Reasoning
What the section tests
Reasoning in EMRS JSA is speed-based: series, coding–decoding, analogies, blood relations, direction sense, syllogism, seating arrangement, and a few non-verbal items such as mirror images, embedded figures and paper folding.
Rules worth memorising
- Alphabet position: A=1 … Z=26; EJOTY gives 5, 10, 15, 20, 25; opposite letters sum to 27 (A–Z, B–Y).
- Coding–decoding: first write the numeric shift for each letter; if shifts vary, check +1, +2, +3 or reverse-alphabet coding.
- Syllogism: "Some A are B" is reversible; "All A are B" is not; keep possibility cases alive when the question says "possibility".
- Direction: track turns from the current facing direction, not from north; net displacement uses Pythagoras.
- Seating: fix the single fully definite clue first, then place the negative clues around it.
- Clock angle = |30H − 5.5M|; calendar odd days: ordinary year 1, leap year 2.
Worked example
If TEACHER is coded VGCEJGT, how is STUDENT coded? Every letter moves +2: T→V, E→G, A→C, C→E, H→J, E→G, R→T. Applying the same shift: S→U, T→V, U→W, D→F, E→G, N→P, T→V, giving UVWFGPV.
Traps
- Assuming "All A are B" also means "All B are A".
- Treating a mirror image as a 180° rotation - a mirror flips left–right only, a water image flips top–bottom.
- In number series, checking only differences when the pattern alternates ×2, −3, ×2, −3.
- Blood relations: "my father's only son" is the speaker (or the speaker's brother, if a sibling is mentioned).