Dot Placement – MBA CET questions with solutions

Approach: Dot placement: write each dot's region condition, then find an answer figure with all regions available.

Solution:
Problem figure has a square, a rectangle, a triangle and a circle.
Dot 1: inside the triangle and the square only.
Dot 2: inside the triangle and the circle only.
Dot 3: inside the triangle and the rectangle only.
Needed: regions common to (triangle + square), (triangle + circle) and (triangle + rectangle), each outside the other shapes.
Figure A: the triangle overlaps the square on the left, the circle in the middle and the tall rectangle on the right, giving all three regions ⇒ fits.

Why the other options are wrong:
B: has only one four-sided figure, so the square and rectangle regions cannot both exist.
C, E: the triangle does not overlap the circle, so the triangle∩circle region is missing.
D: the triangle lies inside the square and circle, so no region is common to the triangle and the long rectangle.

Cetking shortcut: List the needed overlaps (T∩S, T∩C, T∩R) and reject an option as soon as one is missing.

Answer: A

Approach: Name the region of each dot, then check which option has all three regions.

Solution:
Question figure (square, circle inside the square, rectangle crossing both):
Dot 1: common to the square, circle and rectangle.
Dot 2: inside the rectangle only.
Dot 3: inside the square only (outside the circle and the rectangle).
Option A (square, ellipse, small rectangle): the rectangle overlaps both the square and the ellipse (region 1 ✓), sticks out beyond both (region 2 ✓), and the square's corners lie outside both (region 3 ✓).

Why the other options are wrong:
B, E: no region lies inside all three shapes, so dot 1 cannot be placed.
C: the inner shapes do not overlap.
D: the rectangle lies wholly inside the square or the ellipse — there is no 'rectangle only' region and almost no common region.

Cetking shortcut: Find the hardest region first (rectangle only); only A has it together with a triple overlap.

Answer: A

Approach: Dot placement — find which shapes overlap at each dot of figure X, then look for an option that has the same three overlap regions.

Solution: Figure X has a square, a circle, a triangle and a tilted rectangle. Its three dots lie in:
(1) the region common to all four shapes;
(2) the region common to the square and the tilted rectangle only (outside the circle and the triangle);
(3) the region common to the triangle and the tilted rectangle only (outside the square and the circle).
Figure 1 has a circle, a triangle and two rectangles: the middle of the circle, where the triangle and both rectangles overlap, is common to all four; the top-right overlap of the two rectangles lies outside the circle and the triangle; and the lower-right part of the triangle inside the tall rectangle lies outside the circle and the other rectangle. All three regions exist.

Why the other options are wrong: Figure 2 has no region common to all four shapes; figures 3 and 4 lack at least one of the three regions.

Cetking shortcut: Find the hardest region first (the all-shape overlap); options without it are out immediately.

Answer: A

Approach: Dot placement: note which shapes contain each dot, then look for the same regions in the options.

Solution:
In fig. (X): the upper dot is inside the circle and the triangle, but outside the square.
The lower dot is inside the triangle and the square, but outside the circle.
Required: a region common to circle and triangle only, AND a region common to triangle and square only.
Figure (1): the circle and triangle overlap on the left, away from the square ✔. The triangle and square overlap on the right, outside the circle ✔.

Why the other options are wrong:
(2): the triangle–square overlap lies entirely inside the circle, so there is no triangle-and-square-only region.
(3), (4): the circle sits inside the overlaps, so one of the two regions is missing.
(e) None of these: figure (1) works.

Cetking shortcut: Write each dot as a code, e.g. C+T and T+S. Then check only for those two regions in each option.

Answer: A

Approach: Dot placement: note which shapes contain the dot, then look for the same region in the options.

Solution:
In fig. (X), the dot is inside the circle and the triangle, but outside the square (above the square's top edge).
Required: a region common to the circle and the triangle only.
Figure (3): part of the circle lies inside the large triangle and outside the small square ✔.

Why the other options are wrong:
(1): the triangle does not overlap the circle.
(2): every circle–triangle overlap lies inside the square.
(4): the circle lies inside the square, so no circle-and-triangle-only region exists.
(5) None of these: (3) fits.

Cetking shortcut: Write the dot's code (C+T, not S), then rule out any option where the circle is inside the square or does not touch the triangle.

Answer: C