Floor Arrangement Reasoning Puzzle for IBPS PO — 19 Sep 2026
The puzzle
Pooja, Neha, Harsh, Sanjay, Nikhil — live on different floors — floor 1 is the lowest, floor 5 is the topmost. Using the clues below, work out the arrangement.
- There is exactly 1 floor between Neha and Sanjay.
- There are exactly 3 floors between Pooja and Sanjay.
- Harsh lives on a floor somewhere above Sanjay.
- Harsh lives on a floor somewhere above Neha.
- Neha lives on the floor immediately above Nikhil.
Question: Determine the arrangement.
Reveal the answer
Answer: Floor 5: Pooja (top) down to Floor 1: Sanjay (lowest).
- Start: 120 possible arrangements of 5 people.
- Clue 5 — "Neha lives on the floor immediately above Nikhil." narrows it to 24 possibilities. Board (top → bottom): _ · _ · _ · _ · _
- Clue 1 — "There is exactly 1 floor between Neha and Sanjay." narrows it to 10 possibilities. Board (top → bottom): _ · _ · _ · _ · _
- Clue 2 — "There are exactly 3 floors between Pooja and Sanjay." ⇒ Neha → floor 3, Harsh → floor 4, Nikhil → floor 2 (2 possibilities left). Board (top → bottom): _ · Harsh · Neha · Nikhil · _
- Clue 3 — "Harsh lives on a floor somewhere above Sanjay." ⇒ Pooja → floor 5, Sanjay → floor 1 (1 possibility left). Board (top → bottom): Pooja · Harsh · Neha · Nikhil · Sanjay
- Exactly one arrangement survives every clue — that is the answer.
How to crack floor arrangement puzzles faster
- Floor puzzles are vertical rows — treat floor 1 as "leftmost" and floor N as "rightmost" in your mental model.
- "Lives above" means a higher floor number. "Immediately above" means exactly one floor apart.
- "Exactly k floors between" gives a fixed vertical gap — try it at each valid pair of floors.
- Write the floor numbers 1 to N on paper and fill names as you lock positions — the visual stack prevents errors.
FAQ
Who lives on the top floor?
Pooja lives on the top floor. The full arrangement from top to bottom: Pooja, Harsh, Neha, Nikhil, Sanjay.
How do you solve floor arrangement puzzles for bank exams?
Treat floors as a vertical stack: lock the topmost and lowest first, then place intermediate floors using 'above/below' clues. Transfer the stack to paper numbered 1 to N and fill names as each clue eliminates possibilities.
Learn the method for this puzzle type
This post is one worked example. The topic page for floor puzzles carries the full method, the clue-wording table, the mistakes that cost marks and more practice questions.
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