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Direction sense practice questions for bank exams

By the PrepMatic team · Updated 9 Oct 2026 · 3 min read

Direction sense questions describe someone walking, turning and walking again, and ask how far or in which direction they end up from the start. They are quick marks once you draw a small map, and every question reduces to north, south, east and west. The five questions below cover distance, final direction, shadows and turns.

Rules to remember

Left and right depend on the way the person is facing, not on the page.

Five practice questions

Question 1

A man walks 15 m north, turns left and walks 8 m. How far is he from the starting point?

• A. 17 m
• B. 23 m
• C. 7 m
• D. 12 m

Question 2

A person facing north turns 90° clockwise and then 135° anticlockwise. Which direction is he facing now?

• A. North-east
• B. South-west
• C. North-west
• D. South-east

Question 3

One morning, just after sunrise, Anil stood facing a pole. The shadow of the pole fell to his right. Which direction was he facing?

• A. East
• B. North
• C. South
• D. West

Question 4

Sita starts from a point O. She walks 6 km south, turns left and walks 4 km, turns left again and walks 9 km, and turns left once more and walks 4 km. Where is she now with respect to O?

• A. 3 km south
• B. 3 km east
• C. 9 km north
• D. 3 km north

Question 5

Q is 9 m east of P. R is 12 m north of Q. In which direction, and how far, is P from R?

• A. 15 m, north-east
• B. 15 m, south-west
• C. 21 m, south-west
• D. 15 m, south-east

Answers and explanations

1. A. Facing north, a left turn is west. So he is 15 m north and 8 m west of the start, and the distance is √(15² + 8²) = √289 = 17 m.
2. C. Facing north, 90° clockwise is east. Turning 135° anticlockwise from east goes through north (90°) and then 45° further, which is north-west.
3. B. After sunrise the sun is in the east, so the shadow falls to the west. The shadow is to Anil's right, so west is his right. A person whose right is west is facing north.
4. D. Set O at (0, 0) with north as positive y. South 6 km: (0, −6). Facing south, left is east: 4 km, (4, −6). Facing east, left is north: 9 km, (4, 3). Facing north, left is west: 4 km, (0, 3). She ends 3 km north of O.
5. B. Put P at (0, 0), Q at (9, 0) and R at (9, 12). P is 9 m west and 12 m south of R, so the direction is south-west and the distance is √(9² + 12²) = 15 m.

How to prepare direction sense

• Use a coordinate grid. Put the start at (0, 0), with north up and east to the right. Each move changes x or y, and the final position can be read off. This is the method in Question 4.
• Track the facing direction separately. Write the current facing next to each step, since "left" depends on it.
• Know the triples. 3-4-5, 5-12-13, 8-15-17 and 9-12-15 appear again and again, so the distance can be written without a calculation.
• Memorise the shadow rule. Morning shadows fall west and evening shadows fall east. The question then reduces to a turn.
• Distinguish distance from path length. "How far is he from the start" is the straight-line distance, not the total walked.
• Answer the direction asked. "Where is she with respect to O" and "where is O with respect to her" are opposites.

Aim for 30 to 45 seconds. A sketch takes 10 seconds and prevents most errors. For the habit of translating text into structure, go on to blood relations.

The full direction sense topic test is on PrepMatic (about 15 questions, 30 minutes). See the Reasoning Ability guide and the bank exam hub for where this topic sits in each exam.

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