The real test allows about 30 seconds a question in Verbal Reasoning. Work through these untimed first, then try again against the clock. If the question types are new to you, read the guide to Verbal Reasoning first.
True, False or Can't Tell: Night buses in Calder Bay
In 2021 the city of Calder Bay began running buses through the night on four of its routes at weekends. Before the trial, the last services left the city centre at 11.40 pm. The council's stated aim was to give hospitality workers, most of whom finish after midnight, a way home that did not depend on taxis.
In the first year, the night services carried an average of 1,900 passengers each weekend. By the third year the figure was 3,100. A survey of night passengers in the third year found that 44 per cent were travelling home from work and 38 per cent from a social occasion, with the remainder travelling for other reasons.
Taxi operators opposed the trial from the start. Their association reports that takings on weekend nights fell by a fifth over the three years, although it accepts that ride-share services grew over the same period. The council has made the night buses permanent but has declined to extend them to weeknights.
Question 1. Before the trial, no bus left the city centre after midnight.
- True
- False
- Can't Tell
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: True
True. The last services left at 11.40 pm, so nothing left after midnight. The passage does not use these words, but they follow directly from it.
Question 2. Most passengers in the third-year survey were travelling home from work.
- True
- False
- Can't Tell
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: False
False. 44 per cent were travelling home from work. That was the largest group, but it is less than half, so it was not most passengers.
Question 3. The night buses caused the fall in taxi takings on weekend nights.
- True
- False
- Can't Tell
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: Can't Tell
Can't Tell. Takings fell while the buses ran, but ride-share services grew over the same period. The passage gives no way to separate the two, so the cause cannot be decided from it.
Question 4. Average weekend passenger numbers rose by more than 60 per cent between the first year and the third.
- True
- False
- Can't Tell
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: True
True. The rise was 3,100 − 1,900 = 1,200 passengers. As a share of the first-year figure, 1,200 ÷ 1,900 is about 63 per cent.
Four-option questions: Hives on the roof
Keeping honey bees on city rooftops has become popular over the past decade, and is often promoted as a way to help pollinators. Several ecologists now argue that the reverse may be true. Honey bees are managed livestock, not wildlife, and a single hive can hold 50,000 foragers in summer. Where flowers are limited, as they are in dense city centres, these foragers compete with native bees for nectar and pollen.
A study of one European capital found that as the number of registered hives tripled over six years, counts of wild bee species in the same districts fell. The authors noted, however, that building work removed several flower-rich sites during the study.
Dr Tomas Reiner, who led the work, does not call for a ban. He recommends that councils cap the number of hives in each district, and that people who want to help should plant flowering species instead, since more flowers benefit every pollinator whereas more hives benefit only one. Beekeeping associations reply that their members plant extensively, and that hobby hives introduce many people to insects they would otherwise ignore.
Question 5. According to the passage, why might city hives harm native bees?
- A.Honey bees attack native bees.
- B.Honey bees compete with native bees for a limited supply of food.
- C.Hives spread disease to native bees.
- D.Beekeepers remove the flowers that native bees use.
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: B. Honey bees compete with native bees for a limited supply of food.
B. The first paragraph says that where flowers are limited, honey bee foragers compete with native bees for nectar and pollen. Attack, disease and the removal of flowers by beekeepers are not mentioned anywhere.
Question 6. Which of the following is a reason to be cautious about the study's finding?
- A.The number of hives was not recorded.
- B.Dr Reiner keeps bees himself.
- C.Flower-rich sites were lost to building work during the study.
- D.Counts of wild bee species rose in some districts.
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: C. Flower-rich sites were lost to building work during the study.
C. The authors themselves noted that building work removed flower-rich sites, which could explain some of the fall in wild bees. A is contradicted: registered hives were counted and tripled. B and D are not stated.
Question 7. Dr Reiner would most likely agree that:
- A.rooftop hives should be banned in cities.
- B.honey bees are a form of wildlife.
- C.beekeeping associations do not plant flowers.
- D.planting flowers helps more kinds of pollinator than adding hives does.
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: D. planting flowers helps more kinds of pollinator than adding hives does.
D. He recommends planting because more flowers benefit every pollinator, whereas more hives benefit only one. A is contradicted: he does not call for a ban. B contradicts the passage, which calls honey bees managed livestock. C is a claim he never makes.
Question 8. Which of the following is stated in the passage?
- A.A hive can hold 50,000 foragers in summer.
- B.Rooftop beekeeping has become less popular over the past decade.
- C.Councils have capped the number of hives in each district.
- D.Hobby beekeepers ignore other insects.
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: A. A hive can hold 50,000 foragers in summer.
A. This is stated in the first paragraph. B is the opposite of what the passage says. C confuses a recommendation with something that has happened. D twists the associations' point, which is about people who would otherwise ignore insects.
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