Tips & Tricks for Analytical Reasoning

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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 x
2
. 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 (45
2
). 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.