3 Savvy Ways to Solve Syllogism Questions for IPMAT 2023

What to Expect from this article? - Aristotle was the first one to describe Syllogism in Prior Analytics. Since then, syllogisms have been studied throughout history. In fact, syllogism questions have become one of the most essential tools of logical reasoning and argumentation in competitive exams such as IPMAT. The level of the syllogism question is of class 10th, 11th & 12th standard. This blog post shall guide you on how to master the art of solving syllogism questions for IPMAT 2023 like a pro. 

Why Study Syllogism Questions for IPMAT 2023?

 Syllogism is the scoring and easiest topic for IPMAT aspirants. You can expect 3-4 questions from the Verbal Reasoning section. The typical syllogism questions are based on Assertion Reason and Statement & Assumption type. The syllogism questions are asked in two different formats; Inference based passage Syllogisms from the General English section and direct Syllogism from the Reasoning and Analytical Ability. If you master the syllogism question, you can quickly maximize your score by 8-10 marks in IPMAT 2023.

In most entrance exams, including IPMA, you come across 4-5 questions from the syllogism topic. Questions based on this topic include two or more statements followed by conclusions. You have to identify the decision based on the given statements. Most of you might feel that this topic is tricky and time-consuming. However, you can quickly solve these questions by learning a few techniques.

Read through the post that will give you a complete insight into how to solve Syllogism questions for IPMAT, types of Syllogisms, quick tips and tricks to solve syllogism questions, sample syllogism questions, and more.

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Why Are Syllogism Questions Important?

Syllogism is a crucial topic if you are preparing for IPMAT Examination. The different types of syllogism questions asked are - some not syllogism questions, either condition in syllogism questions, and syllogism some not case questions. The syllogism aims to test the candidate's logical reasoning and critical thinking. 

3 Quick Syllogism Tricks to Ace IPMAT 2023

The core technique to solve syllogism questions lies in connecting one statement with another and verifying the statements in conclusion. 

Below are some of the best Preparation Tips for solving syllogism questions in IPMAT. 

Below are a few Syllogism tricks to help you with syllogism rules. 

• Go through all the statements one by one carefully.
• Draw Venn diagrams to differentiate one statement from another easily.
• Find out the pattern of the question.
• Try to explore all the possibilities in statements that include "All" and "No" before concluding the answer.
• Mistakes in approaching these Syllogism questions --- With "some" and "all" questions can be quite confusing. So, try to understand the difference between them.
• Make sure to solve a syllogism question sequentially. It is depicted as an incorrect way of approaching these types of questions. 
• Find an expected relation between statements and conclusions.

There are three different methods to solve Syllogisms, which are as follows–

1. Verbal Method
2. Venn Diagram Method
3. Tick and Cross Method

Quick Syllogism Reasoning Trick 1 - Verbal Method

The verbal method is a relatively less used method of solving syllogism questions. The student must understand the set of premises at the back of their mind and verbally derive all possibilities and conclusions based on the ability to understand the assumptions. You can opt for this quick method for less complicated questions.

For example

Statement I: Some human is rich.
Statement II: All rich are men.

Conclusion:

1.) Some human is a man.
2.) All men are rich.

Options:

1. The only Conclusion I follows
2. Only Conclusion II follows
3. Either conclusion I or Conclusion II follows
4. Neither conclusion I nor Conclusion II follows

Answer:1

Explanation:

From the above statements, it is clear that some humans are rich and all rich are men. Therefore, there is a possibility that some humans are men.

Quick Syllogism Reasoning Trick 2 - Venn Diagram Method

The Venn diagram method is the most suitable method for solving syllogism questions for IPMAT. It allows the candidate to solve and eliminate the questions diagrammatically. This is illustrated well with the help of some bullet points mentioned below:

• Draw the diagram based on the given statements.
• Check which conclusion follows the given information with the help of the diagram.
• If the conclusion fulfills one condition but does not accomplish the other conditions represented in the diagram, it will not be considered a conclusion.
• The final conclusion should be made only if it follows all the possible conditions.

Example:

Statement I: All P’s are Q’s
Statement II: All Q’s are R’s
Statement III: Some R’s are S

Conclusion:

1. All P are R
2. No Q are R
3. All S are R

Options:

1. The only Conclusion I follows
2. Only Conclusion II follows
3. Either conclusion I or Conclusion II follows
4. Neither conclusion I nor Conclusion II follows

Answer: Option 1

Explanation:

The last diagram is the final one, and based on this; we will draw conclusions.

Conclusion:

• All P are R
• No Q are R
• All S are R

Conclusion 1 is true as Circle representing P is completely inside the circle representing R.

Conclusion 2 is false as the circle representing Q is completely inside the circle representing R.

Therefore there is no possibility that no Q is R.

Conclusion 3 is also false because some part of S is part of R.

Therefore, it is safe to say that only conclusion 1 follows. Hence option 1 is the correct one.

Quick Syllogism Reasoning Trick 3 - Tick and Cross Method

Take note of the following table, and tick wherever the statement or conclusion holds true. Mark a cross for this case; it is false.

Statement	Definite Conclusion	Possible Conclusion
All A are B	All A are B Some A are B Some B are A	All B are A Some B are not A
Some A are B	Some A are B All A are B	Some B are A All B are A Some are not B Some B are not A
Some A are not B	Some A are not B Some A are B	No A is B No B is A Some B are not A All B are A
No A is B	No A is B No B is A	No possibility is true

Golden Steps to Solve the Syllogism Questions for IPMAT 2023

Refer to the steps to solve the questions related to Syllogism:

1. Read each question of syllogism thoroughly.
2. Start drawing the Venn diagram neatly.
3. Follow the appropriate sequence of the question while solving the syllogism question. 
4. Draw out different possibilities of the question. 
5. Analyze the conclusion from the Venn diagram.
6. Mark out other alternative solutions at the end.

Types of Syllogism Questions for IPMAT 2023

There are infinite types of possible cases of syllogism questions. However, we have discussed the general styles which are most likely to be asked in the IPMAT Entrance Exam.

1. All A are B

In this type of question, A is contained in B but not necessarily vice-versa. This states that A is a subset of B, but B may not be a subset of A.

Example:

Statement: A is a dog, B is an animal

Conclusion: 

• Some dogs are animals
• Some animals are dogs

2. A=B

In this type of question, A is a subset of B and B is also a subset of A.

Conclusion:

• Dogs are animals
• Animals are dogs

3. No A is B

In this question, A is not related to B, meaning B does not contain A, and A is not in B.

Conclusion:

No dogs are animals

4. Some A are B

In this type of question, some of A is in B; that is, A and B overlap each other. Thus, some Bs are As will also be true.

Statement:

• All cats are dogs
• All dogs are cats

Conclusion:

• All cats are dogs, and All dogs are cats

5. Some A are not B

In this case, some portion of A is not included in B for sure, while it is uncertain whether the other part of A is included in B or not.

Read more: Short tricks to improve your vocabulary for IPMAT 

Ice-Breaker Rules to Solve Syllogism Questions for IPMAT 2023

There are specific syllogism rules that you should follow while solving the questions that are based on Syllogism. Let us have a look at the rules and enhance your preparation for the upcoming exams.

• All+All will always imply an "All" conclusion.
• All+No will always imply a "No" conclusion.
• All+Some will always imply a "No" conclusion.
• Some+ All will always imply a "Some" conclusion.
• Some+No will always imply a "Some not" conclusion.
• Some+Some will always imply a "No" conclusion.

Sample Syllogism Questions for IPMAT 2023

To help you get an idea about the type of questions asked in the exam and the difficulty level, we have curated some syllogism questions from the previous year's question papers for IPMAT.

Q1) Read the questions to determine the most logical conclusions that follow the given statements, disregarding commonly known facts.

Statements:

• (A) All chairs are tables.
• (B) All tables are windows.

Conclusions:

• I. Some tables are chairs.                   
• II. Some windows are chairs.

Mark your answers accordingly

1. If only the conclusion I follow
2. If only conclusion II follows
3. If either I or II follows
4. If neither I nor II follows
5. If both follow

Read more: Short tricks to crack the IPMAT quant section

Q2) The following questions consist of five/six statements, each followed by options consisting of three statements put together in a specific order. Choose the best option which indicates a valid argument, that is, where the third statement is a conclusion drawn from the preceding two statements:

(A) No monsoon is a season.; 

(B) Some seasons are monsoons.; 

(C)  Some seasons are spring.; 

(D) No seasons are spring.; 

(E) Some monsoons are not spring.;

(F) All monsoons are spring.

Options:

(a) DFA

(b) BEF

(c) CBE

(d) DEB

Q3) The following questions consist of five/six statements, each followed by options consisting of three statements put together in a specific order. Choose the best option which indicates a valid argument, that is, where the third statement is a conclusion drawn from the preceding two statements:

(A) All crackers are pollutants.; 

(B) All crackers are noisy.;

(C) All crackers burst during Diwali.; 

(D)  All cars are pollutants.; 

(E) Some pollutants are crackers.

Options:

(a) ABC

(b) BCA

(c) ADE

(d) all of the above

Read more: Short tricks to solve multiplication and division questions in IPMAT.

Q4) Given questions contain four arguments of three sentences each. Choose the set in which the third statement is a logical conclusion of the first two.

(1) Some bikes are mopeds. All mopeds are scooters. some bikes are scooters

(2) All children are hair. No hairs are red. No children are red.

(3) No pencil is a pen. Some pens are markers. Some pencils are markers.

(4) Every man has a wife. All wives are devoted. No devoted has a husband.

Options:

(a) (1), (2), and (3)

(b) (1) and (2).

(c) (3) and (2).

(d) (1), (2), (3), and (4)

Q5) The question consists of two statements followed by two conclusions. Consider the statement to be true even if they vary from the commonly known facts and find out which of the given conclusion (s) logically follow(s) the given statements.

Statements:

Some discounts are borrowings

All borrowings are bargains

Conclusions:

1. No bargain is a discount
2. All bargains are discounts

Options:

(A) Either I or II follows

(B) Only I follows

(C) Both I and II follow

(D) Neither I nor II follows.

Statement	Definite Conclusion	Possible Conclusion
All A are B	All A are B Some A are B Some B are A	All B are A Some B are not A
Some A are B	Some A are B All A are B	Some B are A All B are A Some are not B Some B are not A

Statement	Definite Conclusion	Possible Conclusion
All A are B	All A are B Some A are B Some B are A	All B are A Some B are not A
Some A are B	Some A are B All A are B	Some B are A All B are A Some are not B Some B are not A