General Intelligence and Reasoning for CAPF ASI (Stenographer)
The General Intelligence and Reasoning section of the CAPF ASI (Stenographer) paper measures how fast you detect a pattern and apply a fixed rule, not how much you have memorised. Items come in two families: verbal (analogies, classification, number and letter series, coding–decoding, blood relations, syllogisms, statement–conclusion, direction sense) and non-verbal (mirror and water images, paper folding and cutting, embedded figures, figure counting, dice and cube problems).
Rules that decide most answers
- Syllogism: draw Venn diagrams. "All A are B" does not convert to "All B are A", but "Some A are B" does convert to "Some B are A". A conclusion is valid only if it holds in every possible diagram.
- Blood relations: build a family tree, mark gender with +/−, and never assume gender from a name.
- Coding–decoding: check alphabet positions (A=1 … Z=26) and shifts before trying reversal or word rearrangement.
- Series: test first differences, then second differences, then squares, cubes and products.
- Mirror vs water image: a mirror reverses left–right; water reverses top–bottom.
Worked example
If ROSE is coded as SPTF, how is LILY coded?
Reasoning: R→S, O→P, S→T, E→F, so every letter moves one step forward. Applying the same +1 rule: L→M, I→J, L→M, Y→Z. Answer: MJMZ. The repeated L is the trap - candidates who tidy the output often write MJNZ.
Traps that cost marks
- Picking the first plausible option in syllogisms instead of testing all four.
- Counting the same triangle twice in figure-counting items.
- Reading opposite dice faces from adjacent positions rather than using the rule that opposite faces never touch.
- Burning four minutes on one seating puzzle in a tightly timed paper.