General Intelligence and Reasoning
General Intelligence and Reasoning
This domain tests your ability to spot patterns, apply logical rules, and solve problems without specialized knowledge. SSC JE Paper-I devotes 50 questions to it, so speed and accuracy here directly lift your normalized score.
Core rules and concepts
- Analogies and series: establish the relation (e.g., number → square, letter → opposite) before choosing; in letter series, track position shifts separately for vowels and consonants.
- Coding–decoding: write the alphabet with positions 1–26; test shift, reversal, and substitution rules on a short word first.
- Syllogism: draw Venn diagrams for each premise; a conclusion is valid only if it holds in every possible diagram. "Some" does not imply "all".
- Blood relations: use a family tree with symbols (□ male, ○ female, = married, | child); never assume gender from a name.
- Directions: fix north upward; use Pythagoras for shortest distance after turns.
- Non-verbal: for mirror images, reverse left–right; for water images, reverse top–bottom; count faces/edges systematically in paper folding.
Worked example
If "TIGER" is coded as "VKIGT", find the code for "LION". Reasoning: T→V (+2), I→K (+2), G→I (+2), E→G (+2), R→T (+2). So each letter shifts +2. L→N, I→K, O→Q, N→P. Code: "NKQP".
Traps that cost marks
- In syllogism, treating "some A are B" as "all A are B".
- In directions, forgetting that a left turn after facing south means east, not west.
- In coding, applying the shift to the whole word when the pattern is position-dependent.
- In series, ignoring two interleaved sequences.