Verbal reasoning: the five question types and how to tackle them

Children rarely fail verbal reasoning because they are not clever enough. They fail because they meet a letter-shift code for the first time in a timed test and freeze. Ninety per cent of verbal reasoning scores come down to recognising five question types quickly and knowing the method for each.

The five types: letter codes, word analogies, odd one out, letter sequences, and number codes. Master the method for each and the remaining work is speed.

1. Letter codes

What it looks like: “If CAT is written as DBU, how is DOG written?”

The method: work out the rule from the example before you look at the options. Compare the first letter of the word to the first letter of the code — is it +1, +2, or reversed? Test your rule on the second letter to confirm it, then apply it.

Where children lose marks: they spot one pattern (letters shifted forward) but fail to check for a second rule (for example, vowels treated differently). Always verify the rule against every letter you have been given.

The extension: once the rule is secure, ask for the decoding direction too — one of our activities asks which word is coded as IPSTF when the rule is +1. Same skill, read backwards.

2. Word analogies

What it looks like: “Kitten is to cat as puppy is to ___.”

The method: say the relationship out loud as a sentence before choosing — “a kitten is a young cat”. Then find the option that makes the same sentence true: “a puppy is a young ___”. This is much more reliable than “feeling” which word fits.

Where children lose marks: picking a word that is related rather than one that keeps the same relationship. For “pen is to write”, “sharpen” is related to pens, but it breaks the sentence “a pen is used to write”.

3. Odd one out

What it looks like: four words, three share a property.

The method: name the link between three of them explicitly — same category, same tense, same meaning. If you cannot name a link that covers exactly three words, you have the wrong three, so look again.

Where children lose marks: they find a link between two words and stop. Test your rule against all four before committing.

4. Letter sequences

What it looks like: “A, C, E, G, ___.”

The method: write out the alphabet if you need to, then find the gap between the first pair (+2 letters) and check it against the next pair. Same gap all the way through? Then simply continue.

The harder version: the gap changes — +1, +2, +3, +4. When a sequence looks uneven, find the pattern in the gaps rather than the letters. Our letter sequences activity covers both versions, including one where you work out that the gap is growing by one each step.

5. Number codes

What it looks like: letters converted to numbers using alphabet position — A = 1, B = 2, and so on.

The method: learn the positions of the vowels cold (A1, E5, I9, O15, U21) and the rest follows quickly. Most questions only need you to count a short distance from a known letter.

Where children lose marks: guessing instead of counting. If the code is doubled (A = 2, B = 4) then E is 5 × 2 = 10, not 5 + 2. Check which operation the example is using.

How to practise verbal reasoning

Practice one type at a time until the method is automatic, then mix them. Mixed practice is what the real test looks like, but single-type practice is where the learning happens.

Try the verbal reasoning activities — five activities covering all five types above, each with a worked explanation for every question.