Verbal Reasoning: Categories, Comparisons, and Number Stories
What Verbal Reasoning asks
Verbal Reasoning uses spoken words, categories, comparisons, and simple number stories. Level A items are read aloud, so the child must reason from language rather than from text. Typical tasks include completing a word relationship, choosing the item that belongs in a group, and solving a one-step arithmetic story with picture answers.
Core rules
- For classification, find the group label and the shared attribute. 'Apple, banana, pear' are all fruit; a carrot is a vegetable even though it is food.
- For analogies, state the relationship in a sentence: 'A glove goes on a hand.' Then apply the same relationship to the new pair. Do not choose a word that is merely associated.
- For number stories, identify what is known, what is asked, and whether the action joins or separates. 'Gives away' and 'eats' usually separate; 'gets more' and 'buys' usually join.
- Check by counting forward or backward on your fingers or with tally marks. The answer must be a number, not a word that appeared in the story.
Worked example
'Mia has 4 crayons. She gives 1 crayon to Ben. How many crayons does Mia have left?' Known: 4 start, 1 leaves. The action separates, so count back one: 4 to 3. The answer is 3. A trap answer is 5, produced by adding because a number appeared; another is 1, the number given away, not the number left.
Traps that cost marks
Choosing an associated object instead of the same relationship; adding when the story separates; subtracting when it joins; and picking a number copied from the story without checking the question.