How the SHL verbal reasoning test works
Each question gives you a passage of text drawn from workplace situations and a statement about it. Several statements can share one passage. You decide whether the statement is True, False or Cannot Say from the information in the passage, and nothing else.
SHL’s fact sheet allows 19 minutes for up to 30 questions, so you have under 40 seconds a question. It is a test of reasoning about what a text says, not of spelling or grammar, and SHL uses it for roles at every level, from administration and HR to legal, marketing and professional services.
How to answer True, False or Cannot Say
Use the same steps on every statement:
- Read the statement first, then find the sentence in the passage it depends on.
- Choose True if the passage states it, or it follows necessarily from what is stated.
- Choose False if the passage says the opposite, or something that cannot be true alongside it.
- Choose Cannot Say if the passage neither confirms it nor rules it out.
- Check the small words that change meaning: all, most, some, only, always, and any claim that one thing caused another.
Worked example
Passage: “From next month, the firm’s three regional offices will close on Fridays. Staff at those offices will work four longer days instead. The head office is not affected, and its opening hours will be reviewed next year.”
Statement 1: “The firm has more than one regional office.” True. The passage says there are three.
Statement 2: “Head office will close on Fridays from next month.” False. The passage says head office is not affected.
Statement 3: “Regional staff will work fewer hours each week.” Cannot Say. They lose a day but work longer days, and the passage gives no weekly totals.
Tips for the real SHL verbal test
- Keep to about 40 seconds a question. If a statement will not settle, choose your best answer and move on.
- Cannot Say is a judgement about the passage, not an answer for when you are unsure. Use it only when the text leaves the statement open.
- Leave out what you know from outside the passage. A statement can be true in real life and still be Cannot Say here.
- Watch for “many” in the passage becoming “most” in the statement, and for two things that happen together being presented as cause and effect.
- SHL lists the test as one sitting plus a Verification Test, so an employer may ask you to sit a second check later in the process.
- Try SHL’s free verbal practice test on its practice page before the real one.
Practise SHL verbal reasoning on CogniPrep
Our SHL verbal game gives you 18 True, False or Cannot Say questions from a bank of 36, easiest first, each on its own 57-second clock. A question that runs out of time counts as unanswered, there is no Back button, and nothing is deducted for a wrong answer. Accuracy makes up half your score, with the rest for speed, for scoring evenly across the three answers and for getting Cannot Say right. The clock gives more time per question than SHL’s 19 minutes for 30, so aim to answer well inside it.