Reading test · Verbal comprehension · Understanding written information
Timed practice set
5 questions, 7 minutes.
What it measures
Whether you can find, understand and use information in a piece of writing: what it says, what a word means where it is used, what the writer's reason or main point is. Every answer is in the text; the skill is locating it fast and not adding to it.
How it appears
Passage with content questionsA passage of 150 to 300 words and three to six questions, each with four or five options that are phrases or sentences, not True or False.
Short workplace textAn email, a notice or a set of instructions, with questions about what it requires or what a term means in it.
Timing
18 questions in 25 minutes.
practiceaptitudetests.com also describes a 10-minute SHL reading test for entry-level roles, without a question count. Treat 60 to 90 seconds a question as the range.
Source
SHL reading comprehension: "consists of 18 questions" and "typically lasts 25 minutes", assessmentday.com's SHL page, read on 14 September 2026.
How to tell it apart
Verbal reasoningVerbal reasoning asks for a True, False or Cannot say verdict on a statement. Reading comprehension asks what the passage says, with content options to choose from.
Working with informationWorking with information gives you rules and a table and asks which entries qualify. Reading comprehension asks about prose, not rows.
The method
Read the questions before the passage, and answer from the passage alone.
Read the questions first. Note what each one is looking for, a reason, a number, a term, the main point.
Skim the passage once for its shape, what each paragraph is about, so you know where to look.
For each question, go to the part of the passage it concerns and read that part properly.
Cross out any option the passage does not mention. An option that is true in the world but absent from the text is out.
Of the options left, check each against the exact sentence. The wrong ones usually combine two true details into a claim the passage never makes.
For a word's meaning, read the sentence around it. The common meaning of the word is often not the one used.
Answer at the pace. If two options survive, choose the one closest to the passage's own wording.
Traps to know
The half-true option
An option takes two details that are both in the passage and joins them into a claim the passage does not make, a cause, a comparison or a sequence the text never states.
Setup A passage says a firm moved to a larger office in 2021 and that it hired 40 people in 2022. An option says the firm moved because it had hired 40 people.
The trap Choosing it because both facts are right.
The escape The passage gives no reason for the move. Both details are true; the link between them is invented.
The common meaning of the word
A vocabulary question uses a word in a less usual sense. The option that gives its everyday meaning is offered, and it fits the word but not the sentence.
Setup A passage says the committee tabled the proposal at its April meeting and voted on it in May. The question asks what tabled means here.
The trap Choosing set aside, the sense of tabled used in American English.
The escape The proposal was voted on the next month, so it was put forward for discussion. Read the sentence, not the dictionary.
Reading beyond the passage
The question asks what the passage gives as the reason, and an option gives a better reason from the real world. The passage's reason is the answer, however weak it seems.
Setup A passage says a shop closed on Mondays because footfall was lowest that day. An option says the shop closed on Mondays to save on staff costs.
The trap Choosing staff costs because it is the more likely business reason.
The escape According to the passage means the passage's reason. Footfall is what it says.
The first sentence is not the main point
Main-point questions are answered by what the passage as a whole argues, not by its opening line. The opening line is often the background the passage goes on to qualify.
Setup A passage opens by saying remote working rose sharply in 2020, then spends three paragraphs on why many firms have since brought staff back.
The trap Choosing the option about remote working rising.
The escape Ask what most of the passage is doing. It is explaining the return to the office.
Worked examples
Example 1
Fenwick Pottery has made tableware in Stoke since 1962. For most of its history it sold through department stores, but in 2016 the company began selling directly from its own website, and by 2023 direct sales made up more than half of its turnover. The change was not planned as a strategy, according to its managing director; it began when a department store customer went into administration owing the firm £180,000, and the company needed a way to sell the stock that order had been made for. Direct selling brought a second, less welcome change: the firm now handles 30,000 individual parcels a year, and it has had to take on four staff for packing and returns. The director says the firm's next investment will be an automated packing line rather than new kilns.
According to the passage, why did Fenwick Pottery start selling directly from its website?
ABecause a customer's collapse left it with stock to sell
BBecause direct sales were more than half of turnover
CBecause department stores had stopped ordering tableware
DAs part of a strategy set by the managing director
Show the working
The question wants the passage's reason for the start of direct selling. Find where the passage explains the beginning: the third sentence.
It says the change began when a department store customer went into administration owing the firm £180,000, and the company needed a way to sell the stock that order had been made for.
Option A restates that. Check the others against the text before settling.
B is a result of direct selling by 2023, not the reason it started. C is not in the passage at all. D is contradicted: the director says it was not planned as a strategy. The answer is A.
Why not the others
B. The passage gives this as what direct sales became by 2023. It is a consequence, not the reason the firm began.
C. The passage says one customer went into administration. It does not say department stores stopped ordering.
D. The passage says the opposite, that the change was not planned as a strategy.
Example 2
Fenwick Pottery has made tableware in Stoke since 1962. For most of its history it sold through department stores, but in 2016 the company began selling directly from its own website, and by 2023 direct sales made up more than half of its turnover. The change was not planned as a strategy, according to its managing director; it began when a department store customer went into administration owing the firm £180,000, and the company needed a way to sell the stock that order had been made for. Direct selling brought a second, less welcome change: the firm now handles 30,000 individual parcels a year, and it has had to take on four staff for packing and returns. The director says the firm's next investment will be an automated packing line rather than new kilns.
Which of the following does the passage give as a consequence of direct selling?
AThe firm has bought new kilns
BThe firm employs more people for packing and returns
CThe firm no longer sells through department stores
DThe firm's turnover has more than doubled
Show the working
The question asks for a consequence the passage states. The fourth sentence is about what direct selling brought.
It names a second, less welcome change: 30,000 parcels a year, and four extra staff for packing and returns. That is option B.
Check the others. A: the passage says the next investment will be a packing line rather than kilns, so kilns have not been bought. C: the passage says direct sales are more than half of turnover, which leaves department stores still selling the rest. D: the passage gives a share of turnover, not its size.
Only B is stated. The answer is B.
Why not the others
A. The passage says the next investment will be a packing line rather than new kilns. Kilns are what the firm is not buying.
C. More than half of turnover from direct sales means less than half still comes from elsewhere. Nothing says department store sales ended.
D. The passage gives direct sales as a share of turnover. It says nothing about how turnover itself changed.
Ready for the clock?
5 questions, 7 minutes.
Timed drills
5 · 7
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