Blood Relations notes

MDCAT Analytical and Logical Reasoning

Blood relation problems test the ability to identify family connections from written statements, indirect descriptions, and symbols. Solve them by tracing generations, separating maternal and paternal sides, and checking whether a person is a parent, sibling, uncle, aunt, cousin, grandparent, or child.

Basic Family Relationship Terms

A blood relation is a family connection through birth. Some questions also include marriage relationships, such as husband and wife. Read every statement carefully because the direction of the relationship matters.

The words brother, sister, son, and daughter show a relationship between people of the same family generation or between a parent and child. Gender must be used when deciding whether the answer is brother, sister, uncle, or aunt.

Father: a male parent.
Mother: a female parent.
Son: a male child of a person.
Daughter: a female child of a person.
Brother: a male sibling.
Sister: a female sibling.
Uncle: the brother of a parent. An uncle may also mean the husband of an aunt.
Aunt: the sister of a parent. An aunt may also mean the wife of an uncle.

Generations and Family Levels

The fastest way to solve many blood relation questions is to place people in generations. Parents are one generation above their children. Grandparents are two generations above their grandchildren. Brothers, sisters, and cousins are generally in the same generation.

For example, if Rashid is the father of Amina and Bilal, Amina and Bilal are siblings. If Bilal is the father of Hira, then Amina is Hira's aunt. The path is Amina, brother Bilal, daughter Hira.

Parent to child: one generation downward.
Child to parent: one generation upward.
Grandparent to grandchild: two generations apart.
A parent's brother or sister is an uncle or aunt.
The children of siblings are cousins.
The children of two brothers or two sisters are also cousins.
A sibling relationship is usually at the same generation level.
If two people have the same parent, they are siblings unless the question gives another relationship.

Solving Direct Statements

Begin with the sentence that connects the asked person to another known person. Then follow the chain one statement at a time. Do not try to guess the answer from one sentence only when several statements are given.

For example, Bilal is the brother of Hina, and Hina is the mother of Omar. Bilal is therefore the brother of Omar's mother. A mother's brother is an uncle, so Bilal is Omar's uncle.

Rida is the mother of Salman, and Salman is the brother of Areej. Rida is Areej's mother.
Kashif is the father of Eshal, and Eshal is the sister of Daniyal. Kashif is Daniyal's father.
Maira is the daughter of Taha, and Taha is the brother of Saba. Saba is Maira's aunt.
Naila is the daughter of Asif, and Asif is the brother of Samina. Samina is Naila's aunt.
Junaid is the father of Maham, and Maham is the sister of Faraz. Faraz is Junaid's son.
Ayesha is the sister of Nabeel. Nabeel is Ayesha's brother.
Zeeshan is the cousin of Hira. The answer remains cousin when the question asks how Zeeshan is related to Hira.

Siblings, Uncles, Aunts, and Cousins

A sibling's child is a nephew or niece. A parent's sibling is an uncle or aunt. Cousins are usually the children of two siblings. These relationships are often confused because the chain may contain two separate family branches.

To identify cousins, find the common grandparents. If Shahzaib and Hoorain are siblings, Shahzaib's daughter Esha and Hoorain's son Danish have the same grandparents. Therefore, Esha and Danish are cousins.

Feroz is Amina's brother. Bilal is Feroz's son, and Sana is Amina's daughter. Bilal and Sana are cousins.
A is B's brother, B is C's sister, and C is D's father. A is D's uncle.
Arif is Bushra's brother, and Bushra is Nadia's mother. Arif is Nadia's uncle.
Naseer is the father of Amina and Bilal. Amina is Hira's mother. Bilal is Hira's uncle.
Javeria is Salman's sister. Salman is Taha's father, and Javeria is Adeel's mother. If Taha and Hammad are brothers, Adeel and Hammad are cousins.
A cousin is not the same as a sibling. Cousins have a common grandparent, while siblings usually have a common parent.

Maternal and Paternal Relations

Maternal refers to the mother's side of the family. Paternal refers to the father's side. A maternal uncle is the mother's brother, while a paternal uncle is the father's brother.

In a statement such as, "Ali's mother is the only daughter of Bilal's mother," Ali's mother is Bilal's sister. Therefore, Bilal is Ali's maternal uncle. The word maternal is used because Bilal is the brother of Ali's mother.

Maternal grandfather: mother's father.
Maternal grandmother: mother's mother.
Maternal uncle: mother's brother.
Maternal aunt: mother's sister.
Paternal grandfather: father's father.
Paternal grandmother: father's mother.
Paternal uncle: father's brother.
Paternal aunt: father's sister.

Parent, Child, and Grandparent Relations

When a person is the parent of someone, trace the child in the downward direction. If a parent has a child, that child is a son or daughter according to gender. If the child has another child, the first parent becomes a grandparent.

For example, A is the mother of B and C. D is the husband of A, and E is the son of C. Since D is married to E's grandmother, D is E's grandfather. The relationship is usually treated as grandfather in such questions.

If X is the father of Y but Y is not the son of X, Y must be the daughter of X.
If Junaid is the father of Maham and Maham is Faraz's sister, Faraz is Junaid's son.
If A is B's brother, C is A's mother, D is C's father, and E is D's mother, A is D's grandson.
A child of a child is a grandchild.
A parent of a parent is a grandparent.
The husband of a grandmother may be identified as a grandfather when the family structure supports it.
Gender clues such as son, daughter, brother, and sister must be used directly.

Only Child and Only Daughter Statements

The expressions only child and only daughter give extra information about the family structure. The only child of a person is that person's single child. The only daughter of a person is the one female child, although there may be sons unless the statement says only child.

Consider the statement, "She is the daughter of the only child of my grandmother." The speaker's grandmother has one child. In the usual blood relation interpretation, that only child is the speaker's parent. The woman's position is therefore the speaker's sister if she is another daughter of that parent.

Only child means one child in total, whether male or female.
Only daughter means one female child, but it does not necessarily exclude sons.
The daughter of one's parent is normally one's sister, if the speaker is male or female and the woman is not the speaker herself.
If a woman's statement says, "That boy's mother is the only daughter of my mother," the boy's mother is the speaker herself. The boy is her son.
A grandmother's child may be the speaker's parent, uncle, or aunt unless the remaining wording identifies the exact person.
Always distinguish the speaker from the person being described.

Photograph and Pointing Questions

Pointing questions use phrases such as my grandfather, my grandmother, or my father's only son. Replace each phrase with its family meaning before finding the final relationship.

In the statement, "He is the son of my grandfather's only son," the grandfather's only son is generally the speaker's father. The person in the photograph is therefore the speaker's brother. However, if the speaker himself is that son, the described man may be the speaker. Thus, the answer can be brother or himself.

My father's son may be my brother or myself, depending on the speaker's gender and the wording.
My grandfather's only son may be my father if the speaker is his grandchild through that son.
My mother's daughter may be my sister or myself.
A person pointing to a woman does not automatically mean the woman is unrelated by blood.
First identify the person referred to by the possessive word my.
When two interpretations are logically possible, both may be accepted if the wording allows them.

Coded Blood Relations and Symbol Questions

Some questions define symbols instead of using ordinary family words. Read the symbol definitions exactly as given. Then evaluate the expression from left to right, while keeping the relation attached to the correct pair of people.

For example, if A + B means A is the father of B, and A - B means A is the wife of B, then P + Q - R means P is the father of Q and Q is the wife of R. The second symbol applies to Q and R, not to P and R.

A + B can be defined as A is the father of B.
A - B can be defined as A is the wife of B.
P + Q - R means P is the father of Q and Q is the wife of R.
The first letter in a coded relation is not automatically the parent or husband. Use the definition given.
Do not replace a symbol with its usual mathematical meaning.
Break a long expression into pairs, such as P + Q and Q - R.
After decoding, state the relationship in complete words.

A Reliable Method for Solving Questions

Use a small family tree when the chain has several people. Write parents above children and siblings on the same horizontal level. This prevents confusion when one person appears in more than one statement.

Start from the person asked about and move through the shortest clear path to the target person. Check gender at the end. If the question asks how A is related to B, give the relationship of A to B, not B to A.

Step 1: Identify the two people named in the question.
Step 2: Mark each direct relation, such as father, mother, brother, or sister.
Step 3: Join statements that contain the same person.
Step 4: Count generations upward or downward.
Step 5: Identify whether the final link is sibling, uncle, aunt, cousin, child, or grandparent.
Step 6: Check the gender of the person giving the relation.
Step 7: State the answer in the requested direction.
Example: Qasim is Rida's father, Rida is Javed's sister, Javed is Alina's father, and Alina is Babar's sister. Rida is Babar's aunt.

Key terms

Blood relation: A family connection formed through birth or descent.
Sibling: A brother or sister who shares at least one parent.
Parent: A father or mother of a child.
Grandparent: The father or mother of one's parent.
Grandchild: The child of one's son or daughter.
Uncle: The brother of a parent, or sometimes the husband of an aunt.
Aunt: The sister of a parent, or sometimes the wife of an uncle.
Cousin: The child of one's uncle or aunt.
Nephew: The son of one's brother or sister.
Niece: The daughter of one's brother or sister.
Maternal: Related to the mother's side of the family.
Paternal: Related to the father's side of the family.
Only child: A person who has no brother or sister because there is one child in the family.
Only daughter: The single female child of a parent, even if the parent may also have sons.
Family tree: A diagram that shows family members and their relationships across generations.
Coded relation: A family relation represented by symbols whose meanings are defined in the question.

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