Order and Ranking
Order and Ranking: Position and Totals
Order and ranking questions place people in a row or a line and ask you to find someone's position, or the total number of people, from clues about ranks from the top and the bottom. SBI Clerk sets one or two of these, and they hinge on a single formula plus careful counting. The whole topic is about not double-counting the person everyone forgets — the reference person themselves — which is exactly where the standard formula does the work for you.
The Core Total Formula
If a person's rank from the top and rank from the bottom are both given, the total number of people is the two ranks added together minus one. The minus one removes the double-counting of that same person, who is included in both counts. This one line answers the most common ranking question in seconds, so it is worth committing to memory and reaching for the instant a question gives you both ranks.
Total = (rank from top) + (rank from bottom) − 1
Converting Between Top and Bottom Ranks
When you know the total and a rank from one end, the rank from the other end is the total minus that rank plus one. So in a class of 40, a student eighth from the top is 40 − 8 + 1 = thirty-third from the bottom. This conversion is the second-most-tested idea in ranking, and it is simply the total formula rearranged, so the two facts back each other up and you only really memorise one relationship.
| Known | Find | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Top rank + bottom rank | Total | Total = top + bottom − 1 |
| Total + top rank | Bottom rank | Bottom = total − top + 1 |
| Total + bottom rank | Top rank | Top = total − bottom + 1 |
Solved Example
Example: In a row, Anil is 7th from the left and 12th from the right. The total number of people is 7 + 12 − 1 = 18. The minus one avoids counting Anil twice, since he is inside both the 7 and the 12.
✗ Adding 7 + 12 = 19 and counting Anil in both ranks | ✓ Using 7 + 12 − 1 = 18 to remove the double count
Ranking in a Row Facing You
A small SBI Clerk twist flips left and right by telling you the row faces you or faces north, and this reverses which end is which for the people in it. If a row of students faces the examiner, a student's left is the examiner's right, so a 'fourth from the left' clue must be read from the students' own left, not yours. The formula for the total is untouched by this — top plus bottom minus one still holds — but the direction of counting for a specific person can flip, so pause on any 'facing' clue and orient the row from the people's point of view before you place anyone. Reading the facing direction wrong is a silent error that gives a clean-looking but opposite answer.
Overlapping Ranks and 'Between' Questions
A trickier SBI Clerk variety gives two people's positions from opposite ends and asks how many sit between them, and here the answer depends on whether their ranks overlap or leave a gap. First find the total using the formula, then locate both people by converting to ranks from the same end, and the count between them is the difference of their positions minus one. If the two given ranks together exceed the total, the people have crossed over — one is actually standing beyond the other — and the question may have two readings, so watch for the words 'exactly' or 'at least'. The safe method every time is to draw the row as a line of blank dashes, write in the two known positions, and literally count the gap, because a two-second sketch removes every overlap ambiguity that pure formula-juggling creates. Ranking rewards the candidate who draws over the one who only calculates.
यदि ऊपर से और नीचे से दोनों रैंक दी हों तो कुल = ऊपर की रैंक + नीचे की रैंक − 1। '−1' उस व्यक्ति की दोहरी गिनती हटाता है। 'बीच में कितने' वाले प्रश्न में पंक्ति को डैश बनाकर गिनें।
Exam Pointer — SBI Clerk sets 1–2 ranking questions, usually the direct total type or a 'how many between' type. The formula Total = top + bottom − 1 cracks most of them in ten seconds. For overlap and 'between' questions, sketch a dashed row and count — do not trust mental arithmetic. These are among the fastest marks in the section.
60-Second Recap
- Total = rank from top + rank from bottom − 1.
- The −1 removes the double-counted reference person.
- Other-end rank = total − known rank + 1.
- For 'between' and overlap, draw a dashed row and count.