Home / Study Notes / Reasoning / Course of Action in Reasoning: Practical, Proportionate, Relevant

Course of Action in Reasoning: Practical, Proportionate, Relevant

Does it address the problem? • Is it practical? • Is it proportionate? • The right authority • Numbers in the statement

SSC Banking 📅 Last updated: 2026-10-24

A course of action question describes a problem or situation and offers two or three possible actions. You must decide which actions should be taken. Unlike conclusion questions, the answer is a judgement about what is sensible, so the exam expects you to apply a consistent set of tests rather than your personal opinion.

With two courses of action there are 2 × 2 = 4 possible outcomes: only I, only II, both, or neither. Many papers also offer 'either I or II', but it is rarely correct here, because two sensible actions usually complement each other rather than compete.

An action follows if it passes all three tests.

  1. Relevant: it removes the cause, reduces the problem, or limits the harm. An action that does none of these fails, however good it sounds.
  2. Practical: it can actually be carried out by the people concerned, with reasonable time and resources.
  3. Proportionate: it matches the size of the problem. Banning, shutting down, punishing everyone or evacuating whole areas usually fail unless the problem is equally serious.

A fourth check helps in many questions: is the action taken by the right authority? Health problems go to health officials, traffic problems to the traffic police, and so on.

In the exam, work in a fixed order. First name the problem in a few words, such as 'mosquito breeding' or 'unsafe bridge'. Then ask of each action, separately: does it touch that problem, could these people do it, and is it the right size? An action that fails any one test is out. Only after testing both actions should you look at the options, which stops an attractive option from steering your judgement.

Worked example 1: one action passes, one is extreme

'Several cases of dengue have been reported in a locality.' I. The municipality should clear stagnant water in the area. II. All residents should be moved out of the locality.

I tackles the breeding sites of the mosquitoes that spread dengue and is practical. II is wildly out of proportion. Only I follows.

Worked example 2: two actions that work together

'Cracks have been found in a highway bridge.' I. Heavy vehicles should be kept off the bridge until it is inspected. II. Engineers should inspect and repair the bridge.

I limits the immediate risk; II deals with the cause. Both are practical and proportionate. Both follow.

When the statement gives numbers, use them to judge proportion. A small share of failures calls for repair or investigation; a large or rapidly growing one can justify stronger steps.

Worked example 3: numbers decide proportion

'In one week, 12 of a hospital's 60 ventilators failed.' I. The 12 failed ventilators should be repaired or replaced at once. II. All 60 ventilators should be scrapped and new ones bought.

12 of 60 is 20%, a serious failure rate that needs urgent action, so I follows. Scrapping the 80% that still work is wasteful. Only I follows.

Watch for falls described in percentage points. If attendance drops from 90% to 72%, that is a fall of 18 percentage points.

The same fall is 20% of the original attendance figure. Either way it is a large drop, so an action such as finding out why students are staying away would be relevant and proportionate.

Worked example 4: neither follows

'A student scored low marks in one unit test.' I. The student should be expelled. II. The school should cancel all unit tests.

Both are extreme reactions to one low score. The sensible action, such as extra help for the student, is not offered. Neither follows.

Worked example 5: the right authority

'Passengers complain that a particular train is regularly late.' I. Railway authorities should investigate the causes of the delays. II. Passengers should stop travelling by train.

I puts the problem with the people who can fix it. II does not solve anything and is not a reasonable demand. Only I follows.

Some papers give three courses of action. Each one can follow or not, so there are 2³ = 8 patterns. Test each action separately against the three tests, then find the option that matches.

  • ✘ Rejecting an action because it does not solve the problem completely.
  • ✘ Accepting extreme actions such as bans, closures or mass punishment for a limited problem.
  • ✘ Choosing an action that sounds good but does not address this particular problem.
  • ✘ Treating two complementary actions as either-or.

Related topics: cause and effect, statement and assumptions and strong and weak arguments.

Q1. Statement: 'Many students in a school have been found to be short-sighted.' Courses of action: I. The school should arrange eye check-ups for its students. II. The school should close its library. easy

✅ Answer: (a) Only I follows

💡 Explanation: Eye check-ups address the problem directly and are easy to arrange, so I follows. Closing the library does nothing for students' eyesight and harms their learning.

Q2. Statement: 'A factory has been releasing untreated waste into a river.' Courses of action: I. The factory should be fined every day without any inspection. II. The pollution control board should inspect the factory and order it to treat its waste. medium

✅ Answer: (b) Only II follows

💡 Explanation: II has the right authority act on the cause after checking the facts. I punishes without inspection and does not itself stop the waste, so it fails the practical and proportionate tests.

Q3. Statement: 'Accidents at a busy crossing have increased since its traffic light stopped working.' Courses of action: I. The traffic light should be repaired at once. II. A traffic police officer should control the crossing until the light is repaired. easy

✅ Answer: (c) Both follow

💡 Explanation: I removes the cause. II reduces the harm while the repair is under way. Both are practical and proportionate, and they work together.

Q4. Statement: 'A shopkeeper found that a few packets of biscuits in his shop had passed their expiry date.' Courses of action: I. The shopkeeper should stop selling all food items. II. The biscuit company should be shut down. easy

✅ Answer: (d) Neither follows

💡 Explanation: The sensible action, removing the expired packets, is not offered. I and II are both far out of proportion to a few expired packets, so neither follows.

Q5. Statement: 'In a city of 10 lakh people, 2,000 cases of a water-borne disease were reported this month, up from 500 last month.' Courses of action: I. Health officials should test the drinking water in the affected areas. II. The whole city should be evacuated. medium

✅ Answer: (a) Only I follows

💡 Explanation: Cases rose by 300%, a serious jump that calls for action, so testing the water supply follows. But 2,000 cases in 10 lakh people does not justify evacuating a city: II is out of proportion.

Q6. Statement: 'Customers at a bank branch complain of long queues on salary days.' Courses of action: I. The bank should open extra counters on salary days. II. The branch should encourage customers to use ATMs and online banking for routine transactions. easy

✅ Answer: (c) Both follow

💡 Explanation: Both actions shorten the queue, both are within the bank's control, and neither is extreme. They also complement each other, so both follow.

Must a course of action solve the problem completely?

No. An action follows if it removes the cause, reduces the problem, or limits its harm, as long as it is practical and proportionate. Requiring a complete solution would rule out most sensible actions, which usually work step by step.

Can both courses of action follow?

Yes, and it is common. One action often deals with the immediate harm while the other tackles the cause, such as posting a traffic officer while a broken signal is repaired. Judge each action on its own; they do not compete.

All problems and solutions on this page are original. No outside facts are relied on; every numeric answer is recomputed by software before publishing.

How this page was prepared. Drafted with AI assistance (Claude (Anthropic AI model)) from the sources listed above. 6 calculations on this page were recomputed by software and matched. Automated checks also covered structure, internal links and duplicate text. Software checks cannot confirm facts. Reviewed by praveenkumar on 2026-10-24 against the sources listed above.

Found an error? Report it and we will correct the page.

← Reasoning