UCAT Logical Puzzles Practice Questions, Tips & Techniques

In this article we will show you how to tackle Logical Puzzle questions in the Decision Making section of the UCAT. These questions will usually contain a paragraph of text that you need to understand and work through in order to answer the question. As the name suggests, it is important that you have a logical approach to these questions; definitely do not get overwhelmed by the huge amount or lack of information you think you’ve been given. The answers can be worked out with a calm, trusted approach.

To Approach These Questions:

​Read the question first because sometimes you don’t need all the information to obtain the answer. This will inevitably save you valuable time.
 
The best way to approach these questions is usually by drawing tables or diagrams to arrange all the information clearly, given that the separate information provided is often ‘linked’.
 
If the question provides a diagram, it is a good idea to use it as it may be essential to answer the question.
 
Rather than overwhelming yourself with the whole text of information, break it up into pieces: approach and deal with each piece separately. This will become clear once we start doing worked examples.
 
Remember that you do have all the information to answer the question, and no background knowledge is required!
 
All logic puzzles will be slightly different. Therefore, they may require different skills to complete. It is important that you do as many questions as possible, so you familiarise yourself with the varying question styles.
 
Using the process of elimination (or working back from the answer options) will also help you with these questions, especially if you are ‘unsure where to start’.
 
There are questions which are similar to algebra, except using shapes rather than letters. To answer these questions, use techniques like substituting and cancelling out variables. Additionally, doing more of these questions and algebraic questions will definitely improve your skills and scores.

Now, we will complete worked examples of these questions provided by the UCAT consortium in Practice Test A. Before you read the solution, try to obtain the answers yourself.