Reasoning: Pattern Spotting with Diagrams, Not Guesswork
Reasoning measures how quickly you find a rule. At this level the paper avoids heavy puzzles and sticks to number and letter series, analogy, coding-decoding, direction sense, blood relations, ranking, odd-one-out, mirror images and simple syllogism, all solvable with a pencil and a rough sketch.
Rules worth memorising
- Alphabet values: A = 1 to Z = 26. The reverse value is 27 minus the position, so E is 5 forward and 22 reverse. EJOTY gives 5, 10, 15, 20, 25.
- Opposite pairs run A-Z, B-Y, C-X and so on down to M-N.
- In a series, test differences first, then differences of differences, then alternating or multiplication patterns, then squares and cubes.
- In direction questions, draw a cross and mark every turn; right and left depend on the direction you face after the turn, not on the page.
- In syllogism, All A are B does not convert to All B are A, but Some A are B does convert to Some B are A.
Worked example
A guard walks 5 km north, turns right and walks 3 km, then turns right again and walks 5 km. How far is he from the start? Reasoning: north 5, then east 3, then south 5. The two 5 km legs cancel, leaving a net displacement of 3 km due east. Answer: 3 km east. Sketching the path takes ten seconds and removes the guesswork.
Traps
Turning the wrong way because you tracked the page rather than your own facing direction; counting the gaps between items when the question says including both; assuming a mirror image also flips top and bottom; and accepting an either-or conclusion in syllogism when neither statement is individually possible.