✓ Question 11: 2nd place
Yesterday was Monday. What day will it be the day after tomorrow?
Why, in question 11: In a race, you overtake the person in 2nd place. What position are you in?
The answer is 2nd place. By overtaking the person who was second, you take over that person's position, and the one who was first remains ahead of you.
The answer that seems obvious
Many people answer first place, because the word overtake gives the feeling of getting ahead of everyone. But you only passed one person, the one who was right in front of you.
Picture the scene: before, you were third. By passing the second-place runner, you swap positions: you become second, and they become third.
A variation of the same puzzle asks what happens if you overtake the last-place finisher. The answer is that this is not possible: to overtake the last person, you would have to be behind them.
Challenges like this train a useful habit: before answering, rework the situation step by step, instead of trusting your first impression.
The same goes for a bank queue: if the person right in front of you leaves, you don't move to first place, you just advance one position.
