Blood Relations
Blood relation puzzles fail when solved in your head. Draw a family tree with a fixed symbol set as you read each clause, and the answer becomes a lookup rather than a memory feat.
Mental model
Never reason in words — draw a family tree in two seconds and read the answer off it. Use one fixed notation every time: a horizontal line for spouses, a vertical line down for a child, a plus for male and a minus for female, and siblings side by side on the same level. The two classic traps are (a) gender not being stated — 'the child of' does not tell you the gender, so do not assume it — and (b) reading the relation from the wrong end: the question asks how A is related to B, not how B is related to A.
Associations
A short trigger on the left, everything it pulls with it on the right.
Fix a symbol set before you start: = for marriage, vertical line for parent-child, triangle up for male, circle for female.
The specific symbols do not matter; using the same ones every time does. A consistent shorthand means you never have to re-derive notation mid-puzzle, which is where most time is lost under exam pressure.
Read one clause, draw one link, then move to the next — never hold two ungraphed clauses in your head at once.
Blood relation questions are usually solved wrong not because the logic is hard, but because a clause read three lines ago got forgotten. Drawing immediately after each clause removes that failure mode entirely.
Things to remember
The night-before list. Short enough to recall cold.
- 1'Mother's brother' is maternal uncle; 'father's brother' is paternal uncle — English collapses both to 'uncle', so translate the relation before answering.
- 2'Son of my mother's only son' (for a male speaker) is the speaker's nephew, through the speaker's own brother.
- 3Cross-cousins (through an aunt or uncle of the opposite parent's sibling) and parallel cousins are both simply 'cousin' in English — Indian-language puzzles sometimes test the underlying distinction.
- 4When a puzzle gives a chain of clauses, resolve them strictly in the order given — a later clause can redefine or add to an earlier relationship.
In detail
- The direction of the question matters: 'How is A related to B' is answered from A's side. Reversing it turns son into father and is the most common careless error.
- 'Only son of my father' means the speaker himself if the speaker is male; in a self-referential puzzle, resolve the innermost phrase first and work outwards.
- Maternal versus paternal must be tracked explicitly: mother's brother is a maternal uncle, father's brother is a paternal uncle, and options often differ only on this.
- In-law relations come through a spouse: brother-in-law is the spouse's brother or the sister's husband, so draw the marriage line before naming the relation.
- Words like 'spouse', 'child', 'sibling' and 'cousin' are gender-neutral; if the puzzle never fixes a person's gender, the answer must hold for either gender.
Where people slip
- Do not assume the speaker's gender from context alone — if the puzzle states it, use exactly that; if it does not, keep the relation general rather than picking a gender.
Check yourself
Nothing here is scored — it will not change your mastery figures.
Pointing to a photograph, a man says, 'She is the daughter of my grandfather's only son.' How is the woman in the photograph related to the man?
From the question bank
Pointing to a photograph, a man says, 'She is the daughter of my grandfather's only son.' How is she related to the man?
From the question bank
Pointing to a photograph, Rohan said, 'She is the daughter of my father's brother.' How is she related to Rohan?
Books to read
- A Modern Approach to Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning — R S Aggarwal
- Analytical Reasoning — M K Pandey
Official sources
Hand-checked official domains only — the notes above carry no links of their own.