# Floor Arrangement Reasoning Puzzle for IBPS PO — 19 Sep 2026

> 5-person floor arrangement puzzle (2026-09-19) — Pooja, Neha, Harsh, Sanjay, Nikhil. 5 logic clues, one provable answer. Free IBPS PO & SSC practice.

Source: https://deducepuzzles.com/blog/2026-09-19-floor-arrangement-puzzle

---

Published: 2026-09-19 · Difficulty: medium · 5 clues · 5 people
Exams: IBPS Clerk · SBI Clerk · SSC CHSL

## 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.

1. There is exactly 1 floor between Neha and Sanjay.
2. There are exactly 3 floors between Pooja and Sanjay.
3. Harsh lives on a floor somewhere above Sanjay.
4. Harsh lives on a floor somewhere above Neha.
5. Neha lives on the floor immediately above Nikhil.

## Answer

Floor 5: Pooja (top) down to Floor 1: Sanjay (lowest).

Floor 5: Pooja · Floor 4: Harsh · Floor 3: Neha · Floor 2: Nikhil · Floor 1: Sanjay

## Step-by-step solution

1. Start: 120 possible arrangements of 5 people.
2. Clue 5 — "Neha lives on the floor immediately above Nikhil." narrows it to 24 possibilities. Board (top → bottom): _ · _ · _ · _ · _
3. Clue 1 — "There is exactly 1 floor between Neha and Sanjay." narrows it to 10 possibilities. Board (top → bottom): _ · _ · _ · _ · _
4. 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 · _
5. 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
6. 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

This post is one worked example. The topic page for floor puzzles carries the full method,
the clue-wording table and the mistakes that cost marks: https://deducepuzzles.com/reasoning/floor-arrangement

Play a fresh server-validated puzzle every day: https://deducepuzzles.com