LEARN WITH CLARITY
Blood Relations
Turn family clues into a clear family tree. Learn the essential relationship rules, solve original examples, and test your speed with a timed practice set.
Learning objectives
Blood-relations questions describe how people in a family are connected. The challenge is usually not difficult arithmetic; it is keeping track of whose point of view, gender, and generation each clue describes. By the end of this module, you should be able to:
Subtopics covered
Concept explanation
A blood-relations problem gives you one or more statements—such as “R is the sister of S” or “S is the father of T”—and asks you to identify a connection. Read each statement as a separate fact, connect the people, and only then name the relationship asked for.
Step 1: Fix the reference point
Underline the two people in the final question. If it asks “How is A related to B?”, start at A and trace toward B. Reversing that direction is a frequent source of wrong answers: a woman may be someone’s aunt, while that person is her niece or nephew.
Step 2: Mark generations before naming anyone
Parents are one generation above their children. Grandparents are two levels above; grandchildren are two levels below. Brothers and sisters occupy the same generation. A quick sketch helps:
Step 3: Add gender and side only when stated
“Parent” does not tell you whether the person is a mother or father. “Sibling” does not tell you whether the person is a brother or sister. A mother’s brother is a maternal uncle; a father’s sister is a paternal aunt. The side changes the label, not the basic family-tree method. Unless a question says otherwise, these practice problems use the usual aptitude-test convention that stated siblings share the relevant parent; do not extend that assumption to a spouse or an unstated relationship.
Step 4: Separate blood relatives from in-laws
An in-law link comes through marriage: for example, a spouse’s brother is a brother-in-law. Don’t silently assume that a spouse is the biological parent of someone’s child. Use only links the question gives; if a relationship depends on an unstated parent or gender, choose “cannot be determined” when available.
Step 5: Translate coded statements carefully
In a coded question, first write the meaning of each symbol in the exact order given. Then link the chain. Do not treat a symbol such as “+” as having a universal family meaning—the question defines its own code.
Formula sheet & quick revision
Blood relations do not use a numerical formula like percentage or speed. The dependable “formula” is a set of relationship rules and a consistent way to trace links.
Each parent-to-child link moves one level. Two upward links mean grandparent; two downward links mean grandchild. A parent and child’s sibling share the parent, so they are siblings unless the clues say otherwise.Example: A is mother of B; B is father of C. A → B → C is two generations downward from A, so A is C’s grandmother. The links specify A is female, so no gender guess is needed.
A person’s brother or sister is the child’s uncle or aunt. If the sibling’s gender is known, choose uncle or aunt; otherwise the exact label is undetermined.Example: P is the brother of Q; Q is mother of R. P is R’s maternal uncle: P is Q’s brother, and Q is R’s mother.
A spouse’s parent, sibling, or child can create an in-law relation, but marriage alone does not establish biological parentage. Trace the stated marriage and parent links without adding an unstated link.Example: S is married to T; T is the father of U; S is female. S is U’s stepmother/in-law parent only if the question’s convention states she is U’s parent; with these clues alone, the precise parent-child label is not established.
Substitute each symbol with its definition, then solve from the first person to the last. A relation inside a chain must be read in order.Example: If “A @ B” means A is the mother of B and “B # C” means B is the brother of C, then A is also C’s mother: B and C are siblings, and A is B’s mother. Use that conclusion only under the usual aptitude-test assumption that the stated siblings share the relevant parent.
Use “cannot be determined” if a required gender or connection is absent. Never infer a person’s gender from a name, and never infer parenthood from marriage alone.Example: If X is Y’s sibling and Y is Z’s mother, X is Z’s aunt or uncle. If X’s gender is not stated, the exact answer cannot be determined.
Quick revision notes
- Draw generations in rows: grandparents, parents, children.
- Trace from the person named first in “How is A related to B?”
- Mother’s sibling → maternal aunt/uncle; father’s sibling → paternal aunt/uncle.
- A sibling’s child is a niece or nephew; the child’s gender decides which.
- Two siblings’ children are cousins; do not call them siblings.
- Use the exact operator definitions in coded problems—there is no universal symbol key.
- Marriage can give an in-law link; it does not by itself prove a biological parent-child link.
- If a needed fact is missing, the accurate answer may be “cannot be determined.”
10 solved questions
Try each question before opening its explanation. These examples are original and move from direct family links to multi-step and coded reasoning.
1. Basic — Point of view
Meera says, “The boy is the son of my mother’s only child.” How is Meera related to the boy?
2. Basic — Two links
Arun is the father of Bela. Bela is the sister of Charu. How is Arun related to Charu?
3. Basic — Maternal uncle
Dev is the brother of Esha. Esha is the mother of Farah. How is Dev related to Farah?
4. Basic — Generation count
Gita is the mother of Hari. Hari is the father of Ishan. How is Gita related to Ishan?
5. Intermediate — Aunt and niece
Lata is a girl. Her father’s sister is Nisha. What is Nisha’s relationship to Lata?
6. Intermediate — Cousins
Omar and Pia are siblings. Omar is the father of Rehan, and Pia is the mother of Sana. How are Rehan and Sana related?
7. Intermediate — In-law relation
Qasim is a man. He is married to Rupa, whose brother is Sameer. How is Qasim related to Sameer?
8. Intermediate — Coded relations
In a code, “A * B” means A is the mother of B, and “B & C” means B is the brother of C. What is A’s relation to C in A * B & C?
9. Advanced — A longer chain
Uma is the daughter of Vikram. Vikram is the brother of Wafa, who is the mother of Yash. What is Uma’s relation to Yash?
10. Advanced — Check missing information
R is the sibling of S. S is the mother of T. How is R related to T?
Interactive 20-question timed test
One point per correct answer, with no negative marking. Your answers and score stay hidden until you submit.
| Exam detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Total questions | 20 multiple-choice questions |
| Difficulty mix | 7 Basic · 7 Intermediate · 6 Advanced |
| Marking scheme | 1 point per correct answer · no negative marking |
| Choose 5–60 minutes. | |
| Question set | A fresh set is selected for each attempt |
| Navigation | Jump between questions and mark items for review |
| Results | Score, concept analysis and explanations appear after you submit |
Three recommended next learning activities
- Next topic — Direction sense: practise combining left/right turns and final position. Like family-tree questions, it rewards a quick diagram and precise point of view.
- Practice recommendation — Coded and multi-step relations: revisit any category your test marks as a weak area, then solve short chains while writing each symbol’s meaning beside it. If you missed two or more in a concept, revise that concept before moving on.
- Advanced recommendation — Mixed logical reasoning sets: after you can consistently identify generations, gender, and missing information, combine blood relations with seating or statement-based reasoning. Keep the relationship chain explicit rather than guessing.
Explore the topics
Continue your aptitude preparation with these Wisdom Helps chapters. Each link opens in a new tab.
Number System
Percentages & Profit
Interest, Ratio & Averages
Time, Work & Distance
Counting & Chance
