UCAT: Verbal Reasoning

[N182]

Nearly all salt cod is made from atlantic cod. This means that there is salt cod that is made from other stuff. But that doesn't rule out the fact that ALL atlantic cod can be turned into salt cod. Lets say you have 10 atalantic cod, and there are 15 salt cod. It is possible that ALL 10 of the atlantic cod are turned into salt cod and the remaning 5 salt cod come from other things...

I mean like atlantic cod can be turned into baked balls so not all atlantic cod has to be turned into salt cod. To clarify all the methods used to cook atlantic cod mentioned are different from making salted cod.

 

[someday]

Hey guys, just a bit confused with this one. While the passage does in fact state that the 2012 bristlecone pine is the oldest tree in the world (4th para), isn't it a bit of an assumption to say that it's the oldest non-clonal organism in the world? For all we know there could be a flower or any other organism found in 2012 that's older than this tree by 100 years. Am I missing something? Thanks!

 

[whys]

Hey guys, just a bit confused with this one. While the passage does in fact state that the 2012 bristlecone pine is the oldest tree in the world (4th para), isn't it a bit of an assumption to say that it's the oldest non-clonal organism in the world? For all we know there could be a flower or any other organism found in 2012 that's older than this tree by 100 years. Am I missing something? Thanks!

In the passage, it states that Prometheus is ~5000 years old, whereas this new bristlecone pine is 5062 years old. It also states this bristlecone pine is the oldest known 'individual' tree in the world, thus meaning it is non-clonal. Although the passage only states that it is the oldest tree, not organism, we know that Prometheus used to be the oldest non-clonal organism. As the new bristlecone pine is older, we can assume it is the oldest individual/non-clonal organism as it is older than Prometheus. Hope this made sense.

EDIT: I think I know where you're coming from, but you might be overthinking it. Perhaps the passage expects you to assume that the bristlecone pine was the only old thing discovered that year? I'm not too sure.

 

[someday]

In the passage, it states that Prometheus is ~5000 years old, whereas this new bristlecone pine is 5062 years old. It also states this bristlecone pine is the oldest known 'individual' tree in the world, thus meaning it is non-clonal. Although the passage only states that it is the oldest tree, not organism, we know that Prometheus used to be the oldest non-clonal organism. As the new bristlecone pine is older, we can assume it is the oldest individual/non-clonal organism as it is older than Prometheus. Hope this made sense.

EDIT: I think I know where you're coming from, but you might be overthinking it. Perhaps the passage expects you to assume that the bristlecone pine was the only old thing discovered that year? I'm not too sure.

Thanks for your reply and yeah i may just be overthinking it. at the time it just seemed like too big of an assumption to make but i guess it's necessary for this question

 

[Jangko]

Would you guys think the word 'majority' and 'most' are the same meaning? On one of the verbal reasoning questions, it had an option with 'most' and the passage said 'majority.' Turned out I was wrong but I dont understand how.

 

[ucatboy]

Would you guys think the word 'majority' and 'most' are the same meaning? On one of the verbal reasoning questions, it had an option with 'most' and the passage said 'majority.' Turned out I was wrong but I dont understand how.

Answer option says earth's core and text says sun's core. Seems like it's this detail that makes A incorrect, not the most/majority part.

 

[nb]

When it refers to many people returning to their original homes, it could still be the case that out of the 380k, 10k move to their original homes and that 370k move due to hostile political environment, so the answer shouldn't be false because we don't know how many "many" refers to....

Thoughts??

 

[whys]

View attachment 3447
When it refers to many people returning to their original homes, it could still be the case that out of the 380k, 10k move to their original homes and that 370k move due to hostile political environment, so the answer shouldn't be false because we don't know how many "many" refers to....

Thoughts??

It says that up to 10% of the community left due to hostile political environments, and 10% of 2100000 (the number of people in the Basque community) is less than 350000 so we know for sure that there cannot be 350000 who left only due to a hostile political environment and there is a significant portion who left to Spain and to return to their original homes.

 

[nb]

Hey.
Does anyone have any tips for VR?? I am literally cursed and keep getting 33/44 and can't get any higher It is currently my worst sub-test...
Anything will be much appreciated !!

 

[AJ13]

Hey.
Does anyone have any tips for VR?? I am literally cursed and keep getting 33/44 and can't get any higher It is currently my worst sub-test...
Anything will be much appreciated !!

I am in a similar boat tbh so can't exactly offer much help. I am currently trying to use specific strategies regarding question type (T/F/CT or authors opinion etc) or length of passage. I'm getting mixed results thus far, but in all honesty i'm just banking on scoring well in the other 3 sections. I've been reading every day for 20-30 mins in an attempt to increase my general reading speed/comprehension but at this stage ill be happy if get 650 on test day (considering average was 570ish)

If it means anything, I'm expecting you to perform extremely well on the day, and I'm eager to hear how you go!

 

[aspiringdocxxxx]

how do you guys approach VR? do you read first and then proceed to do the questions or read the questions first and then read the passage?

 

[rainfall]

how do you guys approach VR? do you read first and then proceed to do the questions or read the questions first and then read the passage?

I know that I'll never get the passage read in enough detail in time so my strategy is generally:
1. Skim through the first sentence of the passage for context.
2. Read the question stem and answer options.
3. Scan the passage for keywords found in the question stem, then read around these words to find the answer.
4. Answer the question.
If this technique doesn't work for a certain question (maybe the information is hidden in multiple places throughout the passage) I need to make a decision. I will (very quickly) scan over the passage to get a sense of the topic of each paragraph and if it's obvious where the information I need is, I'll invest a bit more time in answering the question. If I can't get a general understanding of the passage from this (eg. if the content is very complex and uses technical words), I will take a guess, flag and return if there's time.

This has greatly improved my score from trying to speed read the entire passage, but my score still fluctuates a lot so take this approach with a grain of salt. It is particularly effective for True/False questions but fails in some of the more technical 4-option questions.

 

[ponyswordz]

how do you guys approach VR? do you read first and then proceed to do the questions or read the questions first and then read the passage?

Very interesting question that is commonly asked. Skimming is a strategy that is often used in VR because it saves a lot of time (this section imo is the most time-pressed section in UCAT, more so than AR). However, you pose a massive issue in terms of consistency of marks. Although this may be subjected to change this year, I had way more texts that were 4-option questions than true/false in the real exam last year. It was also heavily inference based meaning that the skimming method was very ineffective in the real test (at least for me). Understanding the text (not skimming) would help significantly in getting the questions right but poses a lot of problems when it comes to time management. As such, there is no right or wrong answer to your approach in VR. You just have to experiment and go with whatever method gets you a higher mark.

 

[rainfall]

Very interesting question that is commonly asked. Skimming is a strategy that is often used in VR because it saves a lot of time (this section imo is the most time-pressed section in UCAT, more so than AR). However, you pose a massive issue in terms of consistency of marks. Although this may be subjected to change this year, I had way more texts that were 4-option questions than true/false in the real exam last year. It was also heavily inference based meaning that the skimming method was very ineffective in the real test (at least for me). Understanding the text (not skimming) would help significantly in getting the questions right but poses a lot of problems when it comes to time management. As such, there is no right or wrong answer to your approach in VR. You just have to experiment and go with whatever method gets you a higher mark.

If you don't mind saying, what strategy did you use in the actual test to tackle these inference-based 4-option questions?

 

[ponyswordz]

If you don't mind saying, what strategy did you use in the actual test to tackle these inference-based 4-option questions?

I don't remember what I did for inference-based specifically but for the first 4-5 texts, skimming did not work at all for me (probs cuz HR was racing quickly) so I couldn't absorb info just from skimming alone. For the rest of the texts, reading the texts thoroughly (at a slower pace) gave me time to calm down and gain composure which then resulted in me answering the Q's better (at least that's what I thought). But then again I didn't score too highly in VR relative to my other sections so take with a grain of salt.

 

[KM7]

Hi everyone,

Just came across a VR question that uses 'most' and 'all' from the statement to the passage. I thought that 'most' implied greater than 50% but not all. If 'most' means greater than 50% (including all), then I would accept this solution.

I am sure that if the statements were reversed (it said 'all' in the passage and 'most' in the statement) it would definitely false, but I thought you can't say it is correct to say 'most' when it is in fact 'all'.

 

[jambobs]

sorrrry km7 i have no idea

but i also need help. why is this c, not b?

 

[realwalterwhite]

sorrrry km7 i have no idea

but i also need help. why is this c, not b?

That statement refers to only earings i believe. So we can't conclude that all body piercings as a whole are more popular than tattoos.

 

[realwalterwhite]

Hello everyone,
Does anyone have any strategies for the 'author would most likely agree that' and 'purpose of the passage' question types? In other words, questions that require a more whole understanding of the passage. I am currently just guessing and flagging these.

Cheers

 

[AJ]

Hello everyone,
Does anyone have any strategies for the 'author would most likely agree that' and 'purpose of the passage' question types? In other words, questions that require a more whole understanding of the passage. I am currently just guessing and flagging these.

Cheers

Hi walter,

The author would most likely agree questions can be attacked using the general keyword search method, however, you need to be attuned and make a distinction between descriptive information and the authors opinion. You can typically notice a subtle change in the writing style when the author inserts his opinion. Typically they can start sentences with things like however, more or less, but etc.

With the other style I typically read the first sentence and last sentence of the first and final paragraph and I prefer to select the statement/ answer that is broader and less definitive. Some of the answers will be very specific and are typically to specific.

Hope this helps