Verbal Ability Tests

Verbal ability tests are designed to measure your ability to understand concepts framed in words, your ability to find commonalities among different concepts and to manipulate ideas on an abstract level. They assess both your knowledge of English and your reasoning ability.

Most employers who use psychometric tests in the selection process will include a verbal ability test as there are very few careers which don't require the ability to understand, analyse and interpret written information.

Verbal ability tests also give employers the best indication of how you will be perceived by other people, particularly customers and co-workers. This is because most of us make judgements about others based on the accuracy and clarity of the language they use to communicate. Whether you are communicating with customers, suppliers or co-workers, your ability to use words correctly is obvious and will say something positive or negative about you and the organization that employs you.

Verbal ability tests can be divided into tests of simple verbal ability, for example; spelling and grammar. These tests usually consist of 30 to 40 questions which need to be completed in 15 to 20 minutes. They are speed tests in that they don’t require very much reasoning ability. You either know the answer or you don’t.

Verbal reasoning tests, on the other hand, usually consist of 10 to 15 questions which need to be completed in 20 to 30 minutes and are designed to test your reasoning ability rather than your facility with the language. These questions may take the form of comprehension exercises or more complex statements which you need to analyze and understand in order to obtain the correct answer. These are referred to as verbal critical reasoning questions.

The more straightforward types of question (spelling, grammar and instructions) tend to be more applicable to administrative roles and the reasoning and deduction type of questions are more applicable to graduate and management roles.

These types of question can be categorised more simply into the 5 groups:

Verbal Ability Spelling
Questions where you have to identify incorrectly spelt words are common in all levels of verbal ability tests. If you are concerned that your spelling may let you down then you should download the practice spelling test which contains the 300 most commonly used words. If you work through these papers systematically, which will take about 40 minutes, you should end up with a (hopefully short) list of words that you need to ‘re-learn’ to spell correctly.

Answer to verbal ability spelling questions.

Verbal Ability - Word Meanings
These questions are designed to measure your vocabulary and your understanding of word meanings. The questions tend to focus on the relationships between words and are phrased such that you need to know the precise meaning of the words in order to select the correct answer. These questions often use words which have either the same or opposite meanings (synonyms and antonyms) and dictionary definitions.

1) Which word does not have a similar meaning to - outcome

2) Which word does not have a similar meaning to - comprise

3) Which word does not have a similar meaning to - energize

4) Which word does not have a similar meaning to - populated

5) Which word does not have a similar meaning to - condemn

6) Which word means - tuneful; compatible; marked by agreement

7) Which word means - with passionate or intense feelings

8) Which word means - to accumulate; to gather

9) Which word means - unjustifiably malicious; immoral; unmanageable

10) Which word means - continuous; eternal; never ceasing

11) Choose the word most similar in meaning to - perplex

12) Choose the word most similar in meaning to - contradict

13) Choose the word most similar in meaning to - argumentative

14) Choose the word most similar in meaning to - expedite

15) Choose the word most similar in meaning to - condescend

16) Choose the word most nearly opposite in meaning to - fecund

17) Choose the word most nearly opposite in meaning to - tawdry

18) Choose the word most nearly opposite in meaning to - pragmatic

19) Choose the word most nearly opposite in meaning to - absolve

20) Choose the word most nearly opposite in meaning to - exigent

Answer to word ability word meaning questions.

Verbal Ability - Word Relationships
To answer these questions you need to understand the meaning of the words in the question and establish what exactly
the relationship is between them. You should then look at the answer options and decide which answer is the most appropriate. These questions test your reasoning ability as well as your vocabulary. These types of question appear in all levels of verbal ability tests.

1) medicine is to illness as law is to -------

2) square is to cube as circle is to -------

3) king is to throne as judge is to -------

4) nib is to pen as lens is to -------

5) settlement is to injury as pension is to -------

Instruction: Identify the relationship between the word pair in the question. Circle the answer where the word pair shown

has the most similar relationship.

6) levee : flood

7) color : spectrum

8) extort : obtain

9) heel : foot

10) slight : hurt

Instruction: Identify the relationship between the word group in the question.
Circle the answer which fits best with the group.

11) barber, florist, draper

12) alps, pennines, pyrenees

13) throw, volley, sling

14) pine, fir, cypress

15) wool, silk, leather

Answer to word ability word Relationship  questions.

Verbal Ability - Comprehension
These tests include a number of short passages of text followed by statements based on the information given in the passage. You are asked to indicate whether the statements are true or false, or whether it is not possible to say so either way. In answering these questions, use only the information given in the passage and do not try and answer them in the light of any more detailed knowledge which you personally may have.

Glaciers begin to form where snow remains year-round and enough of it accumulates to transform into ice. New layers of snow compress the previous layers and this compression forces the icy snow to re-crystallize, forming grains similar in size and shape to cane sugar. Gradually the grains grow larger and the air pockets between the grains get smaller, meaning that the snow slowly becomes more dense. After about two winters, the snow turns into firn, an intermediate state between snow and ice. Over time the larger ice crystals become more compressed and even denser, this is known as glacial ice. Glacial ice, because of its density and ice crystals, often takes a bluish or even green hue.

1) Glaciers cannot form where snow does not remain all year round.

2) Firn is less dense than snow but more dense than ice.

3) Glacial ice is always greenish or bluish in color.

4) Snow falls every year in areas where glaciers form.

5) The increase in density is caused by the grains becoming smaller.

A power of attorney or letter of attorney in common law systems or mandate in civil law systems is an authorization to act on someone else's behalf in a legal or business matter. The person authorizing the other to act is the "principal" or "grantor", and the one authorized to act is the "agent" or "attorney-in-fact". The attorney-in-fact acts "in the principal's name," signing the principal's name to documents and filing suit with the principal's name as plaintiff, for example.

As one kind of agent, an attorney-in-fact is a fiduciary for the principal, so the law requires an attorney-in-fact to be completely honest with and loyal to the principal in their dealings with each other. If the attorney-in-fact is being paid to act for the principal, the contract is a separate matter from the power of attorney itself, so if that contract is in writing, it is a separate document, kept private between them, whereas the power of attorney is intended to be shown to various other people.

The power of attorney may be oral, such as asking someone else to sign your name on a cheque because your arm is broken, or may be in writing. Many institutions, such as hospitals, banks, and the I.R.S., require a power of attorney to be in writing before they will honor it, and they usually want to keep an original for their records.

6) The agent grants the principal the power to act on behalf of the grantor.

7) All contracts between the principal and the agent must be made public

8) The power of attorney may be granted verbally.

9) Only a legal professional can be granted the power of attorney.

10) In civil law systems the power of attorney is referred to as a mandate.

Answer to sample verbal comprehension questions.

Verbal Ability - Critical Reasoning
Verbal Reasoning questions assess your ability to use words in a logical way. The questions measure your understanding of vocabulary, class membership and the relationships between words. Some questions measure your ability to perceive and understand concepts and ideas expressed verbally. While these questions are designed to measure reasoning ability rather than educational achievement, it is generally recognized that verbal reasoning test scores are influenced by educational and cultural background.

1. Pedro goes either hunting or fishing every day. If it is snowing & windy then Pedro goes hunting. If it is sunny and not windy then Pedro goes fishing. Sometimes it can be snowing and sunny.
   
   Which of the following statements must be true:
    
   1. If it is not sunny and it is snowing then Pedro goes hunting.
   2. If it is windy and Pedro does not go hunting then it is not snowing.
   3. If it is windy and not sunny then Pedro goes hunting.
   4. If it is windy and sunny then Pedro goes hunting.
   5. If it is snowing and sunny then Pedro goes hunting.
       
2. The cost of manufacturing tractors in Korea is twenty percent less than the cost of manufacturing tractors in Germany. Even after transportation fees and import taxes are added, it is still cheaper to import tractors from Korea to Germany than to produce tractors in Germany.
   
   Which of the following assertions is best supported by this information?
    
   1. Labor costs in Korea are twenty percent below those in Germany.
   2. Importing tractors into Germany will eliminate twenty percent of the manufacturing jobs in Germany.
   3. The costs of transporting a tractor from Korea to Germany is more than twenty percent of the cost of manufacturing the tractor in Korea.
   4. The import taxes on a tractor imported from Korea to Germany is less than twenty percent of the cost of manufacturing the tractor in Germany.
   5. It takes twenty percent less time to make a tractor in Korea than it does in Germany.
       
3. In 1695 about 11,400 doctors who had treated plague sufferers died and about 23,670 doctors who had not treated plague sufferers died. On the basis of these figures, it can be concluded that it was more dangerous for doctors not to participate in the treatment of plague sufferers than it was for them to participate in it.
   
   Which of the following statements would cast most doubt on the conclusion above?
   1. Expressing the difference between the numbers of deaths among doctors who had treated plague sufferers and doctors who had not treated plague suffers as a percentage of the total number of deaths.
   2. Examining the death rates for doctors in the years before and after 1695.
   3. Separating deaths due to natural causes during the treatment of plague suffers from deaths caused by other causes.
   4. Comparing death rates per thousand members of each group rather than comparing total numbers of deaths.
   5. The figures quoted may vary by plus or minus ten percent from the actual figures.
       
4. There are 900 bottles to be filled. Jim and Molly working independently but at the same time take 30 minutes to fill the bottles. How long should it take Molly working by herself to fill the bottles?
   
   Statement 1 -
   Molly fills half as many bottles as Jim.
   
   Statement 2 -
   Jim would take 45 minutes by himself.
   
   Which of the statements above make it possible to answer the question.
    
   1. Statement 1 alone is sufficient, but statement 2 alone is not sufficient.
   2. Statement 2 alone is sufficient, but statement 1 alone is not sufficient.
   3. Both statements together are sufficient, but neither statement alone is sufficient.
   4. Each statement alone is sufficient.
   5. Statements 1 and 2 together are not sufficient.
       
5. Of the teams competing in the world archery championships, twenty percent are from Europe. Half as many are from the United States and one twentieth are from Africa. What fraction of teams are from neither Europe, the US or Africa.
    
   1. 13/20
   2. 15/20
   3. 13/15
   4. 17/20
   5. 13/17
       

   Answer to  verbal ability Critical Reasoning questions.

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