The most common type of questions that appear in the LRDI section of the CAT exam is usually Logical reasoning puzzles. These Puzzles for CAT test your logical, analytical, and mathematical ability in solving a problem. The technique to solve these problems will be hidden in the puzzle itself. Even a small and simple reasoning concept can be used to frame CAT reasoning puzzles. Similar questions can also be asked in all management exams like NMAT, XAT, SNAP and GMAT, so practice is vital.
Another thing to keep in mind is, these questions are usually asked in a series of 4 questions. So, solving these reasoning puzzles can help you answer all 4 questions correctly. This can help you fetch good marks in any competitive exam.
Below, we look at the number of questions based on Reasoning Puzzles asked in each competitive exam: –
CAT
Direction Puzzle | ||||
Year | No of Questions | Good attempt | Difficulty | |
2019
| Slot 1 | 4 | 3 | Moderate |
Slot 2 | – | – | – | |
2018
| Slot 1 | 4 | 3 | Moderate |
Slot 2 | – | – | – | |
2017
| Slot 1 | 4 | 2 | Hard |
Slot 2 | 4 | 2 | Hard |
Word Puzzle | ||||
Year | No of Questions | Good attempt | Difficulty | |
2019 | Slot 1 | 4 | 3 | Moderate |
Slot 2 | – | – | – | |
2018 | Slot 1 | – | – | – |
Slot 2 | – | – | – | |
2017 | Slot 1 | – | – | – |
Slot 2 | – | – | – |
XAT
Direction Puzzle | |||
Year | No of Questions | Good attempt | Difficulty |
2020 | – | – | – |
2019 | – | – | – |
2018 | 3 | 2 | Moderate |
No word puzzles were asked.
SNAP
Direction Puzzle | |||
Year | No of Questions | Good attempt | Difficulty |
2019 | 4 | 3 | Easy-Moderate |
2018 | 4 | 2 | Hard |
2017 | 4 | 2 to 3 | Easy-Moderate |
No word puzzles were asked.
These reasoning puzzles are purely logic-based and therefore, just require basic knowledge of mathematics and intuition to solve puzzles. No special skill or topic needs to be learned while solving these reasoning puzzles.
Few things to keep in mind while finding answers for direction puzzle:
• Get a basic idea of all the directions in a 360-degree quadrant
• Try to grasp where the directions are originating from in these direction reasoning puzzle questions
• Questions are usually asked as a part of 4 questions so one wrongly perceived statement can end up in all 4 questions related to it going wrong, so care to be taken to read the question carefully
Few things to keep in mind while finding answers for word puzzle:
• Questions are usually asked as a part of 4 questions
• Get a basic idea of all the letters that are associated with the numbers/codes to find word puzzle answers
• To find the answer to word puzzle, you should draw a diagram to map out each letter to the corresponding number/code as required
• One wrongly perceived association can end up in all 4 questions related to it going wrong, so care to be taken to read the question carefully in order to find answers to word puzzle
Some of the important CAT questions on Direction & Word Reasoning Puzzles with Answers that appeared in the previous papers are: –
Below we have mentioned a direction puzzle with answer:
Q1) SNAP 2020
The figure below shows the street map for a certain region with the street intersections marked from a through l. A person standing at an intersection can see along straight lines to other intersections that are in her line of sight and all other people standing at these intersections. For example, a person standing at intersections g can see all people standing at intersections b, c, e, f, h, and k. In particular, the person standing at intersection g can see the person standing at intersection e irrespective of whether a person is standing at intersection f.
Solving the whole puzzle will help us answer all the questions easily. Let’s start with the given data and map it out one by one.
• X,U,Z are at ends of a triangle so they can be at any of b,c,f,g intersections. Now X cannot be at g since he sees only 2 people
• UZV have to be in a straight line and x sees only U and z thus X must be at b, V at e, Z at f, U at g
• Since Y can see W and W cannot see either V or Z thus Y must be at k and W must be at at l
• Therefore final order of sequence is
Below we have mentioned a word puzzle with answer:
Q2) NMAT 2019
The following table represents the addition of two six-digit numbers given in the first and the second rows, while the sum is given in the third row. In the representation, each of the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 has been coded with one letter among A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, K, with distinct letters representing distinct digits.
Solving the whole puzzle will help us answer all the questions easily. Let’s start with the given data and map it out one by one.
Now let’s look at the answers
Q. Which digit does the letter A represent?
Answer: A is 1
Q. Which digit does the letter B represent?
Answer: B is 9
Q. Which among the digits 3, 4, 6, and 7 cannot be represented by the letter D?
Answer: D can never be 7 because J, G or K are always 7
Q. Which among the digits 4, 6, 7, and 8 cannot be represented by the letter G?
Answer: G cannot be represented by 6
It is recommended to follow the below technique while solving puzzles for reasoning:
• Read the entire puzzle carefully and pick all the necessary objects and parameters
• Try to decide how the structure of data needs to be organized. In most cases, a tabular structure is preferred for easy evaluation
• Each condition needs to be read one by one so that you can formulate a symbolic association with the objects as well as the parameters
• It is advised to start with the clues which are already identified in the question and slowly build from there
• Analyze the existing conditions and try to combine the relevant clues to deduce the corresponding parameter for an object
• Repeat the above step till we exhaust all the appropriate deductions and you have obtained all the necessary answers for the given questions/solved the puzzle
• For this, we recommend using the MBAP CAT E-Book (Concept Theory) study material. If you find difficulty understanding the concepts, use the MBAP Live Lecture Recording (Basic) on Basic Concepts. To get better clarity on Reasoning Puzzles, use MBAP CAT E-Book (Practice Questions) and solve all the relevant practice questions. Also, solve the MBAP lecture assignment to complete the basics.
Finally, you will obtain a partially complete or complete table that has all the objects aligned with the respective parameters. Sometimes, you don’t even need to solve the entire puzzle to obtain the answers to the given questions. Since CAT exams require time management, it is advisable to directly obtain only the relevant information required to solve the given questions and ignore the rest. It will be way easier for you to attempt the questions by solving previous year papers. They are all readily available if you use MBAP Topic Wise Previous Year CAT Questions.
Some questions might contain additional information that is required to fill the table. Always read the question carefully and only start solving after you are sure that you have not missed out on any additional information given.
Since these are a series of 4 questions, solving the puzzle quickly may increase your sectional and overall CAT percentile significantly. So, solve as many as you can. For further advancement on this topic, use MBAP CAT Advance E-Books and solve the MBAP Previous Year CAT paper.
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