Analytical reasoning tests mix question styles that share one demand: reason only from what you are given. This guide covers the method for each style.
Practise the real thing: every style below appears in our free analytical reasoning test, with a worked solution for every question. No sign-up.
How verbal analytical questions work
Decide each answer only on what the passage states or logically implies, never on what you happen to know. The whole skill is separating fact from inference, and the wrong options are written to blur that line.
Work in a fixed order. Read the statement you are being asked about first, then read the passage looking specifically for the evidence that bears on it. Choose:
- True only if the passage clearly supports the statement.
- False only if the passage clearly contradicts it.
- Cannot say whenever the passage neither supports nor contradicts it, even if the statement seems likely from general knowledge.
“Cannot say” is the option candidates most often get wrong, because it feels like a non-answer. It is frequently the correct one. If you find yourself justifying “true” with a fact the passage never mentions, the answer is almost certainly “cannot say”.
How non-verbal and data questions work
Read the question before you study the chart, so you only pull the figures you actually need. A typical data stimulus contains far more information than any single question uses, and time spent absorbing the rest is time lost.
A reliable order:
- Read the question stem and note the exact figure or comparison it wants.
- Check the axis labels, units and any table headings. This is where the trap usually sits, for example a rate quoted per week against a question asked per year.
- Take only the values you need and do the arithmetic on those.
- Use a chart for shape and a table for precision. Charts show direction and comparison but are rarely exact enough to answer from.
For a worked example: if a click cost 18p in April on one platform, and 14p plus 6p across two others, the ratio of the single cost to the combined cost is 20 to 18, which simplifies to 1 to 1.11. The method is always the same: extract the right figures, then compute.
How to handle multiple constraints
Write the constraints down, fix whatever they make certain, then use the rest to eliminate. Constraint-heavy questions, where a set of rules pins down an order or an arrangement, reward bookkeeping far more than cleverness.
A dependable routine:
- List every rule in short form before you look at the answer options, so you are reasoning from a clean summary rather than re-reading prose.
- Apply the most restrictive rule first. The rule that allows the fewest possibilities does the most work and often fixes a position outright.
- Combine rules to force further placements, noting each deduction as you go so you do not lose track.
- Test each option against your rules and discard any that breaks even one. With a well-constrained question, only one option survives.
The common mistake is holding the whole puzzle in your head. Under time pressure that is where errors creep in, so trust the written notes over your memory.
Deduction or inference: how to tell
Check whether the conclusion is forced or merely probable, because analytical tests reward the two differently. A deductive item wants the answer that must be true; an inductive item wants the answer that is most likely.
On a deductive question, a conclusion counts only if the premises guarantee it. “Probably” is not good enough, and an option that goes one step beyond what you were told is wrong however sensible it sounds.
On an inductive question, you are extrapolating from a pattern or a set of examples, so you are choosing the best-supported answer rather than a certain one. Look for the simplest rule that fits every case you have been shown, then apply it.
Naming which kind of question you are on, before you answer, stops the most common slip: demanding certainty where only likelihood is available, or settling for “likely” where the question needed proof.
More on analytical reasoning tests
Go back to the full analytical reasoning tests guide, or try the related deductive and inductive tests.
