Table of contents
Introduction
Questions on this topic test the candidate’s direction sense; candidates are given a series of instructions involving the movement of a person or thing in different directions (one at a time) and are asked to find the final direction and sometimes the distance from the initial point.
The following figure indicates the positions of various directions and will help the candidate to develop a direction sense.
The simplest method to solve these kinds of problems are to simply draw the instructions on a page to get a good sense of final direction. Example:
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Practice Questions
1. Rahul travels in the north direction, then turns right, then again turns right and thereafter turns left. In which direction is Rahul travelling now?
a. East
b. West
c. South
d. North
2. A runs 50 m south from her house. Then, she turns left and runs 20 m more, then she turns towards the north and runs 30 m further and finally starts walking towards her house on the shortest possible route. In which direction is she walking now?
a. South-West
b. South-east
c. North-west
d. None of the above
3. A person walks 9 km towards the north. From there he walks 5 km towards the South. Then, he walks 3 km towards east. How far and in which direction is he with respect to his starting point?
a. 7 km, East
b. 5 km, West
c. 5 km, North east
d. 7 km, West
4. There are four towns P, Q, R and T. Q is situated at the south-west of P, R is at the east of Q and south–east of P, and T is at the north of R. In which of the following direction T cannot be located with respect to P?
a. North
b. East
c. North–east
d. South–east
5. A lady lost her purse. She went 90 m east to a shop before turning to her right. She went 20 m ahead again before turning to her right. Thereafter, she walked 30 m further to reach his uncle’s place. From there, she went 100 m north to a street where she found her purse. How far from the starting point did she find her purse?
a. 60m
b. 100m
c. 140m
d. None of the above
6. Seeta walks 12 km towards the north. From there she walks 6 km towards the South. Then, she walks 8 km towards east. How far and in which direction is she with respect to his starting point?
a. 5 km, North East
b. 10 km, North East
c. 5 km, North
d. 5 km East
7. The location of B is north of A and the location of C is east of A. The distances AB and AC are 5km and 12km respectively. What is the shortest distance (in km) between the locations B and C? (UPSC 2014)
a. 60
b. 13
c. 174
d. 60
8. A man walks down the backside of his house straight 25 metres, then turns to the right and walks 50 metres again; then he turns towards left and again walks 25 metres. If his house faces to the East, what is his direction from the starting point? (UPSC 2020)
a. South-East
b. South-West
c. North-East
d. North-West
9. A person travels 12 km due North then 15 km due East after that 19 km due West and then 15 km due South. How far is he from the starting point? (UPSC 2016)
a. 5 km
b. 9 km
c. 37 km
d. 61 km
10. A person climbs a hill in a straight path from point ‘O’ on the ground in the direction of north-east and reaches a point ‘A’ after travelling a distance of 5 km. Then from the point ‘A’ he moves to point ‘B’ in the direction of north-west. Let the distance AB be 12 km. Now how far is the person away from the starting point ‘O’? (UPSC 2016)
a. 7 km
b. 13 km
c. 17 km
d. 11 km
11. P, Q and R are three towns. The distance between P and Q is 60 km, whereas the distance between P and R is 80 km. Q is in the West of P and R is in the South of P. What is the distance between Q and R? (UPSC 2019)
a. 140 km
b. 130 km
c. 110 km
d. 100 km
12. One day, Ravi left home and cycled 10 km southwards, turned right and cycled 5 km and turned right and cycled 10 km and turned left and cycled 10 km. How many kilometres will he have to cycle to reach his home straight?
a. 10 km
b. 15 km
c. 20 km
d. 25 km
13. Gaurav walks 20 metres towards North. He then turns left and walks 40 metres. He again turns left and walks 20 metres. Further, he moves 20 metres after turning to the right. How far is he from his original position?
a. 20 m
b. 30 m
c. 60 m
d. 50 m
14. A rat runs 20' towards East and turns to right, runs 10' and turns to right, runs 9' and again turns to left, runs 5' and then turns to left, runs 12' and finally turns to left and runs 6'. Now, which direction is the rat facing?
a. East
b. West
c. North
d. South
15. Laxman went 15 kms to the west from my house, then turned left and walked 20 kms. He then turned East and walked 25 kms and finally turning left covered 20 kms. How far was he from his house?
a. 5 km
b. 10 km
c. 40 km
d. 80 km
16. Going 50 m to the South of her house, Radhika turns left and goes another 20 m. Then, turning to the North, she goes 30 m and then starts walking to her house. In which direction is she walking now?
a. North-west
b. North
c. South-east
d. East
17. There are four towns P. Q, R and T. Q is to the South-west of P, R is to the east of Q and south-east of P, and T is to the north of R in line with QP. In which direction of P is T located?
a. South-east
b. North
c. North-east
d. East
18. Kunal walks 10 km towards North. From there he walks 6 km towards South. Then, he walks 3 km towards East. How far and in which direction is he with reference to his starting point?
a. 6 km West
b. 7 km West
c. 7 km East
d. 5 km North-East
19. A man is facing north-west. He turns 90° in the clockwise direction and then 135° in the anticlockwise direction. Which direction is he facing now?
a. East
b. West
c. North
d. South
20. Deepak starts walking straight towards east. After walking 75 metres, he turns to the left and walks 25 metres straight. Again, he turns to the left, walks a distance of 40 metres straight, again he turns to the left and walks a distance of 25 metres. How far is he from the starting point?
a. 25 metres
b. 50 metres
c. 115 metres
d. 140 metres
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