Reasoning Ability

Direction Sense questions with solutions

Direction sense questions ask where someone ends up after a series of walks and turns. They appear in SSC, railway and bank clerk papers, and are easy marks once you track the two axes separately.

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Prepared by the CBTAdda content team · Updated 28 October 2026 · How we check our content

How to solve direction sense questions

Draw the path with north at the top. A right turn while facing north means facing east; a left turn means facing west.
Add up the east–west and the north–south movements separately.
If both are non-zero, the distance is √(x² + y²) and the direction combines both (for example north-east).

Common trap: After each turn, the new direction depends on the direction you were facing, not on north.

10 practice questions

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Sneha walks 7 m south, then turns right and walks 50 m, then turns left and walks 5 m, then turns left and walks 55 m. How far and in which direction is he from his starting point?
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Answer: (C) 13 m south-east. Track east–west and north–south separately: he ends 5 m east and 12 m south of the start. Distance = √(5² + 12²) = 13 m. So he is 13 m south-east of the start.
Sneha walks 50 m west, then turns left and walks 35 m, then turns left and walks 5 m, then turns left and walks 7 m. How far and in which direction is he from his starting point?
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Answer: (C) 53 m south-west. Track east–west and north–south separately: he ends 45 m west and 28 m south of the start. Distance = √(45² + 28²) = 53 m. So he is 53 m south-west of the start.
Priya walks 20 m west, then turns right and walks 4 m, then turns right and walks 20 m. How far and in which direction is he from his starting point?
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Answer: (A) 4 m north. Track east–west and north–south separately: he ends level east–west and 4 m north of the start. So he is 4 m north of the start.
Pooja walks 60 m east, then turns right and walks 35 m, then turns left and walks 9 m, then turns left and walks 35 m. How far and in which direction is he from his starting point?
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Answer: (D) 69 m east. Track east–west and north–south separately: he ends 69 m east and level north–south of the start. So he is 69 m east of the start.
Karan walks 5 m south, then turns right and walks 2 m, then turns right and walks 10 m, then turns right and walks 2 m. How far and in which direction is he from his starting point?
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Answer: (D) 5 m north. Track east–west and north–south separately: he ends level east–west and 5 m north of the start. So he is 5 m north of the start.
Aman walks 20 m north, then turns right and walks 25 m, then turns left and walks 40 m. How far and in which direction is he from his starting point?
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Answer: (B) 65 m north-east. Track east–west and north–south separately: he ends 25 m east and 60 m north of the start. Distance = √(25² + 60²) = 65 m. So he is 65 m north-east of the start.
Priya walks 6 m east, then turns left and walks 15 m, then turns right and walks 20 m, then turns right and walks 15 m. How far and in which direction is he from his starting point?
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Answer: (A) 26 m east. Track east–west and north–south separately: he ends 26 m east and level north–south of the start. So he is 26 m east of the start.
Sneha walks 25 m west, then turns right and walks 40 m, then turns right and walks 25 m. How far and in which direction is he from his starting point?
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Answer: (B) 40 m north. Track east–west and north–south separately: he ends level east–west and 40 m north of the start. So he is 40 m north of the start.
Pooja walks 30 m west, then turns left and walks 10 m, then turns right and walks 20 m, then turns right and walks 10 m. How far and in which direction is he from his starting point?
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Answer: (C) 50 m west. Track east–west and north–south separately: he ends 50 m west and level north–south of the start. So he is 50 m west of the start.
Ravi walks 11 m south, then turns left and walks 12 m, then turns left and walks 6 m. How far and in which direction is he from his starting point?
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Answer: (C) 13 m south-east. Track east–west and north–south separately: he ends 12 m east and 5 m south of the start. Distance = √(12² + 5²) = 13 m. So he is 13 m south-east of the start.