General Intelligence and Reasoning: Patterns, Codes and Logical Structures
General Intelligence and Reasoning rewards pattern recognition more than calculation. The paper mixes verbal items (analogies, series, coding-decoding, blood relations, syllogism) with non-verbal items (mirror images, paper folding, embedded figures), so practise both with and without a rough sheet.
Rules worth memorising
- Letter values run A=1 to Z=26; the reverse value of a letter is 27 minus its forward value (A=26, Z=1). Most coding questions reduce to shifts, reversals or sums of these values.
- Number series: test differences first, then ratios, then squares or cubes with a constant added. If differences double (4, 8, 16), the next difference is 32.
- Blood relations: draw a tree with separate branches for siblings and spouses; never carry the chain in your head.
- Syllogism: draw minimal Venn diagrams. 'All A are B' does not reverse; 'Some A are B' does reverse; 'No A is B' reverses as 'No B is A'.
- Direction sense: fix north at the top, mark every turn, and remember left and right depend on the direction currently faced, not on the page.
Worked example
Series: 3, 7, 15, 31, ? Differences are 4, 8 and 16, each doubling, so the next difference is 32 and the answer is 31 + 32 = 63. Equivalently the rule is multiply by 2 and add 1; test it on every term before committing.
Traps that cost marks
- Treating 'some' as 'only some'; in syllogism, 'some A are B' still allows the possibility that all A are B.
- Assuming a single rule in a series whose odd and even positions follow different patterns.
- Forgetting that a mirror image reverses left and right but not top and bottom.
- Applying a letter shift in the wrong direction, for example +1 when the key shows -1.