5 Rules for Acing Yes/No Syllogisms in UCAT Decision Making You Must Know

Are syllogisms for Decision Making your kryptonite? Here, we show you 5 rules for acing Yes/No syllogisms in UCAT Decision Making you must know. 

Do you struggle with decision making questions? Are you coping with the time pressures, or are you getting anxious? Well, don’t worry! In this article, we’ll show you the 5 rules acing Yes/No Syllogisms in UCAT Decision making you must know.

 

What is Decision Making?

UCAT Decision Making is the second subtest of the UCAT. It assesses your ability to solve problems, draw logical conclusions and evaluate arguments.

There are six main styles of questions when it comes to decision making:

  1. Logical Puzzles
  2. Syllogisms
  3. Interpreting information
  4. Strongest argument questions
  5. Venn Diagrams
  6. Probabilistic Reasoning

 

What will I have to analyse for the Decision Making subtest?

The UCAT Decision Making subtest is composed of 29 questions. You may be required to interpret and analyse:

  • Text
  • Tables
  • Charts
  • Graphs
  • Other diagrams

Your task is to select the best answer.

You will have 31 minutes to answer the questions!

This means there is just over one minute per UCAT question in this subset. This means that you need to be efficient. this is where the 5 rules you must know for acing Yes/No Logical Puzzles in Decision making come in.

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Syllogisms in the Decision Making Subtests – ‘Yes’ / ‘No’

As you know, Decision Making is one of the UCAT subtests. In it, you will face two types of question format:

  • You’ll be presented with four answer options, where only one option is correct
  • You’ll be asked to respond to five statements, by answering ‘yes’ or ‘no’ next to each statement. You will need to decide whether the conclusion does or does not follow via ‘drag and drop’ a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ response next to each statement.

In this article we’re going to look at Yes/No questions.

The ‘Drag and Drop’ yes/no UCAT Decision Making questions are marked differently. Marks range from 0 to 2, with partially correct responses being awarded 1 mark.

 

5 rules for acing Yes/No Syllogisms in UCAT Decision Making you must know

Let’s consider how to work through a few sample questions for the ‘Yes/No’ question format type. Here are 5 rules for how to solve them:

 

Rule 1: Do not use your own prior knowledge

Some UCAT Questions are designed to trick you by using concepts that you are familiar with. However, it is crucial for you to concentrate on what they have given you and use logical reasoning to deduce if a conclusion makes sense and not take into consideration any preconceptions .

 

Rule 2: Pay attention to certain words: “all”, “few” , “none”, “some”

It may sound obvious but key words such as “all”, “few” , “none”, “some” can change your answer, for example if the statements in the question says “some”, they mean some – not all.

 

Rule 4: Venn Diagrams and tables can help break down information

There may be a few questions you can solve with quick tables, while other questions can be solved better visually using Venn diagrams do help to make things clearer.

 

Rule 5: Practice makes perfect

The more you practice the quicker and more familiar the questions will be. Try and have fun with the question and think about the processes – that will make studying easier.

Think of decision making as a fun puzzle you are trying to solve.

Now we’ve looked at the rules, let’s look at the questions.

 

How to answer Syllogisms questions for Decision making

Question 1

Everybody at the red carpet event was either an actor or a producer. Anyone at the red carpet event who did not have a speech that evening was drinking champagne.

Place ‘Yes’ if the conclusion does follow. Place ‘No’ if the conclusion does not follow.

StatementResponse
All the producers at the red carpet event who were not drinking champagne had a speech that evening.Yes/No
Sarah was drinking champagne at the red carpet event. She must be either a producer or an actor.Yes/No
Kai was at the red carpet event. He must have been drinking champagne.Yes/No
Catherine is an actor. She must have been at the red carpet event.Yes/No
Some actors at the party had a speech that evening.Yes/No
  • Yes
  • No

Answer:

The first conclusion follows: All those at the party who did not have a speech (irrespective of whether they were producers or actors) were drinking champagne. Therefore, if they are not drinking champagne, they must have a speech that evening.

The second conclusion also follows: It does not matter that Sarah was drinking champagne, but the fact that she is at the red carpet event means she must be either a producer or an actor.

The third conclusion does not follow: Kai could have had a speech that evening, in which case he would not be drinking champagne.

The fourth conclusion does not follow: Just because Catherine is an actor does not mean she was at the red carpet event.

The fifth conclusion does not follow: we cannot determine from the information whether any actors had a speech that evening (it is possible that only producers had speeches that evening).

So:

StatementResponse
All the producers at the red carpet event who were not drinking champagne had a speech that evening.Yes
Sarah was drinking champagne at the red carpet event. She must be either a producer or an actor.Yes
Kai was at the red carpet event. He must have been drinking champagne.No
Catherine is an actor. She must have been at the red carpet event.No
Some actors at the party had a speech that evening.No

 

Question 2

Among the items at the boutique shop were several pieces of designer clothing, none of which cost over £500. All the items made from leather at the boutique shop were pieces of designer clothing.

Place ‘Yes’ if the conclusion does follow. Place ‘No’ if the conclusion does not follow.

StatementResponse
This item was bought from the boutique shop for £1000. It must not be made from leather.Yes/No
The only items at the boutique shop which did not cost over £500 were pieces of designer clothing.Yes/No
This piece of designer clothing was bought from the boutique shop. It must be made from leather.Yes/No
No item at the boutique shop made from leather costs over £500.Yes/No
If an item bought from the boutique shop is not made from leather, then it is not a piece of designer clothing.Yes/No
  • Yes
  • No

Answer

The first conclusion follows: The item was bought from the boutique shop for over £500 but all the leather items sold by the boutique shop were pieces of designer clothing, and we are told that none of these pieces of designer clothing costs over £500. Therefore, an item costing £1000 cannot be made from leather.

The second conclusion does not follow: We are only told that no piece of designer clothing at the boutique shop cost over £500. We are not told that if something at the boutique shop does not cost over £500, then it must be a piece of designer clothing. In other words, the text does not rule out the possibility that there are items at the boutique shop that do not cost over £500 and are something other than designer clothing.

The third conclusion does not follow: We are told that all items made from leather at the boutique shop are pieces of designer clothing. We are not told that all designer clothing at the boutique shop is made from leather. In other words, the text does not rule out the possibility that the boutique shop sells designer clothing made from something other than leather.

The fourth conclusion follows: All the leather items at the boutique shop are designer clothing, and we know that none of this costs over £500. Therefore, no leather item at the boutique shop costs over £500.

The fifth conclusion does not follow: If an item at the boutique shop is made of leather, it must be designer clothing. The negative inverse is also true: if an item at the boutique shop is not designer clothing, it is not made of leather. However, this statement starts with an item not made of leather – that is not a trigger in the original statement or its contrapositive, so we do not know for sure that it must be true.

So:

StatementResponse
This item was bought from the boutique shop for £1000. It must not be made from leather.Yes
The only items at the boutique shop which did not cost over £500 were pieces of designer clothing.No
This piece of designer clothing was bought from the boutique shop. It must be made from leather.No
No item at the boutique shop made from leather costs over £500.Yes
If an item bought from the boutique shop is not made from leather, then it is not a piece of designer clothing.No

 

Want to practice Syllogisms in Decision Making with a free, worldwide, mock exam?

Register for the free, UCAT Mock Exam Day to see how you rank against your peers.

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