Answering Analytical Reasoning Questions

The order of the questions

If you've ever done an GAT / NAT Analytical Reasoning before, you've probably noticed that the questions for each set are not given in order of difficulty. To a certain extent, the first question is often the easiest and the last often the hardest, but this is frequently not true, and even when it is true the middle questions don't follow any pattern of difficulty.

This is important, because you have only a limited time to answer questions on the test. There is a chance that you will run out of time and not be able to answer every question in the set. Since that is the case, you'd better do the easiest questions first. Why? Two reasons: they take less time, and you are more likely to get them right. If you run out of time and have been doing the easy questions first, rather than just going through the questions in order, you will have answered more questions and gotten more right than you would have otherwise.

One Question Help Solve Other Easily

In addition, working through certain questions first will make other questions easier. Some questions will help you understand the set better, and will generate scratch work that you can use to eliminate answers on other questions. It's better to do these questions first, then, so as to make the later questions easier. Fortunately for us, the easiest questions are also the ones that give us the most helpful scratch work.

Order of Difficulty

There is a science to the order in which you will do the questions. That is to say, you can memorize the procedure ahead of time and simply go through a series of mechanical steps to determine what questions you want to do when. Sound easy? Well, it is! Analytical Reasoning Questions in Order of Difficulty (Easiest to Hardest):

1. What can be true? and If-questions
2. What can't be true?
3. What must be true?
4. What can be false?
5. Which is a complete and accurate list?
6. What is the maximum/minimum number of …?
7. How many diagrams are possible?