CAT 2025 Slot 1 · DILR · Question 12

CAT 2025 Slot 1 previous year question on Arrangement Based Puzzes, with the answer and a step-by-step solution.

Arrangement Based PuzzesLOGICAL REASONING - High LevelMultiple choiceMedium

Set 3: Seven Chairs Around a Round Table — this question belongs to a set. Read the full set with all 4 questions →

A round table has seven chairs around it. The chairs are numbered 1 through 7 in a clockwise direction. Four friends, Aslam, Bashir, Chhavi, and Davies, sit on four of the chairs. In the starting position, Aslam and Chhavi are sitting next to each other, while for Bashir as well as Davies, there are empty chairs on either side of the chairs that are sitting on.

The friends take turns moving either clockwise or counterclockwise from their chair. The friend who has to move in a turn occupies the first empty chair in whichever direction (s)he chooses to move. Aslam moves first (Turn 1), followed by Bashir, Chhavi, and Davies (Turns 2, 3, and 4, respectively). Then Aslam moves again followed by Bashir, and Chhavi (Turns 5, 6, and 7, respectively).

The following information is known.

The four friends occupy adjacent chairs only at the end of Turn 2 and Turn 6.

Davies occupies Chair 2 after Turn 1 and Chair 4 after Turn 5, and Chhavi occupies Chair 7 after Turn 2.

Who sits on the chair numbered 4 at the end of Turn 3?

A
Bashir
B
Chhavi
C
Davies
D
No one

Pick an option, then check.

Answer & solution

Answer: Option D

The starting arrangement is Aslam on 6, Bashir on 4, Chhavi on 7 and Davies on 2, with Chairs 1, 3 and 5 empty.

In Turn 1 Aslam moves clockwise to Chair 1 — Chair 7 is occupied, so the first empty chair that way is 1 — or counterclockwise to Chair 5.

Clue 1 requires all four to be adjacent at the end of Turn 2, which only works if Aslam goes to Chair 1.

Bashir then moves in Turn 2, counterclockwise to Chair 3, making the occupied chairs 7, 1, 2 and 3 — four in a row.

Chhavi moves in Turn 3 from Chair 7.

Going clockwise she would pass the occupied 1, 2 and 3 and land on Chair 4, leaving the four friends on Chairs 1, 2, 3 and 4 — adjacent again.

Clue 1 forbids adjacency at the end of Turn 3, so she must move counterclockwise to Chair 6.

Chair 4 is therefore empty at the end of Turn 3, and the answer is "No one" — the fourth option.

Shortcut. Clue 1 is a prohibition as much as a requirement. The clockwise move for Chhavi is the one that recreates a block of four, so the rule itself rules it out and sends her the other way.

CAT 2025 Slot 1 · DILR · Question 12

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