Reasoning Ability: Convert Conditions into Stable Structures
Reasoning Ability in LIC AAO checks whether you can convert a dense set of conditions into a stable arrangement and then answer quickly. The paper leans on puzzles and seating arrangement, syllogism, inequality, coding-decoding, blood relations, order-ranking, input-output and data sufficiency.
Core rules
- For puzzles, build a compact grid: fixed rows for floors, days or people; mark unconfirmed possibilities with a dot and erase as you confirm.
- Syllogism: draw minimal Venn diagrams; a conclusion is valid only if it holds in every possible diagram. "Some A are B" does not mean "some A are not B".
- Inequality: keep a single chain and never reverse it. A ≥ B > C means A > C, but C < A only.
- Coding: convert letters to positions; check +1/-1, reversal or alternating shifts before assuming a complex pattern.
- Blood relations: use a tree with gender labels; do not infer gender from a name.
Worked example
Statements: A ≥ B = C > D ≤ E. Conclusions: I. A > D. II. C ≥ E. Chain A ≥ B = C > D gives A > D, so I follows. For II, C > D and D ≤ E; D is below both C and E, so C and E are not ordered. II does not follow.
Traps
- Treating "either-or" as "both follow".
- Forgetting that "only a few" means some are and some are not.
- In seating, mixing left and right when the row faces south.
- Overwriting a confirmed puzzle slot with an unverified clue.
- In data sufficiency, solving fully instead of testing whether each statement alone is enough.