RankHighCompetitive Exam Prep

Reasoning and judgment

Logical reasoning

Deciding which conclusion validly follows from a passage taken as true — and which does not — from the quantifiers and conditionals it uses rather than from knowledge of the subject.

Exams on RankHigh that test this

What follows is our approach, not an official rule. What each question type measures is set by the body that runs the examination. How to work one is RankHigh’s method — it is what a good tutor would tell you, and there is more than one way to be right. Where an examination publishes its own instructions, those govern on the day.

Logical Reasoning

Tested as “Logical Reasoning” on Border Patrol Agent, CBP Officer.

Reading a paragraph you must accept as true and deciding which single conclusion follows from it — or, when the lead-in is negative, which single one does not.

Where people lose it

Answering from what you know instead of from what the paragraph says. CBP is explicit that you are not judged on the facts but on reasoning from the facts given, and a conclusion that is true in the world but unsupported by the paragraph is wrong.

How to work itRankHigh method

  1. Read the lead-in first. Positive means four conclusions are invalid and one is valid; negative means four are valid and one is not, and the two need opposite habits.
  2. Mark every quantifier: all, every, some, most, many, no, none, only, unless, except. The answer almost always turns on one of them.
  3. Remember which way each statement runs. "All A are B" says nothing about all B; an if-then gives you its contrapositive and never its converse.
  4. Treat "some" as at least some and nothing more, and treat "many A are not B" as telling you nothing whatever about the A that are B.
  5. Do not skip an option because it contains "all" or "none". CBP states that those words appear in both right and wrong answers on this test.

You cannot go back to a question once you answer it, and you cannot skip one. Decide, commit, move on — and guess rather than stall, because there is no penalty for a wrong answer.

Deductive Reasoning

Tested as “Deductive Reasoning” on LASD Deputy Sheriff Trainee.

Given a conclusion and several statements, deciding which single statement does LEAST to support that conclusion — not which is false, which is merely irrelevant or beside the point being argued.

Where people lose it

Picking a statement because it sounds odd or off-topic, rather than testing each one against the actual conclusion. A statement can be true and interesting and still not support the conclusion.

How to work itRankHigh method

  1. Restate the conclusion in your own words before reading the statements.
  2. Test each statement by asking: if this were the only fact I had, would it move me toward the conclusion?
  3. Watch for a statement that discusses the same SUBJECT as the conclusion without comparing the two things the conclusion compares.
  4. The four supporting statements will usually share a comparison or a mechanism; the one that lacks it is the answer.

Ask what the conclusion is actually comparing, then find the one statement that never compares it.

Evaluating Facts

Tested as “Evaluating Facts” on POST Dispatcher Battery.

Deciding whether each statement is true, false, or cannot be determined from a short set of stated facts.

Where people lose it

Answering from the world instead of from the facts. A statement can be perfectly reasonable and still be CANNOT BE DETERMINED, and that is the answer the test is really measuring.

How to work itRankHigh method

  1. Take the facts as the whole of what you know. Nothing outside them counts, however obvious.
  2. Watch the quantifiers: ALL, SOME, NO. A fact about SOME never supports a conclusion about ALL.
  3. Read the direction of a rule carefully. That all of A are B does not tell you that all of B are A.
  4. If a statement needs one extra fact you were not given, it CANNOT BE DETERMINED — that is not a refusal to answer, it is the answer.
  5. FALSE means the facts CONTRADICT the statement, not that they fail to support it. Keep those two apart or the third option collapses.

With only three options a wrong answer costs more than it would with four. Guessing between two is not free here.

Inductive Reasoning

Tested as “Inductive Reasoning” on LASD Deputy Sheriff Trainee.

Reading a brief passage and choosing the paraphrase closest in meaning to it — not just similar, but the one that preserves exactly what the passage does and does not claim.

Where people lose it

Choosing a paraphrase that sounds right but drops or adds a condition. A passage that requires TWO things true together is misparaphrased by a version that only needs one of them.

How to work itRankHigh method

  1. List every condition the passage states before you look at the paraphrases.
  2. Reject any paraphrase that drops one of those conditions, however natural it reads.
  3. Reject any paraphrase that adds a condition, exception or cause the passage never stated.
  4. Where the passage uses 'unless', 'only if' or 'and', check that the paraphrase keeps exactly that logical relationship.

Count the conditions in the passage, then check the paraphrase keeps every one of them — no more, no fewer.

Carry this into the room

  • Logical Reasoning: You cannot go back to a question once you answer it, and you cannot skip one. Decide, commit, move on — and guess rather than stall, because there is no penalty for a wrong answer.
  • Deductive Reasoning: Ask what the conclusion is actually comparing, then find the one statement that never compares it.
  • Evaluating Facts: With only three options a wrong answer costs more than it would with four. Guessing between two is not free here.
  • Inductive Reasoning: Count the conditions in the passage, then check the paraphrase keeps every one of them — no more, no fewer.

Practice it on your own exam

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