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Practice for online verbal reasoning questions from 'Legal Recruit': biology



Biology is a subject area in the brand new innovative, independent, platform for practising online verbal reasoning assessments called ‘Legal Recruit‘.

Hope you enjoy these questions.

1          Every day, we are bombarded with scientific and medical claims that are not based on good evidence: in advertising material, product websites, advice columns, campaign statements, celebrity health fads and policy announcements. Even where there is some regulation, in advertising or trading standards, such claims keep reappearing.  “Sense About Science”, along with over 5,000 scientists, scientific bodies, research publishers and policy makers, don’t want people to continue getting away with making claims without supporting evidence. They want things to change, so that anyone making a claim expects to be challenged, and is made to stand by their words. The only way to do this is to get more people asking for evidence.

 

Q1 Campaign statements are never based on good evidence.

 

CANNOT SAY. ‘Campaign statements’ are given as examples of scientific and medical claims which are not based on good evidence.

 

Q2 “Sense About Science” wants people to continue getting away making claims without supporting evidence.

 

FALSE. The passage states the precise opposite.

 

2          We hear about bacteria for lots of different reasons, and it’s unusual for many of them to be ‘good’. Indeed, the last time most people probably remember seeing bacteria make headlines was the contamination of salad vegetables with a deadly Escherichia coli strain relatively recently. However, as any microbiologist will tell you, bacteria are an extremely diverse group of organisms, with equally diverse properties which make some of them indispensable for many aspects of our lives; including food production, digestion and water treatment. For example, Geobacter sulfurreducens is just one of many bacterial superheroes. In this case, its superpower is ‘bioremediation’; the use of its metabolism to remove pollutants from the environment.

 

Q3 There is a very narrow range of strains in the bacteria class.

 

FALSE. Bacteria are stated to be an extremely diverse group of organisms.

 

Q4 Bacteria are never used for water treatment.

 

FALSE. Bacteria are said to play an ‘indispensible’ role in many functions, including water treatment.

 

 

3          While some birds only migrate locally in response to extreme weather conditions, others undertake seasonal long-distance migration between land masses and sometimes hemispheres.  The most impressive avian migrator is, by far, the Arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea). Weighing an average of 100g, with a average wingspan of 75 – 85 cm, the birds sometimes nest just once every three years, as so much of their 30 year life span is spent in flight. The bird has the longest seasonal movement than any other animal, and the birds move so consistently with the seasons that they only ever see long days; they experience more sunlight per year than any other creature.

 

Q5 80 cm is a reasonable estimate wingspan of the African tern.

 

CANNOT SAY. The information given only refers to the Artic tern.

 

Q6 It is rare for the Artic Tern to be exposed to sunlight, compared to other creatures.

 

FALSE. The passage states that the Artic Tern ‘experience more sunlight per year than any other creature’.

 

4          There’s actually 47 known species of ‘leafcutter ants’, endemic to South and Central America, which live in colonies of up to ten million individuals organised into a complex social structure. The leaf cutting ants don’t actually eat the leaves they harvest – this is part of an elaborate process of cultivating a mutualistic fungus, which in turn provides the ants with the nutrients on which they feed. Efficiency of fungal cultivation is dependent on roles played by distinct ‘castes’ of ants, based mostly on size. Large workers forage for leaves and defend the colony, while smaller workers farm the fungus and tend to the nest. There’s even a designated waste removal team.

 

Q7 There are currently over 50 species of ‘leafcutter ants’.

 

CANNOT SAY. The passage states that there are 47 ‘known species’ of ‘leafcutter ants’, but it is not known how many unknown species of ‘leafcutter ants’ there currently are.

 

Q8 Only the caste of ants determines the efficiency of fungal cultivation done by ants.

 

FALSE. The passage states that distinct ‘castes’ of ants determine the efficiency of fungal cultivation done by ants.

 

 

5          Obesity is a growing problem worldwide, but proper protein consumption can help keep it at bay. Researchers have found that, when subjects were fed a 10% protein diet, they consumed 12% more energy over four days than they did on a 15% protein diet. Moreover, 70% of the increased energy intake on the lower protein diet was attributed to snacking. When the protein content was further increased to 25%, however, the researchers observed no change in behaviour relative to the 15% protein diet. It had previously been suggested that protein content plays an important role in determining overall energy intake, and thus affects obesity, but until this study, experimental verification had been lacking.

 

Q9 Obesity is only a problem in the U.S.

 

FALSE. Obesity is said to be a ‘growing problem worldwide’.

 

Q10 Protein content plays an important role in determining overall energy intake.

 

CANNOT SAY. No definite conclusion can be drawn from this study. Despite the findings of this study, the statement could still be true.

 

 

6          The anti-obesity properties of resveratrol have been demonstrated for the first time in a primate. Researchers recently studied the compound, generated naturally by plants to ward off pathogens, which has received much interest as a dietary supplement for its supposed life-extending effects. A team of researchers from Paris have decided to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation with resveratrol on the weight, metabolism and energy intake of six mouse lemurs. The physiological benefits of resveratrol are currently under intensive investigation, with recent work suggesting that it could be a good candidate for the development of obesity therapies. The team found that lemurs eating a diet supplemented with the compound decreased their energy intake by 13% and increased their resting metabolic rate by 29%.

 

Q11 Based on research in the rat, resveratrol could be a good candidate for the development of anti-obesity therapies.

 

CANNOT SAY. The research described used a sample of lemurs (primates).

 

Q12 In this study, lemurs eating a diet supplemented with the compound increased their energy intake by an average of 13%.

 

TRUE. This is a finding from this study.

 

Online verbal reasoning tests for training contract and vacation scheme placements: introducing Legal Recruit



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

What are online verbal reasoning tests for training contract applications?



Why do employers use verbal reasoning tests? Put simply: because they are felt to be better at predicting job performance than interviews, CVs and personality questionnaires.

Most employers use an online form of the verbal reasoning test now. This works very well for the pre-selection stage, after the initial application form, before the assessment centre stage. Candidates are asked to login to an online testing environment, and sit an unsupervised test via a computer. For the employer, the online verbal reasoning assessment procedure saves time and cost as lots of candidates can quickly be assessed this way en masse. For the candidate it means you don’t have to travel, and it is hoped that you are more likely to feel relaxed and comfortable taking the test. It is perfectly possible for you to ‘train’ to become good at these tests.

If the employer likes your application and you score well in your online test they will may or may not invite you in for an interview and another test but this time supervised.   For online verbal reasoning tests, it’s even more important to practice, since this will allow you to become familiar with the test interface and test style. If you are familiar with the types of test you have to face, you are more likely to perform your best and maximise your chances of success. It is now considered too, apparently from a vast body of research, that one of the critical determinants of success is the extent to which you’re expecting to do well!

In many verbal reasoning tests, you are provided with a passage of information and required to evaluate a set of statements by selecting one of the following possible answers:

A – True (The statement follows logically from the information or opinions contained in the passage)

B – False (The statement is logically false from the information or opinions contained in the passage)

C – Cannot Say (Cannot determine whether the statement is true or false without further information)

This is exactly the same format as the SHL verbal reasoning test. SHL is one of the most likely test providers you will meet in the legal recruitment process.

Take, for example, this passage.

Over 60 years ago, evolutionary biologist Bernhard Rensch calculated that males are typically the larger sex in big-bodied species such as humans, whereas females outdo them in small-bodied species such as spiders. Now it turns out that many plants obey Rensch’s rule too. Most plants produce both male and female sex organs, but around 7 per cent are dioecious, meaning individuals are purely male or female. Recent results provide that female stems also must be large enough to display the fruit and support the animals that spread the pollen or seeds. If metabolism, predators or climate promote the evolution of smaller plants, however, males can shrink because their gametes are smaller.

The statement you’re asked to judge might be this:

Over 80 years ago, Bernard Rensch calculated that males are typically the larger sex in big-bodied species.

The answer is CANNOT SAY. The passage says that Bernard Rensch calculated this over 60 years ago, but it is not possible to say from the passage whether he calculated this over 80 ye;ars ago.

Verbal reasoning tests are designed to test your powers of comprehension and logic. You will be tested on whether you jump to conclusions or you appreciate the limitations of a statement. If a passage says “it has been reported…” it does not follow that the fact is necessarily true, only that it has been reported.  You can therefore see why lawyers almost always have to pass a verbal reasoning test.

Through practice, you will develop your own technique for answering verbal reasoning questions to the best of your ability, however for most people the best way to approach them is to read the entire passage through once, then turn to the questions. Read the first statement and refer back to the relevant part of the passage to carefully consider if the statement is true, false, or impossible to determine without further information. It will often come down to just one or two sentences within the passage.

 

Gazelles



This is a typical question, one of 300, which I am writing for my practice verbal reasoning platform.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12            Young, fast-growing businesses are more likely to have their loan applications rejected in Britain than in any other leading country in Europe, according to European Union figures. So-called “gazelles” — small, dynamic enterprises that are only a handful of years old — had a harder time clinching bank loans than in other top Western European nations last year, Eurostat numbers showed. The British rejection rate was 35.6 percent last year, up from 6.8 percent in 2007, according to data released this month. Among the larger EU nations, the only countries that came close were Denmark and the Netherlands, where failure rates on loan applications were 32 percent and 29 percent, respectively. The number of rejections among small British information and communications technology companies was particularly high, at 38.4 percent.

 

‘Gazelles’ sometimes turn into ‘large antelopes’, in business terms – these are large, incumbent companies with much inertia.

 

CANNOT SAY. No reference is given to the term ‘large antelopes’ in this passage.

 

The Netherlands have the third highest rejection rate in the whole of Europe for successfully obtaining bank loans in Europe.

 

CANNOT SAY. Whilst this is possible from the passage, it cannot be stated as a fact, particularly since the passage strictly speaking refers to countries in Western Europe.

The BPP LegalAware Situational Judgement Test



This situational judgement test is not a product of BPP. It is an entirely original test made by members of the BPP student society, ‘the BPP Legal Awareness Society’ [link here], which is independent and separate from BPP.

Legal recruiters often use the ‘situational judgment test’ to determine whether you might be suitable for their culture, or not, despite (or in addition to) your formal qualifications. Often doing the test can be a useful learning exercise for both the candidate and the law firm, to help to decide whether a candidate is really suitable for that firm or not. Current advice is that candidates should do the test honestly and in peace (e.g. in a quiet room); that they should try not to second-guess what the employer wants, but answer the questions directly. It might be useful to be aware of the law firm’s core competencies, but often legal advisors say that a candidate’s “best asset” in such applications is their common sense.

Please have a go at answering these ten scenarios. We’ll be able to build up a bank of results of what most people would do in these circumstances. Whereas law firms will probably get their senior people to do the test to cultivate the results, our results are most likely to represent a mixed sample.

 

 

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