How to prepare for the Reasoning section of OSCB AM Prelims?

Preparing for Reasoning section for OSCB Asst. Manager

With approximately 1 month remaining for the OSCB Assistant Manager Prelims exam, it is now time that you start focusing on revising the already studied concepts rather than learning anything new. Further, going forward you should mandatorily dedicate at least a couple of hours daily in taking mock tests and solving past years question papers. OSCB AM Prelims Exam will be testing you on English Language, Reasoning Ability and Quantitative Aptitude, with the English section having 30 questions and the remaining 2 sections having 35 questions each. There is sectional timing in place and you get 20 questions each for the 3 sections. Hence, in this article, we shall be discussing some tips and techniques for preparing the Reasoning section of OSCB AM Prelims.

The purpose reasoning section is there in any exam is to test the logical and reasoning ability of a candidate and therefore, on several occasions, it has been noticed that this sections turns out to be a little tricky. Hence, being aware of the syllabus and topic that needs to be covered is of prime importance. You may refer below for the possible list of topics that you should have already covered or should be covering. 

1. Input Output
2. Seating Arrangement
3. Coding & Decoding
4. Syllogisms
5. Data sufficiency
6. Alphanumeric series
7. Alphabet test
8. Ranking / direction / order
9. Coded Inequalities
10. Puzzles
11. Blood relations
12. Logical reasoning

We have already mentioned that you should focus more on revising the concepts, solving previous year papers and taking mock tests. Hence, considering the number of days left for the exam, we would suggest that you take up at least one topic every day and practice as many questions as possible. The reason we are suggesting this approach is that it will help you to sharpen your reasoning and thinking skills. Further, in this process, you might even come up with your own shortcut for solving questions quickly which will help you to save time in the exam. Cracking Reasoning Section in any exam is possible only if your concepts are clear and that can happen only if you spend good amount of time practicing hundreds of questions from each topic daily.

Also, for being ahead of the crowd, we would recommend you to take mock tests as it will help you to analyze your performance with respect to Time, Accuracy, Questions, Marks, Percentile and Rank. Through these mock tests, you can even get an insight on your time & accuracy with that of the average scorer and the topper. Further, it will also help you to identify your weak areas so that you work more towards it in order to improve your performance there.

Some more tips to prepare for reasoning section:

Besides following the above mentioned suggestions, we would also recommend you to go through the below-mentioned guidelines that might come in handy while preparing for this section.

• While answering any question pertaining to Reasoning Section, make sure you read and understand the requirement of the question. It can be risky if you do not understand the question. Further, it is always a wise decision to move to the next questions than spending time in case you are not able to understand the question correctly.
• You should look forward to get good grasp on topics, such as blood relation, directions, syllogisms, statement, assumption and conclusion, as they can be quickly solved with high accuracy. In fact, you should prioritize solving these questions first so as to ensure that you score well in these topics.
• Questions on puzzle can be tricky and so we generally suggest aspirants to solve them at the end after you have completed the other questions. The reason we say this is because you may tend to spend more time on it in case you get stuck. However, in case you have practiced questions on this topic well, then you may opt for solving it.
• With regard to the questions on Data Sufficiency, ensure that you understand the statement well. Do not assume any data of your own. The best way to tackle questions on this topic is by simply asking yourself whether the question can be solved on the basis of the information given in the statements. Also, remember that questions on Data Sufficiency does not involve much calculation and so if you find yourself doing that then there would definitely be something you may have missed out while reading the question.
• Avoid spending much time on any questions in case you get stuck. In fact, you should time each of your questions and follow a hard stop in case you are not able to crack it. You can always come back to a question and solve it if you have time left.
• It is important that you always focus on solving one question at a time without thinking about the next or the previous questions. Get yourself completely engrossed in the question at hand and in case you feel that it is taking longer than you had expected to solve then simply move to the next question. The key to crack this section is by attempting questions that you are confident about solving in the first attempt.
• Finally, keep in mind that you need to solve 35 reasoning questions in 20 minutes, meaning you have about a little more than half a minute to answer each question. Hence, it is important to first find the easier questions and then solve them as quickly as possible.

The section on Reasoning can be tricky but that does not mean you should give up completely. Instead, we suggest that you take this section as a challenge and practice more questions and take more mock tests so that you are confident of tackling the Reasoning section of OSCB AM Prelims well in the exam. 

We hope this article was helpful to you and wish you luck with your exam.

Happy Learning!

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