How DAA Verbal Reasoning works
The DAA is the aptitude test the RAF, the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines set early in the application. Verbal Reasoning comes first: 20 questions in 15 minutes, given across four scenarios.
Despite the name, it is not passage comprehension. The official familiarisation scenarios are small information puzzles: matching people or things to a set of requirements, working out who prefers what, applying a table of rules with special conditions, and deducing who is where from a short account. One candidate calls the section unusual and found the UCAT decision-making section the closest practice.
The scenario stays on screen while you answer its questions. Choosing an option does not move you on: you use Back and Next, and a summary at the end lets you revisit any question before you submit.
How to solve a DAA verbal scenario
Turn the text into something you can look up, then answer from your notes:
- Matching scenarios: draw a quick grid with the items down the side and the requirements across, and tick as you read.
- Preference scenarios: write each person’s ranking as a line, leaving gaps where the text says nothing.
- Rules scenarios: read the special conditions first. They override the table and decide the harder questions.
- Who-is-where scenarios: list the places, fill in what is stated, then what is ruled out.
- Choose “Cannot tell” only when the text leaves a real gap, never just because the answer took two steps.
Worked example
Three trainees, Ade, Bea and Cal, are each posted to a different site: North, East or West. Ade is not posted to North. Bea is posted to West. Ade travels by train.
Question: “Where is Cal posted?” Options: North, East, West, None of them, Cannot tell. Bea has West and Ade is not at North, so Ade must be at East. That leaves North for Cal.
Question: “How does Cal travel?” The text only says how Ade travels, so the answer is Cannot tell. Both questions use the same scenario, which is why notes made on the first one pay off on the rest.
Tips for the real Verbal Reasoning section
- Budget about three and three-quarter minutes per scenario, reading included, and move on when you pass it.
- Have paper and a pencil ready. A grid on paper turns later questions into lookups.
- Before you submit, use the summary to check every question has an answer. A blank cannot score.
- Work through the official familiarisation on the RAF or Royal Navy site. The RAF says its practice questions are as close to the real assessment as possible.
Practise DAA Verbal Reasoning on CogniPrep
Our Verbal Reasoning practice is 20 questions in 15 minutes across four scenarios, with five options each, a visible clock, Back and Next, and a summary before you submit. The scenarios are our own, written to the four official patterns and generated fresh each time. Nothing is taken off for a wrong answer, and you get your mark out of 20.