Puzzles
Comprehensive guide to various puzzle types including Floor, Flat, Box, and Scheduling puzzles.
Expert Answer & Key Takeaways
Comprehensive guide to various puzzle types including Floor, Flat, Box, and Scheduling puzzles.
1. The 'Thread & Anchor' Strategy
Puzzles form the heavyweight backbone of Reasoning exams. Never read the puzzle linearly repeatedly. Instead, use the Anchor Strategy: Lock a fixed variable first.
- For Days/Months: The chronological timeline is your Anchor.
- For Floors: The bottom-to-top sequence (1, 2, 3...) is your Anchor.
- For Seating: The circular/linear continuous geometry is your Anchor.
- For Days/Months: The chronological timeline is your Anchor.
- For Floors: The bottom-to-top sequence (1, 2, 3...) is your Anchor.
- For Seating: The circular/linear continuous geometry is your Anchor.
2. The 'Multiple Cases' Mindset
Do not fear drawing 2 or 3 parallel grids simultaneously. If a clue says 'P lives on an even floor (8 floors total)', instantly draw 4 columns (for floors 2, 4, 6, 8). As you read further, these cases will automatically contradict rules and cancel out, leaving you with one brilliant valid solution.
3. Floor & Flat Puzzles
Floors stack vertically (Floor 1 at bottom). Flats lie horizontally (Flat A is West of Flat B).
Golden Rule: In 'A lives two floors above B', there is EXACTLY 1 floor gap between them.
Golden Rule: In 'A lives two floors above B', there is EXACTLY 1 floor gap between them.
Example:
Q: Nine people live in a 9-story building. Q lives on an odd numbered floor above floor 4. Two floors gap between Q and S.
Solution: Exam Attack: Immediate anchors for Q = 5, 7, 9.
Case 1 (Q=5): S is at 2 or 8.
Case 2 (Q=7): S is at 4.
Case 3 (Q=9): S is at 6. By writing 'S' in these parallel slots immediately, you just eliminated extreme mental pressure.
Case 1 (Q=5): S is at 2 or 8.
Case 2 (Q=7): S is at 4.
Case 3 (Q=9): S is at 6. By writing 'S' in these parallel slots immediately, you just eliminated extreme mental pressure.
4. Box Stacking Puzzles
Unlike Floors, Boxes are 'floating' until they hit a hard boundary limit like 'Total 7 boxes'. E.g. 'Three boxes between A and B' creates a floating block of 5 boxes (A _ _ _ B). Wait for a clue that anchors this block to the top or bottom.
Example:
Q: 8 Boxes. Box P is kept 3rd from the top. 2 boxes are placed between Box P and Box M.
Solution: Exam Attack: P is hard-anchored at Position 3 (from top). Two gaps mean M must be at Position 6. (P _ _ M implies slots 3, 4, 5, 6). Floating blocks become anchored instantly!
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