- Questions
- 44
- Time
- 22 minutes
- Passages
- 11, with 4 questions each
- Per question
- About 30 seconds
What it tests
Whether you can read a passage carefully and decide what does, and does not, follow from it. Doctors and dentists read dense material and have to separate what a report says from what it merely suggests. The passages can be about anything: history, science, business, a local news story. You need no knowledge of the subject, and using what you already know is one of the main ways marks are lost.
The two kinds of question
True, False or Can't Tell
You are given a statement and decide, from the passage alone, whether it is:
- True: the passage says so, or it follows logically from what the passage says.
- False: the passage contradicts it.
- Can't Tell: the passage does not give enough to decide either way.
Four-option questions
A question or an unfinished sentence with four possible answers, one of which is best. Common wordings are "Which of the following can be concluded?", "According to the passage, why…?", "The author would most likely agree that…" and "All of the following are stated except…". These take longer, because up to four statements have to be checked against the text.
A worked example
Original example: passage
The tool library in Marrow Creek opened in 2019 in a disused council depot. Members pay an annual fee of $40 and may borrow up to five tools at a time for one week. In its first year the library had 210 members; by 2023 it had 640. The most borrowed item in every year has been the pressure washer, followed by the extension ladder. The library is staffed entirely by volunteers and opens on Saturdays and on Wednesday evenings. A proposal to open on Sundays was put to members in 2023 but was not adopted, because too few volunteers were available.
Question 1: True, False or Can't Tell
Membership of the tool library more than tripled between its first year and 2023.
Answer: True
Three times 210 is 630, and the library had 640 members in 2023. The passage does not say "tripled", but it follows from the figures.
Question 2: True, False or Can't Tell
The pressure washer is borrowed more often than all the other tools put together.
Answer: Can't Tell
The passage says it is the most borrowed single item. That tells you it beats each other tool, not that it beats them combined. It might or might not, so the answer is Can't Tell, not False.
Question 3: four options
Which of the following can be concluded from the passage?
- A.Members voted against opening on Sundays.
- B.The library pays its staff from membership fees.
- C.A member may have a ladder and a pressure washer on loan at the same time.
- D.The library was built for the purpose in 2019.
Answer: C
Members may borrow up to five tools at a time, so two at once is allowed. A is tempting, but the proposal failed for lack of volunteers, and nothing says how members voted. B is contradicted: the staff are volunteers. D is contradicted: the building was a disused depot.
How to approach it
- Read the question before the passage. Pick out the word or number that will be easy to find in the text, find it, and read the sentences around it. Most questions turn on two or three sentences.
- Answer from the page. If you know something about the topic, set it aside. A statement that is true in the world but not supported by the passage is Can't Tell.
- Watch the strong words. All, never, only, always, most and must change what a statement claims. A passage that says "many" does not support "most".
- Separate cause from sequence. One thing happening after another does not mean the passage says it was caused by it.
- Keep to two minutes a passage. If a question is eating time, choose your best answer, flag it and move on. A guess costs nothing and the next passage may be easier.
Where marks are lost
- Choosing False when the passage is simply silent. Silence is Can't Tell.
- Reading the whole passage slowly before looking at a question, and running out of time on the last two passages.
- Missing a qualifier such as "some", "in most years" or "according to the coordinator".
- Not reaching the end. Four unanswered questions cost more than one careless one.
How to practise
Start untimed and make yourself point to the sentence that justifies each answer. Then practise single passages against a two-minute clock, and only then full subtests. Because Verbal Reasoning comes first, it is also where nerves are highest, so practise starting it cold. How to prepare sets out a full plan.
Official sources
Dates, fees and entry rules change every year. Always confirm them on the official page before you act on them.