Overview of Verbal Reasoning:

• The subtest is 22 minutes with 44 questions and you have 11 passages, with 4 questions per passage, so 30 seconds per question
• Verbal reasoning is challenging as you do not have enough time to read the entire passage
• There are also a variety of question types
  1. True, False or Can’t tell
  2. Type 1 General
  3. Type 2 General
  4. Writer Questions
  5. Reverse Questions

How to Approach Verbal Reasoning Questions:

• Always make sure you read the question first and all the options to identify keywords
• Once you have read all the answer options, prioritise which ones should be confirmed first
  • Options with a soft qualifier are more likely to be correct
• Make sure you pick a good keyword that stands out

True, False or Can’t Tell questions:

• You only get one statement and have to select between true, false or cannot tell

• If selecting true, the statement is clearly stated, in false you are contradicting but it cannot tell you can’t infer and don’t have enough information to divide

• If you see superlatives such as always or never, then make sure you are certain about your answer and it is clearly stated in the text

• Only 10% of these questions make up Verbal Reasoning and it is easier compared to statement questions

• If you have harsh statements, it is more likely to be false or cannot tell

• Find a keyword for these questions and skim-read an unusual word

• What does true mean

  • True means that the statement is correct based on the passage
  • One type of true is directly stated: A statement can be true if directly stated in the passage. This is the simplest to find and should be an easy mark

  

  • Another type of type of true is inference: A statement can be true if it is an inference from the passage, even if it is not directly stated. Here, there can often be a blur between True and Can’t Tell

  

• What does false mean

  • False means that the statement contradicts the passage and again it may not be explicitly shown to be wrong, but instead you can detect it using an inference
  • One type of false is a contradiction: A statement might go against the passage, either factually or in terms of general opinion

  

  • Another type of false is when the statement goes too far: A statement could take something in the passage and extend it too far

  

• What does cannot tell mean

  • Cannot tell means that you cannot be certain based on the information in the passage
  • You can't use external knowledge
  • Definitions of words and understanding synonyms are not external knowledge, so you can use these to deduce a conclusion

  

Using Inferences: