Reasoning and Analytical Ability
This domain tests accuracy under time pressure across verbal and non-verbal reasoning: series, coding-decoding, syllogisms, blood relations, direction sense, seating arrangements and data interpretation. Most errors are not failures of intelligence but of a misapplied rule, so learn the rules that decide answers before drilling speed.
Rules that decide answers
- Syllogism: draw Venn diagrams. "All A are B" plus "Some B are C" yields no necessary link between A and C.
- "Some A are B" does not imply "Some A are not B". "No A is B" converts to "No B is A"; "All A are B" does not convert to "All B are A".
- Series: check differences first, then ratios, then alternating or two-tier patterns; test squares, cubes and primes.
- Coding-decoding: compare letters position by position and note reversal as well as shift.
- Direction sense: sketch the path; use Pythagoras for right-angled net displacement.
- Seating: fix one anchor person, then mark left and right relative to each person's facing direction.
Worked example
Series: 3, 8, 15, 24, 35, ? Reasoning: the terms fit n² − 1 for n = 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, giving 3, 8, 15, 24, 35; the next term is 7² − 1 = 48. Checking differences confirms it: 5, 7, 9, 11, and the next difference must be 13, which again gives 48. Two independent checks agreeing is what justifies confidence.
Traps that cost marks
Accepting the converse of a valid statement; ignoring that a puzzle says "facing south", which mirrors left and right; mixing percentage points with percentages in data interpretation; and spending too long on one arrangement when the paper rewards completed easy items.