Learn Directions Questions

Directions Questions are an important topic in the Reasoning Exam to be prepared for competitive exams be it for IBPS Clerk, PO, RRB, SO, SBI Clerk, or PO Exams. The number of questions and the complexity of questions vary from exam to exam every year.

Directions Questions are simple to understand but they can be made complex using multiple directions. Examples of Directions and Practice Directions Questions are also given in this article.

Nowadays, questions in exams are mixed with multiple concepts and it requires practice and a deep understanding of basic concepts along with quickly identifying patterns.

What are the Directions?

The direction is the information about the current position and where a person wants to move or looking towards. Directions can be either relative to some reference or movement from some previous point or position to a new point.

Cardinal Directions

There are four basic or cardinal directions as below:

1. North (N)
2. East (E)
3. South (S)
4. West (W)

These directions are denoted by the initials N, E, S, and W. East (E) and West (W) are horizontally opposite to each other. North (N) and South (S) are Vertically opposite to each other.

Intermediate Directions

There are intermediate directions that are in between the four major directions. Below are the intermediate directions:

1. North-East (NE)
2. South-East (SE)
3. South-West (SW)
4. North-West (NW)

How to consider directions?

At any given point for considering theoretical understanding or solving questions, we’ll assume a point of the current location, and Topside will be North. Then the right side of that point will be East, the Downside of that point will be South and the Left side of the point is West.

Assuming these directions are respective to the point, any given question on directions can be solved.

How to solve the Direction Question?

For solving any question on direction, we need to consider or draw a point on the paper and then as per the question do the movement by drawing lines and putting distance information on lines.

Finally, the question will be asking for total distance traveled or which direction a person is standing in respective to the starting point.

Example on Directions Question

Below are the examples that guide me through solving the directions questions:

Example 1: At a point, A Mr. X is standing, he starts walking towards North for 5 KMs and then turn right and travel straight for another 5 KMs. Now Mr. X turns right and travels 2 km.

Find the total distance Mr. X traveled from point A?

Solution 1: From the above questions we will draw directions, and we’ll get the below diagram:

From the above diagram, we can clearly calculate the total distance traveled by Mr. X will be 5 KMs + 5 KMs + 2 KMs = 12 KMs.

Tip: For solving this question we didn’t require to draw a diagram, only the total distance traveled needed to be summed up. Hence, we need to carefully read questions before solving it.

Example 2: From the above example find Mr. X is in which direction, compared to Point A?

Solution 2: From the above direction it’s clearly visible that Mr. X is standing North of Point A. Also, Mr. X is standing in the East direction respective to Point A.

Also, the more appropriate direction where Mr. X is standing, with respect to point A is North-East (NE). It depends on options to rule out incorrect to find the correct option.

Practice Directions Questions

Below are the Practice Directions Questions:

1. At point A Mr. X is standing, he starts walking towards North for 5 KMs and then turns right and travels straight for another 5 KMs. Now Mr. X turns right and travels 2 km. Finally, Mr. X turns right and travels for 7 KMs. Find Mr. X is standing in which direction with respect to Point A?
2. At point A Mr. X is standing, he starts walking towards North for 5 KMs and then turns right and travels straight for another 5 KMs. Now Mr. X turns right and travels 8 km. Find Mr. X is standing in which direction with respect to Point A?
3. At point A Mr. X is standing, he starts walking towards North for 5 KMs and then turns right and travels straight for another 5 KMs. Now Mr. X turns right and travels 8 km. Finally, Mr. X turns right and travels for 8 KMs. Find Mr. X is standing in which direction with respect to Point A?
4. At point A Mr. X is standing, he starts walking towards North for 5 KMs and then turns right and travels straight for another 5 KMs. Now Mr. X turns right and travels 8 km. Find the total distance traveled by Mr. X with respect to Point A?
5. At point A Mr. X is standing, he starts walking towards North for 5 KMs and then turns right and travels straight for another 5 KMs. Now Mr. X turns right and travels 8 km. Finally, Mr. X turns right and travels for 8 KMs. Find the total distance traveled by Mr. X with respect to Point A?

Final Words

Practicing the above Directions practice questions is not the end of your practice, but it’s the start of a new journey to apply logic on Directions Questions with multiple approaches in a right and faster way.

For cracking competitive exams one must practice more and more number of Directions questions. At last, during the exam, if a solution for the Directions Questions cannot be found easily then mark that question to revisit and move ahead instead of wasting time and energy.