Reasoning practice

Direction Sense Test Questions with Answers

Direction sense test questions describe a person who walks, turns left or right and walks again, then ask how far or in which direction the person is from the start. They are a regular feature of SSC CGL, CHSL and MTS, RRB NTPC and Group D, and bank prelims papers. The main tip is to draw the path on rough paper with north at the top and work out the final position, not guess it.

Rules to remember

Four main directions: North (N), East (E), South (S), West (W). Four in-between: NE, NW, SE, SW.
Facing north, your right is east and your left is west. A right turn is a 90 degree turn clockwise. A left turn is 90 degrees anticlockwise.
Clockwise order: N, E, S, W. After a right turn, move one step forward in this list. After a left turn, move one step back.
Shadows: in the morning the Sun is in the east, so shadows fall to the west. In the evening the Sun is in the west, so shadows fall to the east.
Distance from the start: find the net east-west distance x and the net north-south distance y, then distance = square root of (x squared + y squared).
Common right triangles: 3-4-5, 5-12-13, 8-15-17, 7-24-25 and their multiples. These give whole-number distances.
Moves in opposite directions cancel. 10 km east then 4 km west leaves a net 6 km east.
A 45 degree turn to the right from north gives north-east. A 135 degree turn to the right from north gives south-east.

Worked examples

Q1. Ravi walks 5 km north, then turns right and walks 12 km. How far is he from the starting point, and in which direction is he from it?

Start at the origin. Walk 5 km north: the position is 5 km north.
Facing north, a right turn means facing east. Walk 12 km east.
Net position: 12 km east and 5 km north of the start.
Distance = square root of (12 x 12 + 5 x 5) = square root of 169 = 13 km.
He is to the north-east of the start.

Answer: 13 km, north-east

Q2. A man starts from point P and walks 10 m south. He turns left and walks 6 m, then turns left again and walks 2 m. How far is he from P, and in which direction is he from P?

He faces south after the first walk. A left turn from south means facing east. Walk 6 m east.
Facing east, a left turn means facing north. Walk 2 m north.
Net position: 6 m east, and 10 - 2 = 8 m south of P.
Distance = square root of (6 x 6 + 8 x 8) = square root of 100 = 10 m.
He is to the south-east of P.

Answer: 10 m, south-east

Q3. One morning after sunrise, Neha stood in a field. The shadow of a nearby pole fell exactly to her right. She walked 5 km straight ahead, turned left and walked 12 km, then turned left again and walked 5 km. How far is she from where she started, and in which direction is she from it?

In the morning the Sun is in the east, so the pole's shadow falls to the west.
The shadow fell to her right, so her right is west. A person whose right is west is facing south.
Facing south, she walks 5 km south.
A left turn from south means east. She walks 12 km east.
A left turn from east means north. She walks 5 km north.
Net position: 12 km east, and 5 south - 5 north = 0 in the north-south line.
So she is 12 km due east of the start.

Answer: 12 km, east

Shortcuts that save time

Draw a cross of N, E, S and W at the top of your rough sheet, and mark each step with a short arrow. A rough picture beats mental tracking, and most wrong answers come from losing track of the facing direction.
Add up east and west moves separately, and north and south moves separately. Then match the two totals to a 3-4-5 style triple to read the distance at once, instead of working out square roots under time pressure.
If the question asks for the direction of the start from the end, find the end from the start first, then reverse it (north-east becomes south-west). This stops you from marking the opposite option.

Where this appears

SSC CGL Tier-1	General Intelligence & Reasoning section
SSC CHSL Tier-1	General Intelligence section
SSC MTS	Reasoning section
RRB NTPC CBT-1	General Intelligence & Reasoning section
RRB Group D CBT	General Intelligence & Reasoning section