General Knowledge, Logic and Reading Comprehension
This domain tests the ability to reason quickly and accurately under time pressure. Practise three skills separately. First, reading comprehension: identify the thesis, the supporting argument and the conclusion of a short passage; learn to spot the difference between a fact and an opinion, and between a premise and a conclusion. Second, logic: understand the basic forms - syllogism, modus ponens and modus tollens, contraposition, and the quantifiers (all, some, none). Learn to detect logical fallacies (ad hominem, straw man, false dilemma, circular reasoning). Third, numerical and spatial reasoning: percentage change, ratios, series completion, and simple spatial rotations.
In Polish public-service recruitment tests, the most common trap is a passage that contains a true statement which is not the conclusion, or an answer option that is true but does not answer the question asked. Another trap is a syllogism with an invalid middle term.
Worked example: "All officers are disciplined. Some disciplined people are punctual. Therefore some officers are punctual." Invalid - the second premise does not connect the middle term to officers. Rule of thumb: in a syllogism, check whether the middle term is distributed; if the conclusion introduces a term that was not properly linked, reject it. Always read the question stem first, then the passage.