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Tips & Tricks for Analytical Reasoning

Reasoning is an important section in aptitude tests and one which all students need to master

necessarily. It is critical for them in order to be clear employability tests.

Reasoning portion checks your thinking capability. Through this section can employer may want to

check how easily & quickly you can solve real life problems.

We intend to make you aware about important sections in which you can score very high if you

understand its concepts & practice well. We are also sharing quick conceptual tricks on different

topics which would help in increasing your speed of attempting a question correctly.

All the best!

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Contents

Analogy ................................................................................................................................................... 3

Odd one out ............................................................................................................................................ 3

Relationships ........................................................................................................................................... 4

Series ....................................................................................................................................................... 5

Coding Decoding ..................................................................................................................................... 6

Data Sufficiency ...................................................................................................................................... 7

Statement & Conclusions ........................................................................................................................ 8

Visual Reasoning ..................................................................................................................................... 9

Logical Reasoning .................................................................................................................................... 9

Some books you can refer to ................................................................................................................ 13

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Analogy

In analogy based questions a particular relation is being expressed between given words. Analogy

based tests generally assess a candidate’s overall knowledge, power of reasoning and ability to think

concisely and accurately. This section can help you earn higher marks but for that you should learn

relationships which can be-

Instruments & Measurements

Seismograph: Earthquake

Individual & Groups

Man: Crowd

Study & Topics

Ethnology: Human Races

Worker & Tool

Blacksmith: Anvil

Also there exist many such relationships. You can refer a good book and learn these from there.

Odd one out

In these kind of questions, a set of words, names, numbers or jumbled alphabets are given and the

candidates are asked to point out the one which is not a part of the set.

Some examples of variety of questions which come under this section, are as follows:

Type 1: 22, 33, 66, 99, 121, 279, 594

Solution: Each of the number except 279 is a multiple of 11. Therefore 279 is odd one.

Type 2: Endemic, Epidemic, Niche, Rife.

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Solution: All the other words refer to something which is widespread, except Niche which means-a

position particularly well suited & hence this is contrary.

Type 3 :

Which of the following four sets of letters is unlike the other three? DCKL, MNST, NMYZ, QPST

(a) DCKL

(b) MNST

(c) NMYZ

(d) QPST

Solution : In MNST, the letters are in alphabetical order. In the other three, the order of the letters

will be alphabetical only when the first two are interchanged.

Question in this section are comparatively easier than other ones. You need to attempt questions

carefully to get all attempts correct.

Relationships

In these tests success of a candidate depends upon the knowledge of the blood relations, some of

which are summarized below to help solve these tests.

Mother’s or father’s son Brother

Mother or father’s daughter Sister

Mother or father’s brother Uncle

Mother or father’s sister Aunt

Mother or father’s father Grandfather

Mother or father’s mother Grandmother

Son’s wife Daughter-in-Law

Daughter’s husband Son-in-Law

Husband or wife’s sister Sister-in-Law

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Husband or wife’s brother Brother-in-Law

Brother’s son Nephew

Brother’s daughter Niece

Uncle or aunt’s son or daughter Cousin

Sister’s Husband Brother-in-Law

Brother’s wife Sister-in-Law

Grandson’s or Granddaughter’s

daughter

Great grand daughter

Typically the questions in this segment are like :

Pointing out a group photograph, R says, “To the right of the man wearing the blue suit is my mother’s father’s son.” How is he related to R?

(a) Uncle

(b) Nephew

(c) Niece

(d) Son

Answer: He is R’s mother’s brother, that is, uncle

The questions in this section may be craftily worded but may not be too difficult. Hence students

should try and score perfectly in these kinds of questions.

Series

In these kinds of questions, a series of words , alphabets or a combination is given. And then

question is asked on the possible next term in the series.

Despite the fact that it is extremely difficult to lay down all possible combinations of series, still if

you follow few steps, you may solve a series question easily & quickly.

Step 1: Do a preliminary screening of the series. If it is a simple series, you will be able to solve this

easily.

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Step 2: If you fail in preliminary screening then determine the trend of the series. Determine

whether this is increasing or decreasing or alternating.

Step 3: (A) Perform this step only if a series is increasing or decreasing

Use following rules:

I. If rise is slow or gradual, this type of series is likely to have an additional based increase.

Successive numbers have been found by adding some numbers

II. If rise is very sharp initially but slows down later on, the series is likely to be formed by

adding squared or cubed numbers

III. If the rise of a series is throughout equally sharp, the series is likely to be multiplication

based

IV. If the rise is irregular and haphazard, there may be two possibilities. Either there may be a

mix of two series or two different kinds of operations may be going on alternately. (The first

is very likely when the increase is very irregular: the second is more likely when there is a

pattern, even in the irregularity of the series.)

Step 3: (B) to be performed when series is alternating

If the rise is irregular and haphazard, there may be two possibilities. Either there may be a mix of

two series or two different kinds of operations may be going on alternately. (The first is very likely

when the increase is very irregular: the second is more likely when there is a pattern, even in the

irregularity of the series.)

What is the next number in the series below :

14, 49, 916, 1625, …….

Options: (a) 2027

(b) 2438

(c) 2578

(d) 2536

Answer: The nautral numbers are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ……. Their squares are 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, ….. Each term in the given series has been formed by pairing the squares of the natural numbers 1 and 4, 4 and 9, 9 and 16, 16 and 25, … Therefore the next term = 2536.

Some series questions can be really tricky and hence a lot of practice has to go into it achieve perfection in these category of questions.

Coding Decoding

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In these kinds of questions, certain words, symbols and set of numbers are represented as some

other words , symbols , set of numbers or a combination of these. And then a question is asked for

a similar set.

These questions are also simpler and easy. You need to recognize the pattern present in given series.

You can master this section by putting little efforts & practicing few questions on your own.

In a certain code language ‘SUPERMAN’ is coded as ‘USEPMRNA ’. Then in that code ‘MANAGING ’ is codes as: a) AMNAIGGN b) AMANIGGN c) AMANIGNG d) AMAINGGN Solution : Every two letters of the word are being interchanged in order.

Data Sufficiency

This is also one interesting section of reasoning paper. Mastering this section is not very difficult but meanwhile may not be a cake walk too. Example 1. In which year was Rahul born ? Statements: Rahul at present is 25 years younger to his mother. Rahul's brother, who was born in 1964, is 35 years younger to his mother.

a. I alone is sufficient while II alone is not sufficient b. II alone is sufficient while I alone is not sufficient c. Either I or II is sufficient d. Neither I nor II is sufficient e. Both I and II are sufficient

Solution: Take statement one & try solving but alone statement 1 will not be sufficient. However statement 2 is also not sufficient alone, but taking both of the statement together question can be solved. Hence answer is e. Example 2. What will be the total weight of 10 poles, each of the same weight ? Statements: One-fourth of the weight of each pole is 5 kg. The total weight of three poles is 20 kilograms more than the total weight of two poles.

a. I alone is sufficient while II alone is not sufficient b. II alone is sufficient while I alone is not sufficient c. Either I or II is sufficient d. Neither I nor II is sufficient e. Both I and II are sufficient

Solution: From statement 1. W/4 = 5 therefore W=20 Kg. So total weight = 200 Kg. From statement 2. 3W= 20+ 2W, W=20. So total weight is 200 Kg.

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Therefore c is the correct answer. To understand various patterns you should practice well & try solving different type of questions.

Statement & Conclusions

This section can be really difficult and actually helps exercising your brain cells. Apart from checking

your problem solving skills this also checks your ability of choosing the correct questions to answer,

because there will be some questions placed deliberately to trap you & will absorb your time.

To believe it or not but there no direct shortcuts or tricks to solve these questions but you can

actually train your brain by practicing hard because that will help you learn various patterns.

Anyways don’t worry that much, let’s learns few patterns & understand how this section can also be

conquered.

Generally the questions in this section are of the following type

Type 1: Statement: In a cricket match, the total runs made by the team were 200. Out of these 160 runs were made by spinners.

Conclusions:

1. 80% of the team consists of spinners.

2. The opening batsmen were spinners.

a. Only conclusion I follows

b. Only conclusion II follows

c. Either I or II follows

d. Neither I nor II follows

e. Both I and II follow

Solution: Now if we calculate (160/200) *100= 80%. Which simplifies the statement into “80%

runs were made by spinners” but that doesn’t conclude that “80% of the team consists of

spinners”. Conclusion 1 is simply to confuse your choice. However Conclusion 2 can be easily

removed as given statement doesn’t talk anything about opening batsman.

Type 2: Choose the conclusion which logically follows given statement

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Statement: Soldiers serve their country.

a. Men generally serve their country.

b. Those who serve their country are soldiers.

c. Some men who are soldiers serve their country.

d. Women do not serve their country because they are not soldiers.

Solution: Conclusion a b & d can be easily removed as statement doesn’t conclude that only

men serve their country or only soldiers can serve their country. However conclusion b is quite

close but doesn’t include that others can also serve their country. Hence conclusion c logically

follows the given statement because this simply leaves the space that women & others can also

serve country.

While attempting such type of questions you should be very clear about the statement & think of all

possibilities. Sometimes questions are very simple & can be solved mathematically so look for such

questions & attempt wisely.

Visual Reasoning

Questions in this section are comparatively easier. Generally there are 5-6 boxes with some

geometric shapes & the last one is missing. You need to follow the pattern & can guess the missing

one.

Watch this video to get more useful tips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75kUwEvHyhg&feature=related

Logical Reasoning

For such questions, you can take the help of Venn Diagrams. On the basis of the given statements, you should draw all the possible diagrams, and then derive the solution from each of these diagrams separately. Finally, the answer common to the all the diagrams is taken.

Example 1:

Statement:

All dogs are asses.

All assess are bulls.

Conclusions:

1. Some dogs are not bulls. 2. Some bulls are dogs.

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3. All bulls are dogs. 4. All dogs are bulls.

Solution:

On the basis of both statements, the following one diagram is possible.

From the diagram it is clear that (2) and (4) conclusions logically follow.

Example 2:

Statements:

1. Some dogs are asses. 2. Some asses are bulls.

Conclusions:

1. Some asses are not dogs. 2. Some dogs are bulls.

Solution:

From these given statements the following diagrams are possible:

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From the diagram neither (1) nor (2) conclusions follow.

There are some logical rules also to solve these problems. 2 statements are given. The statements are known as premises. Premise consists of SUBJECT and

PREDICATE.

Premise starts with

ALL

NO

SOME

SOME NOT

Derivation of answers:

-----------------------------------------------------------

Affirmative Negative

-----------------------------------------------------------

Universal All No

Particular Some Some not

Many Many not

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------------------------------------------------------------

Middle term: The word that occurs in both the premises is middle term.

Rules for solving deductions (Syllogisms)

1. Every deduction should contain exactly three terms

2. The middle term (term present in both the premises) must be distributed at least once

3. If one of the premises is negative, the conclusion must be negative (will have word no or

not)

4. If one of the premises is particular, the conclusion must be particular (will have word some,

few, many etc.)

5. If both the premises are particular, no conclusion can be drawn from the given premises

6. If both the premises are negative, no conclusion can be drawn from the given premises

7. A term that is not distributed in the premises can’t be distributed in the conclusion

Note: A term (set of elements) in a premises is said to be distributed, if all the elements of the set

(term) need to be known to state the premise.

Other reasoning questions can be generic kinds of questions, which need some basic reasoning

capabilities. An example is as follows :

Q 17. When Seema was asked how old she was, she said, ‘I will be x years old in the year x2. Guess how old I am.’ Which year was she born in?

Options: (a) 2025

(b) 1980

(c) 1936

(d) 1974

Answer: The perfect square after 2007 is 2025 (452). For Seema to be 45 years old in 2025, she should have been born in 2025 – 45 = 1980.

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Some books you can refer to

1. The PowerScore GMAT Critical Reasoning Bible by David M. Killoran

About: You will be exposed to number of question patterns & sample questions along with solving tricks.

2. The Little Blue Reasoning Book by Brandon Royal About: You can read this book to enhance your thinking capability as this book narrates 50 Powerful Principles for Clear and Effective Thinking.

3. The Great Book of Mind Teasers & Mind Puzzlers by by George J. Summers

About: A great book to develop logical deduction capability. It does not only provide you with solutions, but shows you step by step how to get there.