Verbal reasoning tests tell employers how well a candidate can extract and work with meaning, information and implications from text. They provide a useful indication of how you will be perceived by colleagues and, in particular, how you will relate and interact with customers. As such, they are widely used in the recruitment process, since most jobs require you to understand and make decisions based on verbal or written information.
What to Expect on a Verbal Reasoning Test
Verbal tests evaluate your ability to:
Spell words correctly Use accurate grammar Understand analogies Analyse detailed written information
Such tests depend on your understanding of the precise meaning of words, idioms and the structure of the English language. This means that native speakers of English have a distinct advantage over those who speak it as a second language, even if this is at a high standard. In most cases, the questions will have you read a passage of text, and then assess whether a given statement related to that text is true, false or if you cannot say (in other words, whether there is insufficient information in the text to say for sure). Some tests will have longer passages of text to read through and multiple questions per passage. Others may have very short passages, but only one or two questions on each. The way to approach them is identical: read the text carefully and thoroughly, and then assess the given statement. Though the test format may vary, typically you will have between 30 seconds and 2 minutes to answer each question. Consequently, working quickly and accurately is vital. Practice will be beneficial. It’s essential to not make assumptions as you take the test. In other words, use only the information presented, as additional facts (not presented as part of the question), will never contribute to the answer, even if those facts are common knowledge. The tests assess verbal reasoning, not general knowledge. There are two distinct types of verbal ability questions. They can be divided into speed tests, which don’t require much reasoning ability and power tests that do: While verbal tests are designed to measure reasoning ability rather than educational achievement, it is generally recognised that verbal reasoning test scores are strongly influenced by your educational and cultural background.
Verbal Reasoning Practice Test
Try this test before reading more: The test has 10 questions and you should aim to complete the test within 5 minutes. All questions are multiple-choice. Make sure you read a question in full before answering. Answers and explanations to the questions are provided at the end of the test.
Created by WikiJob alongside psychometric experts and modelled on real tests, it should give an insight into how the test will go and what you need to work on. The test has 10 questions which should be answered in around 5 minutes if you’re timing yourself, although the test itself doesn’t have a timer. It’s designed to be slightly tougher than the real thing, so don’t worry if you struggle at first. To pass, you’ll need to score 70% or higher. You can take the test as many times as you like. Click the ‘Take test’ link below to get started.
Verbal Reasoning Practice Test 1
Verbal reasoning tests are used by interviewers to find out how well a candidate can assess verbal logic. SHL is perhaps the most well-known producer of verbal reasoning tests, and the most widely used.
Spelling Word meaning Word relationship Comprehension Critical reasoning
In practice, the reasoning and deduction type of questions are usually restricted to graduate and management roles. However, the reverse does not apply: you may still encounter spelling and grammar questions in graduate and management level tests. This article has been designed so that it is easier for you to practice the areas where you feel that you are weakest, giving you the greatest benefit in the shortest time. So, each practice test provided contains more questions of each type than you would get in a real test. They also ensure that you receive maximum exposure to as wide a variety of questions styles and types as possible. It’s important to remember that a real test will contain a mixture of question types and that most tests allocate one mark to each correct answer – there is no differential marking. This means that you will get one mark for understanding the meaning of a word or for spelling it correctly, and you will get one mark for untangling the meaning of a complex sentence and answering a question about it. Therefore, it makes sense to concentrate on improving your spelling and your precise understanding of commonly confused words, as both of these can gain you easy marks. The verbal ability section of psychometric tests aims to ascertain a core skill set: the ability to work logically, accurately and intelligently with the written word. Verbal ability tests are looking to assess how well a candidate can:
Think critically about a set of information Come to logical conclusions Compare different written texts to each other Articulate relevant details and information to colleagues and clients
Verbal aptitude is, of course, a fundamental skill in the workplace. It’s key for communicating with others, reading and interpreting reports, discussing plans with clients or writing clear emails. That’s the case even if the role is highly technical and doesn’t immediately seem to have much to do with words. You’ll still need to be able to communicate your work to others, act on communications and reports, and interpret textual data. Many studies have shown that psychometric tests like the verbal ability test are a much better indication of your key skills than even a university degree.
What Makes Verbal Ability Tests Challenging?
All aptitude tests are challenging. They need to be or they wouldn’t tell employers very much about their candidates. Let’s examine some areas that can cause difficulty with verbal reasoning tests specifically.
Time Limit
The most immediate difficulty that presents itself is time pressure. It’s not difficult to pore over a text slowly and then come to a conclusion. But it is difficult to reach that conclusion in a short time-frame. For this reason, you must practice. Not only will you become more confident at working within the time limit, you’ll be more conditioned to focus on the key points of the text and the question. We recommend the verbal reasoning practice tests provided by JobTestPrep. Often, the text will be straightforward, business-like and relatively simple to understand, but you may come across language you’re unfamiliar with or a verbose style. Some evidence also indicates that ethnic minorities and international students whose native language is not English may be at a disadvantage due to linguistic and cultural differences. Reading different types of texts (academic journals, newspapers, blogs, etc.) will help. And even if you don’t know what a specific word means, you can often infer its meaning by the context.
Cannot Say
The ‘cannot say’ answer often causes confusion. It’s usually simple to distinguish whether a statement is true or false. However, establishing whether an answer is strictly true – or whether it’s likely to be true, but logically you cannot say for sure – can be tricky. That’s where your accuracy of reading comes into play, alongside your critical thinking. You need to establish whether the text implies that something is true or false but doesn’t actually state that it is, or whether the text definitely states that something is true or false without any doubt. The key to tackling this ambiguity is to practice reading accurately as well as quickly. You’ll need an eye for detail combined with logical thinking.
Different Suppliers of Verbal Reasoning Tests
Verbal reasoning tests come in many formats. While they all aim to evaluate the same set of attributes, each test provider uses a different means to do that. To make your practice even more effective, research which test supplier the company you’re applying for uses. That way, you can seek out more focused practice materials and mock tests. Always be aware, however, that companies can change their test supplier at any time. What was true for one intake might not be true for the next. Bear in mind also that some companies use different suppliers for different departments and roles. The main test providers are:
SHL – This is the most common. SHL is a good reference point as it is the industry standard for verbal reasoning tests. Its tests tend to be between 17 and 19 minutes long for 20 questions, so speed and accuracy is key. Cubiks – Cubiks offers tests similar to CEB SHL, with passages of text that tend to be a bit shorter. You should be working to a minute or less per question so you’ll need to be quick, but other than that there shouldn’t be any particular surprises. Talent Q – Talent Q uses adaptive tests. This means that each question is generated based on your previous answer. The better you’re doing, the harder the questions. The aim of this is to hone in on your skill level much faster, allowing the tests to be quick. Typically, candidates have around 90 seconds for questions with a new passage of text and 75 seconds for subsequent questions on the same text. cut-e – The tests offered by cut-e employ a different structure. Candidates are given a series of different sets of text simultaneously on various tabs and need to flick back and forth between the texts to piece together the answers. T-Three (formally Mendas) – With 22 questions over 35 minutes, T-Three offers a slightly slower-paced test. Its verbal reasoning test is combined with financial testing, so expect a very different kind of text to the others.
In general, while focused practice is really useful, don’t become too pigeon-holed. The tests are designed to test your skills without needing external knowledge or practice of the format, so if you can’t find out who your test supplier is, just work on the general skills. The test designer will choose commonly misspelt words that are in regular use. It would be unfair to use obscure words that only a small percentage of candidates could be expected to know. This means that the test designer has a relatively restricted list of words to choose from. You will find that the same words tend to appear in many different suppliers’ tests. In most cases, the longer that you have been out of the education system, the more your spelling will have deteriorated. Most people now use spell-checking software and it is very easy to forget how words are spelled when we don’t write them down. Many people find it quite embarrassing when they realise how much their spelling has deteriorated – this is one area where remedial action is straightforward and is guaranteed to produce positive results.
Spelling Rules
You should make a list of the words that you spell incorrectly and look at each one in turn against the spelling rules listed below. Does the misspelt word contravene one of these rules? If so, then study the rule and try practising it. For example, if you have misspelt a word by juxtaposing the ‘i’ and ‘e’ then spend ten minutes making a list of words which use this letter combination. Satisfy yourself that the rule works and that you know the exceptions. If you have misspelt any words which are not covered by the spelling rules then you should learn the spelling with reference to the word rather than a rule. You can do this by thinking up a mnemonic. The word ‘rhythm’, for example, is spelt out by the mnemonic: ‘Rhythm Helps Your Two Hips Move’ There is a limit to how many mnemonics it is possible to remember, but you should only have a shortlist of words in common usage that you habitually misspell and which don’t conform to the spelling rules given. Here are the most important spelling rules that you will need to remember:
Rule 1: ‘ie’ and ‘ei’
You can avoid misspelling words that contain the ‘ie’ or ‘ei’ vowel combination by memorising the following:
Write ‘i’ before ‘e’ Except after ‘c’ Or when it sounds like ‘a’ As in neighbour and weigh
Exceptions to this rule include: caffeine, either, foreign, height, leisure, neither, protein, their and weird There are also words in which the combination follows the letter ‘c’ and should be spelt ‘ei’ but is actually spelt ‘ie’. In all of these words, the letter ‘c’ is pronounced like ‘sh’. For example: ancient, conscience, deficient, efficient, proficient and sufficient
Rule 2: Compound Words
Usually, you will join two words without changing their spellings. For example: book + keeper = bookkeeper room + mate = roommate fire + arms = firearms Exceptions to this rule include: almost, already, although, altogether, always, oneself, pastime and wherever For example: dis + appear = disappear mis + spell = misspell un + necessary = unnecessary There are no exceptions to the adding prefixes rule.
Rule 4: Adding Suffixes
Join a suffix and a word without changing the spelling of the word or the suffix. For example: clean + ness = cleanness poison + ous = poisonous usual + ly = usually There are some exceptions to this rule:
It does not apply to words that end in ‘e’ or ‘y’ It does not apply to words that end in one consonant preceded by one vowel
Rule 5: Adding Suffixes to Words Ending in ‘e’
The adding suffixes rule is not used when adding suffixes to words that end in ‘e’. If the suffix begins with a vowel, drop the final ‘e’. Examples: amuse + ing = amusing creative + ity = creativity love + able = lovable If the suffix begins with a consonant, keep the final ‘e’. Examples: measure + ment = measurement definite + ly = definitely love + less = loveless Exceptions to this rule include words in which the final ‘e’ should be kept but is dropped. For example: argument, awful, duly, judgment, ninth, truly, wholly and wisdom Other exceptions include words ending in ‘ce’ or ‘ge’ in which the final ‘e’ is not dropped when you add ‘able’ or ‘ous’. For example: courageous, manageable, noticeable, outrageous, peaceable, serviceable and traceable
Rule 6: Adding Suffixes to Words Ending in ‘y’
The adding suffixes rule is not used when adding suffixes to words that end in ‘y’. If the word has a consonant before the ‘y’, change the ‘y’ to ‘i’. For example: mercy + less = merciless study + ed = studied Do not change ‘y’ to ‘i’ when adding the suffix ‘–ing’. study + ing = studying If the word has a vowel before the ‘y’, keep the ‘y’. For example: employ + ed = employed destroy + ed = destroyed Exceptions: daily, dryly, dryness, shyly, shyness, slyly, slyness, gaiety and gaily
Rule 7: The CVC Combination
The adding suffixes rule is not used to join suffixes to words that end in one consonant preceded by one vowel. In the following tables, ‘C’ indicates a consonant and ‘V’ a vowel. For example: ship + ing = shipping ship + ment = shipment This rule does not apply to words that end in two consonants preceded by one vowel (VCC), for example, ‘harm’, or to words that end in one consonant preceded by two vowels (VVC), for example, ‘heat’. When a word of more than one syllable ends in the CVC combination and it is accented on the last syllable, you will usually double the final consonant when adding a suffix that begins with a vowel. Do not double it when adding a suffix that begins with a consonant. For example: This rule does not apply to words that end in two consonants preceded by one vowel (VCC), for example, ‘intend’, or to words that end in one consonant preceded by two vowels (VVC), for example, ‘contain’. This rule does not apply unless words are accented on the last syllable of the base word after the suffix is added. Even though ‘confer’ and ‘refer’ end in the CVC combination, they are not accented on the last syllable after the suffix ‘–ence’ is added: Confer + ence = conference Refer + ence = reference Exceptions: cancellation, crystallise, equipped, excellence, excellent, transferable, transference and questionnaire
Rule 8: Words Ending ‘–ize’ or ‘–ise’
In British English, many verbs can be spelt with either ‘–ize’ or ‘–ise’. ‘–ize’ is the usual US spelling. Words which must be spelt with ‘–ize’ include: capsize and prize Words which must be spelt with ‘–ise’ include: advertise, advise, apprise, arise, chastise, circumcise, comprise, compromise, demise, despise, devise, disguise, enfranchise, enterprise, excise, exercise, improvise, incise, merchandise, premise, prise (open), revise, supervise, surmise, surprise, televise
Rule 9: Words Ending in ‘–able’ or ‘–ible’
The set of commonly used words that end ‘–ible’ is fairly small and includes: accessible, audible, collapsible, combustible, compatible, comprehensible, contemptible, convertible, credible, crucible, defensible, digestible, discernible, edible, eligible, fallible, feasible, flexible, forcible, gullible, horrible, inadmissible, incorrigible, incorruptible, indelible, indestructible, indivisible, inexhaustible, inexpressible, intelligible, invincible, irascible, irrepressible, irresistible, legible, negligible, ostensible, perceptible, permissible, plausible, possible, reducible, reprehensible, responsible, reversible, sensible, susceptible, tangible, terrible, visible You will get access to three PrepPacks of your choice, from a database that covers all the major test providers and employers and tailored profession packs. Credit: Psychometric Success To achieve this, the questions focus on the relationships between words. The questions are phrased in such a way that you need to know the precise meaning of the words given to select the correct answer. They often use:
Synonyms and antonyms (words that have either the same or opposite meanings) Dictionary definitions Word pairs Homophones
Homophones are words which sound similar but have different meanings. An example would be the words ‘allude’ and ‘elude’. ‘Allude’ means ‘referred’ and ‘elude’ means ‘escaped from’. Once again, the test designer needs to choose common homophones which are in regular use and this leaves a relatively restricted list to choose from. You will usually be offered a choice of four or five words, any of which could complete the sentence. These questions are relatively straightforward but because more than one of the options will complete the sentence satisfactorily, you must read it carefully and choose the best word.
Commonly Confused Words
The list below gives definitions of the most commonly confused homophones. Only the definition that often causes confusion is given. For example, the verb ‘to founder’ is often confused with the verb ‘to flounder’. Therefore, these words are shown together with their definitions. ‘Flounder’ is also a noun describing an edible flatfish and ‘founder’ is also a noun describing a person who establishes an institution, business or organisation. However, since these meanings are seldom confused they are not given in the list. abhorrent – arousing strong feelings of repugnance or disapproval aberrant – deviating from what is normal or desirable adjured – to make an earnest appeal abjure – to give up a previously held belief advice – somebody’s opinion about what another person should do advise – to suggest or recommend a course of action to somebody aide – an assistant to somebody providing a professional service aid – to provide somebody or something with help ambivalent – having mixed, uncertain or conflicting feelings about something ambiguous – having more than one possible meaning or interpretation amoral – not concerned with or amenable to moral judgments immoral – contrary to accepted moral principles appraise – to give an estimate of how much money something is worth apprise – to inform or give notice to somebody about something assent – to agree to something or express agreement ascent – an upward vertical movement aural – relating to the ear oral – relating to the mouth averse – strongly opposed to or disliking something adverse – acting with or characterised by opposition or antagonism afflict – to cause severe mental or physical distress to somebody inflict – to cause damage, harm, or unpleasantness to somebody or something allude – to refer to indirectly elude – to escape from or avoid allusion – an indirect reference illusion – something that deceives the senses or mind alternate – to follow an interchanging pattern alternative – another possibility alleviate – to make something more bearable or less severe ameliorate – to improve something or make it better amiable – friendly and pleasant to be with amicable – characterised by or done in friendliness annoy – to irritate aggravate – to make something worse eager – enthusiastic and excited about something anxious – worried or afraid about something that is going to happen bizarre – amusingly or grotesquely strange or unusual bazaar – a sale of goods belie – to give a false impression betray – to help an enemy breech – the rear part of the barrel of a gun breach – to make an opening through something bridal – associated with brides or weddings bridle – harness for a horse’s head canvas – heavy closely woven fabric of cotton canvass – to visit somebody to solicit something capitol – building for law-making body capital – seat of government, centre of activity, cash for investment censure – to subject somebody or something to severe criticism censor – somebody or something that exercises suppressive control certitude – feeling of certainty certainty – a conclusion or outcome that is beyond doubt climactic – extremely exciting or decisive climatic – involving climate coarse – rough, vulgar or unrefined course – sequence, period of time, direction, action, program, etc. compliment – a statement of praise complement – a completing part confident – self-assured or convinced confidant – somebody to whom secrets are told denote – to mean or refer to connote – to have an additional or implied meaning dissent – to disagree with a widely held or majority opinion decent – conforming to accepted standards of moral behaviour descent – an act of going from a higher position to a lower position conscious – awake, aware or conscious and deliberate conscience – the internal sense of what is right and wrong contemptuous – a strong dislike or lack of respect contemptible – deserving to be treated with contempt Continual – happening again and again, especially regularly continuous – continuing without changing, stopping or being interrupted convince – to make somebody sure or certain of something persuade – to urge somebody to perform a particular action counsel – somebody whose advice is sought, or who acts as an official adviser council – an appointed or elected body with a representative function credible – believable or trustworthy creditable – praiseworthy criterion – an accepted standard used in making decisions or judgments criteria – the plural of criterion currently – at the present time presently – not at this exact moment but in a short while demure – looking or behaving in a modest manner demur – to show reluctance to do something devise – to conceive of the idea for something device – a tool, machine or ploy dilemma – a situation with unsatisfactory choices quandary – a state of uncertainty or indecision discomfit – to make unsettled or confused discomfort – a state of physical unease discreet – careful to avoid offence, circumspect, careful, etc. discrete – completely separate and unconnected disinterested – impartial and free from bias uninterested – not interested disassemble – to take something apart, for example, a piece of machinery dissemble – to put on a false appearance to conceal facts or intentions effect – a result or power to influence affect – to give the appearance or pretence of something elicit – to provoke a reaction illicit – illegal or unacceptable eminent – of high standing imminent – about to happen empathy – understanding of another’s feelings sympathy – capacity to share feelings enormousness – great size enormity – extreme wickedness epigram – witty saying epigraph – introductory quotation or inscription epitaph – inscription on a tombstone ensure – to make something certain insure – to cover something with insurance exulted – to be extremely happy or joyful about something exalted – high in rank, position or esteem expedient – appropriate, advisable or useful in a situation that requires action expeditious – speedy or carried out promptly and efficiently explicit – expressing all details in a clear and obvious way implicit – not stated, but understood in what is expressed extent – the area or range covered or affected by something extant – still in existence extemporaneous – prepared in advance but delivered without notes impromptu – not prepared or planned in advance faze – to disconcert or disturb somebody phase – a clearly distinguishable period or stage in a process flagrant – very obvious and contrary to standards of conduct or morality blatant – so obvious or conspicuous as to be impossible to hide flout – to show contempt for a law or convention by openly disobeying it flaunt – to display something ostentatiously flounder – to act in a way that shows confusion or a lack of purpose founder – to become filled with water and sink foreboding – a feeling that something bad is going to happen forbidding – presenting an appearance that seems hostile or stern farther – to a greater distance or to a greater extent further – that is more than or adds to the quantity or extent of something gibe – a comment that shows derision or contempt gybe – to change direction historical – existing, happening or relating to the past historic – important in or affecting the course of history illusion – something that deceives the senses or mind allusion – a reference that is made indirectly immigrate – to enter a new country for the purpose of settling there emigrate – to leave a place, especially a native country imply – to make something understood without expressing it directly infer – to conclude something on the basis of evidence or reasoning incidence – the frequency with which something occurs incidents – the plural of incident, i.e. events incipient – beginning to appear or develop insipid – dull because lacking in character and lively qualities incredulous – unable or unwilling to believe something or completely incredible – impossible or very difficult to believe inflict – to impose a burden on another afflict – to cause severe mental or physical distress to somebody ingenuous – showing innocence and a lack of worldly experience ingenious – possessing cleverness and imagination insidious – slowly and subtly harmful or destructive invidious – producing resentment by unfairly slighting somebody intense – great, strong or extreme in a way that can be felt intensive – involving concentrated effort intensely – very much intently – something planned or the purpose that accompanies a plan laudatory – expressing praise or admiration laudable – admirable and worthy of praise loath – unwilling or reluctant to do something loathe – to dislike somebody or something intensely luxuriant – with a lot of young rich healthy growth luxurious – very comfortable, with high-quality expensive fittings or fabrics moral – relating to issues of right and wrong morale – the general level of confidence or optimism felt by a person or group moribund – having lost all sense of purpose or vitality morbid – showing a strong interest in unpleasant or gloomy subjects palette – a board or tray on which an artist arranges and mixes paints palate – a personal sense of taste and flavour pallet – a standardised platform or open-ended box peak – the pointed summit of a mountain peek – to take a quick look at something pique – a bad mood or feeling of resentment prosecute – to take legal action against someone persecute – to make somebody the victim of continual pestering or harassment personnel – the department of an organisation that deals with employing staff personal – relating to the parts of somebody’s life that are private pore – to study something carefully and thoughtfully pour – to make a substance flow in a stream practical – concerned with actual facts and experience practicable – capable of being carried out or put into effect predominantly – in the greatest number or amount predominately – to dominate or control somebody or something principal – first or among the first in importance or rank principle – an important underlying law or assumption required in a system of thought precedent – a decision that can be subsequently used as an example precedence – the right or need to be dealt with before somebody or something else proceed – to go on to do something precede – to come, go, be or happen before somebody or something else racist – based on notions and stereotypes related to race racial – relating to or characteristic of races reign – the period of time during which somebody rules a nation rein – any means of guiding, controlling or restraining somebody or something respectfully – showing appropriate deference and respect respectively – matching one list with another in the order given for both reluctant – feeling no willingness or enthusiasm to do something reticent – unwilling to communicate very much salacious – intended to titillate or arouse people sexually salutary – of value or benefit to somebody or something simple – easy to do, understand or work out because not complicated simplistic – tending to oversimplify something stationery – paper, envelopes, pens, pencils and other things used in writing stationary – not moving, especially at a standstill after being in motion torturous – causing great physical or mental anguish tortuous – with many turns or bends trooper – a member of a cavalry unit trouper – a member of a group of travelling entertainers turgid – pompous, boring and overcomplicated turbid – confused and muddled unconscionable – shocking and morally unacceptable unconscious – not aware of something unexceptionable – incapable of being criticised unexceptional – not special or unusual venal – open to persuasion by corrupt means venial – easily forgiven or excused
Word Meaning Practice Test
Credit: Psychometric Success To answer these questions, you need to understand the meaning of the words in the question and establish what exactly the relationship is between them. By looking at the answer options, you decide which answer is the most appropriate. These questions test your reasoning ability as well as your vocabulary. These types of question appear in nearly all levels of verbal ability tests.
Word Relationship Practice Test
Credit: Psychometric Success This is an advantage rather than a disadvantage, because you need to answer the questions based only on the information that you are given – not using any knowledge that you already have. These types of question appear in all levels of verbal ability tests but might be more detailed and technical in graduate and management-level tests.
Comprehension Practice Test
Credit: Psychometric Success These questions are usually restricted to graduate and management-level tests.
Critical Reasoning Practice Test
Credit: Psychometric Success The first step is research. Check forums, practice sites, test provider websites and anything else you can find. When you feel like you’ve got a good idea of what you’re in for, it’s time to practice. We recommend the verbal ability packages from JobTestPrep. Set aside the required amount of time for the test. Find a quiet room and ensure you won’t be disturbed. Gather everything you’ll need. Put your phone outside the room and focus on the task at hand. It can also be very useful to time yourself. Time in verbal reasoning tests is often tight and it’s important to stay on schedule. Before the test, work out the average amount of time per question you have. Use a stopwatch to make sure you don’t go too far ahead of that time. This is a great way to get used to tackling the questions at the pace needed for the actual test. In the 24 hours before the test, aim to:
Get an early night. Being well-rested can make all the difference when you need a combination of speed and accuracy. Eat a good breakfast. Concentration can dip when you’re hungry. Don’t let a lack of toast ruin your test. Have everything you need ready. No last-minute panicking.
Don’t underestimate the simple things. They can make a huge impact.
Effective Strategies When Taking the Test
With all your research, preparation and practice done, all that is left is to stay calm and approach the test in the same way you have all your practice tests. Keep these tips in mind throughout:
Be aware of the time – The timing usually isn’t generous. You’ll need to stay on a tight schedule to get all the questions done. Read the questions first – That way, you already know what you’re looking for when you read the text and can focus on that. This will allow you to be quicker and more accurate. Don’t use general knowledge – Everything you need to answer the question is in the text and in the text only. Don’t fill in any gaps with outside knowledge. Deal in logical certainties – The ‘cannot say’ answer is there for good reason and has as much chance of being the correct answer as ‘true’ or ‘false’. If the information on the page doesn’t give a conclusive answer, pick ‘cannot say’. Candidates often trip up on answers when they’re pretty sure that it’s one or the other but the text doesn’t say that it is for certain. Be careful to note the difference. If you’re struggling on a question, come back to it later – You can usually go backwards and forwards in the test. Use this to your advantage. If you can’t work a question out, don’t waste time staring at it. Get on with the other questions and come back if you have time. Use the practice questions to your advantage – At the beginning of the test, you’ll often be presented with a few practice questions so you can see what the format is. Just because these don’t count towards your score, doesn’t mean they’re not worth concentrating on. They present the perfect opportunity to gain some vital information. Instead of trying hard to answer the question correctly, take a close look at the format. You might be able to glean information like how long the passages of text tend to be, what kinds of topics they’re on, what the statements are like, etc. Pay attention here because every bit of knowledge can save you time later. Ignore everyone else – Sometimes all the assessment centre candidates will be in the same room taking the test. For some, this can be distracting. Try to ignore everyone else and focus only on your own work. Other people might be shuffling around, sighing with exasperation or chewing gum loudly – it doesn’t matter. You’re there for you and no one else.
Additional Resources
Here are our recommendations for resources to use:
Apps – We have our own psychometric tests app that contains eight timed verbal tests that are closely modelled on real tests. For each test, there are full answer explanations to help you see where you went wrong and how you can improve. Online practice tests – As well as the practice tests in this article, JobTestPrep offers numerous verbal practice tests for different test types and providers. These can give you a great feel for how the different tests work. Well worth checking out.
So long as you understand the text in front of you, the real work is in the logical reasoning rather than any advanced knowledge of the language or cultural norms. If in doubt, ask the HR team to see if there’s anything they can do or advice they have. Talk to them. Explain the specifics of your condition and ask them what they might be able to do to help put you on a level playing field. For instance, it might be appropriate to give you extra time or a slightly altered test. Rest assured that you won’t be the first person with dyslexia or another learning difficulty that the company has come across. They won’t want to reject good candidates simply because the application process doesn’t accommodate them properly. The most obvious is that in the rare sort of test that has negative marking, incorrect answers will lose you points. But accuracy is also usually tracked regardless and sent to the employer, even if you don’t get to see it. Employers tend to prefer candidates who are a little slower but more accurate, within reason. Depending on the provider and the company, you may also get some written feedback to say where you went wrong and how you can improve. This is somewhat rare, but it does happen. As always, you can ask a contact at the company for more information. Employers know cheating happens and have invested a lot into anti-cheating methods. While most of these are, for obvious reasons, kept largely obscure, they exist. And they’re effective. Aside from cheat-detecting software, companies will often have you retake the aptitude tests in person at the assessment centre. If your performance there is vastly different (not only in terms of score but also style, approach and so on), then alarm bells will ring. In short, you are likely to be caught. Your application – or even job offer, if you made it that far – will be rescinded and you may be blacklisted from applying in the future. Practice is a far better, more effective and more rewarding use of your time than cheating. A score within the top 20% of the norm group is generally considered to be a good score, although each employer will set their own guidance on this. These might include reading different types of literature such as newspapers, journals and novels. You could also set a goal to improve your vocabulary by learning a new word every day and trying to use it in conversation. Taking plenty of practice verbal reasoning tests is the best way to learn more about your verbal reasoning strengths and the areas you need to focus on. Even if you score highly, for example, 45 correct answers out of 50, if the average raw score is 47, you will be considered to have verbal reasoning skills that are below average for your norm group. Most people find it helpful to complete plenty of mock or practice verbal reasoning tests, as these help them to become familiar with the test format and feel more confident on the day of the test. In particular, it is useful to focus on speed reading, vocabulary and time management. Learn about the different question types and which of these require more time to answer. For example, the true/false/cannot say questions can usually be answered more quickly than the inference questions. To achieve a high score in verbal reasoning, you will need to dedicate significant time to preparation and revision. You might choose to take online practice assessments or hire a tutor to guide you through the preparation process. It is also important to practice your time management techniques, including speed reading and answering verbal reasoning assessment questions against the clock. Your verbal ability test results are a great indicator to the employer of how good a communicator you are, as well as how good you are at acting on communication. The test also examines logical faculties more generally, by looking at the way you take in information and critically evaluate it. You will be expected to demonstrate your verbal skills quickly and accurately. You will be under pressure, both from a strict time limit and from the importance of the test. Practise your skills until they are second nature.
