Vocabulary in Edutest Verbal Reasoning

They check whether your child knows what a word means, and how precisely. Edutest names vocabulary as one of the skills its Verbal Reasoning test measures.

In our questions the words sit a little beyond everyday speech, such as tranquil or diffident. Reading widely is how your child meets words like these well before the test.

Test options inside a sentence, not on their own. A word on its own can feel right; in a sentence, a wrong option sounds wrong.

Yes, as a clue. Plenty of longer words are built from parts with steady meanings, so a part your child knows can narrow the choices.

A word part is a clue, not proof. Diffident looks like different, but it means shy, not unlike. Use the part to narrow the choices, then test the survivors in a sentence.

These are our own Edutest-style questions, from easier to harder. Read each one with your child and say what the word means together, then check it against the working.

They cover an opposite, a meaning in a sentence, a gap fill and a closest meaning. Ask which option looked right at first, and which kind of question it was. If the gap fill fooled your child, the cause may be a reading habit rather than a missing word, so reread the sentence together for the clue.

Each wrong option is a near miss of a particular kind. When your child picks one, name the kind, so checking for it becomes a habit.

• The near-synonym in an opposite question. Fierce is close to hostile, so it is there to catch a child who forgets the question asks for the opposite.
• The everyday meaning. In everyday speech sound means a noise, but an old tree house that is still sound is in good condition. The sentence decides.
• A word that matches the topic. In a sentence about voices, pronounced sounds like it belongs, but a pronounced difference is an obvious one.
• The look-alike. A word that looks or sounds like the one in the question is a trap, not a clue to its meaning.
• A word that goes with it. A tranquil place may make you sleepy, but sleepy is not what tranquil means.

Not long. Your child either knows the word, half-knows it or doesn't, and staring won't change which.

Edutest doesn't allow calculators, rulers, dictionaries, working-out paper, mobile phones, smart watches and fitness trackers, so the words your child brings in are the only ones there. If a word is unknown, use word parts and the options, choose, and move on.

Edutest's rule is that there are no marks lost for wrong or blank answers. A reasoned guess on a hard word costs nothing and keeps time for questions your child can work out.

Vocabulary sits under almost every Verbal Reasoning question. An analogy can't be solved if a word in the first pair is unknown. Odd one out questions can group words by meaning, such as a set of words for feeling sad.

The meaning-in-a-sentence habit carries straight into Reading Comprehension, where questions ask what a word means in a passage. Our page on reading vocabulary in context covers that side.

Reading is the engine. Books a little above your child's comfort level bring new words in context, which helps them stick.

Make words a family habit. When a new word comes up, ask for a sentence using it, a word that means nearly the same and its opposite. Lining up shades of meaning, like glad, happy, elated, trains the precision these questions reward.

Four examples show the method; Practice test 1 shows whether vocabulary holds up on Edutest's time, with results by skill. In the app, the vocabulary lesson comes as an Interactive version with Notes, and vocabulary drills keep practice short.