Recruitment logic – eligibility filters and test calls: “Applications not meeting eligibility and/or submitted after the last date will be summarily rejected and such applicants will not be called for the written test.” Determine which conclusions necessarily follow about who is called and the sequence of scrutiny versus test.

Given data

• Rule: (Not eligible) OR (Late) ⇒ Rejected and not called for the written test.
• Conclusion I: If a candidate is called for the test, then the candidate is eligible and applied before the last date.
• Conclusion II: The written test will be held only after applications are scrutinized.

Concept/ApproachUse contraposition for Conclusion I and process logic for Conclusion II.

Step-by-step deduction1) Given: (¬Eligible) ∨ (Late) ⇒ Not Called.2) Contrapositive: Called ⇒ ¬( (¬Eligible) ∨ (Late) ) ⇒ Eligible ∧ Timely. So Conclusion I follows.3) Operationally, to ensure only eligible and timely applicants are called, scrutiny must precede calling to the test; hence the test occurs only after scrutiny. Conclusion II follows as a process necessity.

VerificationAny process calling candidates before scrutiny risks calling ineligible/late applicants, contradicting the stated rule. Therefore, scrutiny must come first.

Common pitfalls

• Missing the contrapositive form for conditional statements.

Final AnswerBoth I and II follow.