Kavach कवच

Dear students,

Reasoning questions often look very easy, and even easier once you have seen the answer: "Oh, that was all it took!" But in the exam, you have to catch that idea in time.

Sometimes the pattern in a series does not show itself, sometimes a small part of a figure gets missed, and sometimes, after building the whole seating, you realise one condition was left out. That is how marks slip away even when the chapter has been studied.

I have cleared many government exams myself, and during my preparation I attempted thousands of mock tests, scoring full marks in many of them. I have lived through how a reasoning question has to be seen and thought through in the exam hall. That experience is what gives me the confidence to guide my team on this book, and every chapter of Kavach has been prepared under that guidance.

While preparing Kavach, my aim has been that you understand the different kinds of reasoning questions and get good practice in solving them yourself.

The basics of each chapter, the examples and the type-wise questions in this book are all there to help you with exactly that. Once you understand a type, solve its questions on your own. Then move to the next type. This way you will know clearly what you can do and where you still need help.

In reasoning, the habit of reading a question carefully helps a lot. Small words like 'only', 'all', 'some' and 'no' can change the whole answer. In direction questions you have to see whose right or left it is. In seating, every condition has to be checked. In figures, you have to see whether the figure has turned or become a mirror image.

So keep your rough work clean from the start. Where a diagram is needed, draw it. Trying to keep everything in your head leads to mistakes easily. Once a method makes sense, try it on different questions.

And yes, when an answer comes out wrong, do not move on by saying "it happened in a hurry". See what was missed. Did you misread the question, forget a condition, or not check the pattern properly? Only when you recognise your mistake can you avoid it next time.

At first, some questions will take more time. First learn to do them the right way, then practise with a timer. Slowly you will get the chance to work on both your speed and your accuracy.

My wish is that after studying from Kavach, when you choose an answer, you also know why that answer is right.

Practise regularly. Whatever is stuck today, give yourself the full chance to learn it.

Yours,
Prashant Solanki

This book carries the hard work of the whole Toppers' Wisdom team. Every member gave their best to preparing and checking each chapter, question and explanation. My heartfelt thanks to all of you.

Special thanks to Ajay Tripathi Sir, whose deep experience in reasoning and valuable inputs made Kavach better.

Introduction and Foundation sit at the top, folded. Below them come the Types. Each type has three parts: Concept, Examples and Practice Questions. Tap a heading to open or close it.

Under every concept there is a box called Kavach Trick: the fastest correct way to solve that type, with a note on when it does not work. Learn the concept first, then the trick.

Tap an option and the book tells you at once whether you are right. Open the explanation only after you have thought about it yourself.

Tap any figure to zoom it. Chapters such as Dice, Clock, Direction and Mirror Image also have visuals you can turn, fold or move yourself.

Use the Mark as complete button at the top or the bottom of a type. Its chip in the bar above turns green with a ✓.

Under every concept there is a My Note strip. Write the point in your own words. It saves on its own, and My Desk lists all your notes.

A question you get wrong goes to the Revision Studio. It comes back after 1, 3, 7, 15 and 30 days. Kavach Points flashcards work the same way.

A timed test on a chapter or a type runs at the SSC Tier-I pace. The Practice Zone also has full reasoning mocks on the latest pattern of each SSC and Railway exam.

The language button at the top switches between English and Hinglish (Hindi with the reasoning terms in English). You stay at the same place on the page.

This book teaches reasoning the way I teach it in class. First the logic, then the trick, then the question. Every type has its Kavach Trick, with the cases where it fails, and every PYQ sits under the type whose concept it tests.