General Intelligence & Reasoning: Patterns, Codes and Logical Deduction
What the reasoning paper demands
General Intelligence & Reasoning in CEPTAM STA-B Tier-I rewards pattern recognition under time pressure. Questions come from alphabet and number series, analogies (verbal and numerical), coding–decoding, blood relations, direction sense, syllogism, seating and ranking puzzles, and non-verbal items such as mirror images, paper folding, embedded figures and figure series.
Rules worth memorising
- Alphabet values: A=1 … Z=26. EJOTY gives E=5, J=10, O=15, T=20, Y=25; opposite pairs sum to 27 (A↔Z, G↔T).
- Number series: test differences first, then ratios, then squares or cubes with a constant offset, then two interleaved series.
- Syllogism: draw Venn diagrams. "All A are B" plus "All B are C" gives "All A are C"; "No A is B" converts to "No B is A".
- Blood relations: sketch a family tree, mark males and females explicitly, and never infer gender from a name.
- Directions: fix north and plot a coordinate grid; net displacement uses Pythagoras.
Worked example
In a certain code DRDO is written as ETEP. What is LABS? Each letter shifts one place forward: D→E, R→S, D→E, O→P. Applying the same rule, L→M, A→B, B→C, S→T, so LABS is coded as MBCT.
Traps that cost marks
Assuming a series rule from the first two terms only; counting the alphabet from the wrong end; confusing "left of" with "immediate left" in seating puzzles; and sinking five minutes into one arrangement set instead of marking it and coming back.