Reasoning Puzzles Quiz: Floor, Box and Scheduling Practice

Spoilers! These are the Starter quiz’s answers. Easy, Medium, Hard and Mixed rounds show their own answers when you finish.

1. A building has five floors numbered 1 (bottom) to 5 (top). A, B, C, D and E live on different floors. C lives on an odd-numbered floor but not on floor 1. Only one person lives between C and A. B lives immediately above D. E lives on a floor above A. D lives on an odd-numbered floor. Who lives on the floor immediately above A?

   • C
   • E
   • B
   • D

   Answer: E. If C were on 3, A would be on 1 or 5; A on 5 leaves no floor above for E, and A on 1 forces D and B onto 4 and 5, but D must be on an odd floor. So C is on 5 and A on 3, E above A on 4, and D, B on 1, 2. E lives just above A.

2. Six boxes P, Q, R, S, T and U are kept one above another, positions 1 (bottom) to 6 (top). Only two boxes are kept between P and S, and P is above S. R is kept immediately above S. U is at an even-numbered position. T is kept below Q, but T is not at the bottom. Q is not at the top. Which box is kept immediately below P?

   • R
   • Q
   • T
   • S

   Answer: T. P and S can be 4 and 1, 5 and 2, or 6 and 3. With P at 5 or 6, T and Q cannot satisfy 'T below Q, T not at the bottom, Q not at the top'. So S 1, R 2, P 4, and T 3, Q 5, U 6. T is just below P.

3. Seven people A, B, C, D, E, F and G have meetings on different days of the same week, Monday to Sunday. C's meeting is on Thursday. Only two people have meetings between C and F. B's meeting is on the day just after F's. E's meeting is on the day just before C's. D's meeting is on a weekend day, and G's meeting is on a day after D's. On which day is A's meeting?

   • Friday
   • Wednesday
   • Saturday
   • Tuesday

   Answer: Friday. F is on Monday or Sunday; B must come the day after F, so F is Monday and B Tuesday. E is Wednesday. D on a weekend with G later in the week means D Saturday and G Sunday, leaving Friday for A.

4. Six people K, L, M, N, O and P attend a seminar in different months of the same year: January, March, April, June, August and October. M attends in a month with 30 days. Only one person attends between M and O (in this list). K attends in the month just after O's in the list. N attends in January. L attends in a month with 30 days, and after P. Who attends in August?

   • O
   • K
   • L
   • P

   Answer: O. Only April and June have 30 days, so M and L take them. If M were June, O would be March (October leaves no month after it for K), and K would be April — L's month. So M is April and L June; O is August (January is N's), K is October and P March.

5. Six friends A, B, C, D, E and F have different weights. B is heavier than only two of them. A is heavier than D but lighter than F. E is lighter than C, and C is lighter than B. If D weighs 58 kg and E weighs 45 kg, which of these could be C's weight?

   • 44 kg
   • 50 kg
   • 59 kg
   • 61 kg

   Answer: 50 kg. C and E are lighter than B, so they are the two B outweighs; A, D and F are heavier. The order is F > A > D > B > C > E. C must lie between 45 kg (E) and B's weight, which is below 58 kg (D) — only 50 kg fits.

6. A three-storey building has floors 1 (ground) to 3. Each floor has two flats: flat X on the west and flat Y on the east. Six people A, B, C, D, E and F live in different flats. B lives in flat X of floor 2. D lives directly above B. F lives directly below B. A and F live on the same floor. C lives in flat Y, and E lives in flat Y on a floor below C. Who lives directly above A?

   • B
   • C
   • E
   • F

   Answer: E. D is in 3X and F in 1X, so A is in 1Y. The flats left for C and E are 2Y and 3Y; E is below C, so E is in 2Y and C in 3Y. Directly above A (1Y) is E.

7. Five friends Arun, Bala, Chitra, Dev and Ela visit a library on different days from Monday to Friday, and each reads a different subject: History, Maths, Physics, Art and Law. Chitra visits on Wednesday. The one who reads Law visits on Monday. Dev visits on the day just after the one who reads Maths. Bala reads Art and visits before Chitra. Ela visits on Friday and does not read History. Who reads History?

   • Arun
   • Ela
   • Chitra
   • Dev

   Answer: Dev. Monday's visitor reads Law, so Bala (Art) is on Tuesday. Dev needs a day before him and Monday is taken by the Law reader, so Dev is Thursday and Chitra (Wednesday) reads Maths; Arun is Monday with Law. Ela cannot read History, so she reads Physics and Dev reads History.

8. Five people A, B, C, D and E live on floors 1 (bottom) to 5 (top) of a building, one per floor, and each likes a different colour: Red, Blue, Green, Pink and White. The person who likes Green lives on floor 3. C lives immediately above the person who likes Green. A likes Red and lives on an even-numbered floor. E lives immediately below the person who likes Blue. D does not live on floor 1. B likes Pink. Who likes White?

   • B
   • E
   • D
   • C

   Answer: D. C is on 4, so A (even floor) is on 2. E on floor 1 would make A like Blue, so E is on 3 (Green) and C likes Blue. D is not on 1, so D is on 5 and B on 1 with Pink, leaving White for D.

9. Five people P, Q, R, S and T were born in different years: 1975, 1980, 1988, 1992 and 1997. Taking ages as on 2025, the ages of P and Q add up to 70, and P is older than Q. The difference between the ages of T and Q is 17 years. R is older than S. In which year was R born?

   • 1980
   • 1975
   • 1988
   • 1997

   Answer: 1980. The ages are 50, 45, 37, 33 and 28. Only 37 + 33 = 70, so P is 37 (1988) and Q 33 (1992). T is 17 years from Q, so T is 50 (1975). R and S take 45 and 28; R is older, so R was born in 1980.

10. Five boxes A, B, C, D and E are stacked one above another (1 = bottom, 5 = top), each of a different colour: Red, Blue, Green, Yellow and Black. The Black box is at the bottom. Box C is immediately above the Black box. Only one box is between C and the Yellow box. Box A is immediately below the Green box. Box E is Red and is not at the top. Box B is above box D, and D is not Black. What is the colour of box B?

    • Green
    • Yellow
    • Red
    • Blue

    Answer: Blue. C is 2nd and Yellow is 4th. E (Red) cannot be 1st, 4th or 5th, so it is 3rd. If A were 4th (below a Green 5th box), D would have to be the Black box at the bottom — not allowed. So A is the Black box at 1, C is Green, D is 4th (Yellow) and B is 5th: Blue.