Everything Exams

Verbal reasoning exams are all about following instructions and problem solving using mostly words and language and also numbers with some exam boards. Core skills tested include critical thinking, problem solving skills and to some extent, maths skills.  Verbal reasoning papers also give schools insight into a student’s desire for knowledge through the written word and tests English skills.

Verbal reasoning exam papers are used for selective entry to secondary schools including Grammar schools and private, independent  schools. 

Some questions require almost no experience of challenging vocabulary and simply involve manipulation of letters – letter sequences, patterns using a series of letters and connections with letters. For other questions, students need to employ numerical skills. For a large proportion of questions however, understanding the meaning of a wide vocabulary of words is essential.

Gaining exposure to a variety of words – in context, so that your child learns their meaning – is important for success in 11 plus verbal reasoning tests and indeed in these tests at all levels from 7 plus to 13 plus. It also helps if your child has solid numeracy skills – numerical dexterity with mental arithmetic and can easily spot numbers from times tables as a well as  patterns of numbers.

Verbal Reasoning Examples

To give you an idea of the sort of questions on a typical verbal reasoning test, here are a few common types of question with a sample question for each:

• Missing letters: Find a letter that will finish the first word and start the second in each pair fu (?) ain pea (?) un The answer here is ‘r’.
• Odd ones out: Three of the words in this list are connected. Identify the two odd ones out – hailstorm, tornado, blizzard, hurricane, cyclone. The two words are ‘blizzard’ and ‘hailstorm’.
• Hidden words: Find a four letter word which is hidden at the end of one word and the start of the next in this sentence – Grasp it with the tongs! The hidden word is ‘spit’, between the first and second words.
• Word ladders: Change one letter at a time to make the first word into the final word. The two answers must be real words – BALL _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ SEAL. The words are ‘bell’ and ‘sell’.
• Antonyms: Find two words, one from each set, that have opposite meanings – [violent, vengeful, bitter] [resentful, supportive, merciful]. The opposite words are ‘vengeful’ and ‘merciful’.
• Alphabet positions: Which letter in the word PRODIGIOUS comes nearest to the end of the alphabet? The letter ‘U’.
• Word links: Choose two words, one from each group, to complete the sentence in the most sensible way – Ornate is to (colourful, decorative, radiant) as threadbare is to (meagre, shabby, carpet). The two words are ‘decorative’ and ‘shabby’.
• Related numbers: Find the missing number which completes the final set of numbers in the same way as the first two sets – 7(21)6 4(16)8 4(?)9 The number is 18 (4×9÷ 2).

As you can see from these few examples, it’s useful to have a solid understanding of synonyms, antonyms, the alphabet and times tables.

Verbal Reasoning Tips

1. Read Classics: Exposure to a wide range of vocabulary really helps with verbal reasoning so read, read and read some more. Everyday conversations often contain a very limited variety of words and exposure to written texts is the only way to gain exposure to more interesting language and broader vocabulary so that your child ends up with strong vocabulary knowledge. Not all books are equal here though…books which push the boundaries in terms of language are more valuable for verbal reasoning preparation – consider ‘classics’ such as ‘Treasure Island’, ‘The Secret Garden’ or ‘Anne of Green Gables’, which contain more expansive vocabulary than more popular contemporary fiction.
2. Read a range of authors: Books which come in a series are great fun, and I myself do enjoy being engrossed with the same set of characters for multiple novels, but reading the same author won’t necessarily help your child with verbal reasoning preparation – your child needs to occasionally vary the authors they read. There’s a particular series I’ve read a few times with students and the author uses a fair amount of interesting, useful vocabulary and expressions in the first book in the series. I love these books, but by the third book, his style and range of vocabulary becomes noticeably limited and is therefore less useful for verbal reasoning – for example, I’ve lost count how many times the clouds are seen ‘scudding’ across the skies in his novels, but the stories are still great 😊
3. Use shared reading for harder classics: Shared reading exposes children to higher level vocabulary within a fluent context and is brilliant for expanding vocabulary – especially useful if your child is struggling to read classics themselves. Shared reading is a valuable learning experience in itself. Your child has the opportunity to ask you about the meaning of words immediately as well as talk with you about themes and plots which helps with creative writing and interview preparation as well.
4. Keep a word journal: I even have one of these! Every time your child comes across a new, challenging word they can add it to their word journal. This can be handy for any writing tasks they have in future too to give them ideas – which is what I use mine for 😊 – I include interesting similes and metaphors I find as well. Another fun thing to do is try to spot words between words and write them in the journal too – for example, ‘tropical fish’ has ‘calf’ in it.
5. Start preparation sooner rather than later: There is a wealth of books which can help your child become familiar with verbal reasoning question types. Many books are graded and can be used from the age of 6 upwards – a step by step introduction to more and more difficult questions. I usually use Bond books for younger students, but there are others out there. Some of the exercises are quite fun and might be something your child could work through for 10 minutes per day every day in holidays for example. This would have the added bonus of keeping them ticking over when they have a break from school to help them maintain their literacy skills. Don’t worry if you didn’t begin preparation in year 1 though, just start when you can – it’s possible to catch up.
6. Double check which test is being used by the school you are applying for: Different schools use different examination boards which produce different tests and, although similar, they are very slightly different. Most tests are produced by CEM, GL Assessment or ISEB and some schools create their own. A large variety of practice tests can be bought online if you search for ‘11 Plus Verbal Reasoning Sample Papers’ and there are even some free options out there. It’s not necessary to spend huge amounts of money on this. ISEB papers are harder to come by but CEM and GL Assessment papers are still useful for your child to work through if you have difficulty finding ISEB samples. I also recommend to my students that they get a subscription to Atom Nucleus, which provides many online tests for your child to compete plus keeps a record of their progress. The subscription is quite expensive but could be useful to get for a few months prior to the exam to help with time management.
7. Step up a gear over the summer holidays prior to the exam: Exams normally take place in late autumn-early January. At that time, your child should probably be fine tuning their writing skills and going through maths practice papers in earnest plus preparing for interviews. To help alleviate this last minute workload, it’s a good idea to get the bulk of their verbal reasoning preparation done beforehand. A great time to do this is over the summer holidays when they are relaxed and happy. Working through a verbal reasoning book little by little over the eight weeks or so they have free is not too taxing and they are more likely to absorb the information when they are in a relaxed mood. If they get stuck on a particular style of question then they have plenty of time to work on these without pressure or stress.
8. Work on time management: Towards the end of summer is a good time to begin doing timed assessments, under timed conditions, so that your child gets a good idea of the speed required to complete all questions. Atom Learning is good for online practice but a kitchen timer and physical, paper tests is also fine.
9. Practise breathing exercises to relax: I recommend this to everyone taking exams as it helps to switch on parts of the brain we need in order to do well in exams. This is especially true in reasoning tests as problem solving and reasoning abilities can be shut down if your child feels stressed. Exercises should ideally be practised a few months beforehand, but are even useful at the last minute.
10. Nail the times tables: Your child may well have done this already, but make sure they are super fast with all times tables to 12. This will save valuable seconds in the maths elements of tests plus really help with actual maths exams. There are lots of free times tables resources available online which you can use as games to practise, or you could try an app – a few of my students have had subscriptions through school to Times Tables Rockstars – which gives rewards so you can dress your character, which is a cute incentive – but there are also free apps around.

Whatever stage you are at with preparation for entrance exams, it’s never too late to work on the Verbal Reasoning section of the assessment process. Familiarity with question types and doing some timed practice tests do make a big difference to your child’s result – my son for example, improved his grade by over 10% after working through the different question types and doing timed papers.

If you need help or advice with any part of the independent school entrance exam process then feel free to get in touch via the contact form.