Easier Way To Deal With UMAT Section 3, “Non-Verbal Reasoning”

Non-Verbal reasoning is the last section of the UMAT paper, and probably the biggest challenge for several students. This is because, this particular section is extremely confusing and abstract in nature. To make matters worse, this section is not illustrated with any substantial verbal explanation to make things easier for you. The non-verbal reasoning section is quite similar to abstract reasoning. A lot depends on your common sense, analytical skills, and observation power. Since most of these questions are substantiated with abstract figures and geometric shapes, you might find this section interesting in the first glance. However, determining the correct relation between these figures and identifying their patterns might seem like a huge challenge, if your non-verbal reasoning skills are poor.

An Overview of the “Non-Verbal reasoning” section of the UMAT:
This section would mainly consist of figure and shape oriented questions. Nothing would be explained in verbal statements, apart from the main and essential instructions. Whatever answer you have got to derive, has to be from the given set of figures, which can range from abstract figures to geometric shapes and images. You might be instructed to create a sequence of the given figure, determine the pattern, complete the sequence, etc. In this way, this section would test your abstract reasoning skills, analytical skills, observation power, and logical reasoning abilities. This section can be a very challenging task, and at the same time, the easiest one to crack. However, if you feel that you do not have a natural aptitude for this section, then you must practice rigorously, so that you can solve this section more easily in the UMAT.

Why this section might seem like a challenge in UMAT

• This section might seem like a challenge for several reasons. The biggest limitation of this section is its lack of verbal illustration. While in most of the sections, there would be plenty of verbal explanations to explain the matter easily, in this section, you have to rely completely on your observation. However, the best part is, the instructions given in this section is a relief due to their simplicity and directness of the language. In non-verbal reasoning, many students make the mistake of not reading the entire question properly. You might look into the figures and mark an option to complete the sequence. However, the question might ask you to mark the figure that lies adjacent to the correct figure. Unless you read the question meticulously, you might go wrong.
• The second challenge involves observation. At times, the patterns get extremely difficult to determine. The figures might be so intricately drafted that getting to differentiate one from the other, and then arranging them in the correct sequence might consume a lot of time. If your observation is not good enough, you might end up in a soup.
• The third challenge is choosing the right option, as even this part has left no stone unturned to utterly confuse the best out of you. At times, you might find all the options almost similar and close to each other. You might even feel that all these options have the potential to be the most suitable one.

How To Deal With the Challenge

• Ensure that you indulge in regular practice. If you think that this section is creating a problem in your UMAT preparation, then focus more on this section. Solve as many UMAT practice papers as possible, so that you gain a good command over non-verbal reasoning.
• Practice not only UMAT test papers, but also other test papers of similar competitive examinations, so that your preparation gets more diverse. Since UMAT does not follow any particular syllabus, there is no harm if you resort to other sources. In any case, it is always better to solve abstract reasoning oriented questions from as many sources as possible.
• If you are bored of the question paper, then resort to the Internet. There are many websites that would enable you to practice abstract reasoning puzzles and games, through which you can not only exercise your gray matter, but also prepare for the examination with recreation.

Most importantly, improve your observation power. This would allow you to look into the question and immediately derive the right answer, without wasting much time.