Verbal Reasoning Tips

True / False / Cannot say Tips

• Reading the passage and time management
• Knowing what the three possible answers really mean!
• An Example passage and statements

1. You must first consider your solving strategy. Try and apply two strategies, and see which of those suits you best:


• Start by reading the passage.
• Start by reading the question.


2. Choosing the first strategy, read each passage once very carefully. Add the meaning of one sentence to the one before it, trying to draw a mental "map" of the information and the logic in the passage.


3. If a sentence confuses you, reread it and the one before it.


4. If the meaning of a word or phrase is unclear to you, try to grasp its meaning by means of its context, it is very important, since the verbal reasoning section examines both your comprehension and vocabulary skills.


5. Notice extreme words that refer to: Exclusion, inclusion, prohibition, negation, etc. Remember that the relations between the different parts of the passage is sometimes more important than their actual content.


6. Pay close attention to qualifiers, since they are frequently used as determiners for the correct answer. Only extreme qualifiers such as all/none/always/never apply to the entire group of their object. Qualifiers such as few/some, many/most, still leave place for exceptions.


7. Some people believe that it is pointless to read the passage first without knowing the questions. This is not true - it is to be decided upon self experience.


8. If you choose the strategy of starting by reading the question, you should scan the passage cursorily and locate the relevant section of the text. Doing so, carefully read adjacent sentences, and try to infer the correct answer from them.


9. In most cases, the statements are ordered with respect to the passage's progress.
   
   

True

1. A statement is True if the same information given in the statement is given explicitly in the passage. In this case:


• The statement typically summarises a complex piece of information given in the passage using rephrases and/or synonym words and terms.
• Sometimes, the statement brings together pieces of information that are given in different places in the passage. Find these pieces of information and verify that each piece is true for the whole statement to be true.


2. A statement is also True if you can correctly infer its content from the information.


• In this case, there must be enough information to make the inference.
  
• Remember to rely SOLELY on the information introduced in the passage: Even if your general knowledge and familiarity with the topic presented suggest that the information is invalid, you must assume that it is the passage alone that can supply facts and information for decision making. In other words, there is no obligation that the information of the passage will be 100% correct.
  
• Notice that your inference doesn't over generalise the details of the passage, even if it seems like a definitive conclusion. Any seemingly correct answer which presents a broader inference than the one supported by the passage falls into the "Cannot Say" criteria.

An Example passage and statements:

Two studies published recently show that 13 of 16 children treated with gene therapy – treating diseases by correcting a patient's faulty genes - for severe combined immune deficiency, or SCID, have had their immune systems restored. The best treatment for the disease is a bone marrow transplant from an immunologically matched sibling. But, when no matched donor is available, unmatched donors, such as parents, are recruited; these transplants are only around 70 percent successful. The success of gene therapy now rivals or betters that seen in these unmatched donor situations. In 2001, a child in the trial developed leukaemia, thought to have been induced by a component in the modified virus, or vector, the researchers used to insert the correct gene into the boy's cells. Of the 30 children worldwide who have been treated with gene therapy for another form of SCID, marked by a deficiency in the enzyme adenosine deaminase (ADA), none has developed leukaemia. Yet medical researchers maintain that gene therapy is still a better alternative than the conventional treatment for X-linked SCID in some children because 19 of the 20 children who have received gene therapy for X-linked SCID are still alive. When told these odds, all parents of children with X-linked SCID have opted for gene therapy.

Only 1 child with ADA deficiency related SCID got leukaemia.

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