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Verbal reasoning is a key part of many grammar and private school entrance exams. Here are our favourite free verbal reasoning worksheets and questions for you to download! We've crafted a full-length free verbal reasoning practice paper to help your child prepare.
What is verbal reasoning?
Verbal reasoning involves analysing written information and using logic to solve problems with letters, words and symbols. It's used by most 11 plus exam boards, including GL Assessment, CEM Select and ISEB, as well as many bespoke school-written tests.
Take a look at our verbal reasoning exam preparation guide for a full breakdown of the verbal reasoning skills that your child will need for their exam.
Why practise verbal reasoning at home?
Verbal reasoning is not taught at primary school as part of the English Key Stage 2 national curriculum. Some private prep schools will prepare children for entrance exams – but this is not compulsory, and is rare in state primary schools.
So, if your child is applying to grammar school or a selective private school, be aware that they are not likely to have seen this style of problem-solving exercise at school before.
Reasoning exams often aim to measure 'natural' ability. But the reality is that children who are familiar with these question styles will be at a strong advantage compared to children who are encountering them for the first time on exam day.
Using verbal reasoning practice papers at home can help your child develop this familiarity so that on exam day they can focus on answering the questions to the best of their ability, rather than puzzling out what is being asked of them.
Verbal reasoning helpsheets
The exact content of the verbal reasoning test will vary depending on the exam board and paper configuration your child's school has chosen.
Here is an overview of some of the main topics and subtopics assessed in most verbal reasoning exams. We've also included some free helpsheets to introduce your child to key topics:
1. Vocabulary
Synonyms
Antonyms
Homonyms
Odd ones out
Identifying connections
2. Finding words
Jumbled words
Jumbled sentences
Finding a missing word
Anagrams
3. Building words
Joining words
Morphing words
Transferring letters
Identifying missing letters
4. Codes and sequences
Solving codes (using letters, numbers and/or symbols)
Solving sequences (using letters, numbers and/or symbols)
5. Logic
Statement logic
Deductions
Number logic
Letter logic
Looking to make sure your child understands every topic they will come across in the exam? Check out Atom Nucleus. It's an award-winning online learning programme that gives you over 90,000 interactive practice questions and test papers, all automatically marked.
Explore some questions, helpsheets and videos on Atom below:
Verbal reasoning questions
Here are ten verbal reasoning sample questions in PDF format to help your child practise.
The pack also contains an answer sheet with explanations of the steps to approach each question. You can work through these together with your child to help them build their understanding.
Verbal reasoning lessons
In this free online verbal reasoning lesson, Wing teaches us some top tips to decipher the meaning of unknown words and tackle tricky cloze questions!
If you're looking for more verbal reasoning tutorials, explore our free video lessons. Atom's lessons are free for everyone to watch live. Or, with Atom Nucleus, you can watch anytime.
There's an easier way to prepare for the 11 plus
Wondering how to make sure your child understands the whole 11 plus curriculum and stays on track with their progress? Atom Nucleus is an online course for grammar school and private school exams.
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