scored more than Qasim. Ravi scored less than Sana. Qasim scored more than Ravi. Sana scored less than Priya. Who scored the second-highest marks?

Accepted Answer

Constraints: Priya > Qasim, Ravi < Sana, Qasim > Ravi, Sana < Priya. From these: Priya > Qasim > Ravi and Priya > Sana. We need to compare Qasim and Sana. From Qasim > Ravi and Ravi < Sana, we cannot directly order Qasim and Sana. However, from Priya > Qasim and Priya > Sana, and Qasim > Ravi, Sana > Ravi, we have Priya > {Qasim, Sana} > Ravi. To determine the order of Qasim and Sana: assume Qasim > Sana. Then: Priya > Qasim > Sana > Ravi. Verify: Priya > Qasim ✓, Ravi < Sana ✓, Qasim > Ravi ✓, Sana < Priya ✓. Second-highest is Qasim.

Question 7

Five employees—Aman, Bina, Chetan, Diya, and Eshan—work in different departments. Aman earns more than Chetan. Bina earns less than Diya. Chetan earns more than Eshan. Diya earns less than Aman. Bina earns more than Eshan. Who earns the second-highest salary?

Accepted Answer

This is a multi-constraint comparison puzzle requiring complete ordering of five values to identify a specific rank.

Question 8

Four students—Priya, Qasim, Ravi, and Sana—scored different marks. Priya scored more than Ravi. Qasim scored less than Sana. Ravi scored more than Sana. Who scored the least?

Accepted Answer

This is a simple linear comparison puzzle requiring ordering of four values based on pairwise comparisons.

Question 9

Five friends—Aman, Bina, Chetan, Disha, and Esha—have different heights. Based on the following clues, who is the tallest?

Clue 1: Aman is taller than Bina but shorter than Chetan.
Clue 2: Disha is taller than Esha but shorter than Aman.
Clue 3: Esha is taller than Bina.
Clue 4: Chetan is taller than Disha.

Accepted Answer

Let's arrange them step by step using the clues:

From Clue 1: Bina < Aman < Chetan
From Clue 2: Esha < Disha < Aman
From Clue 3: Bina < Esha
From Clue 4: Disha < Chetan

Now combining all constraints:
- Bina < Esha (Clue 3)
- Esha < Disha (Clue 2)
- Disha < Aman (Clue 2)
- Aman < Chetan (Clue 1)
- Disha < Chetan (Clue 4) — already satisfied by the chain

Therefore, the complete order from shortest to tallest is:
Bina < Esha < Disha < Aman < Chetan

Chetan is the tallest.

Common mistakes in wrong options:
- Option A (Aman): Students might stop at Clue 1 without comparing with Chetan.
- Option C (Disha): Students might confuse 'shorter than Aman' with being the tallest.
- Option D (Esha): Students might overlook that Esha is shorter than Disha and Aman.

Question 10

Four people—Priya, Qasim, Ravi, and Sana—have different ages: 18, 25, 32, and 40 years. Priya is older than Qasim. Ravi is younger than Sana. Priya is not the oldest. The second-youngest person is 25 years old. Who is 32 years old?

Accepted Answer

This is a comparison puzzle requiring ordering by a numeric attribute (age) using inequality constraints and a specific value anchor.

Question 11

Five friends—Arun, Bhavna, Chitra, Deepak, and Esha—are sitting in a row facing North. Bhavna is to the left of Chitra. Deepak is to the right of Esha. Arun is not at either end. Chitra is not to the right of Deepak. Who is sitting at the rightmost position?

Accepted Answer

This is a linear arrangement puzzle requiring systematic constraint satisfaction. We must place 5 people in a row using 4 constraints to uniquely determine positions.

Question 12

Six boxes—A, B, C, D, E, F—are stacked in a column. Box C is above Box E. Box B is below Box D. Box A is not at the top. Box F is at the bottom. Box D is above Box C. How many boxes are between Box B and Box F?

Accepted Answer

This is a vertical stacking puzzle requiring ordering of elements using comparative position constraints.

Question 13

Four employees—Priya, Qasim, Ravi, and Sana—have different salaries. Priya earns more than Ravi. Qasim earns less than Sana. Ravi earns more than Sana. If the total of the two highest salaries is ₹20 lakhs and the total of the two lowest salaries is ₹8 lakhs, what is Ravi's rank in terms of salary (1 = highest, 4 = lowest)?

Accepted Answer

This comparison puzzle requires building a complete ordering from transitive relationships and identifying a specific element's rank in the sorted order.

Question 14

Five students—Aman, Bina, Chetan, Diya, and Eshan—scored different marks out of 100. Aman scored more than Bina. Chetan scored less than Diya. Eshan scored the highest. Bina scored more than Chetan. Diya did not score the second-highest. Who scored the second-highest marks?

Accepted Answer

This is a ranking puzzle requiring transitive ordering using multiple pairwise comparisons and an exclusion constraint.

Question 15

Six boxes labeled A through F are stacked in three columns (left, middle, right), with two boxes per column. Box C is heavier than Box B. Box E is lighter than Box D. Box A is heavier than Box F. The middle column contains Box B (bottom) and Box D (top). The right column contains Box E (bottom) and Box C (top). Which box is the lightest among all six?

Accepted Answer

This comparison puzzle requires building a partial ordering from given weight relationships and identifying the minimum element in a constrained graph.

Question 16

Five friends—Arun, Bhavna, Chitra, Deepak, and Esha—are sitting in a row facing North. Bhavna sits 2 seats to the right of Arun. Chitra sits immediately to the left of Deepak. Esha sits at one end. Deepak is not at either end. If Arun is not at the leftmost position, who sits in the middle seat?

Accepted Answer

This is a linear arrangement puzzle requiring systematic constraint application. The solver must identify the unique position satisfying all five constraints simultaneously.

SSC CHSL Comparison Puzzle

Comparison Puzzle— Rules & Concept

Key Points to Remember

Exam-Specific Tips

Comparison Puzzle — Practice Questions

60-Second Revision — Comparison Puzzle