General Intelligence and Reasoning: pattern rules
Reasoning questions in the ASO paper are rule-identification puzzles. The examiner gives a small data set and expects you to extract the rule and apply it. Standard types are series (number, letter, mixed), analogy, coding–decoding, blood relations, direction sense, ranking and ordering, syllogism, seating arrangement, and non-verbal series or figure classification.
Core rules
- Number series: test successive differences, then ratios, then squares/cubes, then alternating or two-tier patterns.
- Coding–decoding: convert letters to positions (A=1 … Z=26); check shifts, reversals, and sum-of-positions.
- Blood relations: draw a small family tree with gender marked; never solve in your head.
- Direction sense: draw the path on paper; final displacement is a straight-line distance, not the sum of steps.
- Syllogism: use Venn diagrams; a conclusion is valid only if it follows in every possible diagram.
Worked example
Series: 7, 12, 19, 28, ? Differences are 5, 7, 9 - consecutive odd numbers. The next difference is 11, so the answer is 39. Checking differences before ratios is what makes this fast; a ratio test here would give no clean pattern.
Traps that cost marks
- Assuming a constant difference when the series is two-tier (difference of differences).
- In syllogism, accepting a conclusion that is merely possible rather than certain.
- In blood relations, ignoring "only son of" / "only daughter of", which fixes gender and uniqueness.
- In seating arrangements, solving circular arrangements without fixing the direction of facing.