General Intelligence and Reasoning - CBT 1
What the domain tests
Reasoning in CBT 1 is a speed test of pattern recognition: analogy, classification (odd one out), series (number, letter, figure), coding-decoding, blood relations, direction and distance, seating arrangement, syllogism, Venn diagrams, mathematical operations, dice and cubes, mirror and water images, paper folding, embedded figures and figure completion. Most items are solvable in under 45 seconds once the pattern type is recognised.
Rules that decide the answer
- Letter position: A=1 … Z=26; reverse position = 27 − forward position. Coding shifts are usually ±1 to ±5, or opposites (A↔Z).
- Blood relations: draw a small tree; never hold relations in your head. Use "+" for male, "−" for female, horizontal line for siblings, vertical for parent-child.
- Direction sense: fix North up, treat left/right turns as ±90°, and remember the final displacement uses Pythagoras when the path turns twice.
- Syllogism: only the Venn diagram that satisfies every premise counts; "some A are B" does not imply "some B are A" unless stated.
Worked example
If MOUSE is written as NPVTF, what is CHAIR? Compare letters: M→N (+1), O→P (+1), U→V (+1), S→T (+1), E→F (+1). The code is a simple +1 shift. Applying it: C→D, H→I, A→B, I→J, R→S, giving DIBJS.
Traps that cost marks
Assuming a series is arithmetic when the differences themselves form a pattern (2, 3, 5, 8, 12 - differences 1, 2, 3, 4). Reading a mirror image as a water image (mirror flips left-right, water flips top-bottom). Forgetting that "only a few" and "some" are different quantifiers in syllogism. And in seating puzzles, missing that "facing north" reverses left and right relative to the reader.