How to Improve at Verbal Reasoning Tests?

Like in numerical reasoning tests where you need to be familiar with some basic concepts and techniques to figure out the correct solution, the same applies to verbal reasoning tests. In order to succeed at verbal reasoning tests comprising true, false and cannot say test questions you need to develop specific strategy. You have to understand and apply specific techniques to arrive at the correct solution. Below we will summarise few things that you have to keep in your mind and will try to give you some basic logic behind answering true, false and cannot say questins at verbal reasoning tests.
To start with consider passage 1 and questions below.
Passage 1
verbal_reasoning_tests
Question 1
One may argue that legislative changes can result in lower concentrations of pollutants. True/False/Cannot Say
Question 2
It is estimated that there are one million people exposed to outdoor air pollution on annual bases. True/False/Cannot Say
Question 3
Last year there were one million of premature deaths as a result of urban air pollution. True/False/Cannot Say
Question 4
Urban climates are different in many ways from those of their rural surroundings. True/False/Cannot Say
verbal_reasoning_tests Meaning of ‘True’
‘True’, means that the meaning of the statement must clearly support the information included in passage. That is, we can say that the information provided in the statement is also provided in the passage. To illustrate this, consider the question 1. From the first sentence of the passage we may logically infer that the level of pollution may depend upon anti-pollution legislation. The question asks us whether ‘one may argue that legislative changes can result in lower concentration of pollutants’. Since we did determine that level of pollution may depend upon anti-pollution legislation we may conclude that indeed legislative changes can result in lower concentration of pollutants. Thus, the correct answer for question 1 is true.
verbal_reasoning_tests Meaning of ‘False’
‘False’, means that the meaning of the statement must contradict the information provided in the passage. That is, we can say that the information in the statement does not agree with the information in the passage. Further, consider the statement that ‘It is estimated that there are one million people exposed to outdoor air pollution on annual bases’. The text in the passage states that ‘It is estimated that more than one million people are exposed to outdoor air pollution annually’. Thus, the information in the passage opposes the information provided in the statement and therefore, we may conclude that the statement is false. This example is just very simple illustration; however, you may come across variety of situations with different types of contradictions, for example, where statement will be opposite of the information provided in the passage or where the information would not be opposite but would contradict the text in some way. Moreover, remember that if one part of the question is true whereas the other part is false then the answer is false.
verbal_reasoning_tests Meaning of ‘Cannot say’ or ‘Not given’
‘Cannot say’, ‘Not given’ means that there is no information in the text relating to the information of the statement. ‘Cannot say’, ‘Not given’ would also apply to the situations where you cannot find information in the passage to be ‘True’ or to be ‘False’. Consider the third question which states that ‘Last year there was one million premature deaths as a result of urban air pollution’. From the passage we know that urban air pollution is connected to up to one million premature deaths however, we do not know whether the number of premature deaths was one million last year. Therefore, the correct answer is ‘Cannot say’.
As far as fourth question is concerned, based on your knowledge you may well argue that urban climates are indeed different in many ways from rural ones. However, based on the information provided in the passage we cannot determine the above. The passage does not provide any information about rural climates that would support given statement. Therefore, based on the information provided in the passage we can conclude that the correct answer is ‘Cannot say’. However, this is only very simple illustration again. In verbal reasoning tests you may come across variety of questions that are likely to be trickier than the above. Remember, to answer the question only using the information in the passage, do not bring your own understanding or your own opinion.
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