Reasoning: Puzzles, Syllogism and Inequality Discipline
What the section tests
Reasoning in this paper rewards clean diagramming and rule discipline. Recurring areas are seating/floor puzzles, syllogism, inequality, blood relations, coding-decoding, and input-output. The CA Officer paper usually keeps puzzles moderate but makes options close.
Rules that decide answers
- In linear arrangements, fix the person with the most constraints first; use '-' for facing north and '+' for facing south, or mirror the row when facing changes.
- In syllogism, draw minimal overlapping sets. 'All A are B' means A is inside B; 'Some A are B' means at least one overlap; 'No A is B' means disjoint.
- 'Only a few A are B' means some A are B and some A are not B; it is not the same as 'some'.
- In inequality chains, combine only same-direction signs. A > B ≥ C gives A > C, but A > B < C gives no relation between A and C.
- Blood relations: convert each phrase into a chain and re-read from the person asked about, not from the speaker.
Worked example
Statements: All auditors are CAs. Some CAs are bankers. Conclusion I: Some auditors are bankers. Conclusion II: Some bankers are CAs. Draw: auditors inside CAs; bankers overlap CAs. The overlap between CAs and bankers need not touch auditors, so I is not definite. 'Some CAs are bankers' converts to 'Some bankers are CAs', so II follows. Answer: only II follows.
Traps
Do not assume 'some' excludes 'all'; do not add a possibility conclusion unless the question asks for it; do not reverse 'only a few'; and in puzzles, do not discard a valid arrangement because it looks unusual.