Verbal Reasoning and Reading Comprehension
Verbal Reasoning and Reading Comprehension
This domain measures how accurately you extract meaning from written material and how well you evaluate grammar, vocabulary and inference. Passages are short but dense; questions may ask for the main idea, a detail, an inference, the author's tone, or the meaning of a word in context.
Core rules
- Separate restatement from inference: an inference must follow necessarily from the text, not merely be plausible.
- Answer only from the passage; outside knowledge is a distractor.
- For main-idea items, choose the option covering the whole passage, not one supporting detail.
- Watch qualifiers: all, some, never, mainly, except. They change scope.
- For vocabulary, substitute each option into the sentence and test fit and tone.
- In grammar items, identify the subject before checking verb agreement, and check pronoun reference.
Worked example
A passage states: 'The office introduced electronic invoices to reduce leakage. Small traders resisted, citing the cost of new software and training.' Question: Why did small traders resist? The best answer is 'because compliance imposed added costs', not 'because they opposed the tax'. The text gives cost as the stated reason; opposition to tax is an assumption. An option saying 'all traders rejected the system' is too broad because only small traders are mentioned.
Traps
- Choosing an extreme option when the passage uses cautious language.
- Importing real-world opinions.
- Missing 'EXCEPT' or 'NOT'.
- Confusing cause with correlation.
- Treating a repeated phrase as the main idea.