Tricks to Solve SSC CGL General Intelligence

Out of the vast question range in the Staff Selection Commission Combined Graduate Level Exam, one of the most mentally challenging questions is the general intelligence & reasoning analogies. Analogy questions are found in various government examinations, are among the most important parts of the verbal reasoning section, and require arithmetic and logical skills.

Along with this, SSC CGL general intelligence & reasoning analogies are of different types. Each of these requires a different set of skills, making analogies reasoning quite difficult to understand and solve confidently. However, some tips can help make these a bit easier.

Types of SSC CGL General Intelligence & Reasoning Analogies

• Number Analogy

This is one of the most common types and is often seen in SSC JE general intelligence and reasoning analogies questions. Number analogies will provide you with 2 numbers that share a certain similarity and another set with the same similarity. After this, the question will require you to find the similarity of the numbers and choose one of the multiple options that share the same common point.

For example,

1. 4 : 9 :: 25 : ?

• 126
• 51
• 30
• 88

So, as you can see, you will have to find an option that can replace the ‘?’ and have the same relation as the first 2 numbers. In this case, the answer would be 51 as it would present the pattern of the first number multiplied by 2 plus 1.

• Words/Letter Analogy

These analogies involve a pair of letters or words from the alphabet and will require you to find similarities between them. There will be another pair of letters following this, with one term missing. You will also be given multiple options that can be used to fill the unknown letter or word.

To solve this, you will have to find the similarity of the first pair and then look for an option that creates a common pattern in the second pair. For example, 

1. A : B :: C : ?

• D
• F
• L
• Z

In this question, you can see that the first pair has the letter move up by 1. So, to follow this pattern, the only suitable answer would be D which is the correct answer.

• GK Analogy

This type of analogy is similar to word analogies, but the similarity present in the terms is related to general knowledge. So, in terms of SSC CGL or JE general intelligence and reasoning analogies, these could be similarities in the currency, capital city, location, temperature, etc.

For example,

1. India : Delhi :: Canada : ?

• Ottawa
• Hong Kong
• Mumbai
• Taiwan

The answer here would be Ottawa, as the answer is the Country’s Capital City. So, as the capital city of Canada is Ottawa, that would be the correct answer.

Tips To Solve SSC CGL General Intelligence & Reasoning Analogies

• Find Links Between The Question And The Options

When it comes to reasoning analogies, looking at just the question to find the right answer can make your task much more difficult. This is because countless links can be created in some analogies reasoning, which can confuse you. For example, if you had to find out the similarities between 4 : 8, it could be the first number plus 4 or the first number multiplied by 2.

To avoid this confusion, the best way to find the solution to SSC CGL general intelligence & reasoning analogies is by using the answers. This means placing each option in the blank space to find a correlation that can match the pairs. This will help you find the right answer and save you time. If we consider the above example, 

1. 4 : 8 :: 2 : ?

• 7
• 67
• 4
• 1

Now, looking at the options, you can see that none of them corresponds with the pattern of adding 4 to the first number. Instead, the 3rd option, ‘4,’ corresponds with being the first number multiplied by 2, which makes it the right answer.

• Develop Your GK And English Understanding

When it comes to GK and letter analogies, you must grasp the topic space to answer the questions. This is because these analogies’ reasoning involves similarities such as the calculation of alphabetical patterns or requires knowledge of geographical and historical terms. For example,

1. A : F :: G : ?

• L
• H
• D
• A

Now, the answer to this question is ‘L’ as the common pattern involves moving up 5 letters in the alphabet. While this is quite basic, a lack of comprehension of the English alphabet, in this case, could lead to unnecessary mistakes. So, a great trick to improve your skill in reasoning analogies is to improve your core knowledge.

• Go Through Multiple Similarities

There can be more than one similarity in many reasoning analogies that can be discerned. While this is not a common occurrence and is avoided, there will be more than one similarity that seems correct or is close to being correct in some cases. Due to this, a great tip to make sure you solve these questions correctly is to go through all options and their similarities.

This will help you notice if there are any more significant answers better suited to be the answer.

Conclusion  

While you need some prior knowledge for many SSC CGL general intelligence & reasoning analogies, these tips can help make them easier to solve. So, the best tip is probably to develop your calculation and understanding of the analogies to make them quicker and simpler to solve.