Verbal Reasoning

Find the right talent with a verbal reasoning test. Assess the cognitive ability of your candidates to identify top performers.

What is a Verbal Reasoning test?

The Verbal Reasoning test is an objective, standardised way to assess verbal ability and gather data about a candidates verbal aptitude during the recruitment process. The Verbal Reasoning analysis is one of the nine tests available in the FinxS Reasoning Assessment Suite and predictive of a candidates verbal aptitude. The test measures a candidate's ability to comprehend and reason using concepts expressed verbally or through written information. Such skills are in high demand and required for Journalists, Lawyers, Editors and Public Relations Specialists.

We've been supporting New Zealand businesses for over 21 years to boost their hiring and selection processes. Our advanced aptitude testing platform, FinxS empowers recruitment managers to assess verbal ability and make more reliable hiring decisions, predict the performance of applicants and understand their working style.

Organisations with successful recruitment processes place emphasis on hiring employees with abilities and behavioural traits that correspond to job role requirements. These organisations understand that robust psychometric tests help select top talent, increase employee retention and avoid high turnover.

When administered correctly, reasoning tests can significantly enhance the probability of selecting the right candidate for a job.

    Common uses of verbal reasoning test

    The Verbal Reasoning test is most commonly used by recruiters during the employment process to assess verbal ability, predict the job performance of candidates, and quickly narrow down the talent pool. Skills such as logic, numerical reasoning or written comprehension are directly related to the high performance of specific tasks or functions in an organisation. Hiring personnel with high intellectual abilities guarantees better performance from the individual.

    Make Secure Hiring Decisions

    Robust reasoning tests help select top talent, increase employee retention and reduce turnover.

    Benefits of a verbal reasoning test

    Assess Speed vs Quality

    The FinxS Verbal Reasoning test analyses whether the candidate prioritises speed over accuracy or has a balance of both and what this may mean concerning their job performance. The speed-accuracy balance provides additional insight into a candidate's working style.

    Benchmark Performance

    The purpose of a benchmark comparison is to identify how a respondent compares against a selected population. Quantify the attributes of your top performers and create a baseline for confident hiring decisions. Create a benchmark to add a valuable comparison tool when hiring.

    Online Assessments

    The assessments are easy to administer and completed online via our cloud-based platform. Simply send candidates a link and a unique access code and receive an automated report straight to your nominated inbox within minutes of the candidate completing the test. 

    Predict job performance with a verbal reasoning test

    Are you looking to hire someone with exceptional verbal skills who is comfortable with written information? Organisations who utilise reasoning assessments during the selection and hiring process are 24% more likely to have a workforce who exceed performance expectations.

    Candidates with a strong affinity for verbal reasoning are quick to grasp simple and more complex texts. They can find connections in the text and link these to the context. Candidates who score well in this area can draw on written material to make arguments and switch quickly between comprehension to problem solving.

    What does a verbal reasoning test measure?

    The FinxS Verbal Reasoning test measures verbal ability. The test provides insight and understanding of candidates' working speed and accuracy to understand written information, conceptualise it and find causal relationships. It relates to a person's ability to identify essential information in a text and understand how it relates to the problem.

    Someone who demonstrates strong verbal reasoning might ask questions such as "What is the key information I should filter out from this bulk text?" or "If these are the premises, then this is the conclusion?"

    Verbal reasoning assessments provide reliable insights into a candidate's abilities, including:

    • How competent the candidate is with analysing large amounts of written or oral information under a considerable time pressure
    • Ability to comprehend and interpret verbal information
    • Ability to evaluate weak and robust arguments and identify counter arguments

    What to expect during a verbal reasoning test?

    The Verbal Reasoning section of the test consists of 20 questions to assess verbal ability. Candidates read a large text then need to determine if the concluding statement is true, false or undetermined.

    Before the test begins, candidates are provided with a practice question so they understand what to expect during the verbal reasoning test. Verbal reasoning is the most difficult test in the FinxS Reasoning Analysis battery. The average score is 28 out of a possible 100. 

    How to prepare for a verbal reasoning test?

    Practising sample questions is the most valuable thing a candidate can do to prepare for a verbal reasoning test. The more texts they read, the quicker they will become in determining intended messages and conclusions from written information.

    Candidates often struggle under the time pressure of the test. Simulate a practice situation where they time themselves while completing a set of questions to become comfortable with significant time constraints.

    Predict job performance with Verbal Reasoning Tests

    Verbal reasoning test questions

    Candidates complete the verbal reasoning test under timed conditions. They have a maximum of fifteen minutes to complete up to 20 questions. Candidates read a written text and after reading the passage are asked to determine whether the concluding statement is true, false or not possible to interpret.

    For example, "Paradoxically, to understand others, we must first have a good understanding of ourselves. We often do not have this self-knowledge, or the opportunity to develop it. In an organisation, status and power barriers prevent people from expressing their true feelings about each other. There are also cultural constraints which inhibit the public expression of emotions. Even when information about our attitudes, values and behaviour is available in some form, psychological defence mechanisms may interfere with our ability to use it effectively.

    From reading the above passage, is this statement, true, false or not possible to know. 'Managers in organisations do not always get true feedback from their subordinates.'

    Verbal reasoning test answers

    You will receive a report automatically from our cloud-based platform within minutes of the candidate completing the questionnaire. The report details the candidate's answers and provides an analysis of the implication of the score on the candidate's job performance. The report contains an overall rating, the number of all correct answers, the number of questions the candidate completed and the time spent answering. The breakdown of scores allows for analysis of the candidate's speed and accuracy. Recruiters can also compare the score to a benchmark population to examine the candidate's ability to others within the organisation.

    Next steps 

    Verbal Reasoning tests are a precise and reliable way to measure verbal ability, assess verbal aptitude, and predict the performance of job applicants. Interviews, resumes and reference checks are often ineffective predictors of job performance as recruiters judge candidates based on subjective, rather than job-related abilities. Reasoning tests help hiring managers to draw more objective conclusions about an applicants working style and current capability.

    These abilities are difficult to assess based solely on resumes and interviews. Cognitive Aptitude tests can be used in most occupational contexts as they test only the abilities that are vital to job performance in a wide variety of fields. So, it's no surprise that aptitude is the single most accurate predictor of job performance.

    Please do not use the FinxS Reasoning results as the sole criterion to make decisions about a candidate. Always consider many other factors, such as behavioural preferences, skills, attitudes, motivation, knowledge, education and experience that are not measured by this assessment.

    Discover our Range of Reasoning Assessments

    Abstract Logical
    Reasoning

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    Understanding Logical Processes

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    Mathematical Logical Reasoning

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    Understanding
    Social Context

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    Numerical
    Reasoning

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    Visual
    Memory

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    Word
    Association

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    Spatial
    Reasoning

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    Start assessing your candidates today