Verbal Intelligence - Criticism of Verbal Reasoning Tests

Criticism of Verbal Reasoning Tests

Some have criticised verbal reasoning tests due to their lack of precision - many questions arguably having more than one answer. For example, a question which asks: "When will Joe Bloggs retire?" may expect the testee to respond with the answer "Joe Bloggs will retire at 65" based on the following two sentences (taken from a preceding paragraph - the format of most verbal reasoning tests): "Joe Bloggs currently works as a civil servant" and "Those in the civil service generally retire at 65"

However, though the two sentences make it probable that Joe Bloggs will retire at 65, it is still a logical possibility that he will continue to work beyond this point, or that he will retire early and live off savings. As a result, ironically, it is possible to be penalised for having too discerning a critical faculty. Additionally, a number of questions ask testees to decide what the central focus of the preceding paragraph is however, the options provided often afford more than one arguable response. As such, critics suggest that standard IQ tests; or numerical reasoning tests, are preferable due to their precision .

Verbal reasoning suits only certain types of people, and most say they are not intelligence tests, but mind-type tests.