Puzzle is a major topic of the Reasoning Ability Section in the banking exam. It is usually asked in the set of 5 questions and generally, 2-3 set are asked in an exam. If prepared well, this topic can easily fetch you 10-15 marks.
In this article, we will be discussing the approach which you should follow while solving Puzzles questions.

In Puzzle, basically there are two types of information - one is definite and another one is indefinite.
Definite means which is independent of other information and the indefinite information is dependent on another information or linked with other information given in statements.
Nowadays, the level of puzzles is increasing day by day and it takes a bit more time for solving because for each and every information you have to look at the screen. So, we suggest you following key points to approach puzzles.

• Read the Directions of question patiently, it is more important than solving questions.
• Express data on your rough sheet concisely and neatly.
• Try to find out the statements which consist of definite information.
• Make a series of statements which are linked to each other and sequence them.

Puzzles are generally of three types:

• Tabular Arrangement
• Scheduling
• Floor Based Arrangement

Now, let us take up some examples to explain you puzzle in a better way.

Tabular Arrangement Example

Directions: Study the following information carefully and answer the questions given below:

Sunit, Rohit, Sunny, Khushi, Manu, Tanu, and Ranu are seven friends traveling to three different cities – Jaipur, Ahmedabad, and Hyderabad – with at least two in each city. Each of them has a different profession- viz CA, CS, Lawyer, IAS, Pilot, IES and IRS but not necessarily in the same order.

1. Manu’s profession is IRS and Rohit is travelling to Ahmedabad only with Manu.
2. Those who travel to Jaipur are not CA and IAS.
3. The one who is CS travels only with Ranu to Hyderabad.
4. The one who is Pilot does not travel to the same city as Manu or Ranu.
5. Sunit does not travel to Ahmedabad but he is an IES.
6. Khushi and Tanu are travelling to the same city but Tanu is not Lawyer.
7. The one who is IAS does not travel to Ahmedabad.

Solution:

Here we can see that statement 1 and statement 3 have definite information. We will start with these both statements.
From statement 1 and statement 3, it is clear that only two persons travel to Ahmedabad and Hyderabad. So, the remaining three persons will travel to Jaipur.
Now we will express our data concisely, we not need to scroll screen again and again.
So, from statement 1

From statement 3

Now try to find out the statements which are related to the above definite statements.
In statement 2 and 8, it is mentioned that IAS does not travel to Ahmedabad and Jaipur. So, IAS definitely travel to Hyderabad. Only two persons are traveling to Hyderabad, CS is travelling with Ranu. Hence, Ranu must be an IAS.

From statement 5, 
Sunit is an IES but he does not travel to Ahmedabad and Only two persons who are IAS and CS are travelling to Hyderabad. So, Sunit is travelling to Jaipur.

From statement 6,
Khushi and Tanu are travelling to the same city and they can only travel to Jaipur because already two-two persons are travelling to both Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.
It is also mentioned that Tanu is not a lawyer.

Now, the person only left is Sunny. So, he is travelling to Hyderabad.
Statement 4 says that Pilot is not travelling to the same city as Manu (Ahmedabad) and Ranu (Hyderabad). It means Pilot is travelling to Jaipur.
Again from statement 2, CA is not travelling to Jaipur. The profession of persons who are going to Hyderabad has been already derived. So, CA is travelling to Ahmedabad and that person is Rohit.
Now, let’s draw the complete table.

Now only two professions and two persons are left which are Lawyer and Pilot, Khushi and Tanu. In statement 6 it is clearly mentioned that Tanu is not a lawyer, so he must be a Pilot and Khushi will be Lawyer. So, the Conclusion is

 Both persons who live on the top floor and lowermost floor their height difference are maximums so the one who is tallest and the one who is the shortest life either on 1^st or 8^th floor. 
Case 1: Shortest person live on the 8^th floor- 
 Only one person lives between D and the one who is the shortest. D must live on the 6^th floor. 
One person lives between D and the one whose height is 180cm. So the one whose height is 180cm lives on the 4^th floor. 
G’s height is 178cm and lives just above E. One person lives between E and A and E lives above A. So, G must live on 5^th floor, E lives on the 4^th floor and A must live on the 2^nd floor. 
Not more than two persons are shorter than E So E’s height cannot be more than 170cm so this case gets rejected. 
 
Case 2: Shortest person live on 1^stfloor- 
? Only one person lives between D and the one who is the shortest. D must live on the 3^rd floor. 
? One person lives between D and the one whose height is 180cm. So the one whose height is 180cm lives on the 5^th floor. 
? G’s height is 178cm and lives just above E. One person lives between E and A and E lives above A. So, G must live on 7^th floor, E lives on the 6^th floor and A must live on the 4^th floor. 
? Not more than two persons are shorter than E and E’s height is not 168cm and E also cannot be 165cm so E must be 170cm. 
 
? One person lives between F and 170cm. F must live on the 8^th floor. 
? One person lives between D and C. C’ height is not 180cm. So C must live on the 1^st floor. 
? Not more than two persons are taller than B. So 178cm and 183cm are already other persons so B’s height must be 180cm and lives on the 5^th floor. H must be live on the 2^nd floor. 
? D is taller than A but shorter than H. D must be 173cm, A must be 168cm and H must be 175cm. 
Here is the final table: 

This is how you should solve the puzzle.