Buckinghamshire 11+ Verbal Reasoning
What verbal reasoning actually measures, which types pupils find hardest, and the order we teach them in across Years 4 and 5.
Verbal reasoning
32 posts on this. Written by Mat and Alicia, who prepare pupils for the Buckinghamshire Transfer Test every week in Winslow.
Start where the clue is tightest
Three times in a word is a demanding thing to ask, and usually hands you the answer. Once in a word leaves you holding nine possibilities. Choose your starting clue deliberately.
Mirror first, then jumps
The two letters in a pair can move by different amounts and in different directions. Check for a mirror before anything else, write both jumps down, and remember the alphabet is a loop.
The grid is faster than your head
Six facts about five children is thirty things to keep track of, and nobody holds thirty things. Draw the grid, cross out on the first pass, tick on the second.
Ring the gap before you calculate
Two sides, one gap, and a mark that goes to whoever remembers what they were looking for. Do the complete side first, then fill the gap — and check you wrote the gap, not the total.
Read the question first, then go hunting
Tables and fact blocks are not read, they are searched. Know what shape of answer you want, find the right row and the right column, and never re-read the whole thing.
Compare, then test
Six rules to choose between, and the one that costs the marks takes two steps rather than one. The number you get halfway is always printed as an option.
Could be true is not must be true
If a sentence could be false in any way the gaps might be filled in, it is out. Ask 'can I break it?' — and read the last line again, because must and cannot sit next to each other on purpose.
Write it out, then cross it off
The backwards position is twenty-seven minus the forwards one, the middle letter is count, add one, halve — and once a letter is crossed off it stops existing.
Every letter is already on the page
Nothing is hidden in an anagram question — the letters have only been shuffled. Cover, guess, sort, check, and pull the ending out before you build the front.
The trap is not the maths, it is the order
Letters stand for numbers, the arithmetic is easy, and the marks go on order, a dropped step and a misread sign. Count the operators before you start — that is how many steps you owe.
Word ladder questions in the 11+: how they work and how to teach them
A word ladder changes one letter at a time, and every rung has to be a real word. The method we teach in Winslow, a worked example, and where pupils lose marks.
Spelling decides, not sound: compound words in the 11+
Compound word questions give you two sets of three words and nine possible pairs. The method we teach in Winslow, why your ears are the wrong tool, and five to try.
Ties run deeper than you think: alphabetical order
Sorting words alphabetically sounds like Year 2 work until the first five letters match. The Letter Ladder, and why the sixth letter is where the mark is.
Start where there are fewest options: insert a letter
One letter finishes the first word and begins the second. Why the 11+ gives you two pairs rather than one, the build-test-check routine, and four to try.
Mirror check first: letter codes
Every letter code question hands you the rule in the pair it gives you. Why writing down every jump matters, the three rules to tell apart, and four to try.
One letter at a time: making words from a rule
Work out where each letter in the bracket came from, then copy those positions across. What to do when a letter could have come from either word, and four to try.
Split first, always: letter sequences
Two letters per step, two independent tracks, and two different rules. Why splitting before you think is the whole method, and four to try.
Match, map, mine: number codes
Four words, three codes, printed in a random order. How to work out which code belongs to which word, and what to do when the easy clue is missing.
Three letters, taken out in one piece: the missing word
Three consecutive letters are removed from one word in a sentence, and they spell a word of their own. How to find where the gap is and what fills it.
Narrow, then test: move a letter questions
Take one letter out of the first word so it is still a word, and put it into the second so that is a word too. Why the first word rarely decides it, and four to try.
The link must fit exactly three: odd one out
Five words, three that share something and two that do not. Why a link that fits all five is not a link, and four to try.
Write the jumps underneath: number sequences
Five rules to choose between and about half a minute to do it in. Why writing the jumps down is faster than not, and five sequences to try.
Both sets, every time: words with two meanings
One word that fits two different brackets, where every wrong option is a real synonym of one of them. Why naming both meanings first is what makes the question quick.
The pair that leaps out is usually wrong: opposites
Two brackets and one pair that means most nearly the opposite. Why the words that feel like they belong together are the trap, and six to try.
The link has to survive both brackets: analogies
A is to B as C is to what. Why a correct link that fails on the second bracket is still the wrong link, and the five-step ladder we teach.
Exactly two words have swapped: jumbled sentences
The sentence is grammatical and means nothing, because two words have changed places. How to find them by ear, and the rules that stop a child rewriting the whole thing.
Number it, track it, test it: complete a word pair
Two pairs show you the rule and the third tests you. Why the rule is about positions rather than letters, and why you should never start with the word that repeats.
Meaning, word type, closest: finding the nearest word
Two brackets, three words in each, and one pair that means most nearly the same. The Three-Step Check, the larger version of the question, and six to try.
Solve the most constrained run first: word grids
A grid, a word bank and a few given letters. Why the order you solve the runs in decides whether the puzzle is easy or impossible, and what a contradiction is telling you.
Hidden word questions in the 11+: how they work and how to teach them
A hidden word sits across the join between two neighbouring words. The four-step method we teach in Winslow, two worked examples, the uneven splits that catch pupils out, and five to try.
Twenty-seven combinations, one mark: complete the sentence
Three groups of three words, one sentence that works, and no marks for getting two out of three right. Why the verb is where to start.