Verbal reasoning: Practice 2 (Intermediate)

Distinguish evidence, missing facts and population changes in two fictional passages.

Instructions for this set

Use only the supplied passage. Choose True, False or Cannot say. No outside knowledge is needed. Foundation practice shares three questions per passage; intermediate and advanced sets share five.

No calculator is required. Locate the exact supporting clause. Separate a contradiction from missing evidence, and keep populations and time periods consistent.

Answer keys and reasoning checked 20 October 2026. These checks do not establish psychometric validity.

Feedback mode has no time limit or negative marking. The optional timed challenge allows 15 minutes and uses the scoring shown on its rules screen. Those settings are not official assessment rules.

Practise with feedback Optional timed challenge

  1. A fictional UK museum offered free advance booking for its evening exhibition in May. Of 200 booked places, 150 were used. Another 40 visitors bought tickets at the door and all entered. The exhibition had capacity for 250 visitors. Advance booking closed at noon on the exhibition day. The museum did not collect visitors’ reasons for attending or for missing their booking.

    1. More people used booked places than entered with door tickets.
    1. True
    2. False
    3. Cannot say

    Reference: q-749b6ebf-445 · Report this question

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    Answer: A. True

    The passage records 150 users of booked places and 40 door-ticket entrants. Since 150 exceeds 40, the comparison follows without needing the total capacity.
  2. 2. Every person with an advance booking attended the exhibition.
    1. True
    2. False
    3. Cannot say

    Reference: q-80b582c8-444 · Report this question

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    Answer: B. False

    Only 150 of the 200 booked places were used, leaving 50 unused. This directly contradicts the claim that every advance booking resulted in attendance.
  3. 3. The people who missed their bookings stayed away because of the weather.
    1. True
    2. False
    3. Cannot say

    Reference: q-f0fd12dc-455 · Report this question

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    Answer: C. Cannot say

    No reasons for missing bookings were collected. Weather and other reasons are both consistent with the passage, so the proposed cause cannot be established.
  4. 4. The exhibition admitted fewer visitors than its stated capacity.
    1. True
    2. False
    3. Cannot say

    Reference: q-87bfbf1b-447 · Report this question

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    Answer: A. True

    There were 150 booked-place visitors plus 40 door-ticket visitors: 190 entrants against capacity for 250. Attendance was therefore below the stated capacity.
  5. 5. Advance bookings remained open until the evening exhibition began.
    1. True
    2. False
    3. Cannot say

    Reference: q-6dbfbf03-449 · Report this question

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    Answer: B. False

    Booking closed at noon on the exhibition day, before the evening exhibition. Do not confuse the time of the event with the earlier booking deadline.

  6. A fictional Australian employer invited all 80 new starters to optional spreadsheet training. Fifty attended at least one session, including 20 who attended both sessions. The remaining 30 attended neither. Managers were not part of this group. A questionnaire was sent only to attendees; 32 replied and 24 of those respondents rated the training useful. No assessment of spreadsheet performance was conducted.

    6. Every new starter attended at least one spreadsheet session.
    1. True
    2. False
    3. Cannot say

    Reference: q-4aab5a1a-478 · Report this question

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    Answer: B. False

    Only 50 of the 80 new starters attended at least one session, and the remaining 30 attended neither. The invitation to everyone did not imply attendance by everyone.
  7. 7. The training improved attendees’ spreadsheet performance.
    1. True
    2. False
    3. Cannot say

    Reference: q-4776b8d6-475 · Report this question

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    Answer: C. Cannot say

    The questionnaire measured reported usefulness, and no performance assessment was conducted. Performance could have improved or remained unchanged on these facts.
  8. 8. Some attendees did not reply to the questionnaire.
    1. True
    2. False
    3. Cannot say

    Reference: q-75eff8f5-468 · Report this question

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    Answer: A. True

    There were 50 attendees but only 32 questionnaire replies. Eighteen attendees did not reply, so the statement about at least some non-responders is supported.
  9. 9. Exactly 24 of all 80 new starters found the training useful.
    1. True
    2. False
    3. Cannot say

    Reference: q-1a28a1c-478 · Report this question

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    Answer: C. Cannot say

    Twenty-four respondents rated it useful, but the views of non-responders and non-attendees are unknown. The total across all 80 could be 24 or more.
  10. 10. More than half of the questionnaire respondents rated the training useful.
    1. True
    2. False
    3. Cannot say

    Reference: q-35e63571-492 · Report this question

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    Answer: A. True

    Twenty-four of 32 respondents rated it useful: three quarters, which exceeds half. The denominator is respondents, rather than all attendees or all new starters.

Review your method

Return to the verbal reasoning lesson and identify the reasoning step behind each mistake before repeating the set.

Choose your practice difficulty

Difficulty labels describe the steps needed in these teaching sets; they are not validated ability bands. Start with foundation practice and move on after you can explain your method.

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