Logical Reasoning: Analogies, Series, Syllogisms, and Analytical Puzzles
Logical Reasoning tests structure, not subject knowledge. CMAT Masters items ask for the relation in an analogy, the next term in a number or letter series, the conclusion that must follow from premises (syllogism), or the arrangement of people, days, colours, or floors in an analytical puzzle.
Core rules
- Analogies. Turn the pair into a sentence: A is a tool used by B, A is the young of B, A is the study of B. Apply the same sentence, in the same order, to each option.
- Series. Test differences, ratios, alternating operations, squares and cubes, and letter positions. If one rule fails, split odd and even positions.
- Syllogisms. Draw minimal Venn diagrams. All A are B places A inside B; it does not place B inside A. Some A are B is reversible; No A is B is symmetric. A conclusion is valid only if it must be true in every diagram that satisfies the premises.
- Puzzles. Build a grid of categories. Enter direct clues first, then negative and either/or clues. Never assume an unstated order.
Worked example
Premises: No manager is an intern. Some interns are graduates. Proposed conclusion: Some graduates are not managers. Draw interns and managers as disjoint circles. The graduates who are interns lie in the intern circle, so they are outside the manager circle. Therefore at least those graduates are not managers, and the conclusion must be true. By contrast, Some managers are graduates is not forced: the premises say nothing about managers who are graduates.
Traps
- Reversing an all statement into all B are A.
- Treating some as some but not all; in logic, some means at least one.
- Adding real-world knowledge to a formal puzzle.
- Missing that two some premises cannot produce a definite link.
- In arrangements, ignoring a clue that fixes a position only relative to another.
Exam focus
For syllogisms, draw rather than verbalize. For puzzles, write a compact table and eliminate. For series, keep a checklist of operations.