How the Kenexa verbal test works
Each question is a paragraph of information followed by one statement. You choose True if the passage supports it, False if the passage contradicts it, and Cannot Say if the passage does not settle it. The usual form is reported as 24 questions in 20 minutes on one overall clock, so a slow question takes time from later ones.
The verbal test is built from parallel forms: a set of fixed, comparable papers, rather than a fresh paper for each candidate. Your number correct is turned into a percentile against a norm group, such as other graduates.
The test was written by Kenexa, sold by IBM and, since IBM closed its testing platform at the end of 2021, delivered by SHL on TalentCentral without changes. An invitation that says Kenexa, IBM or SHL can mean this test.
How to answer True, False or Cannot Say
Work through each question in the same order:
- Read the statement first, so you know what to look for in the passage.
- Find the sentence or sentences the statement depends on.
- True if the passage states it or it must follow. False if the passage says the opposite.
- Cannot Say if you would need a fact the passage does not give, however likely it seems.
- Check the scope words: all, some, most, only, always. One word often turns True into False.
Worked example
Passage: “Corbridge Council introduced a £45 yearly charge for garden waste collection in April. Households that do not pay can still take garden waste to the town’s two recycling centres free of charge. In the first year, 61% of eligible households signed up for the collection.”
“Most eligible households signed up for the collection in its first year.” True: 61% is more than half.
“Households must pay to leave garden waste at a recycling centre.” False: the passage says it is free of charge.
“The charge has reduced the amount of garden waste sent to landfill.” Cannot Say: the passage says nothing about landfill.
Tips for the real Kenexa verbal test
- Keep to about 50 seconds a question. With one clock for the whole test, a stuck question costs you later ones.
- Leave your own knowledge out. If the passage does not give you the fact, the answer is Cannot Say.
- Answer every question. No penalty for wrong answers is reported, so a guess beats a blank.
- Read the passage once, carefully. Each passage has only one statement, so there is no later question to reuse it on.
- Find a quiet 25 minutes in one go before you open the link.
Practise Kenexa Verbal Reasoning on CogniPrep
Ours matches the reported format: 24 questions on one 20-minute clock, each a passage and a single statement with True, False and Cannot Say. Questions come from our bank of 48. One question per screen, then Submit Answer; there is no Back and no skip, and anything unreached when time runs out is marked blank. You get a score out of 100, a percentile against CogniPrep players and feedback on which of the three answers you get wrong most.