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NGAT: Logical Reasoning and Problem Solving

NGAT · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

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Logical Reasoning and Problem Solving

Logical Reasoning and Problem Solving on the NGAT asks you to draw only the conclusions that follow from the information given. Items include deductive arguments, conditional statements, ordering and seating puzzles, scheduling, truth-teller problems, and assumptions. The test is not advanced formal logic; it is disciplined reading and elimination.

Core rules

  • A conditional “If P, then Q” guarantees Q when P holds, and not-P when Q fails (contrapositive). It does not guarantee P when Q holds, or not-Q when P fails.
  • “All A are B” does not imply “All B are A”. “Some A are B” does not imply “Some B are not A”.
  • For ordering puzzles, write positions and list every constraint. Place fixed items first, then test the remaining cases.
  • For truth-teller puzzles, assume one speaker is truthful and look for a contradiction; the consistent assumption is the answer.
  • For assumptions, ask what must be true for the argument to work, not what is merely plausible.

Worked example

Four students-P, Q, R, S-sit in a row of four seats numbered 1 to 4 from left to right. P is not at either end. Q sits immediately to the left of R. S sits at seat 4. Who must sit at seat 1? S is in seat 4. Q and R must occupy consecutive seats with Q left of R: either (1,2) or (2,3). If they occupy (2,3), the remaining seats are 1 and 4; P cannot be at an end, so P cannot take seat 1, and seat 4 is already S. That case fails. Therefore Q and R are in (1,2). P must then be in seat 3, and Q is in seat 1. Answer: Q.

Traps that cost marks

The classic error is reversing a conditional: from “If it rains, the match is cancelled” concluding “It rained because the match was cancelled.” Another is treating “some” as “some but not all”, or assuming that a named group has only the stated members. In ordering puzzles, a common failure is stopping at the first arrangement that fits; check whether the question asks what must be true or what could be true. Finally, do not import real-world knowledge-the answer must follow from the stated rules alone.