Reasoning Aptitude

Reasoning Aptitude plays very crucial role in every competitive exam. It is a vital element of every competitive exam to judge the mental abilities of the aspirants. In various competitive examinations, reasoning sections is segregated in three Parts comprising Logical, Verbal and Non Verbal Reasoning

It has also been statistically defined that around 70 percent of world’s recruiting bodies includes reasoning as section in question paper. Reasoning aptitude section is vital for all types of Banking Exams, Technical Exams, Management exams and so on

Reasoning aptitude helps in measuring the mental, verbal and numerical ability of an individual to evaluate his/her inborn skills and capacity for learning and acquiring new skills. It is vital testing segments of competitive exams and recruitment processes

There are three types of Reasoning aptitude tests:

• Logical Reasoning
• Verbal Reasoning
• Non-Verbal Reasoning

Logical Reasoning

Logical reasoning is the process of using a rational, systematic series of steps based on sound mathematical procedures and given statements to arrive at a conclusion. A logical reasoning test is a type of aptitude test that is widely used by corporate employers to help assess candidates during their recruitment process. Logical reasoning aptitude tests are designed to measure your ability to draw logical conclusions based on statements or arguments, and to identify the strengths and weaknesses of those arguments.

These tests are designed to assess your logical reasoning ability using the information provided. A logical reasoning test is a fundamental part of any assessment today, logical reasoning is the umbrella term for at least three different types of reasoning. These are known as deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning and abductive reasoning and are based on deduction, induction and abduction respectively

Deductive Reasoning

In general terms, deductive reasoning means using a given set of facts or data to deduce other facts from by reasoning logically. Deductive reasoning can be used to proof that these new facts are true. For instance, the classic example:

Major premise: All humans are mortal

Minor premise: Socrates is human

Conclusion: Socrates is mortal

Applying the deduction method on the general rule “all humans are mortal” (major premise) in the specific situation “Socrates is human” (minor premise), the conclusion can be drawn that “Socrates is mortal”.

Inductive Reasoning

Inductive reasoning is looking for a pattern or a trend and then generalizing it. When you generalize and extrapolate the information, you don’t know for sure if this trend will continue, but you assume it will. You therefore don’t know for sure that a conclusion based on inductive reasoning will be 100% true

Abductive Reasoning

Abductive reasoning is the third form of logical reasoning and is somewhat similar to inductive reasoning. It was first introduced by the term “guessing”, since conclusions drawn here are based on probabilities. In abductive reasoning it is presumed that the most plausible conclusion is also the correct one. Example:

Major premise: The jar is filled with yellow marbles

Minor premise: Vikas has a yellow marble in his hand

Conclusion: The yellow marble in Vikas’s hand was taken out of the jar

By abductive reasoning, the possibility that Vikas took the yellow marble from the jar is reasonable, however it is purely based on the speculation. The yellow marble could have been given to Vikas by anyone, or Vikas could have bought a yellow marble at a store. Therefore, abducing that Vikas took the yellow marble, from the observation of “the yellow marble filled jar” can lead to a false conclusion. Unlike deductive and inductive reasoning, abductive reasoning is not commonly used for psychometric testing.

Verbal Reasoning

Verbal reasoning is the ability to comprehend and reason using concepts expressed through words. A verbal reasoning test is a form of aptitude test used by interviewers to find out how well a candidate can assess verbal logic, and how successfully they can extract the correct meaning from complex written information. In most cases, the questions will be limited to a passage of text that you must analyse in order to state whether a given statement is true or false in relation to that passage, or whether you cannot say.

Who uses verbal reasoning tests?

Verbal reasoning tests have become an invaluable tool for recruiters in a wide range of fields. That’s because many roles require employees to comprehend, analyse and draw conclusions from a huge amount of written material, regardless of the industry they’re employed in.

There is a recognition that communication skills are increasingly important, even for graduates in more technical roles. As a result, they are now incorporated into the recruitment and interview process in most industries at one stage or another. You can definitely expect them in application process for graduate jobs in consulting, investment banks and management.

Verbal reasoning comprises of your ability to analyze and evaluate written material and reason with the information obtained, by for example analyzing relationships among component parts of sentences or recognizing relationships among words and concepts. Below is a selection of several verbal reasoning tests that you can expect during psychometric tests.

Verbal reasoning tests are often included in psychometric tests, because they require you to analyze and understand often complex and very specialized textual information. This is very important, because it gives an indication how fast you can learn or extract new information.

Verbal reasoning is a collection of several different formats of testing and some of which are also considered as logical reasoning. The relation between all these formats of testing is made clear in the schematic below. All the formats each of which is discussed in detail in the corresponding sections below.

Verbal Comprehension

The most common verbal reasoning aptitude tests are perhaps verbal comprehension tests. These tests consist of several text passages and with each consecutive passage several statements are made based on the information in the text.

The questions are often in multiple choice format and you have to decide whether each statement is right or wrong, or that it is not possible to tell. It is very important that you only use the information provided in the text and do not rely on personal knowledge or common sense.

These verbal comprehension tests determine your aptitude to extract new information from a specialized text, whether you understand and can act properly on this information.

Verbal Logic Test

Verbal logic tests as the name already implies rely strongly on both verbal reasoning and logical reasoning. These tests are found many different formats, but they all typically consist of a sequence of letters were you are to determine the pattern to find the missing letter. 

Word analogies

Word analogies also often referred to as word relation or word relationship tests are a popular part of verbal aptitude tests. The concept of word analogies is to determine the relationship between two words and then find the best match with two other words

Syllogisms

Syllogisms are typically considered as logical reasoning and are also referred to as deductive reasoning tests. These type of verbal logic tests typically consist of two statements, called premises which are followed by a conclusion. You have to determine whether the conclusion is right or wrong or you have to select the conclusion from multiple choice answers

Non-Verbal Reasoning

Non-verbal reasoning involves the ability to understand and analyse visual information and solve problems using visual reasoning. For example: identifying relationships, similarities and differences between shapes and patterns, recognising visual sequences and relationships between objects, and remembering these. 

It enables students to analyze and solve complex problems without relying upon or being limited by language skills. As these tests don't require reading they can give insight into the abilities of those who have problems with reading and thinking verbally, those who may lack motivation, whose native language isn't English and those with specific learning difficulties

Non-verbal reasoning involves the ability to understand and analyze visual information and solve problems using visual reasoning. These tests are also often referred to as abstract reasoning tests, inductive reasoning and/or diagrammatic reasoning tests. 

Non-verbal reasoning tests are often mentioned in the same breath as abstract reasoning, diagrammatic reasoning, and inductive reasoning tests. Although, they all have overlap in meaning, they are considered slightly different and not fully interchangeable. What they all do have in common is that they address to your ability to understand and analyse visual information. Therefore, the term “non verbal reasoning” can be treated as the umbrella term for all of these tests.

Abstract Reasoning

Abstract reasoning involves the ability to analyze and understand non-verbal or visual information and to figure out problems using non-verbal reasoning. Abstract reasoning questions typically consists of sequences or patterns of shapes and figures objects, and you need to recognize the similarities and differences in order to solve the question. Abstract reasoning aptitude tests are a very powerful tool to assess someone’s general intelligence, because it does not rely on any learned language or math knowledge. People who do well in abstract reasoning tests have the ability to work out new concepts and abstract ideas

Diagrammatic reasoning

Diagrammatic reasoning is often confused with abstract reasoning, although both require logical thinking, they are considered two different forms of testing. In diagrammatic reasoning tests you are given a diagram or a flowchart. In this flowchart you are given a set of rules and these rules have to be applied to a new situation. Diagrammatic reasoning is the ability to extract information from a diagram and apply it to a new situation

Inductive reasoning

Non-verbal reasoning such as abstract reasoning is also often referred to as inductive reasoning. This is a form of logical reasoning which involves going from a series of specific cases to a general statement. Examples of inductive reasoning are for instance the abstract reasoning sequences mentioned earlier, and also number sequences, and a particular form of syllogisms. The conclusion in an inductive argument is never guaranteed as compared to the conclusion in a deductive argument

Spatial reasoning

Spatial reasoning is the odd one out in terms of non verbal reasoning, since it not tests your ability to understand a logical series of patterns, but involves your ability to mentally rotate pictures and three dimensional shapes in your mind. Having a good spatial awareness is needed in engineering environments, architecture and interior design.