Argument Evaluation in Aptitude Tests
If you struggle to pass verbal reasoning tests don't worry you certainly have the skills and abilities required to pass these assessments. To gain respectable score all you need to do is to train yourself in reading comprehension and information evaluation. You need to polish your skills that enable you to quickly read, comprehend and evaluate written information. Below sections demonstrate as what it means for you as a test taker.
Argument evaluation in verbal reasoning
To correctly evaluate argument in verbal tests you need to understand basic principles behind answering questions. Consider the passage and question below. Allow yourself short time to find necessary information to mark the statement as true, false or cannot say.
Statement:
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At Maryland public school sport activities are held at school playground.
How did you do? Did you mark cannot say as the correct answer; if not don’t fret; your verbal reasoning skills will improve with practice. Note that less experienced test takers may be tempted to answer that sport activities are held at the school playground because they may be unintentionally forming their own assumptions or bringing their own understanding of the subject. Nevertheless, the text clearly states that students regularly meet at campus and this does not provide enough information to conclude that student activities are held at school playground. Perhaps, you may assume that student activities are held at school playground, however, you don’t know for sure, they may be held indoors or at some other location. Hence, to undertake verbal reasoning test with confidence, as a first step, you need to understand how to correctly evaluate argument. If you are unsure of this then the chapter on how to answer verbal reasoning questions will shed more light on any grey areas.
Reading comprehension
In addition to argument evaluation you need to develop good reading comprehension skills that will enable you to read fair amount of text quickly and accurately. To demonstrate this, take no more than 30 seconds to evaluate the below statement; when you finish check your answer and read the explanation below.
Statement:
The issues of childhood obesity have been ignored by public schools.
How did it go? Have you identified information to infer the correct answer? If not don’t panic you are just getting started. Note that the passage draws upon initiatives of public schools to promote wellbeing of the students and hence you can conclude that the issues of childhood obesity have not been ignored. However, if you do not spot and correctly interpret the key text upon which the argument of the statement is based then you are likely to mark incorrect answer. The tutorial on how to answer inference questions in verbal tests demonstrates how to identify key points to make logical conclusions and offers in-depth advice on this topic. You can also refer to passage interpretation in verbal test which gives good hints and tips as how to read and comprehend passage.
Information processing
To comply with strict time limits of verbal reasoning tests it is imperative that you practice answering true, false, cannot say questions against the clock. Note that verbal reasoning tests do not assess your ability to read but rather measure your aptitude how quickly and accurately you can comprehend the text and evaluate the information provided. Hence, to sharpen your verbal reasoning skills it is important to practice and gain speed to quickly scan through the text to find the relevant information.