How to Prepare Reasoning General Intelligence Section for Upcoming Competitive Exams

General intelligence is one of the interesting and diverse section of any competitive exams. Today in this post I am going to explain to you how to prepare reasoning section for upcoming competitive exams.

The competitive examination season is here and all of you must be preparing for the upcoming bank examinations and SSC recruitment examinations to get a good job in the government / public sector. 

In this journey, you must have come across one subject time and again in any recruitment exercise carried out by the Public Sector Companies or the Staff Selection Commission or the Railway Recruitment Boards in the country – Reasoning Ability or General Intelligence. It is not there in the syllabus of any academic curriculum in any school or college but the topics are very common in our daily lives. 

I hope you preparing quantitative aptitude also for competitive exams. If you preparing, you should visit here to learn how to solve quantitative aptitude section in the competitive exam to score good marks. 

Now, I am going to discuss regarding the strategy to ace reasoning section in any examination so that you can score well in the Reasoning Section in any examination. It will also put you in a good position to be selected in the final list for any job. Let’s start with how to prepare for reasoning and general intelligence section.

What constitutes reasoning section in the competitive exams?

The main objective behind this section is to test the general intelligence of the candidates so that once appointed they are able to handle the responsibilities with common sense and normal intelligence. 

However, you need to prepare for this section since you need to attempt the questions within a given timeframe in the examination. The section normally includes all the following topics though it may slightly vary from one examination to the other:

→ Coding and Decoding 

→ Number and Letter Series 

→ Ranking and Direction Test 

→ Puzzles 

→ Seating Arrangement questions (Both linear and circular as well as mixed ones)

→ Blood Relations 

→ Analytical Reasoning 

→ Non-verbal reasoning such as mirror images, water images, paper cutting, missing figure etc. 

→ Syllogism 

→ Inequalities 

→ Input and Output 

→ Clock-based problems

Important points - How to prepare Reasoning Section? 

* This section is mainly based on practice since there is nothing called theory as such for reasoning ability section. Puzzles and seating arrangements are the most time-consuming topics in this section in any banking examinations. Hence, practice them on regular basis without fail so that you are accustomed with the strategy to solve them in the examination. 

* For other topics also, you need to have daily practice since without that it is never possible to crack this section with good marks. The main thing in this section is the paucity of time during the actual examination. That is why practice plays an important role in this paper 

* The theory parts should be studied well in the general intelligence section wherever applicable. If you are not acquainted with the logic you will never be able to crack questions on those subjects 

* In some topics, the questions can be attempted with common sense but it may include lengthy calculations which will eat into your time. Hence, know the shortcut tricks in these sections and practice them well so that they do not seem alien in the examination hall. Most importantly you should be comfortable using those tricks in the examination 

* In case of puzzle-based questions, some information is given whereas the rest are to be understood based on trial and error. First understand all thee given information and put them in the right place so that it becomes easier to put the rest of the pieces in their proper places. 

* In seating arrangement questions, please keep in mind the directions given the question since sometimes the persons are facing north and sometimes they are facing south. The information should be processed accordingly while attempting such questions 

* For non-verbal reasoning questions, try to understand the images properly first and then only you will be able to get the answer to the given questions. In questions of mirror image and water image, it is very necessary to understand the given image since the answers are always the opposite of such images in various ways 

* For Blood Relations questions, make a family tree with different signs for the males and the females so that it is not difficult to understand the gender in between the question. The family tree should be clear and concise so that you may get your answer easily 

* For coding-decoding and series-based questions, it all boils down to practice to score well since in most of such questions, you need to understand the logic behind the question and such logics can be tried once you know the same by repeated practice. You may try all such logics during the examination without much application of mind 

* For analytical reasoning questions, make sure that your answers are based on the information and logic given in the questions. Do not apply your independent mind in that since you are not supposed to give your opinion but give the best possible solution based on the data given 

How should you attempt the reasoning or general intelligence Section?

It is very important that you know the tricks to attempt the Reasoning Section in any examination. 

* First, find out the questions which are easy to attempt and you are confident of such questions. Attempt them first without getting into anything difficult 

* Don’t start the section from the first question itself unless you are comfortable in that question

* Don’t waste too much time on one question since your performance will be measured based on your performance in other sections also 

* In case of puzzles and seating arrangement questions, you need to be systematic in your approach. Start from the information given and proceed further. However, please keep in mind that you shouldn’t waste too much time on one such puzzle thinking that it will fetch you more than one mark. You may be losing out on marks in other sections or reasoning section itself if you stick to one puzzle 

* Keep the difficult questions for the end and don’t get distracted by the thought that you have those questions to attempt 

* If you are sure that most of the questions are difficult, it means most of the students will find it difficult. Try to at least get the sectional cut off marks in this section rather than trying to score high 

What are some standard books to follow for reasoning preparation?

Since the market is flooded with books for competitive examinations, you need to be careful regarding the choice of books. For Reasoning Section, the following sources may be referred:

* How to Prepare for Logical Reasoning for CAT by Arun Sharma (Select topics with the medium difficulty level questions only)

* A Modern Approach to Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning by RS Aggarwal 

* A New Approach to Reasoning (Verbal and Non-Verbal) by BS Sijwali and Indu Sijwali (Arihant Publications)

* Shortcuts in Reasoning (Verbal, non-verbal and analytical) by Disha Publications 

Bottom Line:

Reasoning Section can bring you good marks if you are comfortable with this section and you need to be smart to score well in this section. Devise your strategy and don’t waste time on one question in this section since that will enable you to attempt more questions. 

If the paper is very difficult, try for at least the sectional cut-off marks in this section but don’t just lose hope seeing the paper. It is also a game of mental strength during the examination that you can maintain so that you can keep your calm and perform to the best of your abilities. 

In this blog, I have shared the tips to score well in the reasoning section and how to prepare reasoning for any competitive examination. 

Share in the Comment section if you have any queries and doubts regarding the same.

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All the Best!!