Remotely Scaled
Hiring remotely?

True / false / cannot say practice questions

The classic verbal reasoning format, explained, with eight worked statements on two short passages. Try each one, then open the answer.

Practice for employer aptitude tests; not an official assessment or a hiring guarantee.

Start practicing Full verbal reasoning test

The three answers

  • True: the statement follows from the passage, with no extra information needed.
  • False: the passage says the opposite, or the statement breaks a rule in the passage.
  • Cannot say: the passage does not say either way. Reasons, causes, rankings and "most people" claims are often cannot say.

Common traps

  • Using what you know about the topic instead of the passage.
  • Missing absolute words: all, every, only, never, always.
  • Treating a survey of some people as true for everyone.
  • Assuming that two things that happened together mean one caused the other.

Practice questions

Passage A (fictional, for practice). Answer True if the statement follows from the passage, False if the passage contradicts it, and Cannot say if the passage does not give enough information.

Northgate Bank lets employees work from abroad for up to 20 working days a year. Requests must be approved by a line manager at least two weeks in advance. Employees in client-facing roles also need approval from the compliance team. Working from a country under international sanctions is never allowed. Since the policy started in 2025, the most popular destinations have been Spain and Portugal.

Question 1

Statement: A client-facing employee needs approval from both a line manager and the compliance team to work abroad.

  1. True
  2. False
  3. Cannot say
Show answer and explanation

Answer: A, True. True. All requests need a line manager's approval, and client-facing roles also need the compliance team.

Question 2

Statement: A Northgate employee may work from abroad for 30 working days in one year.

  1. True
  2. False
  3. Cannot say
Show answer and explanation

Answer: B, False. False. The limit is 20 working days a year, so 30 contradicts the passage.

Question 3

Statement: More Northgate employees have worked from Spain than from any other country.

  1. True
  2. False
  3. Cannot say
Show answer and explanation

Answer: C, Cannot say. Cannot say. Spain and Portugal are named together as the most popular destinations; the passage does not say which of the two is first.

Question 4

Statement: Northgate introduced the policy because employees asked for it.

  1. True
  2. False
  3. Cannot say
Show answer and explanation

Answer: C, Cannot say. Cannot say. No reason for the policy is given. Questions about why something happened are often Cannot say.

Passage B (fictional, for practice). Answer True if the statement follows from the passage, False if the passage contradicts it, and Cannot say if the passage does not give enough information.

The finance team closes the books on the fifth working day of each month. Before 2026 the close took eight working days. The change came after the team moved its reconciliations into a shared checklist and automated its bank feeds. The controller reviews every journal entry over €10,000. Smaller entries are checked by sampling.

Question 5

Statement: The month-end close is now three working days shorter than before 2026.

  1. True
  2. False
  3. Cannot say
Show answer and explanation

Answer: A, True. True. Eight working days before, five now: 8 − 5 = 3.

Question 6

Statement: The controller reviews every journal entry.

  1. True
  2. False
  3. Cannot say
Show answer and explanation

Answer: B, False. False. The controller reviews entries over €10,000; smaller ones are checked by sampling.

Question 7

Statement: Automating the bank feeds was the main reason the close got faster.

  1. True
  2. False
  3. Cannot say
Show answer and explanation

Answer: C, Cannot say. Cannot say. Two changes are named (the checklist and the bank feeds) and the passage does not say which mattered more.

Question 8

Statement: The controller reviews a journal entry of €15,000.

  1. True
  2. False
  3. Cannot say
Show answer and explanation

Answer: A, True. True. €15,000 is over €10,000, and every entry over €10,000 is reviewed by the controller.

Next steps

There are more worked questions, including assumptions and arguments, on the verbal reasoning test page. The full verbal reasoning practice test has 20 questions against a 10-minute timer, and the free 10-question test mixes verbal, numerical and logical questions.

Questions

What is a true / false / cannot say question?

You read a short passage and decide whether a statement is true (it follows from the passage), false (the passage contradicts it) or cannot say (the passage does not give enough information). It is the most common format in employer verbal reasoning tests.

How do I tell false from cannot say?

Ask whether the passage says the opposite. If it does, the answer is false. If you would need extra information to decide, the answer is cannot say.

Can I use my own knowledge?

No. Judge every statement only on the passage, even if you know something about the topic. Questions are written so that outside knowledge leads to wrong answers.

How long should each question take?

Many employer tests allow around 30 to 60 seconds per statement, including reading time for the passage. Read the passage once carefully, then go back to it for each statement.