What is Verbal Reasoning?
Verbal reasoning is the name given to one of the types of tests used to assess a person’s ability to manipulate words to create new words or find hidden words.
But, the larger your vocabulary, the better your chance of obtaining a higher score. You can try out some of the different types of questions on the demo page by following the link below.
Intelligence tests that are largely verbal in content and used in an educational context are often referred to as verbal reasoning tests. These tests consist of a variety of item types, typically including similes, antonyms, analogies, codes and anagrams. Modern verbal reasoning (VR) tests are objective and require a mixture of completion and multiple-choice responses, although some recent versions are entirely in multiple-choice format so that they may be machine-scored via the use of an optically-read answer sheet.
The full BOFA tests include all the different types of questions used, but they may vary slightly from the questions you would actually get in your verbal reasoning exam.
There are approximately 20 key different types of verbal reasoning questions with several spin offs but as long as you are aware of the concept of what is a verbal reasoning question and you have practiced answering VR questions, as they are known, then they shouldn’t present you with too many difficulties.
Some people may try to suggest that there are exactly 26 types or 32 types etc. of questions and then will change the number when a slightly different way of a phrasing the same question is used in an exam next year. Be aware of this and focus on a general understanding of the principles required to be successful on the day, not in past exam papers. The best preparation will give a pupil the confidence to tackle any type of question thrown at them.
Take the Eleven Plus Verbal Reasoning demo test now
BOFA has the sections defined as follows:
| 1 | Antonyms - Adjectives |
| 2 | Antonyms - Adverb |
| 3 | Antonyms - Nouns |
| 4 | Antonyms - Verbs |
| 5 | Synonyms - Adjectives |
| 6 | Synonyms - Nouns |
| 7 | Synonyms - Verbs |
| 8 | Related Words - Antonyms |
| 9 | Related Words - Locations |
| 10 | Related Words - Numbers |
| 11 | Related Words - Relations |
| 12 | Related Words - Synonyms |
| 13 | Find the Missing Letter |
| 14 | Find the Missing Letters |
| 15 | Moving a Letter Between Words |
| 16 | Hidden Anagrams |
| 17 | Hidden Words |
| 18 | Missing Chain Word |
| 19 | Missing Chain Words |
| 20 | Two Words Join to Make a New Word |
| 21 | Words With More Than One Meaning |
| 22 | Logic Statements |
| 23 | Who likes What? |
| 24 | Code a Word by Moving Backwards Through the Alphabet |
| 25 | Code a Word by Moving Forwards Through the Alphabet |
| 26 | Encode a Word by Moving Backwards Through the Alphabet |
| 27 | Encode a Word by Moving Forwards Through the Alphabet |
| 28 | Decode a Word by Moving Backwards Through the Alphabet |
| 29 | Decode a Word by Moving Forwards Through the Alphabet |
| 30 | Code a Word from a Codeword |
| 31 | Encode a Word from a Codeword |
| 32 | Decode a Word from a Codeword |
| 33 | Match the Codewords |
| 34 | Formulae |
| 35 | Sequences |
Practice makes perfect, or should we say, practice can save you time and help reduce your stress levels.
These questions are just as appropriate whether you are sitting an 11 plus or a corporate selection test.
