Verbal Reasoning and Comprehension
What to master
Verbal reasoning tests your ability to read precisely, infer cautiously, and classify relationships between words. Core skills: identifying the main idea versus supporting detail, distinguishing fact from opinion, recognising assumptions, and solving analogies and odd-one-out items by naming the specific relationship (cause–effect, part–whole, synonym, degree, function).
Typical traps
- True-but-not-asked options. A statement may be accurate yet not answer the question. Read the stem twice.
- Extreme wording. Options with always, never, all, none are usually wrong in inference questions unless the passage states them.
- Outside knowledge. Comprehension answers must be supported by the passage, not by what you know about the world.
- Analogy direction. "Doctor : Hospital" is person–workplace; the answer must preserve the same direction and type.
- Near-synonym confusion. In odd-one-out, three words may be loosely related; find the tight category.
Rule of thumb
For inference questions, ask: Could this option be false given the passage? If yes, it is not a valid inference. For analogies, state the relationship in a full sentence before scanning options.
Worked example
Passage: "Although the new policy reduced paperwork, staff reported longer processing times." Question: What can be inferred? A correct inference is that reduced paperwork did not translate into faster processing. An incorrect option would be "staff opposed the policy" - the passage reports outcomes, not attitudes.