Reasoning, Mental Ability and Analytical Skills
What the paper tests
This section checks logical thinking rather than memory: number and letter series, analogies, coding–decoding, blood relations, direction sense, ranking and seating arrangement, syllogism, clocks and calendars, and simple non-verbal patterns.
Core rules
- Letter series: write the alphabet with positions 1–26. Remember EJOTY (E=5, J=10, O=15, T=20, Y=25) to place letters quickly.
- Coding–decoding: find the shift. Check the first and last letters separately; shifts are sometimes alternating (+1, −1).
- Direction sense: draw the path. North–right = East, East–right = South, and so on. Final displacement is the straight line from start to finish, not the sum of all steps.
- Blood relations: draw a family tree, using + for male and − for female; never carry the narrator’s gender into the answer unless stated.
- Syllogism: use Venn diagrams. “All A are B” does not give “All B are A”. A conclusion is valid only if it holds in every possible diagram.
- Ranking: in a row of n, a person’s position from the other end = n + 1 − position from this end.
Worked example
If COURT is written as DPVSU, how is BENCH written in the same code? Reasoning: C→D, O→P, U→V, R→S, T→U - each letter moves one step forward. Applying the same shift: B→C, E→F, N→O, C→D, H→I. Answer: CFODI.
Traps
Assuming a pattern from only two terms; forgetting that in ‘left/right’ puzzles the persons face north (right = your right) but face south (right = your left); and accepting a syllogism conclusion that is only possible rather than certain.