Verbal Reasoning mistakes that cost marks

A very common mistake is choosing two words that are opposites instead of two words that mean the same thing. For example, some children pick "hot" and "cold" because they often appear together and feel connected. But opposites are not synonyms — they mean very different things!

To avoid this, always ask yourself: "Could I use one of these words instead of the other in a sentence?" If the meaning flips or changes a lot, the words are not synonyms. Use the swap trick every time to catch this mistake before you write your answer.

A very common mistake is picking two words that mean nearly the same thing instead of two that are opposite. This happens because the question includes tricky near-synonyms on purpose.

For example, in the groups (fast, hot, wide) and (narrow, quick, cold), some children pick 'fast' and 'quick' because they know those words go together — but 'fast' and 'quick' mean the same, not the opposite!

Always ask yourself: 'Do these two words pull in opposite directions?' If they feel similar, they are probably a distractor pair. Look again for a pair that truly pulls apart.

A common mistake is joining the words in the wrong order — taking a word from the right group first and a word from the left group second.

The question always tells you: pick one from the LEFT group first, then one from the RIGHT group.

For example, with (rain, sun) + (flower, bow): correct: rain + bow = rainbow ✓ wrong way round: bow + rain = bowrain ✗

Always go left group first, right group second.

A very common mistake is to look at only the first gap, decide on a rule, and then get the answer wrong.

For example, look at this sequence: 2, 6, 7, 11, 12, __

The first gap is +4, so you might think the rule is always +4. But the next gap is +1, then +4, then +1. The rule is actually +4, +1 taking turns.

If you had only checked once, you might have written 16 instead of the correct answer, 16... actually let's be careful — 12 + 4 = 16. In this case it happens to be right, but the pattern could easily mislead you with other sequences.

Try this one instead: 3, 5, 10, 12, 17, __ Gaps: +2, +5, +2, +5 — so the next gap is +2, giving 19, not 22.

Always write out all the gaps. It only takes a few seconds and it keeps you from making this mistake.

Many children look at only the first two numbers in a sequence and guess the gap without checking the others. For example, in 3, 6, 9, 13, ___ a quick glance might make you think the gap is 3 — but look at 9 to 13: that gap is 4! Always check every gap before you write your answer. If the gaps are not all the same, look more carefully — perhaps the gap itself is growing, or you have misread a number.

A very common mistake is to only look at the first letter, then guess the rest.

For example, with the words big, bird, bite, bit — they all start with bi, so you must look at the third letter: g, r, t, t. g comes first, then r, then t. But bite and bit both start with bit, so you need the fourth letter: e or nothing. A shorter word comes first if all its letters match the start of the longer word, so bit comes before bite.

Always keep comparing, one letter at a time, until you find a difference.

A very common mistake is to stop as soon as a letter makes the first word work, without checking the second word. For example, in BU( ) OAT, a child might write S because BUS is a real word — but SOAT is not a word at all!

Always finish the check. Try the letter on the second word before you decide. It only takes a moment and it stops you getting caught out.

Many children only look for a pattern going forwards through the alphabet. But the step can go backwards too — just like a number sequence can go down instead of up.

If your second letters seem to jump about, check whether they are counting down. Write the position numbers out and you will see it straight away.

For example, in AZ, CX, EV the second letters are 26, 24, 22 — clearly going down by 2. If you only looked forwards you would miss this.

When putting words in alphabetical order, many children only look at the first letter and then stop. If two words start with the same letter, you must look at the second letter — and if those match too, move on to the third.

For example: 'ship', 'shed', 'shop'. All start with 'sh', so look at the third letter: s-h-E-d, s-h-I-p, s-h-O-p. E comes before I, and I before O, so the order is: shed, ship, shop.

Take it letter by letter and you will always get it right.