Sentence Rearrangement
🔒 Log in to trackExam strategy: elimination, budget and Tier 2 jumbles
🔒 Log in to trackRearrangement is a free mark if you use a fixed routine. You do not need to understand the whole paragraph. You only need to rule out three wrong strings. Use layers of elimination, and test only the part where the last two strings differ.
Time budget
Tier 1 gives about one rearrangement item per shift. Attempt it in 35 to 45 seconds. Tier 2 adds longer paragraph jumbles of five or six sentences and sentence-order items. Allow 60 to 75 seconds there.
A 40-second routine
- Read S1 and S6 (5 s). Note the subject and what S6 refers back to.
- Tag the parts (15 s). Mark pronouns, this + noun, connectors, time words and closing signals.
- Fix one end and one pair (10 s). Use the orphan test for the opener, or the S6 pull-back for the closer. Add the strongest pair.
- Eliminate (10 s). Cross out every string that breaks that end or pair. Usually one is left.
Tip: You do not need certainty about the whole paragraph. Option strings share starts and ends, so partial certainty still reaches one string.
Layers of elimination
- Which parts can open? Ban pronoun and connector openers. This kills about two options.
- Which pair is mandatory (noun to pronoun)? This kills one or two more.
- Check the survivor against S6.
Jumbles with no fixed ends
Without S1 and S6, you lose both clamps. So:
- Find the independent sentence: no pronoun pointing back, no connector, no this + noun, no also. It opens.
- Find the strongest pair (a to the, pronoun, this + noun) and extend the chain from the opener.
- The closer has a conclusion signal, or a this + noun that sums up the whole problem (close this gap).
Setters often write two sentences that look independent. Choose the more general one, or the one the other refers to.
First-sentence and last-sentence questions
Some papers ask only which sentence comes first or last. Do not arrange all four.
- First: apply the orphan test to every sentence. The one that passes is the answer. If two pass, the more general wins.
- Last: find the sentence that sums up, or completes the final step of a story or process. Check that nothing else must follow it.
This takes 20 to 30 seconds.
When two strings survive
Say you have QRPS and QPRS. Find the parts in different positions (here R and P). Test only those neighbours. Does P's But it has also need R's This has made life easier before it? One small check is faster than rereading the paragraph.
Watch: Wrong options often keep the right opener and closer and swap two middle parts. Check the middle pair even when both ends match.
Odd-sentence-out
Four sentences share a theme. The fifth touches it but never uses its key noun. Mark each sentence's key noun. The one without it is the odd one.
Daily plan
Do five rearrangements a day. Write the pairs before you check the answers. After two weeks, tagging openers, connectors and this + noun becomes automatic.
Question types you will see
Each type: how to recognise it, the method step by step, and one question to try.
Paragraph jumble with no fixed ends
Four sentences labelled P, Q, R, S with no S1 or S6. The options are four-letter strings.
Find the independent sentence (no pronoun, connector, this + noun or also). It opens.
Attach the strongest pair to it.
Put the summary or this + noun sentence last.
Without S1 and S6, the opener must be the one sentence that needs nothing before it.
P: At the same time, many families go hungry. Q: Every year, millions of tonnes of food are wasted. R: Better cold storage could close this gap. S: Much of it rots in storage. Choose the order of PQRS.
Show solutionHide solution
Q is the only independent sentence.
S follows: it means the wasted food.
P adds the contrast.
R closes: this gap.
QSPR
Which sentence comes first?
The options are just the labels P, Q, R, S, and the question asks for the opening sentence.
Apply the orphan test to each sentence.
Cross out any sentence with a pronoun, this + noun, a connector or a relative time marker.
The sentence left is the answer.
You only need the opener, so arranging the other three wastes time.
P: Their destination was Dandi. Q: On reaching the sea, he picked up salt. R: In 1930, Gandhiji set out from Sabarmati Ashram. S: This simple act inspired millions. Which sentence is first?
Show solutionHide solution
P says Their, which points back.
Q says he, which points back.
S says This act, which points back.
R brings in Gandhiji.
R
Which sentence comes last?
The options are just the labels, and the question asks for the closing sentence.
Look for a sentence that sums up or completes the last step.
Check that nothing else points back to it.
Confirm by building the chain backwards.
The last sentence refers back to others, but nothing refers back to it.
P: Others follow this trail and carry the food home. Q: Each colony divides its work. R: When a worker finds food, it leaves a trail. S: Ants are very organised. Which sentence is last?
Show solutionHide solution
This trail in P needs R before it.
Nothing refers back to P.
The chain is S, Q, R, P.
P
Two strings left: test only the difference
You have ruled out two strings. The remaining two differ only in the positions of two neighbouring parts.
Write the two strings one above the other.
Find the two parts that swap places.
Test only that link: does one point back to the other?
The right string and the closest wrong one differ at one point. Testing that point decides the item.
Survivors: QRPS and QPRS. R: This has made life easier. P: But it has also created chances for fraud. Which is right?
Show solutionHide solution
The strings differ in R and P.
But it has also needs a benefit before it.
R gives the benefit, so R comes first.
QRPS
Odd sentence out
Five sentences are given. One does not belong to the paragraph.
Find the key noun that most sentences share.
Mark which sentences use it.
The sentence without it is the odd one.
The odd sentence touches the theme but never uses its key noun.
P: Elephants live in herds led by an old female. Q: Elephants use low sounds to talk over long distances. R: A calf stays with its mother for years. S: Tigers hunt mostly alone at night. Which sentence is the odd one out?
Show solutionHide solution
The key noun is elephants.
P and Q name elephants.
R is about a calf in the same herd theme.
S is about tigers.
S
Shortcuts that save time
Layer 1: the opener ban. Layer 2: the mandatory pair. Layer 3: the S6 check. Each layer is one question. Two layers usually finish the item.
The two surviving strings differ in one place. Isolate that part and test only its two neighbours.
Survivors: QRPS and QPRS. R: This has made life easier. P: But it has also created chances for fraud. Which is right?
Show solutionHide solution
The strings differ only in R and P.
But it has also needs the benefit before it.
R gives the benefit.
QRPS
For odd-one-out items, mark each sentence's key noun. Four share it. The odd one only orbits it.
Mistakes to avoid
Where most students lose marks on this subtopic.
Spending 90 seconds building the full chain.
Two eliminations often finish the item. Stop when one string is left.
Refusing to mark an answer without full certainty.
Elimination already gives you the string. Mark it.
Reading the options before reading P, Q, R, S.
Read the parts first, then use the options to eliminate.
In odd-one-out, choosing the least familiar sentence.
Choose the sentence that lacks the key noun.
Treating a dated sentence (In August 2023...) as the natural opener.
Check its anchors. It may end the story.
Linking two parts because they share a topic.
Trust grammar links: pronoun, a to the, this + noun, connector.
Quick revision
Read this the night before the exam.
Routine: read S1 and S6, tag the parts, fix one end and one pair, eliminate.
No fixed ends: independent sentence first, strongest pair next, summary last.
First or last question: orphan test for first, summary or final step for last.
Two strings left: test only the parts that differ.
Grammar links beat topic similarity.
A dated part can be an ending, not an opener.
Practice: 12 questions
Sets of 10, mixed across the question types above. Every answer has a step-by-step explanation.
Topic test · 12 questions
Suggested time 8 min · wrong answers go to your mistake notebook automatically.