Inductive Reasoning Questions for Beginners
Popularity of inductive reasoning tests, both as scientific measures or selection exercises has grown substantially over the past decade. Such tests are commonly administered to identify applicants who can employ and apply their critical thinking and problem solving abilities into wide range of situations. Many in the field of psychometrics would argue with the importance of being prepared prior to taking these tests as well as to maintain positive mindset during such assessment. It is widely known that unfamiliarity and often lack of practice appears to be impeding a large number of students from gaining a required mark. The below section will preset you with basics of inductive reasoning series and will shed more light to help you understand how these mechanisms work.
Occupational psychologists often incorporate a wide range of rules to abstract patterns to evaluate how candidates can solve problems in number of different ways. In the below series we will look at one-step pattern and show how to get to the root of the problem to tackle similar non-verbal challenges. Nevertheless, if you want to view more examples then see common abstract patterns which covers basics as well as more advanced topics on similar problems. Now consider the below figure.
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When you glance at the above, the black and white circles seem to be randomly scattered all over the chain of tiles. Indeed if you try to search link between particular circles in each box carefully you will find that they don’t follow a specific movements but rather they change in numbers. Examine the sequence thoroughly and you will see that the amount of white and black dots alternates between five and seven. Hence you can conclude that next square must contain 5 black and 7 white dots which correspond to tile D. Some test takers may have searched in a vain for a specific pattern in the sequence and look for direction or ways in which the dots move only to lose valuable time. Remember, to succeed think outside of the box and consider range of other possibilities. To further demonstrate how series may be constructed around codes related to number of shapes in a box try to work out the sequence below.
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Many students that don’t have an extensive experience in inductive or abstract reasoning tests may get easily mislead by the arrangement of the shapes and start looking for a particular links or relationship between symbols. However, if you look at the sequence closely you will spot that in each square half of the area is always black whereas the other half is white. Therefore, you can eliminate options A, B, C and E and identify D as the correct answer. Most of the times in inductive reasoning tests the changes are right in front of you even if they look rather subtle. Remember, all you need to do is to look deeper and consider another way if you feel that you are getting stuck. Completing sequences is like to find the plot in a movie; sometimes it might be slightly hidden.