The Verbal Reasoning subtest assesses your ability to read and think carefully about information presented in passages and to determine whether specific conclusions can be drawn from information presented. You are not expected to use prior knowledge to answer the questions.
Why Verbal Reasoning?
Doctors and dentists need excellent verbal reasoning skills in order to understand complex information and communicate this clearly and simply to patients is essential. Medical practitioners must also be able to interpret findings from published materials and apply this to their own practice. It is essential they are able to critique such materials and draw their own conclusion as to the validity of any findings.
Verbal Reasoning Items
You will be presented with eleven passages of text, each associated with 4 questions. You have 21 minutes to answer the 44 questions in this subtest.
Some questions assess critical reasoning skills, requiring candidates to make inferences and draw conclusions from information. You will need to read the passage of text carefully. You will then be presented with a question or incomplete statement and four response options. You are required to pick the best or most suitable response. You will only be able to select one response.
For other questions, your task is to read each passage of text carefully and then decide whether the statement provided follows logically. There are three answer options you can choose from:
True: On the basis of the information in the passage, the statement is true.
False: On the basis of the information in the passage, the statement is false.
Can’t Tell: You cannot tell from the information in the passage whether the statement is true or false.