Reasoning / General Intelligence
Reasoning / General Intelligence
The Reasoning section of Indian Bank LBO tests how quickly you can impose structure on unfamiliar information. Expect puzzles and seating arrangements, syllogisms, inequality, coding-decoding, blood relations, direction sense, order-ranking, alphanumeric series and data sufficiency. The exam rewards exact reading, not calculation speed.
Core rules
- Puzzles/seating: Start with fixed positions ('A sits third from the left end'), then apply negative clues. In circular arrangements, fix one person and convert 'left/right' to clockwise/anticlockwise consistently.
- Syllogism: Draw minimal Venn diagrams. A conclusion is valid only if it is true in every diagram. Treat 'some' as at least one; 'all A are B' does not imply 'all B are A.' For 'either-or,' check whether conclusions are individually false but jointly cover the possibilities.
- Inequality: Combine only same-direction chains. 'A > B ≥ C' gives A > C, but not C > A. 'Either-or' appears when the same pair has complementary possibilities.
- Blood relations: Draw a family tree, using +/− for gender and horizontal/vertical lines for spouse/child. Do not assume gender from a name or profession.
Worked example
In a row of 40 students, R is 11th from the left and S is 15th from the right. How many students are between them?
R's position from left = 11. S's position from left = 40 − 15 + 1 = 26. Students between = 26 − 11 − 1 = 14. The formula 40 − (11 + 15) = 14 works only because R and S do not overlap; if the sum exceeded 40, you would subtract from the total differently.
Traps
- Reversing 'from the right' and 'from the left.'
- Assuming 'some' means 'some not.'
- Ignoring the word 'only' in puzzles.
- Treating a possible conclusion as definite in syllogism.