Colet Court 11+ deferred examination reasoning section Our reasoning test is in line with national reasoning tests for children seeking entry to state grammar and independent schools at 11+. The methods and techniques used should be familiar to children and parents. The one subtle difference is that our test is not in multiplechoice format. You will see this from the sample questions. The test contains reasoning questions that examine verbal and quantitative reasoning but it does not examine nonverbal reasoning. The following guide has been written with parents in mind. We hope that you will find these methods easy to understand and the techniques interesting. We hope that this guide will help you to help your son achieve his potential and help him feel comfortable and relaxed about the nature of our verbal reasoning test. At the end of the guide is a practice paper containing 50 questions. The actual paper contains 100 questions and is to be answered in 50 minutes. We do not recommend doing the practice paper as a timed test; instead we like to think you will use it as a discussion exercise with your son to help explore the methods and techniques which should be used. The front cover has been designed to reflect the appearance of the front cover of the actual test. Answers to the questions are provided at the end of the practice paper. The actual paper contains approximately 15 different techniques. Our guide, however, only lists 10 of them. This is because some questions are variations on a previous theme and some questions are designed to test your son s powers of analysis and logic when only a small amount of information is given to assist in finding the answer to the question. Past experience indicates that for a boy to be competitive on entry at 11+ or 11+ deferred he needs to be approximately 80% accurate on our reasoning test. Results are standardized and a weighting is applied taking into account the age of each child. We hope that you enjoy working through the problems with your son and that you find the guide useful. Page 1 of 8
Guide to the most commonly used reasoning techniques and methods. Type 1: Similar and Opposite In the following questions, find two words, one from each group, that are most opposite in meaning. Underline the two words. Example: ( up run amble ) ( grin laugh down ) These questions are straightforward but remember to check carefully to see if the instruction is asking you to find similar in meaning or opposite in meaning. Always read through all of the given words first; quite often the correct pair will be obvious. If, however, you do not see the answer immediately look through each pair in turn. Start with the first word in the left-hand group and compare it with the three words in the righthand group. Continue this process with the second word in the left-hand group and finally the third word until you find a match. Remember to underline TWO words, one from each group. Type 2: Odd ones out In the questions below underline the TWO words which DO NOT BELONG with the other four. Example: pencil quilt paper sheet blanket duvet Although you are trying to find the two words that don t go with the others, it is sometimes easier instead to find the four words that do go together. The ones that don t are, therefore, the odd ones out. A common error is to find two words that go together but don t seem to fit with the other words. In the example above children sometimes mark blanket and duvet because they mistakenly think pencil, paper and sheet (as in sheet of paper) go together and that quilt is unconnected to either group because they have not met this word before. Remember that there does not always have to be a connection between the odd ones out but there does have to be a connection between the other four words. To do well in these questions children need to have a very good vocabulary. Remember to underline TWO words. Page 2 of 8
Type3: Number Operations In these questions the numbers in each group are related in the same way. You must find the missing number in the third group and write it in the space provided. Example ( 5 [ 15 ] 10 ) ( 20 [ 60 ] 40 ) ( 10 [ 30 ] 20 ) These questions require you to find a missing number from two given numbers. Two examples are given to help you find the common operation and then apply it in exactly the same way to the third set. You must remember to use BOTH outside numbers to find the centre number. Try to avoid using the centre number in your calculations because it isn t given in the third set! If possible please encourage your son to adopt an algebraic approach to questions of this nature. For instance in the above example the solution is obtained by adding together the two outside numbers, so think of this as: a + b. Here are further examples: ( 5 [ 25 ] 10 ) ( 20 [ 100 ] 40 ) rule: a + 2b ( 5 [ 30 ] 10 ) ( 20 [ 120 ] 40 ) rule: 2(a + b) ( 5 [ 1 ] 10 ) ( 20 [ 1 ] 40 ) rule: 2a b ( 5 [ 7 ] 10 ) ( 20 [ 22 ] 40 ) rule: a + (b a) Remember the rule MUST apply to both pairs in the example. In general if the number in the middle is larger than the two either side, it will probably be an addition or if it is much larger it will probably be a multiplication. If the number in the middle is smaller than the two either side, it will probably be a subtraction or if it is much smaller it will probably be a division. Page 3 of 8
Type 4: Ordering In the questions below the six words can be made into two groups of three and each group can then be arranged into a new order. Underline the middle word in each group. Remember to underline TWO words in each question. Example: lake tree drop wood seed puddle Answer: ( seed tree wood ) ( drop puddle lake ) This is another straightforward type of question. To answer these successfully your son needs to have good vocabulary and be able to recognise words with two meanings. Scan through all six words first, sometimes the two distinct groups are obvious. If not, start with the first word and write it down. Then look at each word in turn. If you spot a link to the first word write it underneath. Continue doing this until you have found the two other words connected in meaning to the first word. In the above example you should find lake and puddle quickly but may not initially realise that drop is connected to them. In this case move to the first word you haven t yet written down and write it down. Then look at each subsequent word in turn and look for a connection, writing it down as appropriate. Here you should find tree, wood and seed are all connected so by default drop must be connected to lake and puddle. Finally you need to sort each of the two sets of three connected words and underline the TWO words that are in the middle. Remember to underline TWO words. Page 4 of 8
Type 5: Sequences In the following questions, find the number that continues the series in the same way. Write this number in the brackets. Example: 6 10 14 18 22 [ 26 ] Begin by looking at the whole sequence. Sometimes the pattern will be obvious. In the above example you are clearly adding four each time so the answer is 26. The questions in the test are not as straightforward as this. Sometimes the pattern is more difficult to follow and sometimes the problem may involve a combination of two sequences. Here are some further examples: 3 5 8 10 13 15 [ 18 ] +2, +3 3 5 10 12 24 26 [ 52 ] +2, x2 3 4 2 3 1 2 [ 0 ] +1, 2 The next two examples show what happens when two sequences are mixed together: 3 4 5 5 7 6 9 7 [ 11 ] A good tip is to look at every other number so in this case you would see 3, 5, 7, 9 (a +2 sequence) and 4, 5, 6, 7 (a +1 sequence). The answer is looking for the next number in the first of these sequences 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, so we write [ 11 ] in the brackets. Here is another example: 1 2 2 4 4 6 8 [ 8 ] In this case the two sequences are 1, 2, 4, 8 (a x2 sequence) and 2, 4, 6 (a +2 sequence). This time the answer requires you to write the next number in the second sequence 2, 4, 6, 8 so we write [ 8 ] in the brackets. Look out for sequences that mix multiplication and addition or subtraction and be aware that there may be more than one way to get from one number to another. For example to get from 3 to 6 you can add three or multiply by two. Page 5 of 8
Type 6: Make a Word (Compound Words) In each question below, underline the TWO words, ONE from each set, that together make ONE correctly spelt word, without changing the order of the letters. The word from the set on the left always comes first. Example: ( motor petrol diesel ) ( walk taxi cycle ) Start by looking at all six words. Often the answer will be obvious. Once you have found the new word say it in your head and write it down just because it sounds right doesn t mean it is spelt correctly. For example if we had fort and tresses in our two lists you would be mistaken if you thought you had found fortresses! Sometimes the word you are looking for changes its sound from the combined sound of the other two words. For example clot and he sound very different when combined in clothe. Remember to underline TWO words, one from each group. Type 7 Analogies Look at this example. Find what the connection is and underline TWO words, one in each set of brackets. Apple is to ( loaf / tree / fruit ) as Cabbage is to ( eat / vegetable / soup ) Here you need to make a link between the first keyword and one of the words in the brackets. Then you need to make a SIMILAR connection between the second word and one of the words in the brackets that follow it. In the example above the first keyword goes well with fruit and tree but it is difficult to see how it goes with loaf. Now try creating a sentence and see if it works with the second keyword: An apple is found on a tree. a cabbage is found on a? No match. An apple is a fruit a cabbage is a vegetable. Matched. Analogies used include: similars, opposites, male/female (king/queen), groups (cows/herd) and anagrams (star/arts). Remember to underline TWO words. Page 6 of 8
Type 8: Run Through In each of the following sentences there is a word of FOUR letters hidden between the end of one word and the beginning of the next. Find the pair of words that contains the hidden word and write it in the brackets. Example: When it is icy he skis so badly. [ kiss ] Focus on finding a word of FOUR letters. You MUST use some of the letters from the end of one word and some of the letters from the beginning of the next. Sometimes you will see the answer immediately. If not you might have to look at pairs of words in order and cover up letters. In the example above, taking when and it the most letters you can take from when is three, then two but not one because it only has two letters. When it using three letters from when and one from it gives heni using two letters from each gives enit Neither combination gives a sensible, correctly spelt word of four letters. Carry on doing this for each pair of words until you find the correctly spelt word of four letters. You will get faster at spotting the correct word with practice. Remember to write the correct word of FOUR letters in the brackets. Type 9: Alphabet Rules Here is the alphabet: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Example: In the questions below find the rule for each row, and then write in each space the letter or letters that are missing. B E H.... Here we are looking for letters that continue the series in the same way. Start by looking through the whole series of letters; quite often you will see what is happening immediately. In the above example each letter in the series is three letters further on than the previous letter, so in this case the solution is K, N. Page 7 of 8
Type 9: Alphabet Rules cont. Sometimes double letters are used. For example: AD XG UJ.... Looking at the first letters the series is AXU, so the pattern is going backwards by three letters each time. The second letters DGJ are moving forward by three letters each time. Hence the solution is RM, OP. This type of question is straightforward if a little time-consuming. Work slowly and methodically, and be as accurate as you can. Type 10: Letter Rule In the questions below, the three words in the second group go together in the same way as the three words in the first group. Find the missing word and write it inside the brackets. Example: bore [ ribs ] said nice [ cans ] star In these questions you are making a new word from some of the letters of two other words. One example is given and you need to make the new word in exactly the same way. Firstly look at the example and work out where each letter in the word ribs came from. The first letter came from the third letter of the word on the left (bore), therefore we take the third letter from nice and use this as the first letter of our answer. C The second letter of the word ribs is i and came from the third letter of the word on the right (said). We take the third letter of the word star and use this as the second letter of our answer. A The third letter of ribs, b, came from the first letter of the word on the left and the fourth letter of ribs, s came from the first letter of the word on the right. Therefore, taking the first letter of (nice), N, and the first letter of (star), S, we have found our third and fourth letters of our answer. NS Hence the final answer made from the words, nice and star, is CANS. Variations include using different numbers of letters in the word on the right versus the word on the left, and the appearance of letters more than once. Our practice paper contains examples of each. We hope that you find this guide useful and enjoy working through the practice paper with your son. Page 8 of 8