Reasoning and Mental Ability Questions with Answers
Reasoning is half the marks in the Navodaya test, 100 marks in the Maharashtra scholarship exam and a section in every entrance paper. It improves quickly with daily practice once the common question types are known. Each of the ten questions below has an explanation of the method.
What reasoning questions cover, class by class
Number and letter reasoning
- Number series and letter series
- Analogies and odd one out
- Coding and decoding
- Missing numbers in figures
Logical reasoning
- Directions and distances
- Blood relations
- Ranking and order
- Clocks and calendars
Figure reasoning (non-verbal)
- Odd figure out and figure matching
- Pattern and figure series completion
- Mirror and water images
- Paper folding, cutting and embedded figures
Free reasoning sample test: 10 questions
These are text-based question types; figure-based questions (the main part of the Navodaya Mental Ability Test) are in the full mock tests. Pick an answer to check it.
Find the next number: 5, 10, 20, 40, ?
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Answer: C. 80
Each number is double the one before it: 40 × 2 = 80.
Find the next number: 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, ?
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Answer: B. 36
These are square numbers: 1², 2², 3², 4², 5². The next is 6² = 36.
Find the next letter: A, C, E, G, ?
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Answer: B. I
Each letter skips one letter of the alphabet: A (b) C (d) E (f) G (h) I.
Bird is to nest as bee is to ___.
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Answer: C. Hive
A bird lives in a nest, and a bee lives in a hive. The pair is “animal : its home”.
Find the odd one out: Apple, Mango, Potato, Banana
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Answer: C. Potato
Apple, mango and banana are fruits. A potato is a vegetable (a stem that grows underground).
If PEN is written as QFO, how is INK written?
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Answer: A. JOL
Each letter moves one place forward: P→Q, E→F, N→O. So I→J, N→O, K→L gives JOL.
Ravi walks 5 km north, then turns right and walks 3 km. In which direction is he from his starting point?
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Answer: C. North-east
Facing north, a right turn means facing east. He ends up north and east of the start, which is north-east.
A is the brother of B. B is the daughter of C. How is A related to C?
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Answer: B. Son
B is C’s daughter, and A is B’s brother, so A is also C’s child. A is male, so A is C’s son.
In a row of 20 students, Asha is 7th from the left. What is her position from the right?
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Answer: B. 14th
Position from the right = total − position from the left + 1 = 20 − 7 + 1 = 14th.
What is the angle between the hands of a clock at 3:00?
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Answer: C. 90°
The clock face is 360° divided into 12 hours, so each hour mark is 30°. At 3:00 the hands are 3 marks apart: 3 × 30° = 90°.
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How to get better at reasoning
- Practise 20–30 minutes every day. Reasoning improves steadily with short daily sessions, not with occasional long ones.
- Learn one question type at a time, with its method, before mixing types.
- Know the alphabet positions (A = 1 … Z = 26) and squares and cubes; most series and coding questions use them.
- For directions and blood relations, always draw a quick diagram instead of working in your head.
Reasoning practice by class
Each class page lists its topics and has more sample questions.
Exams that test reasoning
Navodaya (JNVST)
Mental Ability Test: 40 figure-based questions, half the marks.
Scholarship exams and NMMS
Intelligence test: 100 marks in Paper 2; NMMS has a Mental Ability Test.
Sainik School (AISSEE)
Intelligence: 25 questions in both the Class 6 and Class 9 papers.
Rashtriya Military School CET
An Intelligence Test is one of the four Class 6 subjects.
Olympiads
Most Olympiad papers start with a logical reasoning section.
More practice
These sample questions are free to try without an account. With an account, students get full topic-wise sets and timed mock tests, every answer explained, questions read aloud in English, Hindi or Marathi, and insights on strong and weak topics.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between reasoning and mental ability?
They mean much the same thing in school exams. “Mental ability” (Navodaya, NMMS) often means figure-based questions, while “reasoning” or “intelligence” papers also include number, letter and logic questions.
Are the Navodaya mental ability questions like these?
No. The JNVST Mental Ability Test is entirely picture-based: odd figure out, figure matching, pattern completion, mirror images, paper folding and embedded figures. The text-based questions here help in the scholarship, AISSEE and Olympiad papers.
From which class should reasoning practice start?
Simple patterns and odd-one-out puzzles suit Classes 2–3. Regular, timed practice should start about a year before the target exam, for example in Class 4 for the Class 5 exams.