CAT 2025 Slot 2 DILR Set 3 Q10–Q14

A DILR caselet from the Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) section of CAT 2025 Slot 2, with 5 questions (Scheduling). Answers are CAT's official key.

The set

Ananya Raga, Bhaskar Tala, Charu Veena, and Devendra Sur are four musicians. Each of them started and completed their training as students under each of three Gurus — Pandit Meghnath, Ustad Samiran, and Acharya Raghunath between 2013 and 2024, including both the years. Each Guru trains any student for consecutive years only, for a span of 2, 3, or 4 years, with each Guru having a different span. During some of these years, a student may not have trained under these Gurus; however, they never trained under multiple Gurus in the same year.
In none of these years, any of these Gurus trained more than two of these students at the same time. When two students train under the same Guru at the same time, they are referred to as Gurubhai, irrespective of their gender.
The following additional facts are known.
1. Ustad Samiran never trained more than one of these students in the same year.
2. Acharya Raghunath did not train any of these students during 2015-2018, as well as during 2021-24.
3. Ananya and Devendra were never Gurubhai; neither were Bhaskar and Charu. All other pairs of musicians were Gurubhai for exactly 2 years.
4. In 2013, Ananya and Bhaskar started their trainings under Pandit Meghnath and under Ustad Samiran, respectively.

Question 10

In which of the following years were Ananya and Bhaskar Gurubhai?
  1. A
    2018
  2. B
    2014
  3. C
    2021
  4. D
    2020

Answer: (D) 2020 Scheduling MCQ

Solution

  1. Acharya Raghunath can only teach in 2013-14 or 2019-20, so his span is 2. Ustad Samiran teaches one student at a time, so 4 spans fit in 12 years only if his span is 3 (blocks 2013-15, 2016-18, 2019-21, 2022-24). Pandit Meghnath's span is 4.
  2. Ananya: PM 2013-16; Bhaskar: US 2013-15. So both take AR in 2019-20 (Gurubhai there for 2 years), which fills AR, so Charu and Devendra take AR in 2013-14 (their 2 Gurubhai years).
  3. Ananya's US can only be 2022-24 (2016 overlaps PM, 2019-21 overlaps AR). Bhaskar's 4-year PM fits only in 2021-24.
  4. Ananya-Charu need 2 shared PM years: Charu PM 2015-18 (overlap 2015-16). So Charu US 2019-21 and Devendra US 2016-18.
  5. Bhaskar-Devendra need 2 shared PM years with Bhaskar's 2021-24: Devendra PM 2019-22 (overlap 2021-22). Final: A: PM 13-16, AR 19-20, US 22-24; B: US 13-15, AR 19-20, PM 21-24; C: AR 13-14, PM 15-18, US 19-21; D: AR 13-14, US 16-18, PM 19-22.
  6. Ananya and Bhaskar were Gurubhai under Acharya Raghunath in 2019-20, so 2020.

Question 11

In which year did Charu begin her training under Pandit Meghnath?
  1. A
    2021
  2. B
    2015
  3. C
    2017
  4. D
    2016

Answer: (B) 2015 Scheduling MCQ

Solution

  1. Acharya Raghunath can only teach in 2013-14 or 2019-20, so his span is 2. Ustad Samiran teaches one student at a time, so 4 spans fit in 12 years only if his span is 3 (blocks 2013-15, 2016-18, 2019-21, 2022-24). Pandit Meghnath's span is 4.
  2. Ananya: PM 2013-16; Bhaskar: US 2013-15. So both take AR in 2019-20 (Gurubhai there for 2 years), which fills AR, so Charu and Devendra take AR in 2013-14 (their 2 Gurubhai years).
  3. Ananya's US can only be 2022-24 (2016 overlaps PM, 2019-21 overlaps AR). Bhaskar's 4-year PM fits only in 2021-24.
  4. Ananya-Charu need 2 shared PM years: Charu PM 2015-18 (overlap 2015-16). So Charu US 2019-21 and Devendra US 2016-18.
  5. Bhaskar-Devendra need 2 shared PM years with Bhaskar's 2021-24: Devendra PM 2019-22 (overlap 2021-22). Final: A: PM 13-16, AR 19-20, US 22-24; B: US 13-15, AR 19-20, PM 21-24; C: AR 13-14, PM 15-18, US 19-21; D: AR 13-14, US 16-18, PM 19-22.
  6. Charu's PM training began in 2015.

Question 12

In which of the following years were Bhaskar and Devendra Gurubhai?
  1. A
    2022
  2. B
    2015
  3. C
    2018
  4. D
    2020

Answer: (A) 2022 Scheduling MCQ

Solution

  1. Acharya Raghunath can only teach in 2013-14 or 2019-20, so his span is 2. Ustad Samiran teaches one student at a time, so 4 spans fit in 12 years only if his span is 3 (blocks 2013-15, 2016-18, 2019-21, 2022-24). Pandit Meghnath's span is 4.
  2. Ananya: PM 2013-16; Bhaskar: US 2013-15. So both take AR in 2019-20 (Gurubhai there for 2 years), which fills AR, so Charu and Devendra take AR in 2013-14 (their 2 Gurubhai years).
  3. Ananya's US can only be 2022-24 (2016 overlaps PM, 2019-21 overlaps AR). Bhaskar's 4-year PM fits only in 2021-24.
  4. Ananya-Charu need 2 shared PM years: Charu PM 2015-18 (overlap 2015-16). So Charu US 2019-21 and Devendra US 2016-18.
  5. Bhaskar-Devendra need 2 shared PM years with Bhaskar's 2021-24: Devendra PM 2019-22 (overlap 2021-22). Final: A: PM 13-16, AR 19-20, US 22-24; B: US 13-15, AR 19-20, PM 21-24; C: AR 13-14, PM 15-18, US 19-21; D: AR 13-14, US 16-18, PM 19-22.
  6. Bhaskar and Devendra overlapped under Pandit Meghnath in 2021-22, so 2022.

Question 13

Which of the following statements is TRUE?
  1. A
    Ananya was training under Ustad Samiran in 2015.
  2. B
    Ananya was training under Ustad Samiran in 2018.
  3. C
    Charu was training under Ustad Samiran in 2019.
  4. D
    Charu was training under Ustad Samiran in 2018.

Answer: (C) Charu was training under Ustad Samiran in 2019. Scheduling MCQ

Solution

  1. Acharya Raghunath can only teach in 2013-14 or 2019-20, so his span is 2. Ustad Samiran teaches one student at a time, so 4 spans fit in 12 years only if his span is 3 (blocks 2013-15, 2016-18, 2019-21, 2022-24). Pandit Meghnath's span is 4.
  2. Ananya: PM 2013-16; Bhaskar: US 2013-15. So both take AR in 2019-20 (Gurubhai there for 2 years), which fills AR, so Charu and Devendra take AR in 2013-14 (their 2 Gurubhai years).
  3. Ananya's US can only be 2022-24 (2016 overlaps PM, 2019-21 overlaps AR). Bhaskar's 4-year PM fits only in 2021-24.
  4. Ananya-Charu need 2 shared PM years: Charu PM 2015-18 (overlap 2015-16). So Charu US 2019-21 and Devendra US 2016-18.
  5. Bhaskar-Devendra need 2 shared PM years with Bhaskar's 2021-24: Devendra PM 2019-22 (overlap 2021-22). Final: A: PM 13-16, AR 19-20, US 22-24; B: US 13-15, AR 19-20, PM 21-24; C: AR 13-14, PM 15-18, US 19-21; D: AR 13-14, US 16-18, PM 19-22.
  6. Charu was with Ustad Samiran in 2019-21, so C is true; Ananya was with him only in 2022-24 and Charu not in 2018.

Question 14

In how many of the years between 2013-24, were only two of these four musicians training under these three Gurus?

TITA: type in the answer. There are no options and no negative marking.

Answer: 4 Scheduling TITA

Solution

  1. Acharya Raghunath can only teach in 2013-14 or 2019-20, so his span is 2. Ustad Samiran teaches one student at a time, so 4 spans fit in 12 years only if his span is 3 (blocks 2013-15, 2016-18, 2019-21, 2022-24). Pandit Meghnath's span is 4.
  2. Ananya: PM 2013-16; Bhaskar: US 2013-15. So both take AR in 2019-20 (Gurubhai there for 2 years), which fills AR, so Charu and Devendra take AR in 2013-14 (their 2 Gurubhai years).
  3. Ananya's US can only be 2022-24 (2016 overlaps PM, 2019-21 overlaps AR). Bhaskar's 4-year PM fits only in 2021-24.
  4. Ananya-Charu need 2 shared PM years: Charu PM 2015-18 (overlap 2015-16). So Charu US 2019-21 and Devendra US 2016-18.
  5. Bhaskar-Devendra need 2 shared PM years with Bhaskar's 2021-24: Devendra PM 2019-22 (overlap 2021-22). Final: A: PM 13-16, AR 19-20, US 22-24; B: US 13-15, AR 19-20, PM 21-24; C: AR 13-14, PM 15-18, US 19-21; D: AR 13-14, US 16-18, PM 19-22.
  6. Students training per year: 2013-14: 4; 2015-16: 3; 2017-18: 2 (C, D); 2019-20: 4; 2021-22: 3; 2023-24: 2 (A, B). Years with exactly two: 2017, 2018, 2023, 2024, i.e. 4.

Same concept in other years

See every question on Who engaged with whom over which consecutive years (contracts/training spans).

More Scheduling questions from CAT

All 41 Scheduling questions asked since 2017.