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71 questions from UPSC CSE Prelims GS Paper 1 on Logical Reasoning & Puzzles (Science & Technology). Spanning from 1995 to 2010. Practice with show/hide answers and detailed explanations.
71
Questions
15
Years
17
Easy
50
Moderate
Based on 71 questions across 15 years, UPSC has consistently tested aspirants' understanding of Logical Reasoning & Puzzles within the broader Science & Technology syllabus. The questions range from factual recall to application-based analysis.
Recent trends show UPSC moving towards statement-based questions that combine multiple aspects of Logical Reasoning & Puzzles. Aspirants should focus on understanding concepts rather than memorizing isolated facts.
Q: A cuboid has six sides of different colours. The red side is opposite to black. The blue side is adjacent to white. The brown side is adjacent to blue. The red side is face down. Which one of the following would be the opposite to brown?
Q: Six books A, B, C, D, E and F are placed side by side. B, C and E have blue cover and the other books have red cover. Only D and F are new books and the rest are old. A, C and D are law reports and others are Gazetters. What book is a new law report with a red colour?
Q: Six persons M, N, O, P, Q and R are sitting in two rows, three in each. Q is not at the end of any row. P is second to the left of R. O is the neighbour of Q and is sitting diagonally opposite to P. N is the neighbour of R. On the basis of above information, who is facing N?
Q: In a group of five persons A, B, C, D and E, there is a professor, a doctor and a lawyer. A and D are unmarried ladies, and do not work. Of the married couple in the group, E is the husband. B is the brother of A and is neither a doctor nor a lawyer. Who is the professor?
Q: Half of the villagers of a certain village have their own houses. One-fifth of the villagers cultivate paddy. One-third of the villagers are literate. Four-fifth of the villagers are below twenty-five. Then, which one of the following is certainly true?
Q: P, Q, R and S are four men. P is the oldest but not the poorest. R is the richest but not the oldest. Q is older than S but not than P or R. P is richer than Q but not than S. The four men can be ordered (descending) in respect of age and richness, respectively, as
Q: In a meeting, the map of a village was placed in such a manner that south-east becomes north, north-east becomes west and so on. What will south become?
Q: Examine the following statements : 1. All colours are pleasant. 2. Some colours are pleasant. 3. No colour is pleasant. 4. Some colours are not pleasant. Given that the statement 4 is true, what can be definitely concluded ?
Q: A person travels 12 km due North, then 15 km due East, after that 15 km due West and then 18 km due South. How far is he from the starting point ?
Q: Six persons A, B, C, D, E and F are standing in a row. C and D are standing close to each other alongside E. B is standing beside A only. A is fourth from F. Who are standing on the extremes ?
Q: How many letters of the English alphabet (capitals) appear same when looked at in a mirror?
Q: There is a family of 6 persons A, B, C, D, E and F. There are two married couples in the family. The family members are lawyer, teacher, salesman, engineer, accountant and doctor. D, the salesman is married to the lady teacher. The doctor is married to the lawyer. F, the accountant is the son of B and brother of E. C, the lawyer is the daughter-in-law of A. E is the unmarried engineer. A is the grandmother of F. How is E related to F?
Q: There are three cans A, B and C. The capacities of A, B and C are 6 litres, 10 litres and 16 litres respectively. The can C contains 16 litres of milk. The milk has to be divided in them using these three cans only. Consider the following statements : 1. It is possible to have 6 litres of milk each in can A and can B. 2. It is possible to have 8 litres of milk each in can B and can C. Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
Q: In the series AABABCABCDABCDE... which letter occupies the 100th position?
Q: How many different triangles are there in the figure shown above?
Q: Six faces of a cube are numbered from 1 to 6, each face carrying one different number. Further, 1. The face 2 is opposite to the face 6. 2. The face 1 is opposite to the face 5. 3. The face 3 is between the face 1 and face 5. 4. The face 4 is adjacent to the face 2. Which one of the following is correct?
Q: P, Q, R, S and T reside in a 5-storeyed (Ground + 4) building, and each of them resides on a separate floor. Further, 1. T does not reside on the topmost floor. 2. Q does not reside on the ground floor. 3. S resides on one storey above that of P and one storey below that of R. To know as to which of the 5 persons resides on the ground floor which of the above statements are sufficient / insufficient?
Q: Refer to the three figures I, II and III in which numbers are arranged in squares. What is the value of X in figure III?
Q: Each of the six faces of a cube is numbered by one of the six digits from 1 to 6. This cube is shown in its four different positions in the figures I, II, III and IV. Consider the following statements: 1. Figures II and III are sufficient to know as to which face is opposite to the face numbered 6. 2. Figures II and III are sufficient to know as to which face is opposite to the face numbered 4. 3. Figures I and IV are sufficient to know as to which face is opposite to the face numbered 4. Which of the statements given above are correct?
Q: Each of the persons A, B, C, D and E possesses unequal number (<10) of similar items. A, B and C possess 21 items in all, while C, D and E possess 7 items in all. How many items do A and B possess in all?
Q: In an office, the number of persons who take tea is twice the number of persons who take only coffee. The number of persons who take coffee is twice the number of persons who take only tea. Consider the following statements: 1. The sum of the number of persons who take either tea or coffee or both is four times the number of persons who take both coffee and tea. 2. The sum of the number of persons who take only coffee and those who take only tea is twice the number of persons who take both coffee and tea. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Q: Which is Krishnan’s hometown?
Q: Which College is situated in Inder’s hometown?
Q: Who studies in Bhopal?
Q: If Inder studies in Ahmedabad, then which one of the following is the correct combination of Person–Hometown–Place of Study?
Q: The magazine on science is published by
Q: The magazine on sports is
Q: The magazine on films is
Q: The magazine on politics is
Q: Four different candles, which can last for 5 hours, 4 hours, 3 hours and 2 hours of burning, respectively, are lit in a room at the same instant and allowed to burn till such time that the three candles in the room get extinguished. The cost of burning each one of these candles is 75 paise per hour. The cost involved is:
Q: Most guitarists are bearded males. If A represents all males, B represents bearded males and C represents all male guitarists, then the correct diagram for their relation (shaded portion) is
Q: Anand must be a vegetarian because he is a Buddhist. The argument assumes that
Q: Consider the following pictures of a dice: What is the number opposite of 3?
Q: Examine the following relationships among members of a family of six persons A, B, C, D, E and F. I. The number of males equals that of females. II. A and E are sons of F. III. D is the mother of two, one boy and one girl. IV. B is the son of A. V. There is only one married couple in the family at present. Which one of the following inferences can be drawn from the above?
Q: The given diagram shows the number of students who failed in an examination comprising papers in English, Hindi and Mathematics. The total number of students who took the test is 500. What is the percentage of students who failed in at least two subjects?
Q: In a certain code, MARCH is written as OCTEJ. How is RETURN written in that code?
Q: A, B, C, D, E and F, not necessarily in that order, are sitting in six chairs regularly placed around a round table. It is observed that A is between D and F. C is opposite D. D and E are not on neighbouring chairs. Which one of the following must be true?
Q: A club has 108 members. Two-thirds of them are men and the rest are women. All members are married except for 9 women members. How many married women are there in the club?
Q: The following figure represents time vs. learning curves of two students, Q and R, for learning a Mathematics lesson. Which one of the following inferences can be drawn from the graph?
Q: A goat is tied to two poles P and Q with ropes that are 15-metre long. P and Q are 20 metres apart as shown in the given diagram. Which one of the following shaded portions indicates the total area over which the goat can graze?
Q: A person starts from a point A and travels 3 km eastwards to B and then turns left and travels thrice that distance to reach C. He again turns left and travels five times the distance he covered between A and B and reaches his destination D. The shortest distance between the starting point and destination is
Q: On another planet, the local terminology for earth, water, light, air and sky are ‘sky’, ‘light’, ‘air’, ‘water’ and ‘earth’ respectively. If someone is thirsty there, what would he drink?
Q: In a code language, ‘SOLID’ is written as “WPSLIMFHA’. What does the code word ‘ATEXXQIBVO’ refer to?
Q: In a group of five people—K, L and M are ambitious; M, N and R are honest; L, M and N are intelligent and K, N and R are industrious. Among these, neither industrious nor ambitious person(s) would include
Q: Examine the following three statements: I. Processed meat is a perishable food. II. All perishable foods are packed in sealed tins. III. Sealed tins sometimes do not contain processed meat. Which one of the following inferences can be drawn from the above statements?
Q: Which one of the following satisfies the relationship D d a : a D D :: R r b : ?
Q: A, B, C, D, E and F, not necessarily in that order, are sitting on six chairs regularly placed around a round table. It is observed that A is between D and F, C is opposite D, and D and E are not on neighbouring chairs. Which one of the following pairs must be sitting on neighbouring chairs?
Q: If in a certain code SAND is VDQG and BIRD is ELUG, then what is the code for LOVE?
Q: The missing fraction in the series given below is:
Q: In the set of figures (I) to (IV), some parts are shown to change their position in a regular direction. Following the same sequence, which one of the following will appear at the fifth stage?
Q: Examine the following statements: I. All members of Mohan’s family are honest. II. Some members of Mohan’s family are not employed. III. Some employed persons are not honest. IV. Some honest persons are not employed. Which of the following inferences can be drawn from the above statements?
Q: In a dinner party both fish and meat were served. Some took only fish and some only meat. There were some vegetarians who did not accept either. The rest accepted both fish and meat. Which one of the following logic diagrams correctly reflects the above situation?
Q: A, B, C, D, E, F and G are members of a family consisting of 4 adults and 3 children, two of whom, F and G, are girls. A and D are brothers and A is a doctor. E is an engineer married to one of the brothers and has two children. B is married to D and G is their child. Who is C?
Q: In the series POQ, SRT, VUW, ?, the blank space refers to
Q: Seven persons P, Q, R, S, T, U and V participate in and finish all the events of a series of swimming races. There are no ties at the finish of any of the events. V always finishes somewhere ahead of P. P always finishes somewhere ahead of Q. Either R finishes first and T finishes last or S finishes first and U or Q finishes last. If in a particular race V finished fifth, then which one of the following would be true?
Q: Consider the following: I. Saxena, David, Jain and Kumar were District Collectors at places P, Q, R and S respectively in 1970. II. In 1972 they were transferred. Saxena and Jain interchanged places. Kumar and David also interchanged places. III. One year later in 1973 they were again transferred such that David and Jain interchanged places and Saxena and Kumar were also interchanged. What should be the next round of transfers so that all the four persons could have been posted at all the four places?
Q: In a group of persons travelling in a bus, 6 persons can speak Tamil, 15 can speak Hindi and 6 can speak Gujarati. In that group none can speak any other language. If 2 persons in the group can speak two languages and one person can speak all the three languages, then how many persons are there in the group?
Q: Examine the following statements regarding a set of balls: I. All balls are black. II. All balls are white. III. Only some balls are black. IV. No balls are black. Assuming that the balls can only be black or white, which two statements given above can both be true, but cannot both be false? Choose the correct answer from the codes given below:
Q: Consider the figures given below: (In the given sequence of figures, the figure that would logically appear at Sl. No. V is)
Q: Examine the following statements: I. George attends Music classes on Monday. II. He attends Mathematics classes on Wednesday. III. His Literature classes are not on Friday. IV. He attends History classes on the day following the day of his Mathematics classes. V. On Tuesday, he attends his Sports classes. If he attends just one subject in a day and his Sunday is free, then he is also free on
Q: Two important characteristics of a hypothesis are that it should be testable and that it should be stated in a manner that it can be refuted. Which one of the following hypotheses fulfils these characteristics?
Q: Six roads lead to a country. They may be indicated by letters X, Y, Z and digits 1, 2, 3. When there is storm, Y is blocked. When there are floods X, 1 and 2 will be affected. When road 1 is blocked, Z also is blocked. At a time when there are floods and a storm also blows, which road(s) can be used?
Q: Which one of the following Venn diagrams correctly illustrates the relationship among the classes: Carrot, Food, Vegetable?
Q: In the given figure, the triangle represents girls, the square represents sportspersons and the circle represents coaches. The portion in the figure which represents girls who are sportspersons but not coaches is the one labelled
Q: The next pair of letters in the series AZ, CX, FU, ...... is
Q: Mouse is to cat as fly is to
Q: A man starts walking in the north-easterly direction from a particular point. After walking a distance of 500 metres, he turns southward and walks a distance of 400 metres. At the end of this walk he is situated
Q: Examine the following statements: I watch TV only if I am bored. I am never bored when I have my brother’s company. Whenever I go to the theatre, I take my brother along. Which one of the following conclusions is valid in the context of the above statements?
Q: In the given diagram, circle A represents teachers who can teach Physics, circle B represents teachers who can teach Chemistry and circle C represents those who can teach Mathematics. Among the regions marked p, q, r, s, t, u and v, the one which represents teachers who can teach Physics and Mathematics but not Chemistry, is
Q: Seven men, A, B, C, D, E, F and G are standing in a queue in that order. Each one is wearing a cap of a different colour like violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. D is able to see in front of him green and blue but not violet. E can see violet and yellow, but not red. G can see caps of all colours other than orange. If E is wearing an indigo-coloured cap, then the colour of the cap worn by F is
Q: Which of the following can be inferred from the statement that “Either John is stupid or John is lazy”? I. John is lazy / therefore, John is not stupid. II. John is not lazy / therefore, John is stupid. III. John is not stupid / therefore, John is lazy. IV. John is stupid / therefore, John is not lazy. Choose the correct answer from the codes given below:
UPSC has asked 71 questions on Logical Reasoning & Puzzles in GS Paper 1 Prelims between 1995 and 2010. This sub-topic falls under Science & Technology.
Questions on Logical Reasoning & Puzzles have appeared in UPSC Prelims in the following years: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995. The topic has appeared in 15 out of 31 years.
Among 71 questions on Logical Reasoning & Puzzles: 17 are easy, 50 are moderate, and 4 are difficult. Most questions test conceptual understanding of the topic.
