Practice tests · Bank exams

Floor puzzle practice for bank exams

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

A floor puzzle places people on the floors of a building, usually with one more attribute such as department, colour or city, and gives clues about which floor is above, below or a set distance from which. It is a linear puzzle, simpler to draw than a circle, but mains-level versions add a second attribute and several indirect clues. Solve the practice set below, which has a single valid answer.

How floors are numbered

In bank exams, floor 1 is the lowest and the highest floor is the top. Check the question for the numbering, because some sets count from the top. Clues use a few phrases:

The puzzle

Six people (Anand, Bhavani, Chandru, Deepa, Eswar and Fathima) live on different floors of a six-floor building, numbered 1 to 6 from the bottom. Each works in a different department: Audit, Deposits, Forex, HR, IT and Loans.

• Deepa lives on the topmost floor.
• Anand lives immediately above Fathima.
• Exactly two people live between Chandru and Fathima, and Chandru lives below Fathima.
• Bhavani works in HR and lives on an odd-numbered floor.
• The person from Audit lives immediately below Bhavani.
• Fathima works in IT.
• The person from Loans lives immediately above the person from IT.
• The person on the topmost floor works in Forex.

Five practice questions

Question 1

Who lives on the second floor?

• A. Chandru
• B. Eswar
• C. Bhavani
• D. Fathima

Question 2

In which department does Anand work?

• A. Forex
• B. IT
• C. Loans
• D. Audit

Question 3

How many floors are there between the floors of Bhavani and Deepa?

• A. 2
• B. 3
• C. 4
• D. 1

Question 4

Who works in the Deposits department?

• A. Eswar
• B. Anand
• C. Fathima
• D. Chandru

Question 5

Which of the following combinations is correct?

• A. Chandru, third floor, Audit
• B. Fathima, fourth floor, IT
• C. Eswar, second floor, HR
• D. Anand, sixth floor, Loans

Answers and explanations

The final arrangement is below, from the top floor down.

1. B. Eswar lives on floor 2.
2. C. Anand lives immediately above Fathima, who works in IT, so Anand is the Loans person.
3. A. Bhavani is on floor 3 and Deepa on floor 6. Floors 4 and 5 are between them, which makes 2.
4. D. The departments Forex, Loans, IT, HR and Audit are taken by Deepa, Anand, Fathima, Bhavani and Eswar, so Chandru has Deposits.
5. B. Fathima lives on floor 4 and works in IT. The others each have one wrong detail. Chandru lives on floor 1 in Deposits, Eswar works in Audit, and Anand lives on floor 5.

Solving order: Deepa is on 6, and the topmost person works in Forex. "Exactly two between Chandru and Fathima, Chandru below" means that Chandru and Fathima are 3 apart. Anand sits just above Fathima. The only fit with Deepa on 6 is Chandru 1, Fathima 4, Anand 5. Bhavani is then on 3 (odd), and Audit is just below her, so Eswar is on 2.

How to prepare floor puzzles

• Draw a column with the floors numbered and keep a second column for the second attribute.
• Anchor on absolute clues first. "Topmost floor" or "ground floor" fix a person at once, and the relative clues then fall into place.
• Convert every clue to a number. "Two persons between" is a difference of three floors. Write it as a number on the rough sheet.
• Test both options for the difference clue. A "difference of three" can go up or down, and the direction clue ("Chandru below Fathima") picks one.
• Use elimination at the end. Once most are placed, the last attribute is forced, as with Deposits here.
• Re-read the clues against the table. If every clue holds, the puzzle is solved.

Time yourself at seven to nine minutes for a six-person, two-attribute set. For circular and row layouts, go to seating arrangement.

The full floor puzzle topic test is on PrepMatic (about 15 questions, 30 minutes). The Reasoning Ability guide and the bank exam hub show where puzzles sit in each exam.

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