Directions for the following 2 (two) items: Read the following information and answer the two items that follow.
The plan of an office block for six officers A, B, C, D, E and F is as follows: Both B and C occupy offices to the right of the corridor (as one enters the office block) and A occupies on the left of the corridor. E and F occupy offices on opposite sides of the corridor but their offices do not face each other. The offices of C and D face each other. E does not have a corner office. F’s office is further down the corridor than A’s, but on the same side.
Who is/are F’s immediate neighbour/neighbours?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (a) A only
F has the corner office at the far end of the left side, with A's office beside it (D, A, F from the entrance). B's office faces F across the corridor but is not beside it, so A is F's only immediate neighbour.
- Sides: B and C are on the right, A on the left. D faces C, so D is on the left; F is on A's side, so F is on the left, and E is on the right.
- Each side has three offices. E has no corner office, so E is in the middle office on the right.
- F does not face E, so F is not in the middle; F is further down than A, so F has the far-end office on the left.
- D must face C; the middle office on the right is E's, so C and D take the offices nearest the entrance. A is left-middle and B right far-end.
- Layout from the entrance — left side: D, A, F; right side: C, E, B.
- F is at the end of the left side, so the only office beside F is A's; B, across the corridor, faces F rather than adjoins it.
Remember · Neighbours share a wall on the same side; an office across the corridor is 'facing', not 'next to'.
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·