This Bankers Tutorial article is independent educational material. Examples are illustrative, and changing rules or examination requirements should be checked at the official source.
01 / UNDERSTANDING
Understand the idea
A reference seat reduces clutter while preserving the puzzle. The main discipline is to separate harmless rotation from a genuinely different arrangement that may change the requested relationship.
02 / UNDERSTANDING
The concept in context
A circular seating arrangement specifies relative positions rather than an absolute first seat. Fixing one person removes equivalent rotations without changing the logical relationships. Decide whether people face the centre or outward before translating left and right, and write that convention on the diagram so it remains stable throughout the solution.
Not every partial diagram is unique. Branch only when a clue leaves a real alternative, then test later clues against each branch. Avoid assigning a seat merely because it is currently empty; the remaining constraints may require a different arrangement. Opposite seats exist in the usual paired sense only when the circle has an even number of places.
03 / UNDERSTANDING
A worked learning case
Original educational case. In an original four-seat circle, all face the centre. Fix A at the top. If B is immediately left of A, B occupies the clockwise neighbour under this convention. If C sits opposite A, C is at the bottom, leaving D in the remaining seat. A single fixed reference removes rotations but does not replace the facing rule.
ORIGINAL EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE
Try it before you check.
Original practice: Four people occupy four equally spaced circular seats. If A is opposite C, how many seats lie strictly between them on either arc?
Show the answer and reasoning
One seat on each arc.
Opposite positions in a four-seat circle are two seat-steps apart. Each arc from A to C passes one intervening seat before reaching C. Counting the endpoint C as a person between would be an off-by-one error. The statement fixes their relative separation without identifying the people occupying the intervening seats.
Two traps to watch for.
- Using page-left instead of the seated person’s left.
- Assuming a partial arrangement is unique before testing alternatives.
YOUR TOPIC-SPECIFIC LEARNING MAP
Turn understanding into practice
Mark centre-facing or outward-facing explicitly.
Fix one reference person.
Validate every clue against the final circle.
Explain the idea, apply it to a new situation, then check what changed in your reasoning.
BANKERS TUTORIAL · SOURCE NOTES
Keep the source alongside your notes.
Official links provide subject context and authoritative reference material. This guide’s explanation, scenario and question are original Bankers Tutorial learning content.
- sbi.bank.in https://sbi.bank.in/web/careers/current-openings
- sbi.bank.in https://sbi.bank.in/webfiles/uploads/files_2627/09/SBI_JA-Customer_Support_Sales-IH_Pre-2026-27_Eng.pdf
For SBI preparation, check the current official notice before relying on changing dates, rules or examination requirements.
