General Intelligence and Reasoning
Item types
The reasoning paper covers number and alphabet series, coding–decoding, blood relations, direction sense, syllogism, ranking and order, seating arrangement (linear and circular), puzzles, and non-verbal items such as mirror image, paper folding, embedded figures and figure series.
Working method
- Series: check differences, then ratios, then squares and cubes, then alternating sub-series. Two interleaved patterns is the commonest trick.
- Coding–decoding: write the alphabet with positions 1–26 and test shifts (+1, −2), reversal (A↔Z) or positional sums.
- Blood relations: draw a small family tree, marking gender; never solve it mentally.
- Syllogism: draw the minimum possible Venn diagram first, then test 'possibility' conclusions separately.
- Seating: fix one person, note who faces which way, and convert 'left/right' relative to each person's facing.
Worked example
In a certain code, STENO is written as TUFOP. How is WORD written? Every letter moves one step forward: S→T, T→U, E→F, N→O, O→P. Applying the same shift: W→X, O→P, R→S, D→E, so the code is XPSE.
Traps that cost marks
- Circular arrangements with some people facing in and some out - one direction error cascades through the puzzle.
- Conclusions that are merely 'possible' chosen where 'definitely true' is asked.
- Ranking questions that ask for the total number of people, not the rank.
- Mirror image reverses left–right; water image reverses top–bottom. Mixing them loses easy marks.
- Spending more than 60–75 seconds on a single puzzle - mark it, skip, return later.
Keep rough work on paper; accuracy in reasoning comes from what you write down, not from what you hold in your head.