📝 Verbal Reasoning Test

What a verbal reasoning test measures

A verbal reasoning test checks whether you can hold a passage in mind and judge a statement strictly against it. It is not a vocabulary test and not a comprehension quiz about the gist. Each statement is either supported by the text, contradicted by it, or neither — and the third case is where most marks are lost, because a plausible statement that the passage simply never addresses feels true.

Employers use this format widely for graduate, commercial, legal and administrative roles, where the day-to-day work involves reading a document and acting only on what it actually says. As with any short screening test, it is one input among several. The skill it rewards — separating what is written from what you assume — is trainable in a few focused sessions.

The format on Job Tests Portal

The standard run is 20 questions in 15 minutes, and both are yours to set: 10, 15, 25 or 40 minutes, and 10, 20, 30 or 50 questions. The material is a set of tabbed sections about one company — its products, strategy, plan, geographic footprint, values and board — and you can move between those tabs while you answer.

• Every item offers the same three options: True, False, or Cannot Say.
• Statements are judged against the passages only, never against general knowledge.
• Your run is scored immediately and saved to your profile when you are signed in.
• A guided tutorial walks through the format before you attempt a timed run.

Question types, with worked examples

1. Directly supported statements

Passage: “The board agreed a plan to open two distribution centres in 2026, both in the north of the country.” Statement: the company plans to open distribution centres in the north in 2026.

Answer: True

Why: Every element of the statement — the plan, the location, the year — appears in the passage. A True answer needs the text to cover the whole claim, not just part of it.

2. Contradicted statements

Passage: “The company manufactures most of its products in-house.” Statement: all of the company's products are manufactured in-house.

Answer: False

Why: “Most” and “all” cannot both be right. The passage sets an explicit limit, so the stronger claim is contradicted. Absolute words — all, never, always, only — are worth a second look every time they appear.

3. Unaddressed statements

Passage: “The board agreed a plan to open two distribution centres in 2026.” Statement: the new centres will create jobs in the region.

Answer: Cannot Say

Why: New sites usually do create jobs, and that is precisely the trap. The passage says nothing about employment, so the text neither supports nor contradicts the claim.

A practice method for verbal reasoning

1. Skim the sections once, then stop. One pass to learn where each topic lives. Re-reading the whole passage for every statement is what runs the clock down.
2. Locate before you decide. For each statement, find the sentence that deals with it. If you cannot find one after a quick scan, that is itself strong evidence for Cannot Say.
3. Compare word by word. Line the statement up against the sentence and check the scope words: some versus all, may versus will, increased versus doubled.
4. Say the verdict out loud in your head. “The text says X, the statement says Y, so Y is…” Forcing that sentence stops you answering on impression.
5. Quarantine your own knowledge. Treat the passage as the only world that exists. If a claim is true in reality but absent from the text, it is Cannot Say.
6. Review the ones you got right too. A right answer for the wrong reason will not survive a harder passage. The explanations are there for both cases.

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

• Answering from world knowledge. The single biggest source of lost marks in this format.
• Treating a reasonable inference as True. If the text needs one extra assumption to reach the statement, the answer is Cannot Say.
• Missing a quantifier. Most, some, several, a majority and all describe very different claims.
• Reading the statement into the passage. Once you expect to find something, ambiguous wording starts to look like confirmation — locate the sentence first, then judge.
• Getting stuck on one statement. Flag it, move on, and use the remaining minutes on items you can settle quickly.
• Skipping the tutorial. A single guided run through the three verdicts is usually worth more than an untimed practice attempt.

Where to go next

• Start the verbal reasoning practice test — choose your timer and length, then review every explanation
• Verbal reasoning tutorial — a guided walk-through of True, False and Cannot Say
• True, False and Cannot Say explained — the decision rule for each verdict, with more examples
• Critical Thinking Test — argument strength and inference on a five-point scale
• Word Relations Test — verbal analogies and relationship types
• All cognitive and aptitude tests — browse the full catalogue and pick your next session