A few months ago, I got to know the online verbal reasoning test very well. SHL are the one of gold standards in offering the tests, and do so to the best of my constructive knowledge for the vast majority of prestigious corporate law firms here in London. Other test providers, such as Kenexa, are well known, and of course Pearson Assessment are the masterminds behind the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal Test (I know because I have physically sat them in two Head Offices of corporate law firms in the City).
Verbal reasoning tests intrigue me greatly, as my Finals at Cambridge were in neuroscience, and actually I did my Ph.D. there in cognitive neuropsychological assessment. The focus of my Ph.D. was in the skills centred around planning and decision-making, thought to be a function of the frontal lobes, but of course we had to be well versed in other neurocognitive domains such as attention, language, memory and perception. At first I was ambivalent about virtually all the corporate law firms subject future employees to an online verbal reasoning test for about 20 minutes, when you would have thought that a II.1 would be sufficient information for a legal recruiter. Legal recruiters often state that verbal reasoning skills are essential for lawyers, and I used to shrug my shoulders mentally. Actually, I now feel that this is very true. In my Master of Law in commercial law from the College of Law, we were given a lot of practice in drafting various commercial legal documents, such as intellectual property licenses, due diligence reports and even peremptory orders in international arbitration for the High Court. I believe it’s essential for law trainees to be good at basic inferences; they do need to be able to tell whether a statement is true or false from information presented to them, and to be confident enough to say when there is insufficient information to make a conclusion. Knowing the limitations of your own knowledge must be a key skill for any professional.
Therefore, a few months ago, I decided to put my experience of online verbal reasoning tests into action. I am visually impaired, and generally I felt that law firms varied a lot in their basic competence in being allowed to make reasonable adjustments for me, which they are obliged to do under law. For example, on my site http://www.legal-recruit.org, which I launched today, you can also alter the text size, or ask for extra time in doing a test (which learners with dyslexia should be able to action with the help of the Learning Support Officer of their law school and the Graduate Recruitment Team of their chosen corporate). I have done a lot of background reading in the cognitive skills tested in the verbal reasoning test and the situational judgement tests, and reported my findings on my specialist blog http://www.legalrecruit.org). You can even try a practice online verbal reasoning test for fee, and you’ll obtain a free, confidential, detailed report providing you with item-by-item breakdown (as well as your total performance metric.)
On the front page, you can access information about the tests, including factsheets, examples of verbal reasoning tests of the ‘True’, ‘False’ or ‘Cannot Say’ variety, educational videos, and books on verbal reasoning and situational judgment tests.
I have produced factsheets explaining the rationale behind the tests in general, some guidance for the online verbal reasoning test, some guidance about the competences sought by corporate law firms in their situational judgement tests, and what reasonable adjustments you can rightly ask for if you a visual impairment or reading difficulty.
The aim of this website is to make sure that you are familiar with the test format of the online verbal reasoning test. You should of course check the format of the test you need to do with your legal recruiter, and to make sure you understand how the test operates. With help from the books (free sample material is provided on the home page), you can understand how correct answers are arrived at.
I’ve tried to describe this information succinctly in a series of factsheets. However, if you prefer visual material, also for free, we’ve produced some videos for you to understand verbal reasoning tests, situational judgement tests, and reasonable adjustments. As they’re also on YouTube, you can watch these on an iPad.
I hope this makes your journey into the online verbal reasoning test enjoyable! I’ve had great fun working on this venture, which came out of an idea in my student society, but which is otherwise totally independent. Please do let me know how you get on either by commenting here, or emailing enquiries@legal-recruit.org
