Reasoning
Reasoning in IBPS PO tests structured thinking under time pressure: puzzles and seating arrangements, syllogisms, inequalities, coding-decoding, blood relations, direction sense, alphanumeric series, data sufficiency and critical reasoning. The exam rewards set selection and clean notation more than exotic tricks.
Core rules
- In syllogism, apply the 'possibility' standard only when the conclusion is not definitely true; 'some' is reversible, 'all' is not.
- For inequality, keep the chain oriented: A > B ≥ C means A > C but not necessarily C > A. 'Either-or' needs complementary pairs and a missing definite relation.
- In seating puzzles, fix the facing direction first; for circular arrangements, clockwise and anticlockwise change with facing.
- In coding-decoding, test position shifts, reversal and letter-pair patterns before assuming a substitution cipher.
Worked example
Statements: A ≥ B > C = D ≤ E < F. Conclusions: I. A > D. II. C < F. From A ≥ B > C, we get A > C. Since C = D, A > D follows. From C = D ≤ E < F, we get C ≤ E < F, so C < F follows. Both conclusions are true.
Traps
Do not convert 'some B are C' into 'some C are B' without checking; it is valid, but 'all' conversion is not. Do not treat 'either-or' as automatic when both conclusions are individually possible. In puzzles, an unanswered question can be a deliberate 'cannot be determined' case. Avoid re-reading the whole puzzle after each clue; annotate fixed positions.