UCAT Syllogisms: how to solve them

UCAT 2027·6 min read·Source: UCAT ANZ scoring

Direct answerUCAT 2027

A syllogism gives you a few premises and asks whether each conclusion logically follows. It’s a Decision Making type, answered as yes/no verdicts with partial credit, so every statement is worth a try.

Reviewed by the MedPath UCAT team · June 2026

The basics

What is a syllogism question?

You get a few premises (for example, “All cardiologists are doctors”) and rule each conclusion Yes or No, judged only against the premises, with no outside knowledge.

A conclusion only “follows” if the premises force it. Almost every trap is one premise form read too generously, so pin down the form of each premise first, then build only what it licenses.

A universal: every member of A sits inside B. Strong, but only in one direction.

Example

All cardiologists are doctors.

What it lets you conclude

Every A is a B (every cardiologist is a doctor).
The contrapositive: anything that is not B is not A (not a doctor, so not a cardiologist).

What it does not give you

The reverse, “All B are A”: not every doctor is a cardiologist.Reversal fallacy
That any A actually exists; “all” makes no promise the group has members.Existential import

Two universals chain: “All A are B” plus “All B are C” gives “All A are C”. But “Some” never strengthens to “All”, and a universal never proves anything exists.

Example

A worked example

Read the form of each premise above, then judge each conclusion against what it allows. Give a verdict, then check the reasoning.

Try it yourself

Decision Making · Syllogisms

Premises

1All cardiologists are doctors.
2No doctors are unregistered.
3Some doctors work night shifts.

Judge each statement — does it follow from the premises?

ANo cardiologists are unregistered.

BSome cardiologists work night shifts.

CAll doctors are cardiologists.

Give every statement a verdict — partial credit applies.

The traps

Common mistakes

Wrong verdicts come from a few recurring traps, almost always one premise form read too generously. The ones we see most in recent papers, each with a worked guide:

Reversal fallacyLive example

Treating “all A are B” as if it also means “all B are A” (the trap in statement C above).

→

Existential import

Assuming a group must have members, so “some” must be true, when the premises only make a universal claim.

→

Contrapositive missed

Overlooking the valid inference that “if not B, then not A.”

→

Implicit assumption

Accepting a conclusion that needs a premise you were never given.

→

Subset vs whole

Applying something true of part of a group to the whole group, or the reverse.

→

How to approach it

A reliable method

Identify the form of each premise.

Pin every premise to one of the four forms above: All, No, Some, or Some-not. That alone tells you what it licenses and what it forbids.

Take each conclusion on its own.

Verdicts are scored separately with partial credit, so treat the question as several small yes/no problems.

Ask “is it forced?”, not “is it plausible?”

A conclusion follows only if the premises make it impossible to be false. Merely possible does not count.

Watch direction and quantity.

“All A are B” never gives “all B are A”, and a claim about some never reaches all. Both are the most common traps.

Attempt every statement.

A blank scores nothing; a reasoned verdict on a hard statement might land.

How to practise

Syllogisms reward pattern recognition, so the fastest gains come from working through enough of them to spot each trap on sight.

MedPath drills them trap by trap, with a worked example for each, and steers practice toward the ones you keep missing.

Practise adaptively

Practise syllogisms adaptively.

MedPath drills syllogisms trap by trap, with a worked example for each, and adapts to the traps you keep falling for.

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FAQ

Common questions

Do I need outside knowledge to answer syllogisms?+

No. You judge each conclusion only against the premises in front of you. A statement can be true in the real world and still not “follow” from the premises.

How are syllogisms scored?+

As part of Decision Making’s 300–900 scaled score, and the multi-statement format awards partial credit, so it is worth giving a verdict on every statement.

What’s the most common mistake?+

Reversing a premise (reading “all A are B” as “all B are A”) and treating a merely possible conclusion as a forced one.

Part of Decision Making in The Complete UCAT Guide. Other Decision Making types: Logic Puzzles · Venn Diagrams · Interpreting Information · Recognising Assumptions · Probabilistic Reasoning.