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Direction is an important task for navigation. The capacity to understand directions is often overlooked as a task that requires good analytical and logical skills. But in reality, it is only with good analytical and logical skills can you make sense of directions. It requires one to have a deeper understanding of how to create mental maps and visualise the path we are supposed to follow.
Direction Sense Test forms an important part of any analytical or logical aptitude test since it can give a good idea of how well one can understand abstract information and create a mental map out of it.
What is Direction?
Direction is what gives meaning to a position. It describes the position of one point concerning the position of another point. The direction of a point does not include the distance of the points from each other. Directions cannot make sense on their own. Rather, a direction can only be spoken about concerning a reference point or a frame of reference agreed upon between the communicator and the listener.
Directions can be separated into four main categories, called the Cardinal directions. These are the basic directions that serve as the frame of reference for all major navigational usages. The four directions are north, south, west and east. The north direction is given concerning the north pole. That is, anybody moving close to the North Pole is moving north. The direction opposite the North Pole is called the south.
The rising of the sun serves as the reference point for the remaining two directions. If the body is moving towards the point from which the sun is apparent to rise, the body is said to be moving in the east direction. And if the body is moving towards the point where the sun is apparent to set, it is said to be moving in the west direction.
Introduction to Direction Sense Test
We have understood that the knowledge of directions is a very important skill. Hence, it forms an important part of any logical and aptitude test. Direction sense tests are a challenge to the analytical skills of the candidate. It is designed to determine if the candidate can understand the given situation to them, analyse the different directions and trace the path.
Direction sense tests can involve various real-life and theoretical examples. Still, all questions try to understand how easily a candidate can gather enough information when a situation is given to them.
The candidate is expected to be able to trace the path they follow when given a situation and then find out the direction in which they need to answer. There are four basic guidelines whenever a test taker encounters a direction test. The first and foremost thing for a test taker is to find out where exactly they are at this point: their current position.
Then they need to find out the direction they are moving in. Without that, it is impossible to proceed with the further processes. Next, they will have to determine how much distance they need to cover to reach the different bodies. Direction Sense tests might also become tricky when there are questions that are asked to candidates regarding the shadows of a body when it is placed in a given direction.
Various assumptions are made when a direction sense test is given. These assumptions are implicit, and unless a different assumption is explicitly mentioned, candidates are expected to follow these assumptions only.
Direction Sense Test Problems
The different types of test problems that can be found in direction test problems are;
Left and Right Dilemma
Direction Sense Test problems often become confusing when the candidates have to guess where is left and where is right? It is easier to find the left and right in real life since we often use our hands to find the directions. When we face a direction sense test problem, there can be two scenarios for the left and right dilemma, the body moving towards us or us moving towards the body.
E.g., if A robot is moving towards you and turns towards its left, what direction is the robot facing concerning you?
The first assumption in such a question is that your body is always facing north. So if a robot is coming towards you, it is moving in the South direction. However, when it turns towards its left, it is your right. Therefore the robot is facing the East direction.
Direction with a Reference point
An example of a question where you are asked to give the direction based on a reference point can be given as follows;
What direction will a person have to move in to travel from Bangalore to Mumbai?
The answer is the person will have to travel in the North West direction to get from Bangalore to Mumbai. Here, the assumption is that the top of the paper always points towards the north.
Direction of Shadows
The direction of shadows is important to studying many astrological and astrophysical concepts. A question from this section in the direction and sense test will be like;
Two friends sit back to back with each other during the evening. First, the shadow of friend A falls in the left direction, then in which direction friend B is facing?
If it’s evening time, the sun is to the west. If the shadow of friend A is falling on the left side, then friend A is facing south. This means that friend B is facing the North direction.
Conclusion
The direction sense test is an important aptitude test that involves all the analytical and logical skills of the examinee. It is important to understand what reference point is being used to give a direction. Only then can the answers to a direction sense test be found. Direction sense tests can ask questions about the left or right dilemma, ask you to describe the direction of a point concerning a given reference point or find a direction concerning how the shadow of a person falls.
