11+ Verbal Reasoning Exams question TYPE 2 "Tips and Techniques"
2 words that do not go with the other 3. (Related words.) - 11 plus verbal reasoning question type 2
In this question type you are given five words. Three of these words are connected in some way. Two words do not go with the other three. You must select these two words from the five that you are given.
Look at this example and then we can work our way through the question until we get the answer: - (REMEMBER that you must select two words each time and these two words may or may not be connected to each other.)
PEAR APPLE PLUM RUBY DIAMOND
Take the first word “PEAR” and see if there is any connection between “PEAR” and any of the other words. We can see that “PEAR”, “APPLE” and “PLUM” are all connected since they are all types of fruit. “RUBY” and “DIAMOND” are also connected to each other because they are both precious stones.
However one group has three words and the other group has only two words. So the words that we select for our answers will be “RUBY” and “DIAMOND.”
THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR!!!!
Make sure that you have selected TWO words and not just ONE or THREE. Children sometimes select the wrong number of words and so get the question wrong even though they may know the correct answer.
Make sure that THREE of the words are connected in some way.
Make sure that TWO of the words are not connected to the other three.
The two words that you have chosen may or may not be connected to each other.
Work systemically through the question starting with the first word and looking for connections between it and another word, if there is a connection then look for a connection to a third word.
If you cannot find a connection then move to the second word.
Avoid guessing the answer.
This question type requires a good vocabulary. Your child must recognise the connections. (A good literary and reading background will introduce your child to a more demanding vocabulary.)
There are other question types that are similar to this one such as type 10 where you are asked to find connections between words such as goat is to kid as horse is to foal.
There are a huge selection of “connections” possible in this question type.
Some possible connections that might be used in this question type are:-
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Animals |
cat, dog, mouse etc |
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Buildings |
bank, school, temple etc |
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Countries |
|
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Cutlery |
knife, fork, spoon etc |
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Fruits |
melon, pear, plum etc |
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Movement |
walk, run, crawl etc |
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Planets |
Mars, Earth, Mercury etc |
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Professions |
doctor, teacher, physiotherapist etc |
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Relatives |
sister, brother, son etc |
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Rivers |
Nile, Thames, Clyde etc |
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Temperature |
hot, cold, warm etc |
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Words with same meaning (Synonyms) |
hurry, rush, hasten etc |
NB When your child is completing a Verbal Reasoning test in Multiple-Choice format the correct answer will always be one of the choices that they are given on their answer sheet. If the answer does not match one of the answers that they are given then their answer is wrong.