Rotational Type Series; Videos and Practice Questions

Questions based on series are very common in competitive exams. They are very tricky questions because there is no set approach to solve these questions. Today our topic from series section is rotational type series. Rotational Type Series occurs in many competitive exams like MBA based CAT exams, banking based IBPS PO, SSC etc. We will explain you the approach the questions from this section. There are also enough questions for you to practice at the end. These questions are designed based on the questions from previous year papers.

What is Rotational Type Series?

In rotating type series questions, you are given a series in the form of figures in the question. And subsequently, you will be asked to establish the relationship between these figures. These questions are usually asked in the reasoning ability section and they are of easy to moderate level.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

The important thing you need to remember before solving rotating type series questions is the direction as given in the figure.

Anti-clockwise Clockwise

Browse more Topics under Non Verbal Series

Solved Examples Based on Rotating Squares

Q. Which figure in the answer figure will follow the rules of the figures given in the question figure?

Question figure Answer figure

A) 1 B) 2 C) 3 D) 4 E) 5

Answer: In this rotational type series question, it is important that you are clear about the two directions i.e. clockwise (CW) and anti-clockwise (ACW) direction. You can refer the figure above. It is important that you know whether the shapes are rotating clockwise or anti-clockwise based on the previous figure. In each of the five figures, two squares are given. One is a small square and another square where only of its part is shaded.

Both the squares are in the adjacent corner with respect to each other. When you move from figure 1 to 2 you will notice that the squares are moving in the anti-clockwise direction. Same is the case from 2nd to 3rd, 3rd to 4th, and 4th to 5th. So the subsequent figure required for an answer will also follow the same rule and will be in an anti-clockwise direction. But when you look at the options all the figures are in anti-clockwise direction itself.

Now, look closely at the shaded part of the squares given in the question figure. In the smaller square, from figure 1st to 2nd the shaded part moves in an anti-clockwise direction. While for the larger square the same shaded part moves in CW direction. This is the same case for each and every figure from 2nd to 5th. So in the subsequent figure, the shaded part in the smaller square will also be in the ACW direction and the shaded part in the larger square will move in CW direction. This is followed by the square given in option A. So, option A is the correct answer.

Examples of Rotating Arcs

Q. Out of following figures given which will be the subsequent figure that will follow the rules of the question figures?

Question figure Answer figure

A) 1 B) 2 C) 3 D) 4 E) 5

Answer: In this question, there are five arcs given in each of the figures in the question figure. Every arc changes its position in the subsequent figure and we need to find the relationship between these figures. In figure 1, two arcs are facing inside the square while the other three are facing outside towards the square. As compared to the 1st figure only one is inverted in the 2nd figure. As compared to the 2nd figure two arcs are inverted in the 3rd figure and as compared to the 3rd figure three arcs are inserted sequentially in the 4th figure. Again in the 5th figure, only one arc is inverted. Thus the pattern in this question is 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, and so on.

Thus in the required answer, two arcs will be inverted as compared to the 5th figure. But the inversion of arcs takes place in the anti-clockwise direction in all the following figures. So the 6th figure will also follow the same rule. And so the correct answer is option A.