Abstract and Logical Reasoning
Core concepts
This section tests pattern recognition and formal reasoning rather than learned content. Expect number and letter series, analogies, syllogisms, deductive puzzles, coding and decoding, odd-one-out items, direction sense, blood relations, and assumptions or conclusions. Most items can be solved by translating words into symbols or simple diagrams.
Traps
- In analogies, the relationship has a direction. "Book is to library" is not the same as "library is to book."
- "All A are B" does not imply "all B are A."
- "Some" means at least one and permits all; it does not mean "some but not all."
- Affirming the consequent (if P then Q; Q, therefore P) and denying the antecedent are invalid.
- Series often interleave two sequences or alternate operations; check differences and ratios separately.
- In coding items, verify the shift on every letter, not just the first.
Worked example
All roses are flowers. Some flowers fade quickly. Does it follow that some roses fade quickly? No. The flowers that fade quickly may be entirely outside the rose group. Draw the minimal diagram: roses sit inside flowers, and the fading flowers overlap flowers without necessarily touching roses.
Rule of thumb
Conclude only what must be true in every possible arrangement. If you can sketch one arrangement where the conclusion fails, the conclusion does not follow.