Verbal Reasoning Test: 18 Practice Questions With Explained Answers

This practice set focuses on passage-based verbal reasoning: decide whether a statement is supported, contradicted or not determined by the information given. Other verbal assessments may test vocabulary, sentence completion or different reasoning skills.

The six passages and eighteen questions below are original fictional exercises, not items from an employer assessment or a validated psychometric test. Work out each answer before reading the explanation. Use them to practice checking evidence and scope, then prepare for the specific test named in your invitation.

Verbal assessments differ. ETS’s GRE materials, for example, include reading comprehension, text completion and sentence equivalence; those are not the same as the true/false/cannot-say exercise on this page.

Check your actual assessment instructions for:

• The response options and what each means.
• Whether answers must rely only on the supplied passage.
• The time limit and whether it covers a question or the whole test.
• Whether you can skip, return or pause, and whether the test is adaptive.

Do not infer navigation rules or a passing score from a generic guide. Use the provider’s own candidate materials to learn the format.

For the exercises here, the passage is the complete evidence base. Do not add outside facts or unstated policies. Decide whether the statement follows, is contradicted or remains unresolved.

A supported inference can use more than one sentence; it does not have to quote a single line word for word.

Notice what is missing from that table: plausibility. "Companies introduce perks to retain staff" is plausible. "Most people prefer working from home" is plausible. On a verbal reasoning test, plausible and unaddressed means cannot say. The eighteen questions below are built to train exactly that reflex.

All passages are fictional. For each statement, decide true, false or cannot say before reading the answer, and force yourself to underline (mentally or literally) the words you are relying on.

Northgate Insurance introduced a hybrid working policy in March. Employees on client-facing teams must work from the office on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. All other employees may choose their own office days, provided they attend at least four days each month. The policy does not apply to contractors.

Q1. Client-facing employees are required to be in the office at least two days each week.

Answer: True. The passage names two mandatory office days for client-facing teams, "Tuesdays and Wednesdays." Two named weekly days satisfies "at least two days each week." This is a supported inference, not a direct quote, which is exactly what "true" covers.

Q2. This hybrid policy requires contractors to attend the office at least four days each month.

Answer: False. The statement explicitly attributes the requirement to this policy, while the passage says the policy does not apply to contractors. That attribution is contradicted. The passage does not establish whether a different contract sets other attendance requirements.

Q3. Most Northgate employees would prefer to work from home full time.

Answer: Cannot say. The passage describes rules, never preferences. Nothing supports or contradicts what employees want. If you marked this true because it feels likely, that is the outside-knowledge trap in action.

Harwell Logistics operates three regional warehouses. In the second quarter, the Leeds site processed more orders than the Bristol site. The Glasgow site recorded strictly fewer packing errors than either of the other two sites, although its order volume fell compared with the first quarter.

Q4. Bristol processed the fewest orders of the three sites in the second quarter.

Answer: Cannot say. We know Leeds processed more than Bristol. We know nothing about Glasgow's volume relative to either of them; the only claim about Glasgow's volume compares it to its own first quarter. Bristol might be last, or Glasgow might be. The passage does not settle it.

Q5. Glasgow's order volume was lower in the second quarter than in the first.

Answer: True. Directly stated: "its order volume fell compared with the first quarter."

Q6. The Leeds site recorded more packing errors than the Glasgow site.

Answer: True. The passage explicitly says Glasgow recorded strictly fewer errors than each other site. Leeds therefore recorded more; the word strictly rules out a tie.

Meridian Software reimburses employees for one professional certification per calendar year. Approval requires a manager's sign-off before enrollment, and the course must relate either to the employee's current role or to a role advertised internally. Reimbursement is paid only after the employee passes the exam.

Q7. An employee can be reimbursed for a certification that relates to an internally advertised role rather than their current one.

Answer: True. The policy allows courses relating "either to the employee's current role or to a role advertised internally." That is an eligible subject area; manager approval before enrollment and passing the exam are still required.

Q8. Employees receive reimbursement when they enroll in an approved course.

Answer: False. The passage states reimbursement "is paid only after the employee passes the exam." Approval is required before enrollment; reimbursement comes after passing. The statement is contradicted, not merely unaddressed.

Q9. Meridian introduced the reimbursement policy to improve staff retention.

Answer: Cannot say. The passage describes how the policy works and says nothing about why it exists. Motive questions are a favorite cannot-say pattern: the mechanism is stated, the reason is not.

In Arlo Bank's most recent customer survey, respondents who used the mobile app rated their satisfaction higher than respondents who only visited branches. Fewer than half of all respondents had used the app in the past month. The survey was sent to customers who had contacted the support team during the year.

Q10. Most of Arlo Bank's customers used the mobile app in the past month.

Answer: Cannot say. Two gaps block this claim. First, the usage figure describes respondents, not all customers, and respondents were drawn only from customers who had contacted support. Second, even among respondents the passage says fewer than half used the app, which tells you nothing reliable about the full customer base either way.

Q11. App users among the respondents reported higher satisfaction than branch-only respondents.

Answer: True. This is the first sentence restated with the same scope: respondents, not customers in general. Scope-faithful restatements are true; scope-widening ones are not.

Q12. More than half of the respondents had used the app in the past month.

Answer: False. The passage states "fewer than half of all respondents had used the app in the past month." This statement makes the opposite claim about the same group, so it is contradicted. Compare Q10: same clause, different verdict, because Q10 changed the group.

These two passages focus on quantifiers, comparisons and missing information. Read every qualifier carefully; the exercises do not establish which devices are most common in real tests.

Calder Manufacturing's annual safety review found that most incidents last year occurred during night shifts. The review recommended additional lighting in the loading bay, where some of the incidents involved forklifts. No incident during the year resulted in hospitalization.

Q13. The majority of last year's incidents occurred during night shifts.

Answer: True. "Most" means more than half, and "the majority" means the same thing. Swapping one quantifier for an equivalent one preserves truth. Swapping it for a stronger one ("all incidents occurred at night") would not.

Q14. All of the incidents involving forklifts took place in the loading bay.

Answer: Cannot say. The passage says some of the incidents in the loading bay involved forklifts. That confirms forklift incidents happened there. It says nothing about whether forklift incidents also happened elsewhere. "Some loading-bay incidents involved forklifts" does not reverse into "all forklift incidents were in the loading bay."

Q15. At least one incident last year resulted in hospitalization.

Answer: False. Directly contradicted: "No incident during the year resulted in hospitalization." When a passage contains an absolute negative, any "at least one" claim against it is false, not cannot say.

Tern Media's podcast division grew its audience faster than its video division last year, although video revenue is strictly greater than that of every other division. The newsletter team, formed in June, has not yet reported audience figures.

Q16. The podcast division now has a larger audience than the video division.

Answer: Cannot say. Faster growth is a rate; a larger audience is a level. A small division can grow faster than a large one for years without catching up. The passage never gives either division's audience size, so the comparison cannot be settled.

Q17. The video division generates more revenue than the podcast division.

Answer: True. The passage explicitly states that video revenue is strictly greater than every other division’s revenue, including podcast revenue. No tie is left possible.

Q18. The newsletter team's audience has grown since June.

Answer: Cannot say. The team "has not yet reported audience figures." No figures means no basis for any claim about growth, in either direction. Missing information is not evidence of anything.

The exercises illustrate four recurring reasoning errors. Naming the error can help you review your own answer; it does not guarantee a particular test result.

Trick 1: two comparisons on different axes. Q4 is the template. "Leeds processed more orders than Bristol" compares two sites in the same quarter. "Its order volume fell compared with the first quarter" compares one site with itself over time. Your brain wants to chain them into a ranking of all three sites, and the passage never licenses that chain. Fix: when a statement ranks three things, demand three-way evidence.

Trick 2: expanding "some" into "all." Q14 is the template. "Some loading-bay incidents involved forklifts" places forklifts in the loading bay; it does not fence them in. Check the exact relationship rather than reversing a quantified statement automatically. Fix: rewrite the passage sentence and the statement side by side; if the statement swaps subject and group, suspect cannot say.

Trick 3: the quiet change of group. Q10 and Q12 are the matched pair. Both lean on "fewer than half of all respondents had used the app." Q12 contradicts that clause about the same group, so it is false. Q10 widens "respondents" to "customers," a group the clause never measured, so it is cannot say. One underlined word, "respondents," produces two different verdicts. Fix: before judging any statement with a group in it, check the noun against the passage's noun.

Trick 4: rate versus level. Q16 is the template. "Grew faster" and "is larger" feel adjacent and measure different things. Fix: label each comparison as a rate or a level before you judge it; a rate can never prove a level without a starting point.

Review why an answer was wrong rather than only counting correct answers. The routine below is a suggested practice method, not a measured score-improvement guarantee.

Use these original exercises for preparation. During an actual assessment, follow the employer’s rules on assistance, tools, confidentiality and sharing test material. Do not assume that a practice resource describes those conditions.

The method here is to check evidence, respect qualifiers and keep comparison groups consistent. An unofficial practice score is not a validated prediction of employer performance or a passing mark.

For the next application stage, the interview preparation guide, mock interview questions and difficult questions guide provide separate rehearsal ideas.