Floor Arrangement Reasoning Puzzle for IBPS PO — 29 Oct 2026
The puzzle
Meera, Varun, Arjun, Manish, Isha, Imran — live on different floors — floor 1 is the lowest, floor 6 is the topmost. Using the clues below, work out the arrangement.
- Varun and Manish do NOT live on adjacent floors.
- Manish lives on a floor somewhere above Meera.
- There is exactly 1 floor between Meera and Arjun.
- There are exactly 4 floors between Arjun and Manish.
- Varun lives on a floor somewhere above Isha.
- There are exactly 3 floors between Arjun and Imran.
Question: Determine the arrangement.
Reveal the answer
Answer: Floor 6: Manish (top) down to Floor 1: Arjun (lowest).
- Start: 720 possible arrangements of 6 people.
- Clue 3 — "There is exactly 1 floor between Meera and Arjun." narrows it to 192 possibilities. Board (top → bottom): _ · _ · _ · _ · _ · _
- Clue 4 — "There are exactly 4 floors between Arjun and Manish." narrows it to 12 possibilities. Board (top → bottom): _ · _ · _ · _ · _ · _
- Clue 6 — "There are exactly 3 floors between Arjun and Imran." narrows it to 4 possibilities. Board (top → bottom): _ · _ · _ · _ · _ · _
- Clue 2 — "Manish lives on a floor somewhere above Meera." ⇒ Meera → floor 3, Arjun → floor 1, Manish → floor 6, Imran → floor 5 (2 possibilities left). Board (top → bottom): Manish · Imran · _ · Meera · _ · Arjun
- Clue 5 — "Varun lives on a floor somewhere above Isha." ⇒ Varun → floor 4, Isha → floor 2 (1 possibility left). Board (top → bottom): Manish · Imran · Varun · Meera · Isha · Arjun
- 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?
Manish lives on the top floor. The full arrangement from top to bottom: Manish, Imran, Varun, Meera, Isha, Arjun.
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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