Reasoning tasks ask you to reach a conclusion from the information provided. Before calculating or choosing an answer, identify exactly what the question asks and what evidence you have. The examples below are learning exercises created for this guide; they are not items from your assessment and do not predict your score.
1. Numerical reasoning: changing percentages
A workshop receives 240 applications. Thirty percent pass the first screening, and one quarter of those applicants proceed to an interview. How many people are interviewed?
First find the screened group: 240 × 0.30 = 72. Then find a quarter of that group: 72 ÷ 4 = 18 people. The interview group is 7.5% of all applicants because 0.30 × 0.25 = 0.075.
A common mistake is to take 25% of the original 240. That gives 60, but the question says a quarter of those applicants, meaning the 72 who passed. Another mistake is to subtract 25 percentage points from 30%. Successive proportions are multiplied; they are not subtracted.
Try a variation: 180 people apply, 40% pass screening, and one third of that group is interviewed. Work out each stage before checking the answer: 180 × 0.40 = 72, then 72 ÷ 3 = 24.
2. Verbal reasoning: what follows from a statement?
Consider these statements: “Every placement student attends an induction. Some people who attend an induction work remotely.” Does it follow that some placement students work remotely?
No; there is not enough information. The remote workers could all be employees who are not placement students. The statements allow placement students to work remotely, but do not establish that any do. Draw one circle for everyone attending induction and a smaller circle inside it for placement students. The remote group could overlap the smaller circle, or miss it entirely.
Separate “could be true” from “must be true.” Use only the supplied statements, even when your experience makes one conclusion seem likely. Words such as all, some and none determine how strong a conclusion can be.
3. Patterns: test your rule against every step
For the sequence 4, 7, 13, 22, 34, one simple continuation is 49. The differences are 3, 6, 9 and 12. Continuing that pattern gives a difference of 15, so 34 + 15 = 49.
Do not select a rule just because it fits the first two values. Write the differences and check all transitions. A finite sequence can support multiple mathematical rules, so this answer follows the simple increasing-difference rule described here rather than being the only imaginable continuation.
How to learn from an error
Keep a short record with four columns: task, your approach, the point where your reasoning changed, and a check to use next time. For percentages, the check might be “Which total does this percentage refer to?” For verbal reasoning it might be “Am I adding a fact that was not stated?”
Practice can build familiarity with a format. It does not establish an official IQ or population ranking. On a real assessment, read the instructions for timing and permitted aids and consider how language or interruptions affect your experience. See how AptitudeCheck reports work before interpreting a result.