Tracking movement on a compass grid and calculating the final displacement — solved fastest by plotting each step on a simple coordinate diagram.
📖 ~12 min read🧩 SSC Reasoning
Introduction
Direction and Distance questions describe a person's movement in stages, then ask for the final direction
or shortest distance from the starting point — best solved by plotting each move on a simple compass grid
diagram as you read.
Diagram — Compass Directions and a Sample Path
Plot each leg of the journey (N, E, S, W) on the grid; the green dashed line is the shortest (straight-line) distance from start to end.
Turn Rules — Memorise These
Turn
Effect
Right turn (facing North)
New direction = East
Left turn (facing North)
New direction = West
Clockwise order
N → E → S → W → N
180° turn
Face exactly opposite direction
Q. A man walks 5 km North, then turns right and walks 3 km, then turns right again and walks 5 km. How far is he from the starting point?
North 5km → turn right (now facing East) 3km → turn right (now facing South) 5km
Net: North 5 and South 5 cancel out completely; only the 3 km East move remains
Distance from start = 3 km
Shortest Distance — Pythagoras Application
Q. A man walks 8 km East and then 6 km North. Find his shortest distance from the starting point.
This forms a right triangle with legs 8 and 6
Shortest distance = √(8²+6²) = √(64+36) = √100 = 10 km
Final Direction Pattern
Q. Facing North, a man turns 90° clockwise, then 180°, then 90° anticlockwise. Which direction is he facing now?
Start: North
+90° clockwise → East
+180° → West
−90° (anticlockwise) → South
Final direction: South
💡 Exam Tip: Draw the grid as you read each sentence, one movement at a time — don't wait until the end of the passage. This avoids the most common error: losing track of a mid-sequence turn direction.
✅ Practice Focus: Compass and clockwise-turn rules · Plotting sequential moves on a grid · Shortest distance via Pythagoras theorem · Final-direction tracking through multiple turns.