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Order and ranking for SSC CGL

"P is 12th from the left and 17th from the right. How many are in the row?" Order and ranking questions are really about counting without an off-by-one error. The formulas and why they work, swaps, minimum-queue and comparison questions, six worked examples and eight practice questions.

30 Oct 2026 7 min read

In this guide
  1. How it appears in SSC CGL
  2. The core idea: one person counted twice
  3. Six worked examples
  4. Common mistakes
  5. Practice
  6. What to do next

Order and ranking questions are among the fastest marks in SSC reasoning, and among the easiest to drop. Almost every wrong answer here is off by exactly one. The person you are counting gets counted twice, or the two people at the ends get counted as "between".

Learn why the formulas work, keep a row of dots on your rough sheet for the tricky ones, and this topic becomes close to free.

How it appears in SSC CGL

Ranking questions appear in the reasoning sections of both tiers, usually as short one-step or two-step questions. The common forms are:

  • total people in a row or class from two positions
  • one position from the other end
  • people between two persons
  • two persons swapping places
  • minimum number of people in a queue
  • comparisons of height, age or marks ("who is third tallest?")

The number of such questions varies by shift. Longer arrangement puzzles are a separate topic; see seating arrangement and puzzles.

The core idea: one person counted twice

If a person is 12th from the left, there are 11 people to their left. If they are 17th from the right, there are 16 people to their right. The row is 11 + 16 + the person = 28. Adding 12 and 17 gives 29 because the person was counted in both numbers. Hence:

SituationFormula
Total in a rowTotal = L + R − 1
Position from the other endR = Total − L + 1
Total in a classTotal = rank from top + rank from bottom − 1
Between A (a-th from left) and B (b-th from right), no overlapTotal − (a + b)
Between A and B when their counts overlap(a + b) − Total − 2

Six worked examples

1. P is 12th from the left and 17th from the right in a row. How many people are in the row?

Total = 12 + 17 − 1 = 28. Check: 11 to the left, 16 to the right, plus P.

2. In a row of 30, A is 10th from the left and B is 12th from the right. How many people stand between them? And if B were 22nd from the right instead?

Convert B: 30 − 12 + 1 = 19th from the left. Between positions 10 and 19: 19 − 10 − 1 = 8. The formula agrees: 30 − (10 + 12) = 8.

With B 22nd from the right, B is 30 − 22 + 1 = 9th from the left, just left of A at 10th. The two are neighbours, so 0 people stand between them. The overlap formula gives (10 + 22) − 30 − 2 = 0. Always convert and picture it, because the "no overlap" formula would give a nonsense negative number here.

3. In a row, A is 8th from the left and B is 12th from the right. They swap places, and A becomes 15th from the left. How many are in the row, and where does B now stand?

After the swap, A stands in B's old place. That place is 15th from the left and 12th from the right. Total = 15 + 12 − 1 = 26. B stands in A's old place: 8th from the left, which is 26 − 8 + 1 = 19th from the right.

4. In a class of 45, a student ranks 14th from the top. What is the rank from the bottom? Another student is 9 ranks above someone who is 30th from the top. What is that student's rank?

Rank from the bottom = 45 − 14 + 1 = 32nd. "Nine ranks above 30th" means a smaller rank number: 30 − 9 = 21st.

5. In a queue, A is 5th from the front and B is 7th from the back. Exactly three people stand between A and B. What is the least possible number of people in the queue?

There are two cases, and you must test both.

  • B behind A: B is at 5 + 3 + 1 = 9th from the front. Total = 9 + 7 − 1 = 15.
  • B ahead of A: B is at 5 − 3 − 1 = 1st from the front. Total = 1 + 7 − 1 = 7.

Check the second case: seven people, B first, A fifth, three people (2nd to 4th) between them, and B is 7th from the back. It works. The least possible number is 7.

6. Among five students P, Q, R, S and T, Q is taller than R but shorter than P. S is shorter than R. T is taller than P. Who is the third tallest?

Chain the facts. P > Q > R from the first sentence. S is below R: P > Q > R > S. T is above P: T > P > Q > R > S. Every student has a fixed place. Third tallest: Q.

For comparison questions, write the chain from tallest to shortest as you read. If a person can fit in more than one place, the question may ask what "cannot be determined".

Common mistakes

MistakeFix
Forgetting the −1 in the totalRemember the person counted twice
Counting the two end people as "between"Between p and q is q − p − 1
Using the no-overlap formula when counts overlapConvert both to positions from the left first
Losing track after a swapWrite each person's new position before calculating
"Above" and "below" confusion in ranksA rank above 30th is a smaller number
Testing only one case in "minimum" questionsTry both orders and pick the smaller valid total

Practice

  1. X is 18th from the left and 23rd from the right in a row. How many people are in the row?
    • (a) 39 (b) 40 (c) 41 (d) 42
  2. In a row of 50, Y is 21st from the right. What is Y's position from the left?
  3. In a class of 60, Z is 27th from the bottom. What is Z's rank from the top?
    • (a) 33rd (b) 34th (c) 35th (d) 36th
  4. In a row of 35, M is 11th from the left and N is 15th from the right. How many people stand between M and N?
  5. P and Q swap places. P was 6th from the left and becomes 17th from the left. Q was 10th from the right. How many people are in the row?
  6. In a row of 25, A is 15th from the left and B is 14th from the right. How many people stand between them?
  7. In a class of 50, 5 students failed and were not ranked. A student is 12th from the top among those who passed. What is that student's rank from the bottom among those who passed?
  8. In a queue, K is 6th from the front and L is 8th from the back. Exactly two people stand between K and L. What is the least possible number of people in the queue?
    • (a) 10 (b) 12 (c) 14 (d) 16

Answers

  1. (b) 40. 18 + 23 − 1.
  2. 30th. 50 − 21 + 1.
  3. (b) 34th. 60 − 27 + 1.
  4. 9. N is 35 − 15 + 1 = 21st from the left. Between 11 and 21: 21 − 11 − 1 = 9.
  5. 26. After the swap, P is in Q's old place: 17th from the left and 10th from the right. 17 + 10 − 1 = 26.
  6. 2. B is 25 − 14 + 1 = 12th from the left, and A is 15th. Between 12 and 15: 15 − 12 − 1 = 2 (positions 13 and 14). The overlap formula agrees: 29 − 25 − 2 = 2.
  7. 34th. Only 45 students are ranked. 45 − 12 + 1 = 34.
  8. (a) 10. If L is behind K, L is 9th from the front and the total is 9 + 8 − 1 = 16. If L is ahead, L is 6 − 3 = 3rd from the front and the total is 3 + 8 − 1 = 10. Check: in a queue of 10, L is 3rd (8th from the back), K is 6th, and 4th and 5th stand between them.

What to do next

  1. Rederive "total = L + R − 1" on a row of five dots until you never need to memorise it.
  2. Solve 10 ranking questions a day for a week, converting every position to "from the left" before you calculate.
  3. For every minimum or maximum question, write both cases on paper, even when one looks obvious.
  4. Then move to blood relations and seating arrangement, where the same careful diagramming decides the answer.

A note on dates and numbers. Exam patterns, vacancies and schedules change from year to year. Always confirm the current details in the latest notification on the Staff Selection Commission website .

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