Direction sense for IBPS Clerk

Direction questions describe a path and ask for the final distance or direction from the start. Nothing in them is hard. The errors come from doing the turns in your head. A candidate who draws every leg, even a two-leg question, rarely gets one wrong. A candidate who skips the drawing to save five seconds often turns left when the question said right.

In the prelims they come as quick standalone questions. In the mains the same skill appears as point-based sets ("P is 4 m west of Q…") and inside puzzles, sometimes joined with blood relations. Draw first, answer second, every time.

The compass

• North at the top, south at the bottom, east to the right, west to the left.
• The four in-between directions are north-east, south-east, south-west and north-west.
• A right turn is 90° clockwise. A left turn is 90° anticlockwise.

For turns by other angles, think in 45° steps around the eight-point compass: N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW, then back to N. Clockwise moves forward along this list; anticlockwise moves back.

Distance and final direction

Split the path into east–west and north–south parts. Add the parts that go the same way and subtract the ones that go opposite ways.

• If the walker ends a units east and b units north of the start, the straight-line distance is √(a² + b²).
• The triples 3–4–5, 6–8–10, 5–12–13 and 8–15–17 come up often. Spot them and skip the square root.
• Direction: if the walker ends east and north of the start, the answer is north-east. Exams use north-east for any point between north and east, not only at exactly 45°.

Worked examples

Example 1. A person walks 5 km north, turns right and walks 3 km, turns right again and walks 5 km. How far and in which direction are they from the start?

1. North 5, then right (east) 3, then right again (south) 5.
2. North and south cancel: 5 − 5 = 0. East 3 remains.
3. 3 km east.

Example 2. A person walks 6 km east, then 8 km north. Distance and direction from the start?

1. East 6, north 8. That is the 6–8–10 triple.
2. √(36 + 64) = √100 = 10.
3. 10 km, north-east.

Example 3. Starting from P, a person walks 4 km south, turns left and walks 6 km, then turns left and walks 12 km. How far and in which direction are they from P?

1. Facing south, a left turn means facing east. They walk 6 km east.
2. Facing east, a left turn means facing north. They walk 12 km north.
3. Net: 12 − 4 = 8 km north, and 6 km east.
4. √(64 + 36) = 10. 10 km, north-east.

Example 4 (angle turns). A person facing north turns 135° clockwise, then 90° anticlockwise. Which way do they face now?

1. 135° is three 45° steps. Clockwise from N: NE, E, SE. They face south-east.
2. 90° anticlockwise is two steps back: E, NE.
3. North-east.

Example 5 (point-based). P is 4 m west of Q. R is 3 m north of Q. How far is R from P, and in which direction?

1. Put Q at the centre. P is 4 m to its left, R is 3 m above it.
2. From P to R: 4 m east and 3 m north. That is the 3–4–5 triple.
3. 5 m, north-east.

Shadow questions

At midday the shadow is very short, so questions avoid noon unless they say so. The method: find which way the shadow points, then work out which way the person faces from where the shadow falls (left, right, front or behind).

Example 6. In the morning, a person's shadow falls to their right. Which way are they facing?

1. Morning shadows point west. So west is on the person's right.
2. If west is on your right, you are facing south.
3. South.

Common mistakes

• Forgetting that a turn changes the frame. "Left" after facing south is east, not west.
• Adding distances that go in opposite directions instead of subtracting them.
• Answering the walker's facing direction when the question asks for their position from the start, or the reverse.
• Mixing "A from B" with "B from A". If R is north-east of P, then P is south-west of R.
• Using morning shadows for an evening question.

Practice

Aim for six minutes, with a rough sheet.

1. A person walks 10 m south, turns left and walks 4 m, then turns left and walks 10 m. Where are they from the start?
2. A person walks 3 km west, then 4 km south. How far and in which direction are they from the start?
3. Someone facing west turns 90° anticlockwise. Which way do they face now?
4. In the evening, a person's shadow falls directly behind them. Which way are they facing?
5. A person walks 15 m north, turns right and walks 10 m, turns right and walks 7 m, then turns left and walks 5 m. How far and in which direction are they from the start?
6. Someone facing south turns 45° clockwise, then 180°. Which way do they face now?
7. At 7 a.m., a person's shadow falls exactly to their left. Which way are they facing?
8. M is 6 m east of N. O is 8 m south of M. How far is O from N, and in which direction?

Answers:

1. 4 m east. South 10, left (east) 4, left (north) 10. North and south cancel.
2. 5 km, south-west. The 3–4–5 triple.
3. South. Anticlockwise from west is south.
4. West. Evening shadows point east. If east is behind you, you face west.
5. 17 m, north-east. North 15, east 10, south 7, then left from south is east, 5 more. Net 8 m north and 15 m east. √(64 + 225) = √289 = 17.
6. North-east. 45° clockwise from south is south-west. A 180° turn from south-west is north-east.
7. North. At 7 a.m. the shadow points west. West on your left means you face north.
8. 10 m, south-east. From N: 6 m east, 8 m south. The 6–8–10 triple.

What to do next

• Redraw the turning table from memory until it takes under 20 seconds.
• Learn the four Pythagorean triples above so distance questions need no calculation.
• Solve 10 direction questions a day for a week, including two shadow and two point-based questions.
• Then practise blood relations and order and ranking, which sit in the same quick-questions block of the reasoning plan.