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SSC CGL Reasoning · Order, Ranking and Arrangement

Ranking and Position

A person's place in a row counted from either end, the number of people between two places, and left and right for people facing a direction or a circle's centre.

All Order, Ranking and Arrangement notes

Why this matters

Seven questions in the bank, all from the 2025 shifts: four on ranks in a row and three on seating. Each is one or two lines of arithmetic once the two ranks are counted from the same end, or once you know which way a seated person's right hand points.

Concept 1 of 3: Rank from the left and from the right

A person 9th from the left has 8 people on that side; 14th from the right, 13 on the other side. Add both sides and the person, and you have the whole row. Every rank question is that one picture.

Definition

  • Total in the row: add the two ranks of one person and take away 1, because that person is counted in both.
  • Rank from the other end: total minus the rank, plus 1.
  • The same holds for top and bottom of a list, front and back of a queue, and a class ranked by marks.
  • A swap: when two people interchange places, each takes the other's seat. So the new rank of one person, from either end, is the other person's old rank from that end.

Ranks in a row

N=L+R−1R=N−L+1N = L + R - 1 \qquad R = N - L + 1
  • Nnumber of people in the row
  • La person's position from the left
  • Rthe same person's position from the right

Worked example

In a row of girls, Tara is 9th from the left and 14th from the right. How many girls are in the row?
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps

The same idea in a real exam question:

SSC CGL · 2025 · Tier I, 13 Sep 2025, Shift 3 · Q9Moderate

Example 1 · Order, Ranking and Arrangement · Ranking and Position

In a row, Amit is 12th from the left and Sunil is 15th from the right. After they interchange their positions, Amit becomes 17th from the left. What is the total number of persons in the row?

Adding the two ranks without taking away 1

A person 5th from the left and 8th from the right is counted in both ranks, so the row has 5+8−1=125 + 8 - 1 = 12 people, not 13. The answer that forgets the 1 is usually among the options.

Moving the ranks instead of the people

In a swap, the seats stay where they are and the people move. Each person's new rank is the old rank of the seat they move into, counted from the same end as that old rank.

Concept 2 of 3: Counting the people between two ranks

To count the people between two places, both places must be counted from the same end. Turn one rank round, subtract, and take away 1 for the person at the far end of the gap.

Definition

  • Same end: if one person is aath and another bbth from the left, the number between them is the difference of the ranks minus 1.
  • Different ends: turn one rank round first. B, RRth from the right in a row of NN, is (N−R+1)(N - R + 1)th from the left.
  • Fast route, different ends, no crossing: if A is LLth from the left and B is RRth from the right, and L+RL + R is less than NN, then N−L−RN - L - R people stand between them.
  • Crossed: if L+RL + R is more than NN, B stands to the left of A, and L+R−N−2L + R - N - 2 people stand between them. Check which case you are in before using either rule.

People between two ranks

same end: ∣a−b∣−1opposite ends: N−L−Rcrossed: L+R−N−2\text{same end: } |a - b| - 1 \qquad \text{opposite ends: } N - L - R \qquad \text{crossed: } L + R - N - 2
  • a,ba, bthe two positions, counted from the same end
  • LA's position from the left
  • RB's position from the right
  • Nnumber of people in the row

Worked example

In a row of 45 students, Kabir is 12th from the left and Neel is 21st from the right. How many students are between them?
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps

The same idea in a real exam question:

SSC CGL · 2025 · Tier I, 15 Sep 2025, Shift 3 · Q14Easy

Example 2 · Order, Ranking and Arrangement · Ranking and Position

In a row of 60 students, Meena is 25th from the left and Rupa is 20th from the right. How many students are there between them?

Subtracting ranks counted from different ends

25th from the left and 20th from the right are not 5 places apart. Turn one rank round so both count from the same end, and only then subtract.

Using the no-crossing rule after the two have crossed

N−L−RN - L - R works only when L+RL + R is less than NN. If L+RL + R is more than NN the formula gives a negative number or a wrong count; use L+R−N−2L + R - N - 2 instead.
Drill 2 more on counting the people between two ranks

Concept 3 of 3: Left and right in a row and around a circle

Left and right belong to the seated person, not to you. Turn yourself to face the way they face, and their right is your right. For a circle, picture yourself in a seat looking at the centre.

Definition

  • A row facing north: each person's right is east, which is the right side of a map. Facing south: their right is west, the map's left.
  • A circle facing the centre: moving to a person's left is clockwise and to their right is anticlockwise, seen from above. Facing outward, both turn round.
  • 'Second to the right' means one person sits between them; 'immediate right' means next to them.
  • Opposite in a circle of nn evenly spaced seats is n÷2n \div 2 seats away.
  • Procedure: number the seats, put the first named person in seat 1, place each clue by counting steps, and leave a clue with no placed person until one is placed.
  • If the stem never says which way the person you count from is facing, the side cannot be fixed, and 'Cannot be determined' may be the answer.

Worked example

Six friends P, Q, R, S, T and U sit around a round table facing the centre. Q is second to the left of P. R is opposite P. S is to the immediate left of R. T is to the immediate right of P. Who sits to the immediate left of P?
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps

The same idea in a real exam question:

SSC CGL · 2025 · Tier I, 12 Sep 2025, Shift 3 · Q10Moderate

Example 3 · Order, Ranking and Arrangement · Ranking and Position

Eight persons A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H are sitting around a circle facing the center. C is second to the right of A. E is opposite C. F is to the immediate left of E. B is to the immediate right of A. G is to the immediate left of D. Who is sitting to the right of D?

Using the page's right for a person facing you

For a person facing south, or facing the centre of a circle, their right is on the page's left. Turn yourself to face their way before you count.

Leaving two people between for 'second to the right'

Second to the right of A means one person sits between A and that seat. Third to the right means two between.
Drill 2 more on left and right in a row and around a circle

Summary — formulas & gotchas at a glance

A revision cheat-sheet for the formulas and gotchas above. Click any concept name to jump back to its full explanation.

Formulas (2)

  • Rank from the left and from the right

    Ranks in a row

    N=L+R−1R=N−L+1N = L + R - 1 \qquad R = N - L + 1
  • Counting the people between two ranks

    People between two ranks

    same end: ∣a−b∣−1opposite ends: N−L−Rcrossed: L+R−N−2\text{same end: } |a - b| - 1 \qquad \text{opposite ends: } N - L - R \qquad \text{crossed: } L + R - N - 2

Watch out for (6)

Test yourself on a real paper

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