You may well have to do an online verbal reasoning test (psychometric test) as part of your training contract application.

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

In the example below, give your answer to each question by clicking on either A, B or C. You will be told whether your answer is correct or not.

The questions might be as follows.

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

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 years ago.

2. Around 7% of plants are dioecious, but it is not necessary for female stems to be large enough to display the fruit.

FALSE – whilst the first part of the statement is true according to the passage, the second part of the statement is clearly false, making the entire statement false.

 

So what’s the best way to prepare for your verbal reasoning test?

You are advised to practice any available good-quality example questions, and any books you can get your hands on with similar questions, and read our advice here. If you prepare properly for your test you will have nothing to worry about. Being prepared and knowing what to expect in your verbal reasoning test will go a long way to helping you perform your best. These verbal reasoning tests used by employers in their selection process aim to measure your ability to read, comprehend and interpret written information. 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. Another classic example is: “if the lights in a house come on, does that mean there is someone inside the building?” Not necessarily.

“If A is bigger than B, does that mean B is small?” Not necessarily. You will be tested to sort fact from inference, a lot like what’s required in a real work environment. 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.

You should have an idea of how much time to allow yourself for each question and know when to move on. Concentration is essential, especially when every second counts.  Base your answers on only the information contained in the passage. This is crucial, and if you don’t do this you will probably get a lot of the questions wrong. Verbal reasoning tests are not tests of what you know, they are tests of how well you understand written information.

 

PASSAGE

Question 1. A-levels are a new exam.

CANNOT SAY. No information is given about when A-levels were first introduced in England.

QUESTION 2. This report considered mathematics in A-level examinations in Chemistry, Physics and Biology.

CANNOT SAY. The article does not specify which three sciences were studied in the report.

 

Question 3. Berries which are high in flavonoids include blueberries.

TRUE. This is indeed specified in the third sentence of the passage.

QUESTION 4. Consumption of blueberries is associated with a faster rate of memory decline in older women.

CANNOT SAY. It is not possible to make this claim, for certain, from this passage.

 

 

Question 5. The structure and function of the ‘stratum corneum’ had never been elucidated at a molecular level.

CANNOT SAY. Whilst a research team at Karolinska Institutet has succeeded in describing these recently, the article does not state whether this is a new discovery.

Question 6. Medications through the skin will become more common.

CANNOT SAY. The article states clearly that such medications ‘will hopefully’ become available.

Question 7.  The improvements in visual attention are caused by differences in brain activity.

CANNOT SAY. No statement about causality of these processes is mentioned in this passage.

Question 8. The average length of time spent per session, for most subjects, was 5.

CANNOT SAY. It is not possible to make this statement from the information provided.

Synapses are found in complex networks of nerve cells.

TRUE. This statement is clearly true, on the basis of information given in the first two sentences.

Approximately 80% of synapses in the human brain excite other nerve-cell activity.

CANNOT SAY. Approximately 80% of synapses – in total – either excite other nerve-cell activity, or have no effect on their nerve-cell activity.

 

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