Victoria Police Entrance Exam – Verbal Reasoning (police custody officer only)

This tutorial explains in detail what’s involved in the verbal reasoning component to help applicants better prepare for the exam.

The Verbal Reasoning component is only applicable to police custody officer applicants.

Victoria Police Entrance Exam - Verbal Reasoning Transcript

Hi, my name is Lee Kindler and I'm a literacy educator.
This video explains what's required in the verbal reasoning test in the Victoria Police Entrance Examination and gives advice about how to solve verbal reasoning questions.
This section of the exam measures your ability to understand and reason using concepts framed in words.
It tests your capacity to think logically, understand relationships, solve problems, and think critically rather than simply understanding vocabulary.
In policing, reasoning skills are important because they help you to solve problems, see relationships, evaluate information, and make connections between situations and events.
There are 34 questions in this section of the exam, and you only have 15 minutes to complete them, so you need to work quickly.
The questions are multiple choice and you'll answer them on a computer.
You'll need to click on the box next to the correct answer.
Some questions require you to select one option and with others you'll need to select two options.
It's important to read the question carefully so that you're clear about how the question needs to be answered.
With multiple choice, it's a good idea to eliminate answers you know are wrong straight away.
You won't be penalized for getting the wrong answer. So, make sure you have a go and click on an answer even if you aren't 100% certain.
There are different types of questions in the verbal reasoning test.
The questions may ask you to find the relationship between words.
Choose two words that are different to the others. Choose the word that is closest in meaning to another word, a synonym.
Use logic to find the answer to a problem or choose sentences that prove that a statement is true.
We're going to look at examples of each of the four different types of questions.
The first type of question that we're going to look at asks you to find the relationship between words.
You'll be given two words.
The first word has a relationship with the second word. You must find this relationship and use it to match a third word with another from the list.
In this question, the words car and land are linked by where cars operate. That is cars operate on land.
Now we need to apply the same relationship to ships that is ships operate on the sea. So the correct answer is D.
The relationships or links between the words can vary. The words can be linked by their function or how they operate.
For example, car is to land as ship is to sea. They might also be related by their meaning.
For example, sort is to organize as clean is to tidy. They can also be part of a whole.
For example, spectator is to audience as slice is to loaf. Finally, the words might be linked by their degree of intensity.
For example, breeze is to gale as jog is to run.
In this next type of question, you are given six words and you need to find two words that are different from the others.
So, you need to look for a common feature that applies to four of the words.
The common feature could be the meaning of the words or that the words fit into a particular category. For example, the words might be a type of exercise, a piece of furniture, or a kind of animal.
In this question, coat, hat, dress, and shoe are all types of clothing.
Ball and cup are not types of clothing. They are the misfits.
So, we need to select options C and E.
In this type of question, you're given a word and you need to choose another word from the list that's closest in meaning, a synonym.
So here we need to look for the word from the list that is closest in meaning to join.
In this question, we can eliminate the words choose, like, and scatter because they definitely don't mean join.
This leaves the words mend and connect. When we join something, we might mend it but connect is closer in meaning. It's a synonym of join. So, the correct answer is B.
If you don't know the meaning of the word in the question or some of the words in the list, think about whether there are any words that you know that are similar or if you can break the word down into smaller parts and try and work out the meaning of those parts.
The last type of question we'll be looking at is a logic question.
Some of these questions give you information and ask you to select one correct answer. Others ask you to select statements that prove another statement is true.
This example asks you to select two statements from the list. The statements need to prove that planes travel faster than ships.
In these types of questions, the correct answers will pair similar types of information to prove the first statement.
It's a good idea to read through the options and see which ones can be paired.
It's possible that some statements can be eliminated because there are no options with similar information to pair with them. In this question, we can eliminate the statement, "Some planes have jet engines because there are no other statements about jet engines to pair this with."
For the same reason, we can eliminate the statement, "Ships travel on water." There are no statements about water to pair this with.
Statements A and D have similar information. They both mention trains and make a comparison about how fast they travel. If we pair them, we can prove that planes travel faster than ships. If planes travel faster than trains and trains travel faster than ships, then planes must travel faster than ships.
Looking at option E, while it provides us with information about trains, there's no other information we can use to pair it with another statement.
So, the correct answers are A and D.
With these types of questions, you might benefit from drawing a quick diagram like we've done with our example to help you clarify your logic.
This is a different type of logic question where you need to select one correct answer.
The question contains statements about the positions of four objects in relation to each other. The four objects are a park bench, a bridge, a farmhouse, and a windmill.
You need to find the statement in the answers that correctly describes the position of one of these objects relative to another.
Because this question is about position, drawing a diagram may help you to find the correct answer.
First, let's draw the compass points.
Now, let's go through each of the statements in the question and draw the positions of the objects. The park bench is due east of the bridge. The farmhouse is due north of the park. The windmill is due east of the farmhouse.
Now, let's read the answers to see which one is correct.
The farmhouse is southeast of the bridge. This is incorrect because the farmhouse is actually northeast of the bridge.
The bridge is northwest of the windmill. This is also incorrect because the bridge is southwest of the windmill.
The bridge is northwest of the farmhouse. Again, this is incorrect as the bridge is southwest of the farmhouse.
The park bench is southeast of the windmill. This statement is also wrong.
The park bench is southwest of the windmill. Let's check the last answer.
The windmill is northeast of the park bench. Option E is correct.
I hope this has helped you to answer the questions in the verbal reasoning section of the Victoria Police Entrance Exam.
You can improve your verbal reasoning by attempting word-based logic puzzles, reading, and using a dictionary to increase your vocabulary.
You can also read the chapter in practice now Victoria Police entrance examination on verbal reasoning. It goes over the points we've been talking about.
Read over the explanations and have a go at the practice questions.
Practice now is produced by ACER.
It describes a range of the types of questions you're likely to find in the exam and provides detailed explanations of how correct answers may be reached.
It's available from ACER bookshop and commercial book sellers.
There are also practice tests on the Victoria Police Entrance Exam web page.
Please be sure to view our other entrance exam tutorials to assist with your exam preparation.
Good luck with your exam preparation.

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Updated 2 January 2026