Verbal Reasoning Tests: How to Handle True, False and Cannot Say

Verbal reasoning tests look like the easiest part of a psychometric assessment. You read a short passage, then decide whether a statement is true, false or cannot say. No maths, no shapes, just reading.

Then the results come back lower than expected. Almost always, the marks were lost on one answer option: cannot say. This guide explains why that option catches so many capable people, and how to get it right under time pressure.

What a verbal reasoning test measures

These tests check whether you can read unfamiliar material quickly, work out exactly what it says, and draw only the conclusions the text supports. That's a skill most roles rely on — reading policy, reports, emails from clients, contracts or briefs, and not reading more into them than is there.

They don't test vocabulary or grammar in any formal way. The passages are written in plain business language. What's being tested is discipline: can you separate what the passage states from what you already know or assume?

What the test usually looks like

• Short passages. Usually 100 to 250 words on a business, workplace or general topic, with several statements to judge per passage.
• Three answer options. True (the passage states it or it follows directly), False (the passage contradicts it), or Cannot say (the passage doesn't give you enough to decide either way).
• A tight time limit. Many tests allow somewhere around a minute per statement, and that includes reading time.
• Comparative scoring. Your result is generally compared with a benchmark group. More on this in Psychometric Testing in Job Interviews: What It's Actually Measuring.

Some providers use slightly different labels, such as "true, false, not given". The logic is the same.

The one rule that matters most

Judge every statement using only the passage. Not what you know about the topic, not what seems likely, and not what the writer probably meant.

This is harder than it sounds, because we read everyday material by filling gaps with common sense. A verbal reasoning test marks that habit as an error. If the passage doesn't say it, the answer is cannot say — even when the statement is almost certainly true in real life.

Three example questions (with explanations)

Read the passage, then judge each statement. Give yourself about a minute for each.

Riverside City Council introduced a food organics and garden organics (FOGO) collection service in 2024. Households received a green-lidded bin, collected weekly, while general waste collection moved from weekly to fortnightly. In the first year, the volume of waste sent to landfill from participating households fell by 30 per cent. The council has said it will extend the service to apartment buildings once a suitable bin system has been trialled. Some residents have raised concerns about odour from general waste bins during summer, and the council is reviewing whether to offer weekly general waste collection over the warmer months.

Statement 1: General waste is now collected less often than it was before 2024. (True / False / Cannot say)

Answer: True. The passage says general waste collection moved from weekly to fortnightly. Fortnightly is less often than weekly, so the statement follows directly from the text.

This is the most straightforward type: the wording is different from the passage, but the meaning is the same. Don't let a paraphrase push you towards cannot say.

Statement 2: Apartment buildings are currently part of the FOGO service. (True / False / Cannot say)

Answer: False. The council says it will extend the service to apartment buildings once a bin system has been trialled. That tells you apartments aren't included yet, so the passage contradicts the statement.

The tempting wrong answer is cannot say, because the passage never uses the words "apartments are not included". But a statement is false whenever the passage makes it impossible, not only when it denies it word for word.

Statement 3: Most residents support the FOGO service. (True / False / Cannot say)

Answer: Cannot say. The passage mentions that some residents have concerns about odour, but it gives no information about how many residents support or oppose the service overall.

Two traps sit here. A 30 per cent drop in landfill sounds like a success, which pushes people towards true. The odour complaints push others towards false. Neither tells you what most residents think, so the passage can't settle it.

The mistakes that cost the most marks

• Using outside knowledge. If you know something about the topic, set it aside. The passage is the only source.
• Treating "likely" as true. A statement that is probably correct is still cannot say unless the passage supports it.
• Confusing false with cannot say. False means the passage rules the statement out. Cannot say means the passage leaves it open.
• Missing the small words. "Some", "most", "all", "only", "always" and "never" change the meaning of a statement completely. "Some residents" is not "most residents".
• Reading cause into sequence. If two things happen together, the passage hasn't told you one caused the other unless it says so.
• Rereading the whole passage every time. Skim it once for structure, then go back to the exact sentence each statement relates to.

How to practice so it actually helps

Start untimed. Work one statement at a time and read the explanation after each, especially for anything you marked cannot say or false. Those two are where the learning is.

Say why before you answer. For each statement, point to the sentence that proves it true or false. If you can't find one, it's probably cannot say.

Then add the clock. Once you're consistently right untimed, move to timed sets so you build reading speed on a method you trust.

Review every set and keep the passages fresh. Look for your pattern. Most people lean one way — too many trues, or too many cannot says. New passages each time stop you from answering from memory.

Practice verbal reasoning in the Practice Lab

Interview Practice Lab's psychometric practice is built around this approach. Choose verbal reasoning and start in Learning mode: you answer one question at a time, see straight away whether you were right, and get a plain-English explanation of why the right answer works and why the tempting option doesn't.

When you're ready, switch to a Timed mock — a full set against the clock, with a review of every question at the end. Every session generates a new set of questions, so you can keep practicing right up to test day.

Psychometric practice is included in All Access and covers numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning, abstract reasoning and situational judgement. Try psychometric practice.

Related reading: Psychometric Testing in Job Interviews and Numerical Reasoning Tests.