CAT 2025 Slot 1 · DILR · Question 8

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

Quant Based Puzzles and OptimisationLOGICAL REASONING - High LevelType in the answer (TITA)Medium

Set 2: InnovateX — Elite and Novice Ratings — this question belongs to a set. Read the full set with all 5 questions →

At InnovateX, six employees, Asha, Bunty, Chintu, Dolly, Eklavya, and Falguni, were split into two groups of three each: Elite led by Manager Kuku, and Novice led by Manager Lalu.

At the end of each quarter, Kuku and Lalu handed out ratings to all members in their respective groups. In each group, each employee received a distinct integer rating from 1 to 3.

The score for an employee at the end of a quarter is defined as their cumulative rating from the beginning of the year. At the end of each quarter the employee in Novice with the highest score was promoted to Elite, and the employee in Elite with the minimum score was demoted to Novice. If there was a tie in scores, the employee with a higher rating in the latest quarter was ranked higher.

Asha, Bunty, and Chintu were in Elite at the beginning of Quarter 1. All of them were in Novice at the beginning of Quarter 4.

Dolly and Falguni were the only employees who got the same rating across all the quarters.

The following is known about ratings given by Lalu:

• Bunty received a rating of 1 in Quarter 2.

• Asha and Dolly received ratings of 1 and 2, respectively, in Quarter 3.

What was Bunty's score at the end of Quarter 3?

Answer & solution

Answer: 5

Bunty starts in Elite and is demoted at the end of Quarter 1, so his Quarter 1 rating came from Kuku.

A demotion goes to the Elite member with the lowest score, and after one quarter the score is just that quarter's rating.

Since the three Elite ratings are 1, 2 and 3, Bunty's Quarter 1 rating was 1.

Clue 3 gives his Quarter 2 rating as 1, awarded by Lalu in Novice.

In Quarter 3 the Novice trio is Asha, Bunty and Dolly, rated distinctly from 1 to 3.

Clue 3 fixes Asha at 1 and Dolly at 2, so Bunty takes the remaining 3.

His score is therefore 1+1+3=5.

Shortcut. Bunty's three ratings are each forced by a different mechanism — the demotion rule, a direct clue, and the leftover of a distinct triple. None of them needs the rest of the table.

CAT 2025 Slot 1 · DILR · Question 8

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