NICL AO key terms

A logical reasoning task in which two or more statements, called premises, are given and you must decide whether a conclusion definitely follows, using set relationships usually drawn as Venn diagrams.

A reasoning question in which the usual comparison signs are replaced by letters or symbols, and you must substitute them correctly to judge which of the given conclusions about the elements is true.

Questions that describe family links through words, symbols or a puzzle and ask how two people are related, or the gender of a person, requiring you to draw a family tree.

A puzzle where people sit around a circle facing the centre or facing outward, and clues about left, right, immediate neighbours and opposite positions are combined to fix every person's place.

A reasoning set showing a machine that rearranges a given line of numbers or words in fixed steps, where you must identify the rule and predict a later step or the final arrangement.

Questions where a problem is followed by two statements and you must decide whether statement I alone, statement II alone, both together, or neither is enough to answer it, without actually solving.

A verbal reasoning item giving a statement followed by candidate assumptions, where you judge which assumption is implicit, that is, taken for granted by the person making the statement.

A passage with numbered blanks, each carrying options, that tests whether you can pick the word which fits both the grammar and the meaning of the surrounding sentences.

A set of sentences given in scrambled order that must be rearranged into a coherent paragraph, usually judged by connectors, pronouns and the sentence that opens the idea.

A sentence divided into parts, one of which contains a grammatical fault in tense, subject-verb agreement, preposition or word usage, and you must identify that part.

A fixed expression whose meaning cannot be worked out from its individual words, tested by asking for its correct sense or for the sentence in which it fits.

A conclusion drawn from a passage that is not stated word for word but is logically supported by the facts given, so it must be true if the passage is true.

A sentence with two blanks and option pairs, where both words must fit the grammar and the overall meaning of the sentence for the pair to be correct.

Words or phrases such as although, therefore or in spite of that join ideas, tested by choosing the connector which correctly shows the relation between two clauses.

A set of tables, charts or graphs followed by questions where you read values, compute totals, averages, percentages or ratios, and compare one entry with another.

Interest calculated on the principal plus the interest already earned, so the amount grows faster than under simple interest, using the factor one plus rate over hundred raised to the number of periods.

A shortcut based on weighted averages that finds the ratio in which two mixtures of different concentrations or two items of different prices must be combined to get a required middle value.

Problems about how long individuals or machines take to finish a job alone or together, solved by converting each worker's time into a rate and adding the rates.

Problems built on distance equals speed multiplied by time, extended to relative speed, trains crossing poles or platforms, and boats moving with or against a stream.

The chance of an event, found by dividing favourable outcomes by total equally likely outcomes, with independent events multiplying and mutually exclusive events adding.

Questions that ask for a close value rather than an exact one, solved by rounding numbers to convenient figures and applying the order of operations quickly.

The rate at which the Reserve Bank of India lends short-term funds to commercial banks against government securities; raising it usually makes credit costlier and tightens money supply.

The share of a bank's net demand and time liabilities that must be parked as cash with the Reserve Bank of India, where it earns no interest for the bank.

The minimum share of net demand and time liabilities that a bank must hold in cash, gold or approved government securities before using the rest for lending.

The gap between the government's total expenditure and its total receipts excluding borrowings, showing how much the government must borrow during the year.

The excess of a country's payments for imported goods, services and transfers over its receipts from exports, indicating that the country needs net foreign funding.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, the statutory body that licenses insurers and intermediaries, frames regulations and protects policyholders' interests.

Rules requiring banks to give a set share of credit, generally forty percent of adjusted net bank credit for domestic commercial banks, to agriculture, micro and small enterprises, education, housing and weaker sections.

The process by which an insurer assesses the risk in a proposal, decides whether to accept it, and fixes the premium, exclusions or conditions that will apply to the cover.

The amount a policyholder pays, either as a single lump sum or in instalments, in return for the insurer's promise to pay for the risks covered by the policy.

Insurance bought by an insurance company from another insurer so that very large or unusually concentrated risks are shared and one event cannot threaten the first insurer's solvency.

A financial or legal relationship in which the policyholder gains from the safety of the subject matter and loses from its damage, which is necessary for a valid insurance contract.

The rule that a general insurance claim should restore the insured to the financial position held just before the loss, neither better nor worse, so that no profit can be made from a claim.

The duty on both parties to disclose every material fact honestly, because the insurer depends on the proposer's information to decide whether to accept the risk and at what price.

After paying a claim, the insurer steps into the insured's position and may recover the loss from the party responsible, which also prevents the insured from recovering twice.

The excess of an insurer's assets over its liabilities, prescribed by the regulator, held as a cushion against unexpectedly heavy claims so that policyholders' claims can still be paid.