General Awareness and Reasoning
What this domain covers
The General Awareness and Reasoning section checks two different skills: a broad factual awareness of India and its neighbourhood, and the ability to spot patterns and draw valid conclusions from short verbal or visual data. Factual questions often touch the Constitution, national symbols, geography, sports, awards and basic science; reasoning questions cover series, analogies, coding-decoding, syllogisms, blood relations, direction sense and seating puzzles.
Core rules to apply
- In number series, test differences first, then ratios, then alternating or square/cube patterns.
- In coding-decoding, write the alphabet with positions 1–26 and check shifts letter by letter.
- In syllogism, draw minimal Venn diagrams; do not import real-world knowledge.
- In blood relations, draw a family tree and mark gender; never count yourself as a relative.
- In direction sense, fix north on paper and turn left/right relative to the facing direction, not the page.
Worked example
Find the next term: 3, 7, 15, 31, ? Differences are 4, 8, 16 - doubling. Next difference = 32, so the answer is 31 + 32 = 63. Equivalently, each term is previous × 2 + 1: 3×2+1=7, 7×2+1=15, and 31×2+1=63.
Traps that cost marks
- Missing the word NOT or EXCEPT in the question.
- Assuming a series is arithmetic when it is alternating (e.g., +5, −2, +5, −2).
- In syllogism, rejecting a valid conclusion because it feels unnatural.
- In direction questions, turning left from a west-facing position and marking east.