The Time in A Quarter Past Twelve. If the Hour Hand Point To The East, Is The Direction Apposite To The Minute Hand?

The correct answer is D, North.

At 12:15 the minute hand sits on the 3 mark, which is 90 degrees clockwise from the 12 mark. In those 15 minutes the hour hand has moved only 7.5 degrees past 12, so it lies just short of the 1 mark. Since the hour hand points East, the clock face is turned so that the 12 mark lies about 82.5 degrees on the compass, slightly north of East. Adding 90 degrees clockwise takes the 3 mark to about 172.5 degrees, which is South. The minute hand therefore points South, and its opposite is North.

The core concept is the angle between the hands and a fixed reference direction. Clock-direction questions reduce to locating the 12 mark first and then reading every other mark clockwise from it. The same method applies to bearing and map problems in the Reasoning section.

• South-West (A): the minute hand points due South, not South-West, so this is off by 45 degrees.
• South (B): this is the direction the minute hand itself points, not its opposite.
• West (C): the minute hand is close to South, so West is off by about 90 degrees.

Trap: candidates treat the hour hand as sitting exactly on 12 and then read the minute hand's direction directly. Account for the 7.5 degree shift of the hour hand, find the minute hand's direction, and then take the opposite.