About Course of Action
A course of action question describes a situation and asks what should be done about it. The answer is the action that meets the problem that has actually been described, and the three wrong options fail in ways that repeat from question to question: they do far more than the problem calls for, they only record or measure it, or they act on a person or an expense rather than on the cause. Where the situation admits argument, one answer is recorded for each question and the explanation says why.
What you need to understand
- The answer is an action that meets the problem in the situation. Read the situation for what is wrong, and then read the options for what each of them would actually change.
- Four kinds of wrong action recur. One is too large, such as closing every school in a district because the water in some of them is suspect. One is too small, such as asking people to be careful. One acts on the wrong target, such as dismissing a storekeeper where no fault has been shown. One only records the problem, such as reporting the loss in the accounts.
- An action should act on the cause the situation points to. Where the situation shows that the cause is not yet known, the action that finds it out is a legitimate course of action and often the right one.
- The action has to be within somebody's power. The situation usually names a body - a council, a hospital, a firm - and the answer should be something that body could do.
- The action must be proportionate. The smallest action that meets the problem is better than a larger one that carries costs the situation does not call for.
- Punishing somebody requires evidence of fault. Where the situation gives none, an action that punishes a person is not a course of action against the problem.
- Many situations call for two things at once: dealing with the immediate harm, and removing the cause. An answer that does only one of the two is usually not the best of the four.
- An action that moves the problem to somebody else is not a solution. Telling passengers to allow more time for delayed trains, or shoppers to be careful of pickpockets, leaves the situation exactly as it was.
- An action must not create a larger problem. Closing a market on its busiest day, or sealing a village's wells, removes the harm by removing something the situation needs.
- Legitimate actions include inspecting, testing, measuring, consulting the people affected, and arranging a temporary provision while a permanent one is made.
- The action is judged against the problem as described and not against the world in general, so a sensible action that does not meet this problem is wrong.
- Some actions are right for one reason and wrong for another: a new building may be needed eventually and is not what the situation requires today.
- The answer is often the least dramatic of the four, because the dramatic options are the ones written to fail.
How to work through these questions
- Read the situation twice: once for what is wrong, and once for what is actually available to be done about it.
- Reject the extremes first. Any option that stops a service, bans something entirely or punishes a person can usually be dismissed quickly.
- Reject the options that only warn, record or measure, unless the situation shows that the cause is unknown and finding it out is the problem.
- Ask who can act. If the body named in the situation could not do what the option says, the option is not available.
- Where the cause is unknown, prefer the option that finds it out, and act after that.
- Check the option against the whole problem and not part of it: an action that deals with the immediate harm while the cause remains is usually not the best answer.
Mistakes that cost marks
- Choosing the largest action because it sounds decisive.
- Choosing an action that removes a service rather than mending it.
- Punishing staff where the situation has shown no fault.
- Accepting an option that only measures or records the problem and calls it action.
- Transferring the cost of the problem to the people who are suffering from it.
- Acting on a guess when the situation itself shows that the cause is unknown.
- Ignoring who has the power to act, so that the chosen action could not be carried out by anybody named in the situation.
- Choosing an action that solves the problem by creating a worse one.
Worked example
Heavy rain has flooded the underpass that pupils use to reach the secondary school. Which of these courses of action should be taken?
- What is wrong is that the route to school is impassable. What is available is the school's own arrangement of the day, a crossing at road level, and the eventual drainage and repair of the underpass.
- Closing every school in the district would be far larger than the problem, and it affects pupils who are not on this route at all.
- Asking the pupils to wear boots does nothing to make a flooded underpass passable.
- Blaming the council for not clearing the drains is not a course of action: it acts on a reputation rather than on the water.
- What remains is closing the underpass and providing a supervised crossing at road level until it has been drained and repaired, which meets the problem now and provides for it later. That is the answer.
Answer: Close the underpass and provide a supervised crossing.
Practice questions with answers
A few Course of Action questions with the full solution shown, so you can see
how the method is applied before you attempt the timed set.
Question 1
Situation: A warehouse has found insect damage in three separate consignments of grain in a single month.
Which of these is the best course of action in the circumstances described?
-
A
Report the loss in the annual accounts and take no other step.
-
B
Dismiss the storekeeper who was on duty.
-
C
Sell the affected consignments quickly at a reduced price.
-
D
Have the store inspected and treated at once.
Answer: Option D — with explanation
Damage found in three consignments in one month points to the store rather than to the grain. Inspecting and treating the store, and keeping new arrivals away from it, is what stops the loss.
A course of action has to meet the problem that has been described, so read the situation twice: once for what is wrong, and once for what is actually available to be done. An action that is larger than the problem, or one that only measures or records it, is not the answer.
Common mistakes
- "Report the loss in the..." - recording the damage does nothing to stop it happening again
- "Dismiss the storekeeper who was..." - no evidence of fault has been established, and the damage would continue: Dismiss the storekeeper who was on duty.
- "Sell the affected consignments quickly..." - this passes the problem to the customer: Sell the affected consignments quickly at a reduced price.
Question 2
Situation: Tube wells in a village have begun to yield water with a high iron content, and the villagers have no other source.
Which of these would be the most appropriate action?
-
A
Say that iron in water is harmless and leave the wells as they are.
-
B
Have the water tested, tell the villagers what it can safely be used for, and arrange a supply for drinking.
-
C
Advise the villagers to drink less water.
-
D
Seal the wells so that nobody uses them at all.
Answer: Option B — with explanation
Water that has changed has to be tested before anybody can say what it is safe for, and the village needs a source for drinking while that is arranged.
A course of action has to meet the problem that has been described, so read the situation twice: once for what is wrong, and once for what is actually available to be done. An action that is larger than the problem, or one that only measures or records it, is not the answer.
Common mistakes
- "Seal the wells so that..." - sealing them leaves the village without water for any purpose: Seal the wells so that nobody uses them at all.
- "Advise the villagers to drink..." - this is advice that nobody can follow: Advise the villagers to drink less water.
- "Say that iron in water..." - the level has not been tested, and the advice may be unsafe
Question 3
Situation: The main bus route in a town is criticised because buses arrive in pairs and then none comes for twenty minutes.
Which of these actions would meet the problem that has been described?
-
A
Put up a notice at the stops apologising for the delays.
-
B
Buy ten new buses for the route.
-
C
Space the departures evenly along the route.
-
D
Close the route and ask passengers to use the train.
Answer: Option C — with explanation
The complaint is about the spacing of the buses, not their number or their age. Even departure times and holding points act directly on the spacing.
A course of action has to meet the problem that has been described, so read the situation twice: once for what is wrong, and once for what is actually available to be done. An action that is larger than the problem, or one that only measures or records it, is not the answer.
Common mistakes
- "Put up a notice at..." - a notice does not alter when the buses arrive: Put up a notice at the stops apologising for the delays.
- "Close the route and ask..." - this removes the service rather than mending it: Close the route and ask passengers to use the train.
- "Buy ten new buses for..." - new vehicles do not change the spacing of the service: Buy ten new buses for the route.
Question 4
Situation: Tube wells in a village have begun to yield water with a high iron content, and the villagers have no other source.
Which of these is the best course of action in the circumstances described?
-
A
Advise the villagers to drink less water.
-
B
Have the water tested, tell the villagers what it can safely be used for, and arrange a supply for drinking.
-
C
Seal the wells so that nobody uses them at all.
-
D
Say that iron in water is harmless and leave the wells as they are.
Answer: Option B — with explanation
Water that has changed has to be tested before anybody can say what it is safe for, and the village needs a source for drinking while that is arranged.
A course of action has to meet the problem that has been described, so read the situation twice: once for what is wrong, and once for what is actually available to be done. An action that is larger than the problem, or one that only measures or records it, is not the answer.
Common mistakes
- "Seal the wells so that..." - sealing them leaves the village without water for any purpose: Seal the wells so that nobody uses them at all.
- "Advise the villagers to drink..." - this is advice that nobody can follow: Advise the villagers to drink less water.
- "Say that iron in water..." - the level has not been tested, and the advice may be unsafe
Question 5
Situation: Membership of a public library has fallen by a quarter over five years.
Which of these would be the most appropriate action?
-
A
Ask former members what would bring them back.
-
B
Close the branches that have the fewest members.
-
C
Buy more books in every subject at once.
-
D
Introduce a charge for membership.
Answer: Option A — with explanation
Members have stopped coming for reasons the library does not know. Asking them is what makes the rest of the action possible, and the wrong options all reduce the service in some way.
A course of action has to meet the problem that has been described, so read the situation twice: once for what is wrong, and once for what is actually available to be done. An action that is larger than the problem, or one that only measures or records it, is not the answer.
Common mistakes
- "Close the branches that have..." - this reduces the service further instead of attracting readers: Close the branches that have the fewest members.
- "Buy more books in every..." - the reason for the fall has not been established: Buy more books in every subject at once.
- "Introduce a charge for membership...." - a charge would reduce membership rather than increase it: Introduce a charge for membership.
Frequently asked questions
Is this topic not simply common sense?
It is close to it, and the questions are built to test one thing: whether an action meets the problem described. The wrong options are all things a person might do in a hurry, which is why they are worth practising against.
What should I do when the situation does not say what caused the problem?
Prefer the action that finds the cause out. An action taken on a guess is the fault the question is testing for, and inspecting, testing or asking the people affected is a course of action in its own right.
Must the action be immediate?
Not necessarily. Many situations need one step now and another to remove the cause, and the best answer often contains both halves while the others contain only one.
Why is asking people to be careful usually wrong?
Because it leaves the situation exactly as it was. Warning the people who are affected transfers the problem to them rather than doing anything about it.
Where does this topic appear in a paper?
In the reasoning sections of bank, SSC and state government papers, usually with three or four such questions together. The situations are drawn from administration, health, traffic and trade.
