Blood Relations

Blood-relation questions test family-tree logic - who is related to whom through a chain of statements or a pointing puzzle. A quick diagram beats mental juggling, and it is easy to lose the mark to a careless generation slip.

Draw a family tree

Use symbols: + for male, - for female, = for married couple, a vertical line for parent-child, a horizontal line for siblings. Convert each statement to the tree, then read off the relation.

The "pointing" puzzle

"Pointing to a photo, a man says..." - substitute yourself as the speaker. The classic: "That man's father is my father's son" (and the speaker has no brother) means the speaker's son - so the man is the speaker's son. Break the sentence from the INNERMOST relation outward.

Generations and sides

• Keep track of generations (grandparents, parents, self, children) - most errors are generation jumps.
• Maternal (mother's side) vs paternal (father's side) matters for uncle/aunt questions.

Exam Tricks & Tips

• 🎯 Always draw the tree with clear male/female symbols; never solve long chains in your head.
• 🎯 Read pointing statements from the innermost phrase outward ("my father's son" first).
• 🎯 Note whether the speaker has siblings - "my father's son" is the speaker himself only if he has no brother.
• 🎯 Count generations carefully; grandfather is two levels up, not one.
• 🎯 Distinguish maternal and paternal sides for uncle/aunt/nephew relations.
• ❌ Common mistake: assuming gender - "cousin", "spouse", "in-law" and "friend" do not fix gender, so do not add assumptions the statements never gave.

Quick recap

Draw a symbol-based family tree, decode pointing puzzles inner-to-outer, track generations and maternal/paternal sides, and never assume gender. A neat diagram makes blood relations reliable marks.

Cover the answer, recall, then check. 11 blood-relations cards for AFCAT.

Q1. Best first step for a blood-relation question?
A1. Draw a family tree with clear male/female symbols.

Q2. How do you read a "pointing to a photo" statement?
A2. From the innermost relation outward (e.g. "my father's son" first).

Q3. "My father's son" refers to whom, if the speaker has no brother?
A3. The speaker himself.

Q4. How many generations up is a grandfather?
A4. Two levels up.

Q5. Why distinguish maternal and paternal sides?
A5. Uncle/aunt/nephew relations depend on which parent's side is meant.

Q6. Do "cousin" or "spouse" fix a person's gender?
A6. No — do not assume gender that the statements do not state.

Q7. What symbol convention marks a married couple?
A7. An equals sign (=) between the two people.

Q8. The most common blood-relation error?
A8. Jumping a generation (e.g. treating a grandfather as a father).

Q9. "A is the brother of B; B is the daughter of C." What is A to C?
A9. A is C's son.

Q10. How do you decode long relation chains reliably?
A10. Convert each statement to the tree step by step, then read off the answer.

Q11. "My mother's only son" refers to whom (speaker is male)?
A11. The speaker himself.

Blood-relation puzzles describe a family through relationships ("A is the son of B's brother") and ask how two people are related. They trip up candidates who read carelessly, but a simple diagram method makes them almost mechanical.

Core idea / what this tests: whether you can translate verbal relationship statements into a family structure and read off the required relation accurately.

Deep explanation

Beginner — draw, don't imagine

Never solve in your head. Use a quick family diagram with fixed symbols: + for male, − for female, a horizontal line for siblings/spouses, a vertical line for parent-child. Place each person as the statement introduces them. The picture removes the ambiguity that trips mental solving.

Intermediate — decode the phrasing

Relationships are stated indirectly; translate each clause step by step:

Phrase	Meaning
father's father	paternal grandfather
mother's brother	maternal uncle
father's sister	paternal aunt
son's wife	daughter-in-law
brother's daughter	niece
only daughter of X's mother	X herself (if female) or X's sister

Read left-to-right, building outward from the anchor person.

Advanced — pointing/coded relations

• "Pointing to a photo" questions: the speaker describes someone via their own relatives. "The father of that man is my father's son" → "my father's son" is the speaker (if no brothers), so the speaker is the man's father → the man is the speaker's son. Work the innermost phrase first.
• Coded relations use symbols (A + B means A is father of B); apply the code strictly and build the diagram. Watch gender carefully — many wrong answers come from assuming a gender the puzzle never stated.

Worked example

Q. Pointing to a photograph, Ravi said, "She is the daughter of my grandfather's only son." How is the girl related to Ravi?

"My grandfather's only son" = Ravi's father (the only son). "The daughter of Ravi's father" = Ravi's sister. So the girl is Ravi's sister. Answer: sister. Solving the innermost phrase ("grandfather's only son" = father) unlocks the chain.

AFCAT relevance

Blood-relation questions feature regularly in AFCAT reasoning, either as direct puzzles or photo-pointing variants. The diagram method makes them quick and accurate, and precision on gender and generation protects marks under negative marking.

Speed tricks and shortcuts

• Always draw a family tree with +/− for gender.
• Solve the innermost phrase first, then move outward.
• Track generations (grandparent → parent → self → child) as levels in the diagram.
• Do not assume gender unless the puzzle states it.

Worked Example

Problem: Pointing to a photograph, a man said, "She is the daughter of my grandfather's only son." How is the woman in the photograph related to the man?

Solution:
Unpack the relationship step by step, starting from the innermost phrase.

Step 1 — "my grandfather's only son." The grandfather's son is the man's father (assuming the standard paternal line). Since he is the "only son," this must be the man's own father.

Step 2 — "the daughter of [my father]." The daughter of the man's father is the man's sister.

So the woman in the photograph is the man's sister.

(Quick self-check: the man himself is also a child of his father, but the photograph shows a female — "She" — so she is his sister, not himself.)

Answer: The woman is the man's sister.