Question

Directions:- Study the following information carefully to answer the question given below.

There are six places P, Q, R, S, T and U.
Q and T are not historical places.
P and Q are not alike.
P is not a hill station.
S is not a religious place.
P and S are not historical places.

Which two places are hill stations?

• A. P and Q
• B. P and R
• C. Q and S
• D. P and U
• E. None of these

Answer 1

The correct option is C Q and S

How to solve such question: Read carefully all the given information and construct the table on the basis of given information, as follows:
$\begin{array}{ccccccc}Places/Category& P& Q& R& S& T& U\\ Historical& X& X& & X& X& \\ HillStation& X& & & & & \\ Religious& & & & X& & \end{array}$
Put 'x' in the table on the basis of information. For example, "Q and T are not historical places", so put x in front of Historical below Q and T. Now fill the table by putting x, because all the information is in negative. After filling the table, it will look like as in the above. From table, it is clear that P is a religious place and S is a hill station. The second information tells that P and Q are not alike, hence Q is not a religious place. If we fill all the information in the table, it will be like following :
$\begin{array}{ccccccc}Places/Category& P& Q& R& S& T& U\\ Historical& X& X& & X& X& \\ HillStation& X& ✓& & ✓& & \\ Religious& ✓& X& & X& & \end{array}$
In the above table we see that regarding places R. T and U, no information are available. But at the same time there are no negative information about R, T and U. Negative information means there is no restriction for R, T and U being any place whether historical or hill station or religious. In other words R and U may be all the three places while T cannot be a historical place but can be a hill stations or religious places. Now after filling all the information. the table will look as shown below :
$\begin{array}{ccccccc}Places/Category& P& Q& R& S& T& U\\ Historical& X& X& ✓& X& X& ✓\\ HillStation& X& ✓& ✓& ✓& ✓& ✓\\ Religious& ✓& X& ✓& X& ✓& ✓\end{array}$
In such type of questions, no negative information about an object/plane etc means they have the qualities whose absence is not mentioned and hence they are applicable for ($✓$) sign in the table.
Now on the basis of above table we can answer the questions given in the example very easily as follow:-

Q and S are hill stations
Hence required answer is (C)