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Reasoning Ability for SBI PO

SBI PO sets 75 Reasoning Ability questions for 85 marks across 2 stages, so it is worth planning your preparation around the topics below.

75 questions85 marks11 topics

How to approach Reasoning Ability in SBI PO

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.

Weightage in the paper

How much Reasoning Ability is worth in each SBI PO stage, from the official pattern.

StageQuestionsMarksTimeShare
Preliminary Examination353520 min35%
Main Examination (objective)405050 min26%

Reasoning Ability syllabus for SBI PO

Every topic in the official syllabus. The linked ones open a set of solved questions you can practise straight away.

  • Puzzles: floor, box, day, month, year and category based
  • Seating arrangement: linear, circular, rectangular and uncertain
  • Syllogism and reverse syllogism
  • Coded inequality
  • Blood relations and direction sense
  • Order, ranking and comparison
  • Coding and decoding
  • Machine input and output
  • Data sufficiency
  • Critical reasoning: statement and assumption, course of action
  • Logical reasoning and passage inference

Sample Reasoning Ability questions with solutions

Written to the SBI PO 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.

Floor puzzle · solved example

Six people - P, Q, R, S, T and U - live on six different floors of a building. The lowest floor is numbered 1 and the highest is numbered 6. T lives on an even-numbered floor. Two people live between T and P. R lives on the floor immediately above Q. S lives on the topmost floor. U does not live on floor 1.

Who among the following lives on the lowest floor?

  • PCorrect
  • Q
  • R
  • T
  • U

Solution

S takes floor 6, so T, being on an even floor, is on 2 or 4. Suppose T is on 2. Two people between T and P puts P on 5, leaving floors 1, 3 and 4 for Q, R and U. The only way R sits immediately above Q there is Q on 3 and R on 4, which forces U onto floor 1 and breaks the last clue. So T is on 4, which puts P on 1 with Q and R between them. That leaves 2, 3 and 5, where R immediately above Q means Q on 2 and R on 3, and U takes 5. The arrangement is P, Q, R, T, U, S from floor 1 upward, so P is lowest.

Floor puzzle · solved example

Six people - P, Q, R, S, T and U - live on six different floors of a building. The lowest floor is numbered 1 and the highest is numbered 6. T lives on an even-numbered floor. Two people live between T and P. R lives on the floor immediately above Q. S lives on the topmost floor. U does not live on floor 1.

How many people live between Q and U?

  • None
  • One
  • TwoCorrect
  • Three
  • Four

Solution

The arrangement from floor 1 upward is P, Q, R, T, U, S. Q is on floor 2 and U is on floor 5, so floors 3 and 4 lie between them, holding R and T. That is two people. Count the people strictly between the two named floors, not the floors themselves, which would give three and is the usual slip in this question type.

Floor puzzle · solved example

Six people - P, Q, R, S, T and U - live on six different floors of a building. The lowest floor is numbered 1 and the highest is numbered 6. T lives on an even-numbered floor. Two people live between T and P. R lives on the floor immediately above Q. S lives on the topmost floor. U does not live on floor 1.

Which of the following statements is true of the final arrangement?

  • T lives immediately above U.
  • Exactly three people live above R.Correct
  • P lives on an even-numbered floor.
  • Q lives immediately below S.
  • None of these

Solution

The arrangement from floor 1 upward is P, Q, R, T, U, S. R is on floor 3, so floors 4, 5 and 6 are above it, holding T, U and S: exactly three people, making B true. A reverses the pair, since U on 5 is above T on 4. C is false because P is on floor 1, which is odd. D is false because Q is on 2 while S is on 6, with three people between them.

Floor puzzle · solved example

Six people - P, Q, R, S, T and U - live on six different floors of a building. The lowest floor is numbered 1 and the highest is numbered 6. T lives on an even-numbered floor. Two people live between T and P. R lives on the floor immediately above Q. S lives on the topmost floor. U does not live on floor 1.

If everyone shifts one floor upwards, and the person who was on floor 6 moves to floor 1, who will then live on floor 5?

  • P
  • Q
  • R
  • U
  • TCorrect

Solution

The arrangement from floor 1 upward is P, Q, R, T, U, S. Whoever ends up on floor 5 must have started on floor 4, and that is T. Work backwards from the target floor rather than rewriting the whole building: the shift is a single step, so the new occupant of any floor is simply the previous occupant of the floor below. The wrap-around clause only matters for floor 1, which S now takes.

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Practise Reasoning Ability

Untimed drills with the method shown after every question — the step between learning a topic and sitting it under a clock.

Reasoning Ability study material

Sit Reasoning Ability under a real clock

Reasoning Ability shows up in every SBI PO mock test, in the same interface, with sectional locking and negative marking.

  • Hard-only sprint: English Language (25 questions)

    25 questions | 25 min

    Start

  • Hard-only sprint: Quantitative Aptitude (25 questions)

    25 questions | 30 min

    Start

  • SBI PO Prelims: full-length mock test 1

    100 questions | 1 hr

    Start

  • SBI PO Prelims: full-length mock test 2

    100 questions | 1 hr

    Start

  • SBI PO Prelims: full-length mock test 3

    100 questions | 1 hr

    Start

  • SBI PO Prelims: Quantitative Aptitude sprint (20 questions)

    20 questions | 20 min

    Start

  • SBI PO Prelims: Quantitative Aptitude sprint 2 (22 questions)

    21 questions | 22 min

    Start

Frequently asked questions

How many Reasoning Ability questions are asked in SBI PO?

SBI PO 2026-27 cycle (advertisement CRPD/PO/2026-27/09) sets 75 Reasoning Ability questions for 85 marks, split across 35 in the Preliminary Examination and 40 in the Main Examination (objective).

Is there negative marking for Reasoning Ability in SBI PO?

Yes. SBI PO 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.

Which Reasoning Ability topics matter most for SBI PO?

The SBI PO syllabus lists Puzzles: floor, box, day, month, year and category based, Seating arrangement: linear, circular, rectangular and uncertain, Syllogism and reverse syllogism, Coded inequality, Blood relations and direction sense, Order, ranking and comparison and more. Weight your revision towards the ones you are weakest on and confirm the emphasis against the paper analysis for recent cycles.

How can I practise Reasoning Ability for SBI PO free?

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 SBI PO mock tests to sit it under a real clock with negative marking.