Verbal Reasoning Breakdown

Basics of the Verbal Reasoning Section

There are 40 multiple choice questions on the Verbal Reasoning Section of the CLT. Each question has 4 answer choices.

There are 4 reading passages with 10 questions each. Students have 40 minutes to complete the section.

The reading passages are primarily selected from authors like Plato, Shakespeare, and Jane Austen - Authors in the CLT's "Author Bank."

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Sample Questions▴

There are 7 basic types of questions on the CLT's Verbal Reasoning section.

‍1. Main Idea of the Passage

2. Inference

3. Finding Details

4. Vocab in Context

5. Structure of the passage

6. Evidence

7. Analogies

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1. Main Idea of the Passage ▴

Q) The primary purpose of this passage is to

A) examine a psychological phenomenon through the lens of a personal anecdote.

B) discuss three famous artists and the way in which their work is related.

C) tarnish the reputation of a people group by examining their personal habits.

D) reminisce about the author traveling with a stranger to Italy where they saw famous frescoes.

‍Understanding "Main Idea" Questions

As the question states, the purpose of these questions is to see if a students understands what the main idea of the passage is.

So, some of the answer choices might contain details from the passage that are completely true, but, since the question is about the Main Idea of the passage (not a minute detail), that answer choice would be wrong.

Here's what that means:

This sample question is taken from a set of questions about Sigmund Freud's Psychopathology of Everyday Life. In the passage, Freud actually does discuss three famous artists and the way their work is related (Answer Choice B).

However, that is just a detail from the story. And... it's really not the point of the passage.

The correct answer is A) examine a psychological phenomenon through the lens of a personal anecdote because that's the point of the passage. It's pretty general... but it's an accurate description of why the passage was written... the main idea.

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2. Inference Questions ▴

Q) Based on the passage, the author believes

A) the customs of the Turks in Bosnia cause them to be forgetful people.

B) false recollection, the substitution of false names, is not an observable phenomenon.

C) forgetting names happens, at least sometimes, due to the interruption of streams of thought.

D) Botticelli's work was much more profound than Signorelli's.

‍Understanding "Inference" Questions

‍Inference questions require the student to interpret the author's point of view or a character's point of view.

So, you can't just search the text for a concrete fact and answer these questions correctly.

You're probably going to need to interpret a few sentences of the passage accurately in order to get these questions correct.

In the Sample Question above, C) is the correct answer because the author expresses this belief over the course of multiple paragraphs.

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3. Finding Details ▴

Q) The artist who created the frescoes mentioned in this passage is

A) Signorelli.

B) Botticelli.

C) Boltraffio.

D) not mentioned in the passage.

Understanding "Finding Details" Questions

Finding Details questions are objective. There is no need for interpretation. You just have to track down the right line in the passage containing the detail.

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4. Vocab in Context ▴

Q) As it is used in Paragraph 4, Sentence 1, the word "strangeness" most nearly means

‍A) lack of familiarity

B) confusing pronunciation

C) awkward spelling

D) foreign origin

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Understanding Vocab in Context Questions‍

Often, the answer choices for Vocab in Context questions give definitions of the word that could be a reasonable definition in another context.

Of course, the correct answer is the one that describes the context of the question.

Here's the full context for this question:

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‍"The reason for the escape of the name Signorelli cannot be found in the strangeness of this name.
The forgotten name was just as familiar to me as one of the substitutive names"

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The author is discussing his familiarity with names in this context, and even though the other answer choices would be a reasonable definition of "strangeness" in other contexts, the correct answer is A) lack of familiarity.

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5. Structure of the Passage ▴

Structure questions test many things, including: Understanding of Literary devices, Sequence of events, the Type of passage you are reading.

For example:

Q) From the narrator's perspective, this passage would best be considered

A) a collection of maxims.

B) a persuasive argument.

C) an entertaining legend.

D) a historical account.

This question is from a passage where the narrator is telling the tale of his real life, so the correct answer is D) historical account. It's not a legend, because, to the narrator, it's his real life.

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6. Evidence Questions ▴

Evidence questions ALWAYS follow a question that they are related to. In the following sample questions, the "evidence question" is the second question, which asks for the evidence to support the answer to the first question.

Students must determine the correct answer to the first question and which line from the passage provides the evidence for that answer.

‍Q) The author of the passage believes that forgetting the name Signorell

A) happened despite the author wanting to forget something else.
B) was an accidental occurrence.
C) was due to the company he was keeping on his journey.
D) could happen at any time with no possible explanation.
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‍Q) Which of the following lines provides the best evidence in support of the answer to the previous question? (Evidence Question)

A) Paragraph 7, Sentence 1 ("I can no… occurrence.")

B) Paragraph 7, Sentence 5 ("To be sure… Orvieto.")

C) Paragraph 4, Sentence 3 ("The forgetting.. Herzegovina.")

D) Paragraph 2, Sentence 1 ("Now.. path.")

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7. Analogies ▴

Analogies on the CLT can be very difficult.

Students must determine which answer choice has the same relationship as the proposed analogy in the prompt.

‍Q) Master : Frescoes of Orvieto :

A) physician : diagnosis

B) forgetfulness : false recollection

C) Frescoes of Orvieto : Dome of Orvieto

D) Dalmatia : Herzegovina

A) is the correct answer because the master is a person who made the frescoes, and a physician is a person who makes a diagnosis.

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How to Ace the Verbal Reasoning Section

First, you must finish the section on time. There are easy questions for each of the 4 reading passages on the Verbal Reasoning section. So, in order to answer all of the easy questions, you must finish the section on time.

Next, you need a path to answering the hard questions confidently. Understand all of the question types above so that you're prepared with a strategy to answer any question on test day.

Finally, take a Full CLT Practice Test so that you're prepared to execute your strategy on test day.

So, to ace the Verbal Reasoning, figure out if you can finish the section on time while reading all of the passages. If you can't, you'll need to skim or skip the passage. (We recommend reading the whole passage! It's very difficult to Ace the Verbal Reasoning without reading the passages.) Next, familiarize yourself with all of the question types and learn our proven frameworks to help you work through even the most challenging questions on test day. Then, take a practice test. And you'll be ready for the Verbal Reasoning section.

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