JUSTICE AND EQUITY IN PUBLIC EXAMS

Today we are going to talk about Mathematical Logical Reasoning. As we call it here in Brazil, RLM is undoubtedly a very arduous subject for those preparing for Civil Service Exams in pursuit of better career opportunities—in other words, employability. The level of RLM questions in Brazil is extremely strict, at least in our context. I believe it is no different in other countries. Our Civil Service Exams have been addressing highly advanced perspectives, with Herculean difficulty.

Covering combinations, probabilities, and propositions, it is important to understand that RLM is not taught in public schools; rather, Mathematics is. It is similar to what happens with Law graduates: universities do not produce lawyers, but rather law graduates, who may then take the OAB exam—the Brazilian Bar Association—to register with the professional body, since these are different environments of practice. The same applies to Mathematics and RLM.

The greatest enemy of beginners in RLM is the famous Truth Table. There are conditions in which, if one statement is true and another is false, it may still not result in a fallacy; and if one statement is true and another is also true, then it results in a tautology. From my own experience, I never heard the term “tautology” in high school. Nor the term “fallacy.” What I learned was how to find the value of X, which can certainly be analyzed through an RLM lens, but is not found in RLM textbooks.

Mathematical Logic is unprecedented, and reasoning through it is essential, but it is not taught in high school—at least I did not learn it—simply because it was never included in the curriculum. I always dedicated myself to studying numbers, though I never copied the logical exercises from the board. I spent more time socializing with classmates at the back of the room and gathered information that way, along with what the teacher explained. I must admit that, for some years, my notebooks were blank. Proof of this is that I no longer have my high school notebooks, only those from college, which are similar, because in Law everything changes constantly, and you must always stay updated. With each new court ruling, Law is reconstructed.

This is what is taught in Law school. Returning to RLM, the situation is no different. RLM can be approached from many angles, which means that if you want to reach the result 5, you may do so through 2 + 3 or through 20 – 15. In RLM you are free to think according to your own logic (in both examples, we have a tautology). It is curious to see how these paths diverge yet lead to the same condition.

There is no justification for assigning extreme difficulty to RLM questions while giving different weight to other subjects, but in Brazilian exams, that is exactly what has been happening. Literally. RLM has gained prominence, leaving many candidates at the mercy of luck or mere guessing (choosing an answer randomly without reading the question). To go beyond mere chance, one must consider the balance of points and obstacles, making it neither too easy nor too difficult, especially in RLM cases. This would ensure a strict democratic stance. By setting RLM at a medium level of difficulty, the tendency is to guarantee a faster selection process, with a touch of realism.

What almost always happens is that RLM questions, if you start a Civil Service Exam from the beginning, appear halfway through the test. In nearly all cases, they are followed by Information Technology, and the exam always begins with Language—in Brazil, Portuguese. These are dense exams, designed to classify and rank candidates for positions in ways that are not always fair. In cases of perceived injustice, candidates often file appeals against the official answer key, which is common among those who habitually disagree with the exam board’s answers. Quite often, some questions end up being annulled.

This does not mean that exams should be absolutely easy, but rather more balanced and rational. Since RLM is not taught in schools, this subject should be lighter, unlike Portuguese and other specific subjects necessary for the role being sought, which directly relate to the work the candidate will perform. What is truly sought is greater fairness in the selection system. For RLM, a normal level of difficulty would already be a significant improvement, distributing the burden of difficulty across other subjects.

In conclusion, RLM is not a monster, but unfortunately not even mathematicians agree on a single method of solving the same problem—let alone those who never encountered the subject in college. This post therefore clearly stands as a note of protest against RLM questions considered excessively difficult, as they do not align with the principle of fairness in Civil Service Exams, as we see today.