IMPORTANCE IN CAT

Complex arrangement is a part of Logical reasoning Average weightage over the years has been around 25 30% of Logical Reasoning Trends:
Decrease in number of questions per set
Question sets with 1 3 questions in place of 4 5 questions per set

Increase in level of difficulty

More emphasis given on conditional questions and reduction in the number of direct questions

TYPES OF QUESTIONS
Direct Arrangement Conditional Arrangement Additional Information Questions

METHODS
Consolidated Table Method Matrix Method

Ex. 1: There is a group of 5 persons A, B, C, D and E. Badminton, chess and tennis is played by 3 of them. 1. A and D are unmarried ladies and they do not play any games. 2. No lady is a chess player or a badminton player. 3. There is a married couple in the group of which E is the husband. 4. B is the brother of C. B is neither a chess player nor a tennis player. [SNAP 2008]
Eliminated options Names Sport Gender Marital Status Q1. Which of the groups has only ladies? A None Unmarried a) ABCc, b, t, m b) BCD f c) CDE above B b d) None m of the Unmarried Q2. Who is the tennis player? C t f Married Q3. Who ist, the c, b, m wife of E? D None f Unmarried E c m Married

Q1. Which of the groups has only ladies? a) ABC b) BCD c) CDE d) None of the above Q2. Who is the tennis player? Q3. Who is the wife of E?

Eliminated options c, b, t, m

Names A B C

Sport None b t None c

Gender Marital Status f m f f m Unmarried Unmarried Married Unmarried Married

c, b, t, m

D E

Ex 1: John, Mark, Andrew, Paul and Simon play the drums, the flute, the keyboard, the guitar and the bass and belong to South Africa, USA, Ireland, France and England in no particular order. Their hair colours are blonde, green, red, black and yellow, in any order. 1. Johns hair is red. 2. Andrew plays the drums, his hair isnt yellow and he isnt from the USA. 3. Paul and Simon have yellow and green hair, and are from France and USA but not necessarily in that order. 4. Mark from England plays the guitar. 5. The Irishman has blonde hair, and the Frenchman has green hair. 6. The South African plays the bass and the American plays the keyboards. One of them has yellow hair. Q1. Which country is Andrew from? Eliminated Options Name Instrument Country Hair Q2. Which member of the band has black hair? colour Q3. From which countries do the Flute and Bass players (in that order) come? John b SA re Q4: If Simon plays the Flute, which member of yellow hair? ye, USA Andrew dthe band has IRE bl Q5: If Paul is French, what instrument does Simon play? Mark g ENG bk Paul f/k FR/USA gr/ye SA, IRE, bl, bk SA, IRE, bl, bk Simon k/f USA/FR ye/gr

EXAMPLES COMPLEX ARRANGEMENT

Q1. Which country is Andrew from? Sol: Andrew belongs to Ireland. Q2. Which member of the band has black hair? Sol: Mark has black hair. Q3. From which countries do the Flute and Bass players (in that order) come? Sol: Flute is played by the Frenchman and Bass is played by the South African.
Eliminated Options Name John Andrew Mark SA, IRE, bl, bk SA, IRE, bl, bk Paul Simon Instrument b d g f/k k/f Country SA IRE ENG FR/USA USA/FR Hair colour re bl bk gr/ye ye/gr

ye, USA

EXAMPLES COMPLEX ARRANGEMENT

Q4: If Simon plays the Flute, which member of the band has yellow hair? Sol: Simon plays flute, the Frenchman plays flute. Hence Simon is the Frenchman. Thus Paul is from the USA and has yellow hair. Q5: If Paul is French, what instrument does Simon play? Sol: The Frenchman plays the Flute. If Paul is French, Simon is from the USA and he plays the Keyboard.
Eliminated Options Name John Andrew Mark SA, IRE, bl, bk SA, IRE, bl, bk Paul Simon Instrument b d g f/k k f k/f k f Country SA IRE ENG Hair colour re bl bk gr/ye ye gr ye/gr ye gr

ye, USA

USA FR/USA FR
USA/FR USA FR

Ex 3: Six friends Abhishek, Deepak, Mridul, Pritam, Ranjan and Salil get married in February, April, July, September, November and December in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, not necessarily following the above order. The brides' names were Geetika, Jasmine, Hema, Brinda, Ipsita, and Veena. 1. Mridul's wedding took place in Chennai but not to Geetika or Veena. 2. Abhishek's wedding took place in Ahmedabad and Ranjan's in Delhi. Neither of them was married to Jasmine or Brinda. 3. The wedding in Kolkata took place in February. 4. Hema's wedding took place in April, but not in Ahmedabad. 5. Geetika and Ipsita got married in February and November and in Chennai and Kolkata, but not following the above order. 6. Pritam visited Bengaluru and Kolkata only after his marriage in December. 7. Salil was married to Jasmine in September. Q1. Deepaks wedding took placeGroom in which city? Eliminated Options Bride Month City Q2. In Mumbai, the wedding took place in the month of ______. J, B, H, apr, I, took place in which A city? V jul Ah Q3. Ipsita's wedding J, I, husband is __________. D G feb Ko Q4. Hema's Q5. Salil's was held in which J, G, wedding V, M city? I nov Ch J, I, Be, Ko, J, B, I, I, P R S B H J dec apr sep Mu De Be

Q1. Deepaks wedding took place in which city? Q2. In Mumbai, the wedding took place in the month of ______. Q3. Ipsita's wedding took place in which city? Q4. Hema's husband is __________. Q5. Salil's wedding was held in which city?

Eliminated Options J, B, H, apr, I, J, I, J, G, V, J, I, Be, Ko, J, B, I, I,

Groom A D M P R S

Bride V G I B H J

Month jul feb nov dec apr sep

City Ah Ko Ch Mu De Be

Ex 3: Six friends Abhishek, Deepak, Mridul, Pritam, Ranjan and Salil get married in February, April, July, September, November and December in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, not necessarily following the above order. The brides' names were Geetika, Jasmine, Hema, Brinda, Ipsita, and Veena. 1. Mridul's wedding took place in Chennai but not to Geetika or Veena. 2. Abhishek's wedding took place in Ahmedabad and Ranjan's in Delhi. Neither of them was married to Jasmine or Brinda. 3. The wedding in Kolkata took place in February. 4. Hema's wedding took place in April, but not in Ahmedabad. 5. Geetika and Ipsita got married in February and November and in Chennai and Kolkata, but not following the above order. 6. Pritam visited Bengaluru and Kolkata only after his marriage in December. 7. Salil was married to Jasmine in September. A D P R S

G J H B I V feb apr jul sep nov

dec Ah Be Ch De Mu Ko

Q1. Deepaks wedding took place in which city? Q2. In Mumbai, the wedding took place in the month of ______. Q3. Ipsita's wedding took place in which city? Q4. Hema's husband is __________. Q5. Salil's wedding was held in which city?

A D P R S

G J H B I V feb apr jul sep nov

dec Ah Be Ch De Mu Ko

Ex 4: Five women decided to go shopping to M.G. Road, Bangalore. They arrived at the designated meeting place in the following order: 1. Archana, 2. Chellamma, 3. Dhenuka, 4. Helen, and 5. Shahnaz. Each woman spent at least Rs.1000. 1. The woman who spent Rs.2234 arrived before the lady who spent Rs.1193. 2. One woman spent Rs.1340 and she was not Dhenuka. 3. One woman spent Rs.1378 more than Chellamma. 4. One woman spent Rs.2517 and she was not Archana. 5. Helen spent more than Dhenuka. 6. Shahnaz spent the largest amount and Chellamma the smallest. (CAT 2003 leaked test) Q1. What was the amount spent by Helen? Sr. No. Name Money Spent Q2. Which of the following amounts was spent by one of them? 1 Archana 2234 (1) Rs. 1139 (2) Rs. 1378 2 Chellamma 1193 1139 (3) Rs. 2571 (4) Rs. 2718 3 Dhenuka 1340 1193 Q3. The woman who spent Rs. 1193 is_________.
4 5 Helen 1340 2517 Shahnaz 2571 2517

Q1. What was the amount spent by Helen? Q2. Which of the following amounts was spent by one of them? (1) Rs. 1139 (2) Rs. 1378 (3) Rs. 2571 (4) Rs. 2718 Q3. The woman who spent Rs. 1193 is_______.

Sr. No. 1 2 3 4 5

Name Archana Chellamma Dhenuka Helen Shahnaz

Money Spent 2234 1139 1193 1340 2517

Ex 5: Five colleagues pooled their efforts to solve a crossword. Colleagues: Mr. Bineet, Mr. Easwar, Ms. Elsie, Ms. Sheela, Ms. Titli. Answers: Burden, Barely, Baadshah, Rosebud, Silence. Numbers: 4 down, 8 across, 15 across, 15 down, 21 across. Order: First, second, third, fourth, fifth. 1. Titli produced the answer to 8 across, which had the same number of letters as the previous answer to be inserted, and one more than the subsequent answer which was produced by one of the men. 2. Bineet didnt solve the clue to Burden, and Easwar did not solve 4 down. 3. The answers to 15 across and 15 down had different number of letters. 4. 'Silence', which was not the third word to be inserted, was the answer to an across clue. 5. 'Barely' was the first word to be entered in the grid, but 'Baadshah' was not the second answer to be found. 6. Elsie's word was longer than Bineet's; Sheela was neither the first nor the last to come up with an answer. 7. Fifth one to be worked out was an answer to an across clue. Q1. What was Sheelas word? Ans order Ans order Names Ans Nos order Q2. What could be Titlis answer? st st 1st Bar 1 Bar 1 Bineet Bar 4d Q3. What was Titlis order? Easwar Bur 15d 4th Sil/Ros Sil was Easwars 2nd Bad 2nd Q4. What number? Sil/Ros Ros was Bineets 3rd Sil/Ros 3rd Elsie Bad 15a 5th Q5. What word? Bur 4th Sil/Ros 4th Sheela Sil 21a 2nd

Bad

5th

Bur

5th

Titli

Sil/Ros Ros

8a

3rd

Q1. What was Sheelas word? Q2. What could be Titlis answer? Q3. What was Titlis order? Q4. What was Easwars number? Q5. What was Bineets word?

Names Bineet Easwar Elsie

Ans Bar Bur Bad

Nos 4d 15d 15a

order 1st 4th 5th

Sheela
Titli

Sil
Ros

21a
8a

2nd
3rd

TIPS AND STRATEGIES

The Matrix formation method leaves very little room for error. However, if the number of parameters is high, this method may become very tedious and so this method is best used for sets which dont have too many parameters. The Consolidated table method uses a much smaller table. The chances of making a mistake is higher as the options need rereading to arrive to a conclusion but this method is more convenient for question sets having many parameters.