Fact, Inference & Judgment: Telling Them Apart
What it is
Given a single statement, you must sort claims about it into three bins: a Fact (directly stated or an exact paraphrase), an Inference (a reasonable extension beyond the text, not stated but probably true), or a Judgment (an opinion — praise, blame, "should," "deserves," "best").
The core method
Ask, in order: (1) Does this option add anything not in the text? If no — it's a fact. (2) If it adds something, does it use an evaluative word (good, bad, deserves, should, excellent)? If yes — it's a judgment. (3) If it adds something neutral (a prediction, a cause, an effect) without evaluating — it's an inference.
Worked example
Statement: "The city's public transport authority added 40 new buses to its fleet last month."
- "The transport authority added 40 new buses last month" — restates the text exactly → Fact.
- "The transport authority deserves praise for improving public transport" — adds the value word "deserves praise" → Judgment.
- "Commuters will now experience shorter waiting times" — predicts an unstated effect → Inference.
- "The expansion was carried out because of rising commuter demand" — assumes an unstated cause → Inference.
Only the first option is a pure fact.
Common traps
- A paraphrase using different words can still be a fact — check if the meaning is identical, not the wording.
- Confident-sounding predictions ("will now," "is certain to") are still inferences, not facts, if the text never says them.
- Judgments often hide inside prediction-shaped sentences — "this is a positive step" evaluates; "this will reduce delays" merely predicts.
What the exam tests here
Across the 3 papers we hold, this skill was asked 1 time, not every sitting — 1 of 3.
What it actually asked:
- classify two statements as cause, effect or independent (2026)
Worked example 2 — three statements, three labels
Classify each as Fact (F), Inference (I) or Judgment (J):
(a) India's literacy rate rose from 74.0% in Census 2011 to 77.7% in the NSO's 2017-18 survey.
(b) The rise suggests that schemes launched after 2011 had a measurable effect.
(c) The government should divert further funds to adult literacy programmes.
(a) is a Fact — a verifiable observation, reported with a source-like precision. The word "estimated" does not make it an inference; an estimate published as data is still a reported figure.
(b) is an Inference — it starts from the stated data and reasons to a causal conclusion. The tell is "suggests": the statement does not claim to observe the effect, it deduces it.
(c) is a Judgment — "should" is an evaluation of what is desirable, and no amount of data settles it.
The reliable discriminator is not the topic but the verb. Reported/observed → fact. Follows-from/implies/suggests → inference. Should/ought/better/must → judgment.
Speed technique
Scan for three word families before reading for meaning. Judgment words: should, ought, must, better, unfortunate, wise, deserve. Inference words: therefore, hence, suggests, implies, indicates, would appear. Everything else, if verifiable, is fact.
A statement about the future is almost never a fact — it cannot have been observed. Predictions are inferences; recommendations about the future are judgments.
Statistics with a source are facts even when you doubt them. "Verifiable" means checkable in principle, not correct.
A sentence can carry a fact and a judgment in two clauses. Where the exam allows only one label, the label follows the clause the sentence is asserting, which is usually the main clause.
Framings this format uses in MBA entrance exams
These are the shapes the fact/inference/judgment format takes across MBA entrance papers generally. None of the papers we hold prints a coded-string FIJ item, so learn them for the sorting discipline rather than because one is due.
- Four statements to be labelled and matched against an option set of coded strings (FIJ, IFJ …) — label each independently, then find the string.
- A single statement with four candidate labels — decide on the verb.
- "Which of the following is an inference?" — look for the one that reasons from something else in the set.
What this exam asked instead — cause, effect or independent
The one question of this kind in the papers we hold gave two statements and asked whether one is the cause of the other, one is the effect of the other, or the two are independent. Same discipline of labelling before choosing; different bins.
Work it in this order. Check the time order first — an effect cannot come before its cause. Then ask whether the earlier statement is on its own enough to bring the later one about; if it is, you have cause and effect. If both statements look like consequences of something neither of them mentions, they are independent effects of a common cause, not cause and effect of each other. And two statements that report one event in different words are neither — that is a single fact stated twice.
A: The state raised bus fares by 20% in June. B: Bus ridership in June fell by 8%. A comes first and is enough by itself to push ridership down, so A is the cause and B the effect.
A: Schools in the district closed on Tuesday. B: Shops in the district shut early on Tuesday. Neither closes the other; both follow from something unstated, such as a storm warning. Independent.
Older papers we hold used a related "best response" item under the same format — a situation and four possible courses of action. Sort those the same way: the response that deals with the cause outranks the one that treats the symptom.
Check yourself
- "The train was late by forty minutes yesterday."
Show answer
Fact. - "Delays of this kind are eroding public confidence in the railways."
Show answer
Inference — reasoned from observed delays. - "The railway board must apologise publicly."
Show answer
Judgment.
Try it: Fact, Inference & Judgment questions
Real questions from the PGCET MBA bank on exactly this skill. Pick an answer to see the full solution — the intuition, the worked steps, the faster methods and the traps.
Read the passage below and classify the statement that follows it. Passage: Every employee in the accounts department has completed the mandatory data-privacy training. Riya works in the accounts department. Statement: Riya has completed the mandatory data-privacy training. Is the statement a Fact, an Inference, a Judgment, or Unrelated to the passage?
Show the answer and worked solution
Answer: option D
The passage never mentions Riya's training status directly; it only states a general rule about every accounts-department employee and the separate fact that Riya works in that department.
Combining the general rule ('every employee in accounts has completed the training') with Riya's membership in that department necessarily produces the conclusion that Riya has completed it too, with no other outcome possible.
It is not a Fact, since the passage never states this directly about Riya; not a Judgment, since no opinion or evaluation is involved, only strict logical necessity; and not Unrelated, since it follows directly from the two given statements.
This is an Inference, option D.
Read the passage below and classify the statement that follows it. Passage: The museum's new wing, dedicated to modern sculpture, opens to the public next Saturday. Entry will be free for the first month. Statement: The museum's cafe serves the best coffee in the city. Is the statement a Fact, an Inference, a Judgment, or Unrelated to the passage?
Show the answer and worked solution
Answer: option B
The passage discusses only the opening date of a new sculpture wing and its free-entry period; it says nothing at all about the museum's cafe, its coffee, or any comparison with other establishments in the city.
It is not a Fact, since the passage never mentions the cafe; not an Inference, since nothing about a wing's opening date or free entry could logically lead to a conclusion about coffee quality; and not a Judgment about the passage's own content, since it isn't evaluating anything the passage actually said.
This statement is simply Unrelated to the passage, option B.
Read the passage below and classify the statement that follows it. Passage: A company's policy states that any employee who has taken more than 12 days of unplanned leave in a calendar year will not be eligible for the year-end performance bonus. Arjun took 14 days of unplanned leave this year. Statement: Arjun will not be eligible for the year-end performance bonus this year. Is the statement a Fact, an Inference, a Judgment, or Unrelated to the passage?
Show the answer and worked solution
Answer: option A
The passage never states Arjun's bonus eligibility directly; it gives a general threshold rule and a separate fact about how many days of leave Arjun took.
Since 14 days exceeds the stated threshold of 12 days, applying the rule to Arjun's specific figure necessarily produces the conclusion that he loses eligibility for the bonus, with no other outcome possible under the stated policy.
It is not a Fact, since eligibility is never stated outright; not a Judgment, since no opinion is involved, only the rule's forced arithmetic result; and not Unrelated, since it follows directly from applying the stated rule to the stated figure.
This is an Inference, option A.
Read the passage below and classify the statement that follows it. Passage: In a certain office, no one who arrives after 9:30 a.m. is permitted to use the reserved parking spots. Priya used a reserved parking spot this morning. Statement: Priya arrived at or before 9:30 a.m. this morning. Is the statement a Fact, an Inference, a Judgment, or Unrelated to the passage?
Show the answer and worked solution
Answer: option D
The passage never states Priya's exact arrival time; it gives a rule about who is barred from reserved spots and a separate fact that Priya used one.
Since anyone arriving after 9:30 a.m. is barred from reserved spots, and Priya did use one, she cannot have been in the barred group, which necessarily means she arrived at or before 9:30 a.m.
It is not a Fact, since her arrival time is never stated directly; not a Judgment, since this is a strict logical necessity, not an opinion; and not Unrelated, since it follows directly from combining the rule with Priya's stated parking behaviour.
This is an Inference, option D.
Read the passage below and classify the statement that follows it. Passage: A study tracked 200 patients who took a new medication for six months. Of these, 150 patients reported reduced symptoms, and no patient reported any serious side effects during the study period. Statement: This medication is safe and effective for everyone. Is the statement a Fact, an Inference, a Judgment, or Unrelated to the passage?
Show the answer and worked solution
Answer: option A
The passage reports results for exactly 200 patients over six months, 150 improving and none reporting serious side effects during that period; it says nothing about every other person who might ever take the medication, nor about any period beyond six months.
Claiming the medication is 'safe and effective for everyone' generalises a limited study's results into an absolute, universal guarantee that the stated evidence cannot support on its own.
It is not a Fact, since the passage never makes this universal claim; not an Inference, since a 200-patient, six-month study cannot logically force a conclusion about every person ever; and not Unrelated, since it is clearly built on, and over-reads, the passage's own results.
This is a Judgment, option A.
Answer above — every one shows its working.