AMCAT: Tips On How To Prepare For Logical Reasoning

Why Logical Reasoning?

The Aspiring Minds Computer Adaptive Test is referred to as AMCAT. The AMCAT employability test makes it possible to address the employability issue for organisations and job seekers quickly and effectively.

In order to solve the problems you face on a daily basis, you need to have strong logic skills. It aids in decision-making and problem-solving. A logical thinker always comes up with new and creative ideas.

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AMCAT Eligibility Criteria:

Qualification:

Anyone can take the AMCAT Exam but only those with the required AMCAT score and qualification as required by the recruiters are called for a further selection process.

Percentage Criteria:

According to the requirements of the companies.

Number of attempts:

A candidate can take AMCAT three times a year with a gap of at least 45 days.

How to Register

• Through College

• Register via the AMCAT website at www.myamcat.com/register-amcat and follow the instructions.

AMCAT: Logical Reasoning

• 12 questions on logical reasoning are asked in AMCAT and the given time is 20 minutes.

• There will be no negative marking.

• There is a sectional cut-off which means you have to clear every section separately. A score of more than 75 per cent will be sufficient to clear.

AMCAT Logical Reasoning Syllabus

This module assesses the ability of a student in different ways, like

• To interpret things from a given trend in order to generalise the outcome.

• To make an assumption for an argument.

• For a given situation, what should be the course of action?

• To deduce useful information from a given set of information etc.

Detailed Syllabus:

1. Deductive Reasoning: Coding Deductive Logic, Data Sufficiency, Directional Sense, Logical Word Sequence, Objective Reasoning, Selection Decision Tables, Puzzles

2. Inductive reasoning: Analogy Pattern Recognition, Classification Pattern Recognition, Coding Pattern Recognition, Number Series Pattern Recognition

Tips To Crack AMCAT Logical Reasoning

You are advised to prepare your deductive and inductive reasoning separately. There are some key points while solving problems.

• Read the information given in the questions very carefully.

• Remember the keywords.

• Solve through diagrams

• Use flow charts

Deductive Reasoning:

Prepare each topic of deductive reasoning separately. Practice extensively on different kinds of problems.

It will consist of:

• Blood Relations: Use the family tree to solve such problems. The approach of eliminating wrong options will be useful.
• Direction Sense
• Coding-Decoding: Draw a distance diagram, taking distances in an appropriate proportion.
• Cubes: Imagination will be the key factor in solving such problems.
• Ranking: Understand the positions of a person or an object from either end.
• Statement Arguments, Statement- Course of Action: Based on real-life situations.
• Syllogism: Use Venn diagrams to solve such problems.
• Problem Solving/puzzles: can be solved by drawing all possible situations and using tables to reduce the possibilities.
• Data Sufficiency: Check which statement is sufficient to answer the question. You need to find the answer exactly.

Sample problem 1: A family consists of eight members P, Q, R, S, T, X, Y and Z. Q is the son of R. R and P are married couples. Y is the brother of R and the son of S. X is the daughter of P. Z is the brother of P. S and T have a daughter. How is P related to X?

A. Husband B. Father C. Brother D. Uncle

Ans: B

Y is the son of S and T.

Y is a brother of R.

S and T have a daughter, who must be R. (Since Q and X are children of R and P, Z is the brother of P. The only possibility left is R.

Therefore, between R and P, P must be the husband and father of X.

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Sample problem 2: If the southeast becomes north and the northwest becomes south, all the other directions are changed in the same direction. Then what will be the direction for north?

A. northwest B. southeast C. southwest D. northeast

Answer: C

Sample problem 3: Muralitharan went 25 km to the east of my house, then turned left and walked 15 km. He then turned east and walked 20 km, and finally, turning right, covered another 20 km. How far was he from my house?

A. 45 km. B. 40 km C. 30 km D. 80 km

Answer: A

Draw the distance diagram as shown.

AC2= AB2 +BC2,

Here, AB = 25+20 = 45 km.

BC = 20- 15 = 5 km.

So,

AC2 = 452 + 52 = 2025 + 25 = 2050

AC = 5√82 KM = 45 Km (approx).

Sample problem 4: Statements: All research is a thesis.

Some theses are paper.

Conclusions:

(1) All the researches are papers.

(2) Some researches are thesis.

(3) Some papers are research.

(4) Some theses are research.

A. Only (2) and (4) B. None of the four C. All the four D. Only (3)

Answer: A

(1) All the research are papers: All research is not a subset of papers-? Not followed

(2) Some researches are thesis: All researches are thesis so some research will be thesis? Followed

(3) Some papers are research: not certain, so will not follow.

(4) Some thesis are research: Research and thesis have some part in common so it will follow.

Option A is correct.

Sample problem 5: In a row of 31 boys, Rajesh is in the 17th position from the left, while Heeru is 7th from the right end. How many boys are there between Rajendra and Harendra?

A. 6 B. 3 C. 5 D. 7

Answer: D

The number of boys between Rajesh and Heeru = 31- 17-7 =7.

Sample problem 6: In a certain code, "CALM" is written as "£ @ ? $" and "RAM" is written as "* @$". How can ‘ALARM’ be written in that code?

A. @ £ @ ? $ B. @ $ ? £ @ C. ? @ @ £ $ D. @ ? @ * $ E. None of these

Ans: D

From both taking common

A-? @

L -? ?

A-? @

R -? *

M-? $

So, the answer is option D.

Sample Problem 7: Read the information given below carefully and answer the question that follows.

Direction: Use the following answer choices:

A) If the data in statement I alone are sufficient

B) If the data in statement II alone are sufficient

C) If the data either in statement I alone or statement II alone are sufficient to answer

D) If the data given in both I and II together are not sufficient,

E) If the data in both the statements I and II together are necessary to answer

Among A, B, C, D and E, each securing different marks in an examination, whose position is last among them?

I. A has secured a lower grade than only D and E.

II. C has secured more marks than B.

Answer – E

From statement I: At the top two positions D and E will be there and A should be at third from the top.

From Statement II: C gets more than B.

If we use both statements, then we can tell that C will be at 4 and B will be last.

So, both statements together can answer this question.

Sample Problem 8: On a round table, six people are sitting at equal distances, all facing towards the centre. A is between B and C. C is to the left of D. E is to the right of B. Which of the following is true about F?

A. F is third to the right of B.

B. F is between D and E.

C. F is the opposite of C.

D. F is third to the left of C.

Ans: B

From the diagram given below.

Option B is correct.

Sample Problem 9:

Statement: If the retired professors of IITs and NITs are also invited to deliberate on the restructuring of the university, their contributions may help in the restructuring of the university.

Courses of Action

(I) Management should ask the employees before calling in retired professors.

(II) Management should involve experienced people in the systematic restructuring of the organisation.

ANS- (II)

Retired professors have lots of experience, and their suggestions will certainly enhance the benefits of the organization. Hence, management should involve such experienced people. Seeking permission from the employees is not the right course of action.

Inductive Reasoning:

This section consists of the following topics, and here are some suggestions to prepare them:

Analogy Pattern Recognition:

• You have to check the pattern followed to get from the first figure to the second figure and apply the same pattern to get your answer.
• Practising more questions will be helpful.
• Also, learn some common patterns like rotation by angles, rotation clockwise or anticlockwise, etc.

Classification Pattern Recognition:

• The same strategy can be used as in the question of Analogy Pattern is used.
• If four figures are given, of which three are similar in some sense. You have to find a common pattern among the three, and the fourth one will be your answer.
• Try counting the lines, trying to check the rotation of a particular shape, the sequence of shapes, etc.

Coding Pattern Recognition: In these questions, a sequence of figures is given, and you have to find the next figure in the sequence. Most codes are based on the rotation of shapes, the number of shapes, and the type of shapes.

Number Series Pattern Recognition:

• Two types of questions used to be asked on this topic.
• In the first type, you have to find the missing term in the series.
• In the second type of question, you identify the wrong term in the sequence.

Here are some tips for such questions in AMCAT:

• Try to find the series of multiplication.

• Series can consist of terms of squares/Cubes of some values in a sequence.

• Take the differences between consecutive terms and try to identify the sequence.

• Take the differences between the differences of consecutive terms and try to identify the sequence.

• Series can consist of a sequence of prime numbers.

Sample Problem 10:

ANS- A

A to B--? Circles and squares are interchanged

C to D -? triangles and L shaped should be interchanged.

Sample Problem 11:

Select a suitable figure from the answer figures that would replace the question mark (?).

1. 1 B. 2 C. 3 D. 4 E. 5

Ans: D

A to B--? The number of edges and dots increases by 1, and 1 dot moves to the vertex.

C to D -? Similarly, in the answer figure, the number of edges and dots should be 6 and 5, respectively, and 1 dot should be at the vertex. So, the answer is option D.

Sample Problem 12:

Two positions of a block are shown below: When six is at the bottom, what number will be at the top?

A. 1 B. 2 C. 4 D. 5

Ans: D

Six has four adjacent faces, i.e., 1, 2, 3, 4. Therefore, 5 should come opposite to six.

So, option (D) will be correct.

Sample Problem 13:

In the following question, a number series is given with one term missing. Choose the correct alternative that will follow the same pattern and fill in the blank spaces.:

3, 6, 8, 20, 13, x, 18, 48

A. 24 B. 38 C. 32 D. 34

Ans: D

See alternative terms alternatively:

3 +5 =8

8+ 5 = 13

13 +5 = 18

6 + 14 = 20

20 +14 = 34

34 + 14 = 48

Therefore, the answer should be 34.

Sample Problem 14:

In the following question, a number series given with one term is incorrect. Choose the correct alternative that will be incorrect:

1, 5, 9, 17, 25, 37, 50, 65

A. 25 B. 50 C. 37 D. 65

Ans: B

The pattern is

1 = 1^2

5 = 2^2 +1

9 = 3^2

17 = 4^2 + 1

25 = 5^2

37 = 6^2 + 1

49 = 7^2

65 = 8^2 + 1

Therefore, 49 should come in instead of 50.

The wrong term in the series will be 50, and hence, the answer is option B.

This is how you can kick-start your preparation for the logical reasoning section of the AMCAT.