In this article, we will discuss the Analytical and Logical Reasoning section of the CMAT exam. There are 20 questions in this section. The marking scheme for this section is same as the other sections i.e., +4 for the correct answers and -1 for every incorrect answer.
CMAT Reasoning Section
The major areas from which questions are commonly seen in the CMAT are: Analytical Reasoning and Puzzles (Distribution, Linear Arrangement, and Circular Arrangement). It is important to mention here that in the previous two exams, two-third of the questions in this section were based on Analytical Reasoning and all such questions appeared as individual questions. Therefore, time management is very important for this section so that you do not end up in consuming much of your time while solving difficult questions.
Further, you can expect a few questions on Logical reasoning like Coding-Decoding, Analogies, Series – numeric and alphabetic, Clocks, Blood Relations and Directions, Symboperation, Syllogisms etc. Each year 1 or 2 questions on Data Sufficiency are also asked in CMAT, therefore, to be on the safer side you should cover the basics of this topic as well.
One should learn and practice the basic concepts of all the fundamental topics of reasoning with special reference to the above-mentioned areas. The questions from the topic of Blood Relations and Directions are generally easy. Take a look at a question that appeared in one of the previous years.
Q. “In a family of 7 members – A, B, C, D, E, F and G – there are two married couples. A is the Grand-daughter of B, who is the father of C. D is the brother-in-law of F. E is the mother of G, who is the mother of A. C and F are siblings. How will A address C?”
Just having the basic understanding of the method of Family Tree is sufficient to answer this question.
Another question asked in the reasoning section was:
Q. "Four professors – Annie, Bannie, Chany and Danny – are sitting at a square table facing the center such that exactly one professor is sitting at one of the sides of the table. Annie is sitting to the immediate left of Bannie. Chany is sitting to the immediate right of Danny. Who is sitting opposite to Annie?”
As you can see, this is also a fairly easy level problem on sitting arrangements.
The level of difficulty of the CMAT Reasoning section varies between easy to medium. Also, you will find questions requiring direct usage of concepts in CMAT unlike other major competitive exams, wherein concepts have to be applied. Ideally, you must prepare all the major topics of the Reasoning section thoroughly, with special focus on the topics mentioned above.
