Verbal Reasoning
What this domain tests
Verbal Reasoning in the FENZ General Ability Screen checks how accurately you extract meaning from short written passages and how well you judge what follows from them. Questions may ask for the main point, a supported inference, the meaning of a word in context, or the statement that must be true. The passages are short; the difficulty is in the wording of options, not in background knowledge.
Core rules
- Separate stated from supported: an inference must be forced by the passage, not merely plausible.
- Track quantifiers: all, some, none, not every. “Not every station has a tower” does not mean “no station has a tower”.
- Paraphrase is usually correct; exact word matching can be a trap.
- Eliminate options that are true in real life but unsupported by the passage.
- For vocabulary, substitute each option back into the sentence and test the sentence’s logic.
Worked example
Passage: “Every fire station in the district has at least one breathing apparatus compressor. Not every station has a hose-drying tower.” Which statement must be true? A. Some stations lack a compressor. B. Every station with a hose-drying tower has a compressor. C. No station has both a compressor and a tower. D. Some stations without a tower lack a compressor.
B is forced: all stations have a compressor, so any station with a tower-being a station-has one. A contradicts “every”. C is possible but not required. D is not required; a station without a tower may still have a compressor. The trap is treating “not every” as “none”.
Traps that cost marks
- Choosing an option because it sounds sensible about firefighting rather than because the passage supports it.
- Missing a shift from “some” to “all”.
- Over-reading tone or motive when the question asks only what is stated.
- Rushing the stem: “must be true”, “could be true” and “weakens” need different treatment.