Verbal Comprehension: Listening for Exact Directions
What Verbal Comprehension asks
Verbal Comprehension on OLSAT Level A is delivered orally: the examiner reads a direction or short riddle, and the child marks a picture answer. The two task types are Following Directions and Aural Reasoning. Because the child is not reading the items, the main skill is converting spoken language into a precise picture choice while holding several details in mind.
Core rules
- Listen for order words: first, next, then, last, before, after. They tell you which action to mark or which item to eliminate.
- Track position and size words: above, below, beside, between, inside, outside, left, right, top, bottom, largest, smallest.
- Hold all parts of a direction. A choice that matches one detail but not the rest is wrong.
- In Aural Reasoning riddles, name the category and the defining clue: 'has wheels, carries people, travels on roads' points to a bus, not a wagon.
Worked example
Direction: 'Mark the picture that shows the apple under the table and next to the basket.' Scan for the table first. The apple must be below the tabletop, so reject any apple on the table. It must also be beside the basket, so reject an apple under the table but across the room from the basket. The correct picture satisfies both position clues.
Traps that cost marks
Marking before the sentence ends; confusing left and right; ignoring 'not'; treating 'between' as 'near'; and choosing a picture that fits the story but not the exact direction.