Logical Reasoning Tips and Tricks
SERIES:
NUMBER SERIES :
Once you have identified the pattern, apply it to the number before/ after the missing number in the series to get the desired answer.
NUMBER SERIES PATTERNS :
1. Prime Numbers : Given numbers are a series of prime numbers.
Example : 11, 13, 17, 19...
2. Squares / Cubes of numbers : Given numbers are a series of perfect square or cube roots.
Example :
Square of number, 9² = 81, 10²= 100, 11 =² 121, 12²= 144, 13² = 169.....
Cube of number, 4³ = 64, 5³= 125, 6³ = 216, 7³ = 343.....
3. Patterns in differences : Calculate the differences between the numbers given in the series.
Example : 2, 5, 8, 11, 14... (here the difference between the numbers is 3, hence the next number will be 17)
4. Geometric series : when each successive number in the series is obtained by multiplying or dividing the previous number by a fixed number.
Example : 5, 45, 405, 3645
5. Odd One out : when all but one number is part of a series For example : - 5, 10, 12, 15, 20... (Here all numbers except, 12 are multiples of 5)
6. n²-1 Series :
Example : 0, 3, 8, 15, 24,35, 48, ..........,
7. n²+1 Series : Example : 2, 5, 10, 17, 26, 37, .........., 65.
8. The middle digit is the sum of other two digits. Example: 165, 121, etc
ALPHABET SERIES :
While solving the problems based on alphabet, you must have in your mind the exact positions of every letters of alphabet in forward order as well as in backward or reverse order as given below:
Letters positions in forward alphabetical order:
**A B C D E F G H I J K L M**
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13
**NOPQRSTUVWXYZ**14151617181920212223242526
Letters positions in backward or reverse alphabetical order:
**ABCDEFGHIJKLM**26252423222120191817161514
**NOPQRSTUVWXYZ**13121110987654321
Here, mth element to be counted from left to right of a series of x characters is equal to
(x + 1 - m)th element to be counted from right to left of that series.
Example :
Find out the position of K in the above given series counting from right to left.
Position of "K" in the English alphabet from left to right is 11. Thus m = 11
Position of K in the above given series from right to left would be (26 + 1 - 11) = 16
The first half of alphabet series is from A to M., i.e., 1 - 13 and Second half is from N to Z. i.e., 14 - 26
Tricks :
I. EJOTY : To make it easier there is a trick called EJOTY (i.e From left to Right) by which you can simply locate the position of letter without much effort.
**E J O T Y**
5-10-15-20-25
Suppose we want to find the place of the 20th letter from the left side. And you know 20th letter is T, so now, you only have to find a letter which is two positions ahead of T, which is V.
II. VQLGB : It is similar to EJOTY but this is in reverse order i.e from right to left.
**VQLGB**
510152025
ANALOGY :
ANALOGOUS PAIR :
Such questions give relationship between a pair; first element of second pair is given and we have to find the second element of second pair based on similar relationship given by first pair.
Now, let us proceed to the tips in answering analogy questions.
Take note of the relationships among the words. It is important to know the relationship among words and their particular order.
Make a relationship between the words in a simple sentence as the words in answer will also share the similar analogy.
Narrow your approach when two choices appear to be correct
Often you need to elaborate the meaning / definition in order to find the correct analogy
Opposites meaning words are used to establish analogy between them like Water: fire, Laughing: crying, Sky: Earth, Bravery: timidity etc.
Group analogies - objects when taken together form particular group and so are called group analogies - soldier-army, tree-forest
Rhyming words - Words which rhyme in one or other way are used to establish analogy - e.g. knight and right, rough and tough, girls and guys etc.
Related objects - This type of question is related to the analogy words related to one another e.g. driver and car, doctor and patient, writer and book.
CLASSIFICATION :
To classify means to assign some particular characteristic to the various member/part of group and identify them on the basis of that particular characteristics only.
Example :
Choose the word which is least like the others word in a group?
A. Calendar B. Date C. Day D. Month E. Year
Answer : A. Calendar
Explanation :All others are parts of a calendar.
CODING AND DECODING :
Tips :
Observe alphabets or numbers given in the code keenly. Find the sequence it follows whether it is ascending or descending.
Detect the rule in which the alphabets/numbers/words follow. Fill the appropriate letter/number/word in the blank given.
Letter position (A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, D = 4 ....... Y = 25, Z = 26)
Opposite position of letters (A = 26, B = 25 ....... Z = 1)
Opposite of each letter (A is opposite to Z and B is opposite to Y and C is opposite to X ....... and so on)
LETTER CODING:
In this type the real alphabets in a word are replaced by certain other alphabets according to a specific rule to form its code.
SUBSTITUTION:
In this section an object names are substituted with different object names
MIXED LETTER CODING
To analyse such codes, any two messages bearing a common word are picked up. The common code word will mean that word. Proceeding smilarly by picking up all possible combinations of two, the entire message can be analysed.
BLOOD RELATIONS :
Here are the Some Relations given for easy to Remember:
QUESTIONSBLOOD RELATIONMother's Son or Father's Son is calledBrotherMother's Daughter or Father's Daughter is calledSisterMother's Brother or Father's Brother is calledUncleMother's Sister or Father's Sister is calledAuntMother's Father or Father's Father is calledGrandfatherMother's Mother or Father's Mother is calledGrandmotherSon's Wife is calledDaughter-in-LawDaughter's Husband is calledSon-in-LawHusband's Sister or Wife's Sister is calledSister-in-LawHusband's Brother or Wife's Brother is calledBrother-in-LawBrother's Son is calledNephewBrother's Daughter is calledNieceUncle Son or Daughter OR Aunt's Son or Daughter is calledCousinSister's Husband is calledBrother-in-LawBrother's Wife is calledSister-in-LawGrandson's Daughter or Grand daughter's Daughter is calledGreat Grand Daughter
Some Common Terms of relationship :
Parent - Mother or father
Child - Son or daughter (even if an adult)
Sibling - Brother or sister
Spouse - Husband or wife
Basic Relationships:-
Most English speakers use uncle for any of four relationships: father's brother, mother's brother, father's sister's husband, or mother's sister's husband.
Again, aunt in English could mean father's sister, mother's sister, father's brother's wife, or mother's brother's wife.
Brother's or sister's son is called nephew.
Brother's or sister's daughter is called niece.
Children of aunt or uncle are called cousins.
Generations in Blood Relation:
Generation 1 - Grandfather, grandmother, maternal grandfather, maternal grandmother
Generation 2 - Father, Mother, Uncle, Aunt, Maternal Uncle, Maternal Aunt
Generation 3 - Self, Brother, Sister, Brother-in-law, Sister-in-law
Generation 4 - Son, Daughter, Nephew, Niece
PUZZLE TEST :
Rules For Left Right Method - Sitting Arrangement Puzzle
1. Count all objects and draw a circle. Mark all position in the circle
2. Read the statement line by line (right to left) and write the arrangement as per statement.
3. Put any mark for vacant left and right positions
4. Put first object on the middle at the bottom say A.
5. According to object "A" take all right positions in anticlockwise direction
6. According to object "A" take all left positions in clockwise direction and verify the place of the person and answer the question.
SEQUENTIAL OUTPUT TRACING :
Tips About Number Of Steps :
1. If there are "n" words/digits in the input then at most "n-1" steps are required to rearrange it completely.
2. Number of words/digits arranged until the present step is greater than or equal to the present step number.
3. If input is not given we cannot determine the previous step from given step number or we cannot determine input from given step number.
INPUT OUTPUT IN REASONING:
1. Combination of Numbers and words series in Input changing their patterns in different manner and finally produces an output.
2. Arranging the Numbers and words either in Ascending or Descending order as well as Dictionary order if English words are given.
3. All words at one End and all numbers at one end or vice versa
DIRECTION SENSE TEST :
1. The shortcut for solving direction sense problems is to draw schematic or block diagram of the given data and thus we can solve all the questions through it.
2. North, South, East and West are the four directions.
3. North-East(N-E or NE), South-West(SW), North-West(NW) and South-East(SE) are the four main cardinal directions.
4. If a person A is standing at the time sunrise, his shadow point towards west.
5. At the time of sunset the shadow of an object is always to the east.
6. If a man stands facing the North, at the time of sunrise his shadow will be towards his left and at the time of sunset it will be towards his right.
7. At 12:00 noon, the rays of the sun are vertically downward hence there will be no shadow.
8. Angle between any two main (or cardinal) direction is 90° but the angle between one main and one cardinal direction is 45°.
ALPHANUMERIC SEQUENCE PUZZLE :
1. Alphanumeric is a combination of alphabetic and numeric characters. In some cases, it may include upper and lower case letters, punctuation marks, and symbols (such as @, &, and *,).
2. Few key words that are generally used in such questions like "following, followed by, preceding, and preceded by".
3. Let us take two successive alphabets Y and Z. Here, Y is preceding Z and Z is preceded by Y.
Also, Z is following Y and Y is followed by Z.
4. Now, take three successive alphabets X, Y and Z. Here X and Y are preceding Z, but Y is immediately preceding Z whereas, X is not immediately preceding Z. Similarly, Y and Z are following X, but Y is immediately following X whereas, Z is not immediately following X.
MATHEMATICAL OPERATIONS :
Four fundamental operations are : i) Addition ii) Subtraction iii) Multiplication and iv) Division.
To solve this type of questions, substitute the real signs in the given expression and then solve the expression according to the BODMAS rule.
ORDER OF OPERATIONS - BODMAS
B - Brackets, do all the maths contained in brackets first
O - Orders, square roots, powers
D - Division,
M - Multiplication
A - Addition
S - Subtraction
ODD MAN OUT :
The shortcut notes for Alphabets Odd Man Out Questions that first we conclude that given series to note that If multiple Alphabets are given, you should follow the order of checking, Alphabetical order of given alphabets, Distance / Gap between the given alphabets Vowel / Consonant differences.
RANKING :
First of all we do,
Read the statement line by line carefully.
Position can be either side of row and rank is top to bottom of a row.
Rank of a person from lower = total persons in row - rank of that person from upper + 1
Rank of a person from right = total persons in row - rank of that person from left + 1
Rank of a person from upper = total persons in row - rank of that person from lower + 1
Rank of a person from left = total persons in row - rank of that person from right + 1
total person in row = rank of a person from upper / left + rank of a person from lower / right - 1
INEQUALITIES :
1. > First element is Greater than Second element.
2. < First element is Smaller than Second element.
3. = First element is Equals to Second element.
4. ≥ First element is Greater than or Equals to Second element.
5. ≤ First element is Smaller than or Equals to Second element.
6. ≠ First element is either greater than or smaller than Second element.
Two signs opposite to each other will make the conclusion wrong. But again if the signs are in same manner that will not make it wrong.
Example :
If A > B < C > D then A < C is False , C > A is False. But If E > F > G > H then E > G is True, F > H is True, E > H = True.
If A ≥ B ≤ C then A ≤ C = False, C ≥ A = False. But
If A ≥ B ≥ C then A ≥ C = True , C ≤ A = True
Points to Remember :
1.A > B > C
2.A > B ≥ C
3.A ≥ B > C
4.A = B > C
5.A > B = C
From the All above statement we conclude that conclusion is A>C
1. A < B < C
2.A < B ≤ C
3.A ≤ B< C
4.A = B < C
5.A < B = C
From the All above statement we conclude that conclusion is A< C
1. A ≥ B ≥ C
2. A = B ≥ C
3. A ≥ B = C
From the All above statement we conclude that conclusion is A≥C(Either A>C or A=C)
1. A ≤ B ≤ C
2. A = B ≤ C
3. A ≤ B = C
From the All above statement we conclude that conclusion isA ≤ C (Either A < C or A = C)
1. A < B > C
2.A ≤ B> C
3.A < B≥ C
4.A > B < C
5.A > B ≤ C
6.A ≥ B < C
From the All above statement we conclude that conclusion is that,
Either 1 or 2 follows if any of the following cases (a, b, c and d) are given as they form a complementary pair.
a) 1. A > C 2. A ≤ C
b) 1. A ≥ C 2. A < C
c) 1. A < C 2. A ≥ C
d) 1. A ≤ C 2. A > C
NEW WORD FORMATION :
Write down the given word on a rough sheet paper and number the individual letters according to alphabetical series
Then round off the given words as given in the question for easy identification without getting confused
Then take the round of words and form sequence one after another letter and count the number of meaningful words formed.
In some questions it is asked to find if more than one meaningful word can be formed from given keyword. In such type of questions, if you could make 2 words with given keyword, and mark the option which has more than one word as answer.
Example :
How many meaningful English words can be formed with letters NPA using each letter only once.
a) Three b) Two c) One d) Five
Answer: b) Two
Explanation :
There are two words can be formed with letters NPA.
i.e., NAP and PAN
SYLLOGISM :
Syllogism is known as Statements and Logical Conclusions with Logical Arguments.
In all the statement of syllogism questions, first-term is called subject and second is called predicate.
Example :
1. All pigs are ducks - here pigs is subject and ducks is predicate
2. All readers are commentators - here readers is subject and commentators is predicate
When a statement starting with All, every, any, none, not a single, only is a universal statement.
Some, many, a few, quite a few, not many, very little, most of, almost, generally, often, frequently, which are all indicates Particular one.
Easy way to identify the conclusion is that,
All + All = All
All + No = No
All + Some = No Conclusion
Some + All = Some
Some + Some = No Conclusion
Some + No = Some Not
No + No = No Conclusion
No + All = Some not reversed
No + Some = Some not reversed
CALENDER :
ODD DAYS :
Number of days more than the complete weeks are called odd days in a given period.
LEAP YEAR :
A leap year has 366 days. In a leap year, the month of February has 29 days. Every year divisible by 4 is a leap year, if it is not a century. Every 4th century is a leap year and no other century is a leap year.
Examples :
Each of the years 1948, 2004, 1676 etc. is a leap year.
Each of the years 400, 800, 1200, 1600, 2000 etc. is a leap year.
None of the years 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 1800, 2100 is a leap year.
ORDINARY YEAR :
The year which is not a leap year is called an ordinary years. An ordinary year has 365 days.
COUNTING OF ODD DAYS :
1 ordinary year = 365 days = (52 weeks + 1 day)
1 ordinary year has 1 odd day
1 leap year = 366 days = (52 weeks + 2 days)
1 leap year has 2 odd days
100 years = 76 ordinary years + 24 leap years
= (76 * 1 + 24 * 2) odd days = 124 odd days
= (17 weeks + 5 days) 5 odd days
Day Codes :
0 = Sunday
1 = Monday
2 = Tuesday
3 = Wednesday
4 = Thursday
5 = Friday
6 = Saturday
Month Codes :
MONTHDAYSJanuary0February3March3April6May1June4July6August2September5October0November3December5
1 year = 12 months
12 months = 52 weeks
1 week = 7 days
Ordinary Year = 52 weeks + 1 odd day
Leap Year = 52 weeks + 2 odd days
Odd days are the number of days more than complete week or extra days in a year.
Number of odd days in 100 years = 5
Number of odd days in 200 years = (5 * 2) 3 odd days
Number of odd days in 300 years = (5 * 3) 1 odd day
Number of odd days in 400 years = (5 * 4 + 1) 0 odd day
Similarly, each one of 800 years, 1200 years, 1600 years, 2000 years etc has 0 odd days
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