Tonight is about one habit. Verbal questions on the Bain online test look like reading tests, but most misses aren't reading mistakes. They're knowledge mistakes: you answer from what you know about the world, and the question only asked what the passage says.
Fix that habit once and it pays on every verbal question you meet, on Sova or TestGorilla. It takes about 12 minutes to read, then 10 free timed questions to try it.
The method, in 4 steps
Sort the passage
Mark each sentence as a fact (the passage states it) or a report (someone “attributes”, “claims”, “believes” or “expects” it).
Find the deciding sentence
For each statement or option, find the one sentence that would settle it. If you can't point to it, the passage doesn't settle it.
Apply the three answers
True only if the passage says it. False only if the passage contradicts it. Silent, or only a report of someone's view: Cannot Say.
Leave the world outside
If the statement sounds likely in real life, that tells you nothing. Likely isn't stated.
Worked example
Free verbal question v-018 (reading)
Example · practice contentTry the 10 free timed questions first
The company introduced a four-day workweek in March, reducing hours from 40 to 32 with no cut in pay. Six months later, productivity had risen by 8 percent and voluntary turnover had fallen by nearly half. Management attributes the gains to better-rested employees and tighter meeting discipline.
Which of the following is the most accurate summary of the passage?
Show the workingTry it first. The method, step by step, then the answer.
- SortFacts: four days from March, hours 40 to 32, same pay; productivity up 8 percent; voluntary turnover down by nearly half. One report: management attributes the gains to rest and meeting discipline.
- ASays productivity collapsed. The passage says it rose 8 percent. Contradicted: out.
- CSays longer days. The passage gives hours falling from 40 to 32 at the same pay, nothing about longer days. Out.
- DA return to five days is never mentioned. The passage is silent: out.
- BTwo facts, both stated. And notice what it doesn't say: that the four-day week caused the gains. A summary that claimed the cause would be repeating management's view as fact.
- Same passage, Sova formPrep sites report Sova asks True / False / Cannot Say on passages like this. Four statements we wrote for this lesson: “Weekly hours fell by 8” is True (40 to 32). “Voluntary turnover rose after March” is False. “The four-day week caused the productivity rise” is Cannot Say: only management says so. “Management credits better-rested employees” is True: that is what the passage reports.
Answer B. After moving to a four-day workweek with no pay cut, productivity rose and turnover dropped.
Recap · Evening 01
Pause here
- The passage is the whole world: Judge only what it states. What you know about the topic doesn't count.
- Reports aren't facts: "Attributes", "claims", "expects": the view itself is Cannot Say; that they said it is True.
- False needs a contradiction: Silence is Cannot Say, not False.
Tonight · free15 min
10 free timed verbal questions
The free session opens with a short True / False / Cannot Say warm-up, the format of this lesson, then 10 multiple-choice questions drawn from a bank of 50 (analogy, reading and inference), so you may or may not get v-018. Use it to practise the habit on a clock, not to predict a Bain score. On every statement and reading question, point at the deciding sentence before you click.
Open it freeSources4 numbered sources, labeled by type
- DrillCase guide DrillCase: Bain online test guide: last verified 23 Sep 2026.
- DrillCase guide DrillCase: True, False or Cannot Say, with six worked items
- Official Sova: Candidate Preparation Hub
- Official TestGorilla Candidates: Common questions about assessments and tests: no going back, no penalty for a wrong answer, the timer keeps running.
Independent practice. Not affiliated with Bain & Company, Sova or TestGorilla.