How to improve your Logical Reasoning Skills?

You think of taking any entrance test related to Banking, MBA, IAS, or any other, Logical Reasoning will always come to your handy. This is because, when you enter the real corporate world, your Logical Reasoning skills will help you take better decisions, making you an effective leader!

How to improve your Logical Reasoning Skills?

Logical Reasoning and thinking is not difficult to develop if you pay attention to certain basic facts such as:

1. Try to differentiate between Observation and Inferences:

To improve your Logical Reasoning skills, it is important to differentiate between observations and inferences. Observation means using your senses such as hearing, seeing, smelling, touching to collect the required data or information. Inference is the conclusion we draw from that observation. Observation is more factual, whereas, inference is one's opinion based on the observation. Similarly, try to differentiate between established facts and conjectures. Facts are things that are proved or believed to be true based on real occurrences, whereas,  a conjecture is a calculated guess which is based on some prior knowledge or incomplete information. So, once have a clear understanding about facts, observations, inferences, your will be able to derive at good logics and take better decisions.

2. Types of Statements: Conditional, Converse, Inverse, Contrapositive:

If you wish to enhance your logical reasoning skills, you need to understand the difference between various types of statements such as Conditional, Converse, Inverse or Contrapositive. Conditional statements consists of 'if then' analysis, such as If you work hard, then you will get promoted. In a conditional statement, if the premise is true, the conclusion will also be true. The converse statement is when the premise and the conclusion gets reversed such as if you got promoted, then it was because you worked hard. The inverse statement, negates the original premise and the conclusion such as if you do not work hard, you will not get promoted. The contrapositive Statement is either the opposite of the inverse statement or the inverse of the converse statement such as if you didn't get promoted, it means you didn't work hard.

3. Understanding the types of conditions:

There are various types of conditions you need to understand to strengthen your Logical Reasoning skills. A Necessary condition is a condition that needs to happen to achieve a certain goal, such as working hard is necessary to get promoted. A sufficient condition is a condition that surely leads to a certain goal such as if you are complacent in your work, you will surely not get promoted. A condition can also be necessary and still not sufficient such as working hard is necessary to get promoted, but there are other factors also to get promoted such as your confidence level, your communication skills, etc. and on the other hand, a condition can also be sufficient but not necessary. Some conditions can also be neither sufficient nor necessary such to get promoted, it is neither sufficient or necessary to work late night everyday.

4. Try to Recognize the Patterns:

Pattern Recognition skills are necessary to improve your logical reasoning skills. This exercise helps you to develop the ability to see a 'pattern or an order' in a messy situation. Pattern Recognition strengthens your mental, spatial abilities and your IQ. You must have come across geometrical shapes with some pattern weaving around them or a sequence of numbers, where you need to guess the next number based on a certain pattern or guess which object is odd one out. For taking effective business decisions, recognizing patterns is crucial in various areas such as sales, costs, profits, etc.

5. Create Algorithms and step by step process for solving problems:

You can improve your Logical Thinking by creating algorithms, which is nothing but a step by step process for solving problems. Algorithm gives a clear picture of various conditions and conclusions we derive out of those. This helps us in problem solving process. It defines a sequence of operations and are commonly used in computer programming. One of the most famous algorithms is the Euclid's algorithm which is used for computing the greatest Common Divisor of two integers (usually positive). Follow the above listed tips not only in your professional life but also in general to improve your problem solving and management skills and help you in taking smarter decisions!