General Intelligence and Reasoning: pattern-spotting under time pressure
General Intelligence and Reasoning checks speed and pattern-spotting rather than learned facts: number and letter series, analogy, coding–decoding, blood relations, direction sense, ranking, syllogism, seating arrangement, clock and calendar, mirror and water image, and dice.
Method
- Series: test differences first, then ratios, then alternating patterns; for letters write positions A=1 to Z=26.
- Coding: compare the given word with its code letter by letter and state the shift in words, e.g. 'each letter +1'.
- Direction: draw a cross and mark every turn from the walker's own facing, not from your view of the page.
- Blood relations: draw a family tree and keep genders fixed.
- Syllogism: draw Venn diagrams; a 'possibility' conclusion needs only one arrangement in which it holds.
Worked example
If PAINT is written as QBJOU, how is LIGHT written? Reasoning: P→Q, A→B, I→J, N→O, T→U, so each letter moves one step forward. Apply the same rule to LIGHT: L→M, I→J, G→H, H→I, T→U, giving MJHIU. Verify with the first letter before choosing, because a backward-shift code can produce a similar-looking option.
Traps
- Mirror image flips left–right; water image flips top–bottom. Do not apply both.
- Ranking: 5th from the left and 9th from the right gives total = 5 + 9 − 1 = 13.
- 'All A are B' never proves 'All B are A'.
- Clock: the hands coincide every 65 5/11 minutes, not every 60 minutes.