SPI Reasoning · Free notes

Order, Ranking and Arrangement: SPI Reasoning

Order, Ranking and Arrangement has 5 questions in the SPI bank: one rank question from the Sample Paper and a set of four from the 2022 paper on a single puzzle about a family's incomes and jobs. The rank question is one line of arithmetic. The puzzle set is where the time goes, and the way to save it is to write the full income line once, fill a grid of people and jobs, and read all four answers off that one picture.

The handout has every subtopic, worked example, formula and trap with answers shown. The formula sheet is the chapter’s formulas and traps alone, on one page.

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Subtopic notes

Ranks and Order Puzzles
5 questions
A rank counts a person's place from one end of a line; an order puzzle builds the whole line from comparisons, then matches each person to a job by cutting what the clues forbid.

Formula & revision sheet

1 formulas · 5 gotchas across all subtopics — the exam-eve cheat-sheet

Ranks and Order Puzzles

Formulas (1)

Rank from the top and from the bottom · Total and rank from the other end $N = T + B - 1 \qquad B = N - T + 1$

Watch out for (5)

Adding the ranks without taking one away
→ Rank from the top and from the bottom
Counting the end people as between
→ Rank from the top and from the bottom
Reading 'more than only' as 'more than'
→ Build the line, then fill the grid
Answering from half the clues
→ Build the line, then fill the grid
Trusting a puzzle that does not add up
→ Build the line, then fill the grid

Question weightage by concept

2 concepts · 5 questions — where the marks actually sit, so you know what to drill first

Ranks and Order Puzzles5 questions · 100%

Concept	Qs	Share
Build the line, then fill the grid	4	80%
Rank from the top and from the bottom	1	20%

Test yourself on a real paper

Sit a past SPI paper, timed and marked the way the exam marks it. You see your score and every answer the moment you finish. Free to start.

Sit an SPI past paper