Verbal TEST

Verbal ability tests are very widely used because most jobs require you to understand and make decisions based on verbal or written information. However, there is another less obvious reason that these tests appeal to employers. Verbal tests give employers the best indication of how you will be perceived by other people, particularly customers and co-workers.

This is because most of us make judgements about others based on the accuracy and clarity of the language they use to communicate. To put it bluntly, we assume that people who can communicate clearly and accurately are ‘better’ than those who can’t. Whether you are communicating with customers, suppliers or co-workers, your ability to use words correctly is obvious and will say something positive or negative about you and the organization that employs you.

Verbal tests evaluate your ability to spell words correctly, use correct grammar, understand analogies and analyze detailed written information. Because they depend on understanding the precise meaning of words, idioms and the structure of the language they discriminate very strongly towards native speakers of the language in which the test has been developed. If you speak English as a second language, even if this is at a high standard, you will be significantly disadvantaged in these tests.

There are two distinct types of verbal ability questions, those dealing with spelling, grammar and word meanings, and those that try to measure your comprehension and reasoning abilities. Questions about spelling, grammar and word meanings are speed tests in that they don’t require very much reasoning ability. You either know the answer or you don’t.

Comprehension, reasoning and class membership questions on the other hand, are designed to measure your problem solving abilities. These questions take the form of passages of text which you need to read before answering a series of questions or of groups of words which share relationships. These questions measure your ability to understand concepts and ideas expressed verbally. While these questions are designed to measure reasoning ability rather than educational achievement, it is generally recognized that verbal reasoning test scores are influenced by educational and cultural background.

Verbal Ability - Spelling Questions

Questions where you have to identify incorrectly spelt words are common in all levels of verbal ability tests. The test designer needs to choose commonly misspelled words which are in regular use, as it would be unfair to use obscure words which only a small percentage of candidates could be expected to know. This means that the test designer has a relatively restricted list of words to choose from and you will find that the same words tend to appear in many different suppliers tests.