In this guide
Reasoning is the section that rewards practice more than background. You do not need to have been good at maths in school or to read English novels. You need to have solved enough puzzles and seating arrangements that the next one looks familiar. Most candidates who practise daily see their sectional scores climb within a few weeks.
That makes reasoning the best place to invest early. This guide shows how the section is tested, which topics to learn first, and how to run the 20 minutes on exam day.
How reasoning is tested
| Stage | Section | Questions | Marks | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prelims | Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 | 20 min |
| Mains | Reasoning Ability & Computer Aptitude | 40 | 60 | 35 min |
Two numbers matter for planning. In the prelims, 35 questions in 20 minutes is about 34 seconds a question, so you cannot solve everything. In the mains, a reasoning question is worth 1.5 marks, more than a question in any other section, so a puzzle set you can crack there is worth more than anywhere else. Computer aptitude is tested inside the same mains section, so leave some weekly time for it too.
Topic priorities
Puzzles and seating arrangements usually make up the largest block of questions, and they come in sets of about five questions each. The quick types fill the rest.
| Priority | Prelims | Mains |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | Puzzles and seating arrangement | Puzzles and seating (more variables, harder clues) |
| High | Inequality, syllogism | Coded inequality, data sufficiency, input–output |
| Medium | Coding–decoding, blood relations, direction sense, order and ranking | The same, often combined into one question |
| Medium | Alphanumeric series, alphabet-based questions | Computer aptitude |
Why puzzles first, even though they are hard? Because one solved puzzle answers five questions. The quick types are worth learning early too, since they are the questions you attempt first on exam day.
A five-week order
| Week | Topics | Goal by the end of the week |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Inequality, syllogism, direction sense | 10 inequality questions in 5 minutes |
| 2 | Blood relations, order and ranking, coding–decoding | Draw family trees with gender marked only when stated |
| 3 | Linear seating, floor puzzles | A six-person linear set in under 4 minutes |
| 4 | Circular seating, box and scheduling puzzles, alphanumeric series | An eight-person circle without mixing left and right |
| 5 | Mixed sectionals; mains types: input–output, data sufficiency | Two full 20-minute sectionals with review |
After week 5, keep one or two puzzles every day until the exam. Puzzle speed fades quickly if you stop.
Daily practice (60–75 minutes)
| Minutes | Practice |
|---|---|
| 30 | Two or three puzzles or seating arrangements, timed |
| 20 | Twenty quick questions: inequality, syllogism, coding, direction |
| 15 | Review: redo every wrong question without looking at the solution |
| 20 (three days a week) | One full 20-minute reasoning sectional |
A 20-minute attempt plan for the prelims
- Minutes 0–7: the quick types first. Inequality, syllogism, coding, direction, blood relations, order and ranking. Skip any single question that has not clicked in 40 seconds.
- Minutes 7–17: puzzles and seating. Scan all the sets for 20 seconds and start with the one whose clues look most definite: fixed floors, fixed ends, fixed days.
- Leave a puzzle that has not settled in about four minutes with two cases still alive. Move to the next set.
- Minutes 17–20: return to skipped quick questions. Guess only where you have eliminated at least one option; blind guessing gains nothing on average with a quarter-mark penalty.
Keep an error log
After every sectional, write one line for each wrong or skipped question: the topic, what went wrong, and the clue you should have used first. Typical entries look like "circular, took right as clockwise" or "syllogism, assumed from real life". Read the log once a week. Most candidates find the same three or four errors repeating, and fixing them is worth more than another mock.
Common mistakes
- Doing only the easy questions and avoiding puzzles until the last month.
- Drawing a new diagram for each question in a set instead of one diagram for the whole set.
- Assuming a relation in syllogism because it is true in real life.
- Inferring someone's gender from their name in blood relations or puzzles. Use only what the question states.
- Staying stuck on one puzzle for eight minutes because "it is almost done".
Self-test
Give yourself three minutes.
- Statement: P > Q ≥ R = S. Conclusions: I. P > S. II. Q ≥ S.
- Statement: A ≥ B > C < D. Conclusions: I. A > C. II. B > D.
- If CAT is coded as DBU, how is DOG coded?
- An aspirant walks 5 km north, turns right and walks 3 km, then turns right and walks 5 km. Where are they now with respect to the starting point?
- P is the mother of Q. Q is the brother of R. How is P related to R?
- In a row of 40 candidates, one candidate is 15th from the left. What is their position from the right?
Answers:
- Both follow. P > Q ≥ R = S gives P > S, and Q ≥ R = S gives Q ≥ S.
- Only I follows. A ≥ B > C gives A > C. B and D are both greater than C, but nothing links B to D.
- EPH. Each letter moves one place forward.
- 3 km east. North 5, east 3, south 5: the north and south legs cancel.
- Mother. Q and R are siblings, so Q's mother is also R's mother.
- 26th. 40 − 15 + 1.
What to do next
- Start week 1 today with syllogism and inequality.
- Learn the case-building method in puzzles before week 3.
- Practise left and right rules in seating arrangement until you can do them without drawing arrows.
- Start an error log with your next sectional.
A note on dates and numbers. Exam patterns, vacancies and schedules change from year to year. Always confirm the current details in the latest notification on the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection website .
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