Banking | IBPS RRB Clerk
IBPS RRB Clerk sets 80 Reasoning Ability questions for 90 marks across 2 stages, so it is worth planning your preparation around the topics below.
The puzzles and seating arrangements carry the most marks and take the most time, so the skill is choosing which set to attempt and which to leave. Clear the quick scoring topics — inequality, syllogism, coding-decoding, blood relations — first, then spend the remaining time on one or two puzzles you can actually finish.
How much Reasoning Ability is worth in each IBPS RRB Clerk stage, from the official pattern.
| Stage | Questions | Marks | Time | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preliminary Examination | 40 | 40 | — | 50% |
| Main Examination | 40 | 50 | — | 20% |
Every topic in the official syllabus. The linked ones open a set of solved questions you can practise straight away.
Written to the IBPS RRB Clerk pattern, with the answer key and the method behind it — a look at how the section is actually set before you drill the full topic sets.
Puzzles · solved example
On which floor does Q live?
Solution
Q lives immediately above S, and the only consistent placement puts Q on floor 6.
Puzzles · solved example
Who lives immediately above U?
Solution
U is on floor 4, so the person immediately above, on floor 5, is S.
Coding and decoding · solved example
What is the code for 'demand'?
Solution
Compare the statements in pairs and match the shared word to the shared code. The first and third share only 'gain', and their only common code is 'mi', so gain is mi. The second and third share only 'drives', and their only common code is 'ne', so drives is ne. Now take the second statement: 'steady' and 'market' are its other two words and both also appear in the first, accounting for 'tu' and 'ka' in some order. That leaves 'demand' matched with the one code unaccounted for, 'zi'. This is worth doing in that order, because the pairs that share exactly one word give a code away immediately.
Blood relations · solved example
Pointing to a photograph, Ramesh said, 'She is the daughter of the only son of my grandmother.' How is the woman in the photograph related to Ramesh?
Solution
Resolve the innermost phrase first. The only son of Ramesh's grandmother must be Ramesh's father, because Ramesh descends from her and there is only one son to descend through. The statement therefore says the woman is the daughter of Ramesh's father, which makes her his sister. The word 'only' is doing all the work: without it the son could have been an uncle and the woman a cousin, which is why that option is offered.
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Untimed drills with the method shown after every question — the step between learning a topic and sitting it under a clock.
Analogy and classification
81 questions, instant feedback
Blood relations and direction sense
108 questions, instant feedback
Seating arrangement
93 questions, instant feedback
Coding, decoding and series
135 questions, instant feedback
Order and ranking
69 questions, instant feedback
Puzzles
99 questions, instant feedback
Syllogism and inequality
126 questions, instant feedback
Reasoning Ability shows up in every IBPS RRB Clerk mock test, in the same interface, with sectional locking and negative marking.
IBPS RRB Clerk 2026-27 cycle sets 80 Reasoning Ability questions for 90 marks, split across 40 in the Preliminary Examination and 40 in the Main Examination.
Yes. IBPS RRB Clerk deducts one fourth of a mark for each wrong answer, Reasoning Ability included, so unsure guesses cost you. One fourth of the marks assigned to a question is deducted for a wrong answer. Questions left blank carry no penalty.
The IBPS RRB Clerk syllabus lists Puzzles and seating arrangement, Syllogism, Inequality, Blood relations and direction sense, Order, ranking and comparison, Coding and decoding and more. Weight your revision towards the ones you are weakest on and confirm the emphasis against the paper analysis for recent cycles.
Every Reasoning Ability question on this site is free and written to the exam pattern. Use the topic drills for instant-feedback practice, the daily quiz to keep the section warm, and the IBPS RRB Clerk mock tests to sit it under a real clock with negative marking.