What is Logical Reasoning
Logical reasoning tests are psychometric measures that assess the extent to which you can make logically certain conclusions. There are different types of tests each of which assumes different methods of assessing logical intellect of an individual. For example logical tests that involve abstract items evaluate individual ability to find abstract relationships or connections. It is important to note that no specialised knowledge is required in these assessments. One may only have to think clearly and analytically to solve the problem. Below, we will review some of the most common formats of these assessments and briefly touch upon challenges they present to test takers.
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Types and Formats
As mentioned above logical reasoning tests come in variety of forms and assume different methods to assess logical thinking of an individual. For example, tests that consist of abstract items evaluate the degree to which one can make sense of abstract relationships. Usually, in these tests it will be your task to identify connections between abstract items. Test items can come in wide range of forms i.e. symbols, geometric shapes such as squares, triangles or circles. They may be of different size or colour and may be arranged in particular order. All of these attributes are used for creating abstract patterns. A good example to demonstrate this are logical matrix tests. In addition, logical reasoning may be comprised of numbers to assess the extent to which you can make sense of numerical data to attain logically certain conclusions. See an example of logical arithmetic test. It is important to note that no specialised knowledge of mathematic is required in these assessments beyond basic operations i.e. additions, subtractions, multiplications or divisions.
Main Challenges
Some of the main challenges that logical reasoning test present to test takers are time limit and complexity of abstract patterns. You will have limited time to inspect the sequence to find the pattern. Hence, you have to be quick in spotting the relationships between abstract items to quickly make the conclusion and mark the answer. Applicants who are not well prepared may struggle to find clues in series quickly enough to answer question in required time. As far as test involving numerical items is concerned many new starters express their worry about level of mathematic attainment, the anxiety which seems to be misplaced. Note that these tests use basic operations where no specialised knowledge is required.
Evaluation and Scoring
Logical reasoning tests are commonly administered as standardised assessments to make it possible to see where one stands with performance compared to rest of the population. So, your raw score is usually compared to norm group, that is, the group that represents comparison score of people with similar profile to yours. Hence, an employer or examination body may only see how you performed relative to others. This is expressed in terms of percentiles. So for example, if your score was better than 72 people that took the same test it would mean that your results would show that you scored on 72nd percentile. It is uncommon to base interpretations of your performance on raw score such as correctly or incorrectly answered questions.