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CAT 2024 Slot 1 · DILR · Logical Puzzles · medium

CAT 2024 Slot 1 DILR: A Building's Lift Usage Puzzle

Five employees — P, Q, R, S and T — work on five different floors of a building, numbered Floor 1 to Floor 5 (one employee per floor). Every morning, all five enter the lift together at the ground floor and the lift travels upward, stopping at Floor 1, then Floor 2, then Floor 3, then Floor 4, then Floor 5, in that order, with exactly one employee exiting at each floor (matching that employee's own floor).

The lift takes 8 seconds to travel between any two consecutive floors, and at each floor where it stops, it takes an additional 12 seconds for the doors to open, the employee to exit, and the doors to close, before the lift continues (or ends its journey, at Floor 5).

The following is known about who works on which floor:
1. Q exits the lift exactly two stops after P does (i.e., Q's floor number = P's floor number + 2).
2. R exits the lift immediately before T does (i.e., T's floor number = R's floor number + 1).
3. S does not work on Floor 1 or Floor 5.
4. P does not exit first (P is not on Floor 1).
5. T exits before Q does.

Timing reference: the lift departs the ground floor at time t = 0 seconds.

Question 1

Single correct option

Which employee works on Floor 3?
  1. A. P
  2. B. Q
  3. C. R
  4. D. S
Show answer and solution

Answer: (A) P

Testing the clues systematically: clue 1 needs Q = P+2, clue 2 needs T = R+1, clue 3 excludes S from floors 1 and 5, clue 4 excludes P from floor 1, and clue 5 needs T < Q. The unique assignment satisfying all five clues is R=1, T=2, P=3, S=4, Q=5. So Floor 3 belongs to P.

Question 2

Numerical answer

At what time (in seconds after the lift departs the ground floor) does the lift arrive at Floor 4?
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Answer: 68

Each floor-to-floor travel takes 8 seconds and each stop takes 12 seconds. Arrival times: Floor1 = 8, depart Floor1 = 8+12 = 20; Floor2 arrival = 20+8 = 28, depart = 40; Floor3 arrival = 40+8 = 48, depart = 60; Floor4 arrival = 60+8 = 68.

Question 3

Single correct option

Which employee exits the lift immediately after R?
  1. A. P
  2. B. Q
  3. C. S
  4. D. T
Show answer and solution

Answer: (D) T

From the unique solution R=Floor1, T=Floor2, P=Floor3, S=Floor4, Q=Floor5. Since the lift stops at floors in increasing order, the employee exiting right after R (Floor 1) is the one on Floor 2, which is T. This also matches clue 2 directly.

Question 4

Numerical answer

How many employees are still inside the lift just after it departs Floor 2?
Show answer and solution

Answer: 3

The lift starts with 5 employees. R exits at Floor 1 (4 remain), and T exits at Floor 2 (3 remain). So just after departing Floor 2, 3 employees (P, S, Q) remain inside.

Question 5

Single correct option

What is the total time (in seconds), from departing the ground floor, for the lift to complete its journey and arrive at Floor 5?
  1. A. 80
  2. B. 84
  3. C. 88
  4. D. 92
Show answer and solution

Answer: (C) 88

Continuing the timing chain: Floor4 arrival = 68, depart = 68+12 = 80; Floor5 arrival = 80+8 = 88. So the lift arrives at Floor 5 at t = 88 seconds.
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Original question written in the CAT 2024 Slot 1 pattern and checked twice for the correct answer. Not an official question paper. How we write and check questions · Corrections policy · Report a mistake