Linear Seating: One Row, Mixed Facing and Parallel Rows
Linear Seating: One Row, Mixed Facing and Parallel Rows
Seating arrangement is a puzzle of fixed slots. Draw the slots first, place the definite clues (ends, middle, fixed positions), then the relative clues, and finally the negative clues ("not next to"), which only remove options. NTPC asks one row facing north, rows with mixed facing, two parallel rows facing each other, and rows of unknown length.
1. Left and Right Rules
| Facing | Their right is | Their left is |
|---|---|---|
| North (up the page, away from you) | Your right on the page | Your left on the page |
| South | Your left on the page | Your right on the page |
"Second to the right of X" means one person sits between X and that person, on X's right
"Immediate right" means the very next seat
Parallel rows: row 1 faces south and row 2 faces north, so each person faces the person in the same column
| Clue type | Order of placing |
|---|---|
| Fixed (extreme end, middle, k-th from an end) | First |
| Relative (immediate right, second to the left, between) | Next, branching into cases if needed |
| Negative (not next to, not at an end) | Last, to remove cases |
✗ A faces south, so "the person to A's right" is to the right on the page | ✓ For a south-facing person, right and left are reversed on the page
✗ "Exactly two people sit between B and G" means B is second to the right of G | ✓ Two people between means a gap of three seats, on either side
हिंदी नोट: बैठक व्यवस्था में पहले निश्चित संकेत (छोर, बीच) रखिए, फिर सापेक्ष संकेत, और अंत में "नहीं" वाले संकेत। दक्षिण की ओर मुख वाले व्यक्ति का दायाँ पन्ने पर बायाँ होता है।
Exam Pointer: Verified NTPC patterns: seven people in one north-facing row (September 2025 UG CBT-1) and two parallel rows facing each other (two June 2022 CBT-2 shifts). Mixed-facing rows and rows of unknown length had no verified NTPC shift and are tagged syllabus-based.
Pariksha Pattern: Every Way NTPC Asks This Topic
Pattern 1: One row facing north
[PYQ: NTPC UG CBT-1 3-Sep-2025 Shift-2]
EXAM LEVEL
Q. P, Q, R, S and T sit in a row facing north. R sits in the middle, P at the extreme left, and T to the immediate right of R. Q is not next to P. Who sits between P and R?
Seats 1 to 5 from the left: P in 1, R in 3, T in 4. Q cannot be in 2 (next to P), so Q is in 5 and S in 2: P S R T Q.
Answer: S
Seven people A to G sit in a row facing north. D sits third from the left end, and G sits to the immediate right of D. B sits at an extreme end, with exactly two people between B and G. A sits second to the right of G. C is not an immediate neighbour of A. F sits at the left end.
EXAMATLAS LEVEL
Q. Using the seven-person clues above, who sits at the right end, and how many people sit to the right of C?
D is 3rd and G 4th. F is at the left end, so B is at the right end (7th), and B is three seats from G as required. A is 6th (second right of G). Seats 2 and 5 remain for C and E; C cannot be 5th (next to A), so C is 2nd and E 5th: F C D G E A B. Five people sit to the right of C.
Answer: B; 5
Pattern 2: Row with some facing north and some south
[Pattern: syllabus-based, PYQ-style]
Five people P, Q, R, S and T sit in a row. R sits in the middle and faces south. T sits to the immediate right of R and faces north. P sits at an extreme end and faces the same direction as R. Q sits at the other extreme end and faces north. S faces the direction opposite to T. T sits to the immediate left of P.
EXAM LEVEL
Q. How many of them face north?
Number the seats 1 to 5 from the left of the page. R (south) is in 3; a south-facer's right is the page's left, so T is in 2. P faces south, and a south-facer's left is the page's right, so P's immediate left is seat 2 only if P is in 1. So P is in 1 and Q in 5, leaving S in 4. T and Q face north; P, R and S face south.
Answer: 2
EXAMATLAS LEVEL
Q. Using the same clues, who sits to the immediate right of S, and who sits second to the left of R?
The order is P T R S Q. S faces south, so S's right is seat 3: R. R faces south, so R's left runs towards seats 4 and 5; second to the left of R is Q.
Answer: R; Q
Pattern 3: Two parallel rows facing each other
[PYQ: NTPC CBT-2 15-Jun-2022 Shift-1 | NTPC CBT-2 16-Jun-2022 Shift-1]
Row 1 has A, B, C and D facing south; row 2 has P, Q, R and S facing north, so each person faces one person. B sits at an extreme end of row 1 and faces Q. R sits second to the right of Q. D faces S. A is not an immediate neighbour of B. P and C each sit at an extreme end of their rows.
EXAM LEVEL
Q. Who faces A?
Number the columns 1 to 4 from the west. Q faces north, so its right is east; if B and Q were in column 4, R would have no seat, so B and Q are in column 1 and R in column 3. P is at an end, so P is in column 4 and S in column 2, and D faces S in column 2. C is at an end: column 4. A is in column 3, not next to B. Row 1: B D A C; row 2: Q S R P. R faces A.
Answer: R
EXAMATLAS LEVEL
Q. Using the same arrangement, who sits to the immediate right of D, and who sits diagonally opposite B?
D faces south, so D's right is west: B. B is in row 1, column 1; the diagonally opposite seat is row 2, column 4: P.
Answer: B; P
Pattern 4: Rows of unknown length
[Pattern: syllabus-based, PYQ-style]
EXAM LEVEL
Q. People sit in a row facing north. A is 5th from the left, B sits third to the right of A, and B is 4th from the right end. How many people are in the row?
B is 8th from the left and 4th from the right: 8 + 4 − 1 = 11.
Answer: 11
EXAMATLAS LEVEL
Q. In a row facing north, exactly 3 people sit between P and Q, with P to the left of Q. P is 9th from the left end and Q is 2nd from the right end. How many people are in the row?
Q is 9 + 4 = 13th from the left and 2nd from the right: 13 + 2 − 1 = 14.
Answer: 14
60-Second Revision
- Draw the seats; place fixed clues, then relative clues, then negative clues.
- A south-facing person's right is the page's left.
- Parallel rows: each person faces the same column in the other row.
- "Two people between" means a gap of three seats.