List of top Decision Making Questions

There are five sets of digits, Set A, Set B, Set C, Set D and Set E, arranged in a row as shown below. Set A holds one digit, Set B holds two digits, Set C holds three digits, Set D holds two digits and Set E holds one digit.

Set A: 7, Set B: 28, Set C: 196, Set D: 34, Set E: 5.

A rearrangement means picking one digit out of one set and swapping it with one digit from a different set. The goal is to keep making such swaps, one at a time, until the three-digit number in Set C becomes an exact multiple of the numbers formed by every other set, that is, of Set A, Set B, Set D and Set E, all at once. In the starting arrangement above, Set C (196) is already a multiple of Set A (77) and of Set B (28), since \(196 = 7 \times 28\), but it is not a multiple of Set D (34) or of Set E (55).

After the digits are rearranged so that Set C becomes a multiple of Set A, Set B, Set D and Set E all together, which pair of digits ends up in Set A and Set E?

Directions: Professor Mukhopadhay works only on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. She performs four different activities: lecturing, conducting quizzes, evaluating quizzes, and working on consultancy projects. Each working day she performs exactly one activity in the morning and exactly one activity in the afternoon. Her weekly schedule must satisfy all of the following restrictions:

1. She conducts quizzes on exactly three mornings.
2. If she conducts a quiz on Monday, she does not conduct a quiz on Tuesday.
3. She lectures in the afternoon on exactly two consecutive calendar days.
4. She evaluates quizzes on exactly one morning and three afternoons.
5. She works on a consultancy project on exactly one morning.
6. On Saturday, she neither lectures nor conducts a quiz.

Which of the following statements must be true?

Directions: Professor Mukhopadhay works only on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. She performs four different activities: lecturing, conducting quizzes, evaluating quizzes, and working on consultancy projects. Each working day she performs exactly one activity in the morning and exactly one activity in the afternoon. Her weekly schedule must satisfy all of the following restrictions:

1. She conducts quizzes on exactly three mornings.
2. If she conducts a quiz on Monday, she does not conduct a quiz on Tuesday.
3. She lectures in the afternoon on exactly two consecutive calendar days.
4. She evaluates quizzes on exactly one morning and three afternoons.
5. She works on a consultancy project on exactly one morning.
6. On Saturday, she neither lectures nor conducts a quiz.

If the Professor conducts a quiz on Tuesday, then her schedule for evaluating quizzes could be:

Directions: Professor Mukhopadhay works only on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. She performs four different activities: lecturing, conducting quizzes, evaluating quizzes, and working on consultancy projects. Each working day she performs exactly one activity in the morning and exactly one activity in the afternoon. Her weekly schedule must satisfy all of the following restrictions:

1. She conducts quizzes on exactly three mornings.
2. If she conducts a quiz on Monday, she does not conduct a quiz on Tuesday.
3. She lectures in the afternoon on exactly two consecutive calendar days.
4. She evaluates quizzes on exactly one morning and three afternoons.
5. She works on a consultancy project on exactly one morning.
6. On Saturday, she neither lectures nor conducts a quiz.

Which one of the following must be a day on which the professor lectures?

There are five sets of digits, Set A, Set B, Set C, Set D and Set E, arranged in a row as shown below. Set A holds one digit, Set B holds two digits, Set C holds three digits, Set D holds two digits and Set E holds one digit.

Set A: 7, Set B: 28, Set C: 196, Set D: 34, Set E: 5.

A rearrangement means picking one digit out of one set and swapping it with one digit from a different set. The goal is to keep making such swaps, one at a time, until the three-digit number in Set C becomes an exact multiple of the numbers formed by every other set, that is, of Set A, Set B, Set D and Set E, all at once. In the starting arrangement above, Set C (196) is already a multiple of Set A (77) and of Set B (28), since \(196 = 7 \times 28\), but it is not a multiple of Set D (34) or of Set E (55).

What is the minimum number of rearrangements needed to reach an arrangement where Set C is a multiple of Set A, Set B, Set D and Set E together? Each rearrangement is one swap of a single digit between two of the five sets; for instance, swapping the 1 in Set C with the 5 in Set E would count as one rearrangement.

In a game, a "word" is any combination of at least five letters of the English alphabet (the word does not have to have a meaning). A "sentence" in this game consists of exactly six such words, and it must satisfy all of the following rules:
1. The six words are written from left to right on a single line, in strictly increasing alphabetical order.
2. The sentence may start with any word. Each successive word is obtained from the word right before it by applying exactly ONE of three operations: deleting one letter, adding one letter, or replacing one letter with another letter.
3. At most three of the six words can begin with the same letter.
4. Apart from the first word, every word must be formed using an operation different from the one used to form the word immediately before it (so the same operation can never be used twice in a row).

The last letter of the English alphabet that the first word of a sentence in the word game can begin with is

In a game, a "word" is any combination of at least five letters of the English alphabet (the word does not have to have a meaning). A "sentence" in this game consists of exactly six such words, and it must satisfy all of the following rules:
1. The six words are written from left to right on a single line, in strictly increasing alphabetical order.
2. The sentence may start with any word. Each successive word is obtained from the word right before it by applying exactly ONE of three operations: deleting one letter, adding one letter, or replacing one letter with another letter.
3. At most three of the six words can begin with the same letter.
4. Apart from the first word, every word must be formed using an operation different from the one used to form the word immediately before it (so the same operation can never be used twice in a row).

If the first word in a sentence is "illicit" and the fourth word is "licit", then the third word can be

In a game, a "word" is any combination of at least five letters of the English alphabet (the word does not have to have a meaning). A "sentence" in this game consists of exactly six such words, and it must satisfy all of the following rules:
1. The six words are written from left to right on a single line, in strictly increasing alphabetical order.
2. The sentence may start with any word. Each successive word is obtained from the word right before it by applying exactly ONE of three operations: deleting one letter, adding one letter, or replacing one letter with another letter.
3. At most three of the six words can begin with the same letter.
4. Apart from the first word, every word must be formed using an operation different from the one used to form the word immediately before it (so the same operation can never be used twice in a row).

If "clean" is the first word in a sentence and "learn" is another word in the sentence, then which one of the following is a complete and accurate list of the positions "learn" could occupy?

In a game, a "word" is any combination of at least five letters of the English alphabet (the word does not have to have a meaning). A "sentence" in this game consists of exactly six such words, and it must satisfy all of the following rules:
1. The six words are written from left to right on a single line, in strictly increasing alphabetical order.
2. The sentence may start with any word. Each successive word is obtained from the word right before it by applying exactly ONE of three operations: deleting one letter, adding one letter, or replacing one letter with another letter.
3. At most three of the six words can begin with the same letter.
4. Apart from the first word, every word must be formed using an operation different from the one used to form the word immediately before it (so the same operation can never be used twice in a row).

If the first word in a sentence consists of five letters, then the maximum number of letters that the fifth word in the sentence could contain is

Directions: Professor Mukhopadhay works only on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. She performs four different activities: lecturing, conducting quizzes, evaluating quizzes, and working on consultancy projects. Each working day she performs exactly one activity in the morning and exactly one activity in the afternoon. Her weekly schedule must satisfy all of the following restrictions:

1. She conducts quizzes on exactly three mornings.
2. If she conducts a quiz on Monday, she does not conduct a quiz on Tuesday.
3. She lectures in the afternoon on exactly two consecutive calendar days.
4. She evaluates quizzes on exactly one morning and three afternoons.
5. She works on a consultancy project on exactly one morning.
6. On Saturday, she neither lectures nor conducts a quiz.

On Wednesdays, the professor could be scheduled to:

During a four-week period, each one of seven previously unadvertised products, G, H, J, K, L, M and O, will be advertised. A different pair of these products will be advertised during each of the four weeks. Exactly one of these seven products will be advertised during two of the four weeks; none of the other six products is repeated in any pair. The following conditions must hold.

1. J is not advertised during a given week unless H is advertised during the week immediately before it.
2. The product that is advertised twice is advertised during week 4 but is not advertised during week 3.
3. G is not advertised during a given week unless either J or O is also advertised during that same week.
4. K is advertised during one of the first two weeks.
5. O is one of the products advertised during week 3.

Which one of the following is a product that could be advertised in any of the four weeks?

In a game, a "word" is any combination of at least five letters of the English alphabet (the word does not have to have a meaning). A "sentence" in this game consists of exactly six such words, and it must satisfy all of the following rules:
1. The six words are written from left to right on a single line, in strictly increasing alphabetical order.
2. The sentence may start with any word. Each successive word is obtained from the word right before it by applying exactly ONE of three operations: deleting one letter, adding one letter, or replacing one letter with another letter.
3. At most three of the six words can begin with the same letter.
4. Apart from the first word, every word must be formed using an operation different from the one used to form the word immediately before it (so the same operation can never be used twice in a row).

Which one of the following could be a sentence in the word game?

During a four-week period, each one of seven previously unadvertised products, G, H, J, K, L, M and O, will be advertised. A different pair of these products will be advertised during each of the four weeks. Exactly one of these seven products will be advertised during two of the four weeks; none of the other six products is repeated in any pair. The following conditions must hold.

1. J is not advertised during a given week unless H is advertised during the week immediately before it.
2. The product that is advertised twice is advertised during week 4 but is not advertised during week 3.
3. G is not advertised during a given week unless either J or O is also advertised during that same week.
4. K is advertised during one of the first two weeks.
5. O is one of the products advertised during week 3.

Which one of the following could be the schedule of the advertisements?

During a four-week period, each one of seven previously unadvertised products, G, H, J, K, L, M and O, will be advertised. A different pair of these products will be advertised during each of the four weeks. Exactly one of these seven products will be advertised during two of the four weeks; none of the other six products is repeated in any pair. The following conditions must hold.

1. J is not advertised during a given week unless H is advertised during the week immediately before it.
2. The product that is advertised twice is advertised during week 4 but is not advertised during week 3.
3. G is not advertised during a given week unless either J or O is also advertised during that same week.
4. K is advertised during one of the first two weeks.
5. O is one of the products advertised during week 3.

Which one of the following is a pair of products that could be advertised during the same week?

During a four-week period, each one of seven previously unadvertised products, G, H, J, K, L, M and O, will be advertised. A different pair of these products will be advertised during each of the four weeks. Exactly one of these seven products will be advertised during two of the four weeks; none of the other six products is repeated in any pair. The following conditions must hold.

1. J is not advertised during a given week unless H is advertised during the week immediately before it.
2. The product that is advertised twice is advertised during week 4 but is not advertised during week 3.
3. G is not advertised during a given week unless either J or O is also advertised during that same week.
4. K is advertised during one of the first two weeks.
5. O is one of the products advertised during week 3.

If L is the product that is advertised during two of the weeks, which one of the following is a product that MUST be advertised during one of the weeks in which L is advertised?

Directions for questions 49 to 52: There are exactly ten stores and no other buildings on a straight street in Bistupur Market. On the northern side of the street, from west to east, are stores 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9. On the southern side, also from west to east, are stores 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10. The stores on the northern side sit directly across the street from the stores on the southern side, facing each other in pairs: 1 and 2; 3 and 4; 5 and 6; 7 and 8; 9 and 10.

Each store is decorated with lights in exactly one colour: green, red, or yellow. The lighting follows these rules:
1. No store has the same light colour as a store next to it on the same side of the street.
2. No store has the same light colour as the store directly across the street from it.
3. Yellow lights decorate exactly one store on each side of the street.
4. Store 4 has red lights.
5. Store 5 has yellow lights.

If green lights decorate store 7, then each of the following statements could be false EXCEPT:

Directions for questions 49 to 52: There are exactly ten stores and no other buildings on a straight street in Bistupur Market. On the northern side of the street, from west to east, are stores 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9. On the southern side, also from west to east, are stores 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10. The stores on the northern side sit directly across the street from the stores on the southern side, facing each other in pairs: 1 and 2; 3 and 4; 5 and 6; 7 and 8; 9 and 10.

Each store is decorated with lights in exactly one colour: green, red, or yellow. The lighting follows these rules:
1. No store has the same light colour as a store next to it on the same side of the street.
2. No store has the same light colour as the store directly across the street from it.
3. Yellow lights decorate exactly one store on each side of the street.
4. Store 4 has red lights.
5. Store 5 has yellow lights.

Suppose that yellow lights decorate exactly two stores on the south side of the street and exactly one store on the north side. If all other conditions remain the same, then which one of the following statements MUST be true?

Directions for questions 49 to 52: There are exactly ten stores and no other buildings on a straight street in Bistupur Market. On the northern side of the street, from west to east, are stores 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9. On the southern side, also from west to east, are stores 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10. The stores on the northern side sit directly across the street from the stores on the southern side, facing each other in pairs: 1 and 2; 3 and 4; 5 and 6; 7 and 8; 9 and 10.

Each store is decorated with lights in exactly one colour: green, red, or yellow. The lighting follows these rules:
1. No store has the same light colour as a store next to it on the same side of the street.
2. No store has the same light colour as the store directly across the street from it.
3. Yellow lights decorate exactly one store on each side of the street.
4. Store 4 has red lights.
5. Store 5 has yellow lights.

Which one of the following statements MUST be true?

Directions for questions 49 to 52: There are exactly ten stores and no other buildings on a straight street in Bistupur Market. On the northern side of the street, from west to east, are stores 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9. On the southern side, also from west to east, are stores 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10. The stores on the northern side sit directly across the street from the stores on the southern side, facing each other in pairs: 1 and 2; 3 and 4; 5 and 6; 7 and 8; 9 and 10.

Each store is decorated with lights in exactly one colour: green, red, or yellow. The lighting follows these rules:
1. No store has the same light colour as a store next to it on the same side of the street.
2. No store has the same light colour as the store directly across the street from it.
3. Yellow lights decorate exactly one store on each side of the street.
4. Store 4 has red lights.
5. Store 5 has yellow lights.

Which one of the following could be an accurate list of the colours of the lights that decorate stores 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10, respectively?

Six square states of equal area are arranged in two columns running north to south in a country. State 1, State 3, and State 5 lie on the western side, from north to south, and State 2, State 4, and State 6 lie on the eastern side, from north to south, so the states directly across the street from each other are State 1 and State 2, State 3 and State 4, and State 5 and State 6. Two states share a boundary if they sit next to each other in the same column (north-south) or directly across from each other (east-west). Within these six states there are exactly eight institutions in total: four medical institutes, two management institutes, and two technical institutes, placed according to these rules:

1. No institution is located in more than one state.
2. No state contains more than one management institute, and no state contains more than one technical institute.
3. No state contains both a management institute and a technical institute.
4. Every management institute is located in a state that also contains at least one medical institute.
5. The two technical institutes are located in states that do not share a common boundary.
6. State 3 contains a technical institute, and State 6 contains a management institute.

If each of the six states contains at least one of the eight institutions, then which one of the following must be true?

Six square states of equal area are arranged in two columns running north to south in a country. State 1, State 3, and State 5 lie on the western side, from north to south, and State 2, State 4, and State 6 lie on the eastern side, from north to south, so the states directly across the street from each other are State 1 and State 2, State 3 and State 4, and State 5 and State 6. Two states share a boundary if they sit next to each other in the same column (north-south) or directly across from each other (east-west). Within these six states there are exactly eight institutions in total: four medical institutes, two management institutes, and two technical institutes, placed according to these rules:

1. No institution is located in more than one state.
2. No state contains more than one management institute, and no state contains more than one technical institute.
3. No state contains both a management institute and a technical institute.
4. Every management institute is located in a state that also contains at least one medical institute.
5. The two technical institutes are located in states that do not share a common boundary.
6. State 3 contains a technical institute, and State 6 contains a management institute.

If one of the states contains exactly two medical institutes and exactly one technical institute, then which combination of three states might contain no medical institute?

Six square states of equal area are arranged in two columns running north to south in a country. State 1, State 3, and State 5 lie on the western side, from north to south, and State 2, State 4, and State 6 lie on the eastern side, from north to south, so the states directly across the street from each other are State 1 and State 2, State 3 and State 4, and State 5 and State 6. Two states share a boundary if they sit next to each other in the same column (north-south) or directly across from each other (east-west). Within these six states there are exactly eight institutions in total: four medical institutes, two management institutes, and two technical institutes, placed according to these rules:

1. No institution is located in more than one state.
2. No state contains more than one management institute, and no state contains more than one technical institute.
3. No state contains both a management institute and a technical institute.
4. Every management institute is located in a state that also contains at least one medical institute.
5. The two technical institutes are located in states that do not share a common boundary.
6. State 3 contains a technical institute, and State 6 contains a management institute.

A complete and accurate list of the states, any one of which could contain the management institute that is not in State 6, would be _____.

Six square states of equal area are arranged in two columns running north to south in a country. State 1, State 3, and State 5 lie on the western side, from north to south, and State 2, State 4, and State 6 lie on the eastern side, from north to south, so the states directly across the street from each other are State 1 and State 2, State 3 and State 4, and State 5 and State 6. Two states share a boundary if they sit next to each other in the same column (north-south) or directly across from each other (east-west). Within these six states there are exactly eight institutions in total: four medical institutes, two management institutes, and two technical institutes, placed according to these rules:

1. No institution is located in more than one state.
2. No state contains more than one management institute, and no state contains more than one technical institute.
3. No state contains both a management institute and a technical institute.
4. Every management institute is located in a state that also contains at least one medical institute.
5. The two technical institutes are located in states that do not share a common boundary.
6. State 3 contains a technical institute, and State 6 contains a management institute.

Which one of the following could be true?

Q130. Mr Basu looks at the calendar for the year 20ab. He finds that April 20ab has exactly four Mondays and four Fridays. 1st April 20ab would fall on a ______.

Directions for Q125-129: The following set of questions is based on a decision-making situation described below. Read the passage and answer the questions that follow.

Ram Kumar, an overworked executive in Delhi, has to decide on the travel plan for attending his friend's marriage in Ajmer, Rajasthan. He has barely managed to get leave from his boss, so he must make sure he reaches Ajmer at least on the day of the marriage. Since it had been a while since his last break, he also planned to visit a few tourist spots along the way to de-stress after a year of demanding work.

As per his plan, Ram would start from Delhi and first visit the Bharatpur bird sanctuary, staying at the forest guest house for some time. He would then travel to Jodhpur for a day or two of sightseeing, and from Jodhpur move to Jaipur to spend a few days visiting the city. After that he would travel on to Ajmer, where his friend's wedding would take place.

Leg 1, Delhi to Bharatpur (bus, taxi or train, all three taking 12 hours): the probability of reaching on time is 0.65 by bus, 0.75 by taxi and 0.9 by train.
Leg 2, Bharatpur to Jodhpur (train, bus or private taxi): the probability of reaching on time is 0.9 by train (12 hours), 0.8 by bus (16 hours) and 0.85 by taxi (14 hours).
Leg 3, Jodhpur to Jaipur (flight, train, bus or taxi): the probability of reaching on time is 0.85 by flight (2 hours), 0.9 by train (10 hours), 0.65 by bus (15 hours) and 0.7 by taxi (15 hours).
Leg 4, Jaipur to Ajmer (train, bus or taxi): the probability of reaching on time is 0.75 by train (4 hours), 0.55 by bus (5 hours) and 0.55 by taxi (5 hours).

Since both Jaipur and Jodhpur have airports, Ram could also fly directly from Delhi to either city, or use a flight partway along with a combination of land transport.

Q125. The second best option (in terms of travel time) gives a total travel time of ______ hours for the entire itinerary.