Scheduling Reasoning Puzzle for IBPS PO — Arjun, Priya, Chetan, Karan, Tarun, Gauri
The puzzle
Arjun, Priya, Chetan, Karan, Tarun, Gauri — each have an appointment on a different day, Monday to Saturday — work out whose appointment falls on which day. Using the clues below, work out the arrangement.
- Priya's and Chetan's appointments are NOT on consecutive days.
- Tarun's appointment is on an earlier day of the week than Gauri's.
- Arjun's appointment is on an earlier day of the week than Chetan's.
- Chetan's appointment is on the day immediately after Tarun's.
- Karan's appointment is on a later day of the week than Gauri's.
- There are exactly 2 days between Chetan's and Karan's appointments.
Question: Determine the arrangement.
Reveal the answer
Answer: Monday: Arjun, Tuesday: Tarun, Wednesday: Chetan, Thursday: Gauri, Friday: Priya, Saturday: Karan.
- Start: 720 possible schedules of 6 people across Monday–Saturday.
- Clue 4 — "Chetan's appointment is on the day immediately after Tarun's." narrows it to 120 possibilities. Board (Monday → Saturday): _ · _ · _ · _ · _ · _
- Clue 6 — "There are exactly 2 days between Chetan's and Karan's appointments." narrows it to 30 possibilities. Board (Monday → Saturday): _ · _ · _ · _ · _ · _
- Clue 2 — "Tarun's appointment is on an earlier day of the week than Gauri's." narrows it to 16 possibilities. Board (Monday → Saturday): _ · _ · _ · _ · _ · _
- Clue 3 — "Arjun's appointment is on an earlier day of the week than Chetan's." narrows it to 6 possibilities. Board (Monday → Saturday): _ · _ · _ · _ · _ · _
- Clue 5 — "Karan's appointment is on a later day of the week than Gauri's." ⇒ Arjun → Monday, Chetan → Wednesday, Karan → Saturday, Tarun → Tuesday (2 possibilities left). Board (Monday → Saturday): Arjun · Tarun · Chetan · _ · _ · Karan
- Clue 1 — "Priya's and Chetan's appointments are NOT on consecutive days." ⇒ Priya → Friday, Gauri → Thursday (1 possibility left). Board (Monday → Saturday): Arjun · Tarun · Chetan · Gauri · Priya · Karan
- Exactly one schedule survives every clue — that is the answer.
How to crack scheduling puzzles faster
- Write the days in a column first — a fixed frame beats re-reading "Monday to Saturday" per clue.
- Lock every direct day anchor ("P's appointment is on Wednesday") before touching a relative clue.
- "Immediately before/after" is an adjacent pair — slide it along the free days like a block.
- "Exactly k days between" works in both directions — test the earlier AND the later placement.
FAQ
Whose appointment is on Monday in this puzzle?
Arjun's appointment is on Monday. The full schedule: Monday — Arjun, Tuesday — Tarun, Wednesday — Chetan, Thursday — Gauri, Friday — Priya, Saturday — Karan.
How do you solve scheduling puzzles for bank exams?
Draw the days as a column (Monday downward), fix the direct day anchors first, then place immediately-before/after pairs and count 'days between' gaps in both directions. Eliminate until one schedule satisfies every clue.
Learn the method for this puzzle type
This post is one worked example. The topic page for scheduling puzzles carries the full method, the clue-wording table, the mistakes that cost marks and more practice questions.
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