Logic deductions questions appear in almost every GL-style verbal-reasoning paper. They are short verbal puzzles — who is tallest, who sits where, which day something happened — and they stop being hard the moment your child has a fixed method. Unlike a synonym or an antonym, you cannot answer a deduction from vocabulary alone; you have to read carefully, note what each statement tells you, and combine the clues in order. This guide gives you a repeatable technique, fully worked examples, the classic traps, and a pacing plan tuned to real GL timing.
What a logic deductions question looks like
These questions hand you two or three linked facts and ask you to draw one conclusion. A typical GL paper includes three to five of them, and each is worth exactly the same mark as a quick synonym — which is precisely why reliable technique here is such high-value preparation. The clues usually fall into a few families:
- Ordering puzzles — comparing height, age, speed, position or score (taller than, older than, faster than).
- Seating or line-up puzzles — who sits next to whom, who is on the left, who is between two others.
- Day, date and time puzzles — "two days after Tuesday", "the day before yesterday was Friday".
- Category and attribute puzzles — matching people to their pet, colour, sport or subject from a set of clues.
They are always multiple choice on the GL answer sheet, so the correct answer is already in front of your child; the job is to eliminate the wrong options systematically rather than guess.
The fixed method: never hold facts in your head
The single biggest cause of dropped marks here is trying to remember the clues instead of writing them down. The paper is testing systematic notation, not memory. Teach your child this five-step routine and use it on every deduction:
- Read all the statements first before touching the answer options — deductions punish partial reading.
- Draw a frame. For ordering, draw a line and mark tallest at one end, shortest at the other. For seating, draw the seats or positions as boxes. For a grid puzzle, draw a table with names down the side and options across the top.
- Convert each fact into a mark on the frame using symbols: > for "taller/older than", < for "shorter/younger", ticks and crosses in a grid.
- Combine the clues in order until only one arrangement survives.
- Check the conclusion against every statement — the right answer must break none of them.
Never carry more than two facts in your head at once. The diagram is doing the remembering for you.
Worked example 1: an ordering puzzle
"Amy is taller than Ben. Ben is taller than Cal. Dev is shorter than Cal. Who is the tallest?"
Draw a line, tallest on the left. "Amy taller than Ben" gives A > B. "Ben taller than Cal" adds C: A > B > C. "Dev shorter than Cal" adds D at the end: A > B > C > D. Reading straight off the line, Amy is tallest and Dev is shortest — no memory required, and every clue is satisfied.
Worked example 2: a grid puzzle
"Tom, Uma and Vik each own one pet — a cat, a dog or a fish. Tom does not own the dog. Uma owns the fish. Which pet does Tom own?"
Draw a 3×3 grid: names down the side, pets across the top. "Uma owns the fish" — tick Uma/fish, cross out the rest of Uma's row and the fish column. That crosses fish for Tom and Vik. "Tom does not own the dog" — cross Tom/dog. Tom now has only one square left: the cat. Vik takes the dog by elimination. This tick-and-cross grid is the workhorse for every category deduction.
The classic traps to warn your child about
Most wrong answers in this section come from a small set of predictable mistakes. Point these out during marking at home:
- Answering from partial reading — choosing an option after the first clue, before the later clues have narrowed things down.
- Ignoring "ruling-out" statements — a clue like "Tom does not own the dog" gives no positive fact, but it is often the key that unlocks the grid.
- Confusing "taller than" with "shorter than" — a single reversed symbol flips the whole line.
- Missing an "in between" clue — "Ben sits between Amy and Cal" fixes an order that a careless reader treats as merely "near".
- Chasing a red herring — an extra name or fact that is never actually needed for the conclusion.
Timing: a pacing budget that works
GL verbal-reasoning papers run at roughly 35–50 seconds per question. Deductions are among the slower types, so a sensible plan is a skip-and-return approach: give each deduction one clear attempt, and if the frame is not resolving within about a minute, mark it, move on, and come back with fresh eyes. A wrong-but-fast finish beats a right-but-unfinished paper.
| Deduction type | Best frame | Target time |
|---|---|---|
| Ordering (taller/older) | Single left-to-right line | ~40 seconds |
| Seating / line-up | Row of boxes | ~50 seconds |
| Category matching | Tick-and-cross grid | ~60 seconds |
| Day / date / time | Written days in a row | ~45 seconds |
Why this lifts the Standardised Age Score
GL papers are marked as a Standardised Age Score (SAS), roughly on a 70–140 scale where 100 is average, and every raw mark is age-adjusted so younger children in the year group are not disadvantaged. Because deductions are among the harder items, getting them right pulls the raw score up faster than nailing another easy synonym would. That makes technique on this type a genuinely efficient way to raise the final standardised result — a scoring-literate framing worth keeping in mind as you plan practice.
How to practise this type
Little and often wins: five questions of this type daily for a week beats fifty in one sitting. Our free verbal-reasoning worksheets are organised by exact question type, and the Arena's VR mode gives instant feedback with XP so mistakes are caught the moment they happen. When the type feels automatic, fold it back into full timed mock papers so pacing develops alongside accuracy, and use the revision hub to schedule short, spaced sessions. For the full landscape of question families, see the 21 VR types overview, and check the GL paper format guide so your child knows exactly what the real test looks like.
Frequently asked questions
Are logic deductions one of the official GL question types?
Yes — verbal deductions and ordering puzzles are a recognised part of the GL verbal-reasoning range (Bond groups them among its lettered types). GL does not tell you in advance which types will appear in a given paper, so it is worth practising all of them.
Should my child always draw a diagram?
Almost always. Even a quick line or a three-box grid is faster and far more reliable than mental juggling. The only exception is a two-clue puzzle simple enough to read straight off — and even then, a diagram removes the risk of a careless slip.
How many deductions are on a paper and how long should they take?
Expect three to five per paper. Budget around 40–60 seconds each depending on type, and use skip-and-return if one is not resolving, so a single hard puzzle never eats the time you need for easier marks elsewhere.