Assertion and Reason

Introduction 

Assertion and reason is a type of reasoning where a statement and a reason are provided from which one has to choose the right one. There are two statements in a question – one assertion and one reason. Your job is to determine whether these two statements are true and if the reason supports the assertion. Assertion and Reason sums give you five options from which you have to choose one other than the three alternatives. 

Assertion and reasoning come in most of the exams and are a very important part of verbal reasoning that helps to determine one’s intelligence and ability to cope with smart academic problems.

What is Assertion and Reason?

The first thing to know while dealing with assertion and reason is that it is a part of verbal reasoning. Verbal reasoning is a category of reasoning problems. It is about breaking an answer through words, decoding a text with intelligence and logic. Verbal reasoning has many types, such as 

• Number series
• Letter series
• Cause & Effect
• Blood relations
• Direction sense test
• Coding decoding
• Analogies
• Venn diagram
• Assertion and reason

Assertion and reason questions test a child’s ability to seek a solution to a text problem. It helps to enhance the practice of applying brain and reason to solve a problem without prior learned knowledge. Assertion and reason only test a student’s concept of logic and mastery in backing a statement with a why. 

Types of Assertion and Reason related questions 

As mentioned above assertion and reason question comes with two sentences – one statement and one reason. The question usually follows with five alternative conclusions, among which one will be the correct one. The options pattern looks something like this –

1. Both the statements – assertion, and reason, are true, and the reason provided is the right explanation for the assertion statement.
2. Both the statements – assertion, and reason, are true, but the reason which is provided is not correct and does not apply to the assertion statement.
3. The assertion statement is true, but the reason is not
4. The reason is true, but the assertion is wrong
5. Both assertion and reason statements are false

Things to consider while solving assertion and reasoning problems

A student generally faces two situations before determining the right option –

1. First, this is a less likely situation, but often it happens that a student can find the incorrect statement on the first go. In that case, it becomes easier to rule out and make the scope narrow. If there are four options given, ruling out one statement as false helps you to determine the correct answer, but if there are five options available, you need to cut off at least another option to choose the answer. 
2. Now, if you think that both the assertion and reason statement are correct, then your answer must be either option a or option b. 

But in any of these situations, what remains important is the base of your concept, how strong and clear it is. Without a clear concept, you cannot conclude an answer to assertion and reason questions. 

Some tips to be good at assertion and reasoning 

No matter how much you practice or learn the various methods of solving assertion reason questions, without some clever tricks and old tips, you would have to work harder. Some good old tricks help you to take less time and be more efficient in solving these verbal reasoning.

1. Take time – as boring it may sound, time is the best thing that you can have on your hands while solving these problems. Taking the time and carefully reading questions, statements and options, again and again, may help you to crack the sum in less time. Sometimes hurrying over a sum can be the reason for your wrong choice.
2. Be careful of each statement – the trick lies not only in reading the statements and making something out of them but to treat these statements and understand them separately. Read the statements out loud and try to get an insight into what they mean as a separate sentence. The meaning an assertion and reasoning sentence might hold individually may sometimes help you to understand which is the right answer.

Conclusion 

Verbal reasoning tests are nowadays taken everywhere in every examination. Assertion and reason are some of the most common questions that come under verbal reasonings. It not only lets a child kill their time in a good useful way but also sharpens their mind. Various types of sums, statements, and reasons widen their view and help them see through a complicated and tricky text sum. 

Each statement and option should be carefully read and weighed out before choosing an answer. The reason statement is given to show it supports the assertion statement. You have to determine whether both these statements are true and whether the reason explains the assertion.