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JIM600
Original Poster
76 posts
30 months
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Evening All
I have my Police assessment centre day(s) coming up. I’ve been reading through various practice questions to prepare. Today I got to a question on the verbal reasoning test which gave a basic account of an event, for example:
Last night a school was vandalised by youths on motorbikes who were pulling wheelies on the football pitch.
The question also told us: Stuart Brown owns a motorcycle.
(There is no more information given about Stuart)
The question which followed was:
Stuart may have been one of the youths who vandalised the shcool.
Answer can be (A. True) (B. False) or (C. Impossible to tell.)
The answer booklet is saying the answer is = (C. Impossible to tell.)
I answered A (True). Stuart does own a motorcycle so he MAY have been one of the youths who vandalised the school? Surely it could only be C (Impossible to tell) if the statement had said: Stuart WAS or IS one of the youths who vandalised the school?
The issue is whether a statement which uses MAY can ever be impossible to tell - is it not always true or false?
Sorry for the long post, the test uses a lot of these sort of questions and its not something I want to get wrong. Any advice from those of you who have done these tests (or those who have not) would be appreciated.
Thanks
Jim
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cheeky
1,820 posts
94 months
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I haven't done the test.
I've done many similar tests.
Your logic is entirely correct.
Tell the people who set the tests, just in case they've screwed up. Certainly whoever set you that practice Q&A has done.
Your answer would be correct even if it said that Stuart Brown didn't own a motorbike!
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14-7
2,050 posts
21 months
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JIM600 said: Evening All
I have my Police assessment centre day(s) coming up. I’ve been reading through various practice questions to prepare. Today I got to a question on the verbal reasoning test which gave a basic account of an event, for example:
Last night a school was vandalised by youths on motorbikes who were pulling wheelies on the football pitch.
The question also told us: Stuart Brown owns a motorcycle.
(There is no more information given about Stuart)
The question which followed was:
Stuart may have been one of the youths who vandalised the shcool.
Answer can be (A. True) (B. False) or (C. Impossible to tell.)
The answer booklet is saying the answer is = (C. Impossible to tell.)
I answered A (True). Stuart does own a motorcycle so he MAY have been one of the youths who vandalised the school? Surely it could only be C (Impossible to tell) if the statement had said: Stuart WAS or IS one of the youths who vandalised the school?
The issue is whether a statement which uses MAY can ever be impossible to tell - is it not always true or false?
Sorry for the long post, the test uses a lot of these sort of questions and its not something I want to get wrong. Any advice from those of you who have done these tests (or those who have not) would be appreciated.
Thanks
JimDon't read too much in to the question. From the question asked the only viable answer is C without speculating and that's what it is asking. RTFQ and don't hypothecate.
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DIW35
2,139 posts
30 months
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With the (lack) of information they have given you in that example, I guess it would be impossible to tell.
Yes, they tell you that Stuart Brown owns a motorcycle, but what they might not be telling you is that the Stuart Brown they are referring to lives in Australia, or that he was killed in a bar brawl two nights before the incident at the school, or that he is an octogenarian who lost both legs in WWII.
To answer that he might have been involved relies on making a lot of assumptions, which I guess is what they are trying to avoid.
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Greendubber
2,056 posts
33 months
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14-7 said: JIM600 said: Evening All
I have my Police assessment centre day(s) coming up. I’ve been reading through various practice questions to prepare. Today I got to a question on the verbal reasoning test which gave a basic account of an event, for example:
Last night a school was vandalised by youths on motorbikes who were pulling wheelies on the football pitch.
The question also told us: Stuart Brown owns a motorcycle.
(There is no more information given about Stuart)
The question which followed was:
Stuart may have been one of the youths who vandalised the shcool.
Answer can be (A. True) (B. False) or (C. Impossible to tell.)
The answer booklet is saying the answer is = (C. Impossible to tell.)
I answered A (True). Stuart does own a motorcycle so he MAY have been one of the youths who vandalised the school? Surely it could only be C (Impossible to tell) if the statement had said: Stuart WAS or IS one of the youths who vandalised the school?
The issue is whether a statement which uses MAY can ever be impossible to tell - is it not always true or false?
Sorry for the long post, the test uses a lot of these sort of questions and its not something I want to get wrong. Any advice from those of you who have done these tests (or those who have not) would be appreciated.
Thanks
JimDon't read too much in to the question. From the question asked the only viable answer is C without speculating and that's what it is asking. RTFQ and don't hypothecate. Yep, you dont know enough to say its true. Go with C. It is as simple as read the question, look at what its actually asking. They're designed to catch people out, people get paid a lot of money to write questions to catch people out so dont feel too hard done by it.
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micky g
1,187 posts
65 months
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If that's the case they want sacking. Your answer is correct. All IMHO of course... I obviously don't serve her Maj's finest 
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G51CAV
761 posts
28 months
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14-7 said: RTFQ Jeeze, I don't think it matters what force you work in that phrase gets ingrained in your memory!
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s2art
11,130 posts
83 months
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JIM600 said: Evening All
I have my Police assessment centre day(s) coming up. I’ve been reading through various practice questions to prepare. Today I got to a question on the verbal reasoning test which gave a basic account of an event, for example:
Last night a school was vandalised by youths on motorbikes who were pulling wheelies on the football pitch.
The question also told us: Stuart Brown owns a motorcycle.
(There is no more information given about Stuart)
The question which followed was:
Stuart may have been one of the youths who vandalised the shcool.
Answer can be (A. True) (B. False) or (C. Impossible to tell.)
The answer booklet is saying the answer is = (C. Impossible to tell.)
I answered A (True). Stuart does own a motorcycle so he MAY have been one of the youths who vandalised the school? Surely it could only be C (Impossible to tell) if the statement had said: Stuart WAS or IS one of the youths who vandalised the school?
The issue is whether a statement which uses MAY can ever be impossible to tell - is it not always true or false?
Sorry for the long post, the test uses a lot of these sort of questions and its not something I want to get wrong. Any advice from those of you who have done these tests (or those who have not) would be appreciated.
Thanks
JimYour logic is sound. The booklet is wrong.
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Greendubber
2,056 posts
33 months
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G51CAV said: 14-7 said: RTFQ Jeeze, I don't think it matters what force you work in that phrase gets ingrained in your memory! So true 
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14-7
2,050 posts
21 months
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s2art said: Your logic is sound. The booklet is wrong. How so? Considering the question it isn't possible to tell whether the statement is true or false therefore the only correct answer is C, impossible to tell.
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s2art
11,130 posts
83 months
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Greendubber said: Yep, you dont know enough to say its true. Go with C. Nope. You have no information that precludes the possibility. Therefore he may be one of the youths. FFS, this is not difficult.
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Quinny
9,403 posts
96 months
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I recon he did it, and its a fair cop
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10 Pence Short
17,061 posts
47 months
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Looks like bad English to me. As it stands logic suggests there is nothing to say he wasn't involved, so it is reasonable to suggest he may have been, ie. it is possible.
If the question instead asked if it was reasonable to suspect the guy, then the answer is a better illustration of what I suspect it's trying to achieve.
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JIM600
Original Poster
76 posts
30 months
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Thanks for all the quick answers!
Seems to be a varied response though.
The way I am looking at it is that because they have told us so little about Stuart, the only correct answer is that the statement: "He MAY have done it" is true, as has been said, if we were told Stuart was on the moon at the time it happened then the answer would be false. How you can it be "impossible to say" if something may/might/could have happend? It would only be "impossible to say" if the statement had said that Stuart did/was/is a member of the gang?
I have read through a few more practice questions and there are sveral using MAY in the statements, some with the ansers as A-True and some with C-Impossible to tell. Its not an official booklet so Im planning to bin it and try a different one!
Jim
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14-7
2,050 posts
21 months
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JIM600 said: Thanks for all the quick answers!
Seems to be a varied response though.
The way I am looking at it is that because they have told us so little about Stuart, the only correct answer is that the statement: "He MAY have done it" is true, as has been said, if we were told Stuart was on the moon at the time it happened then the answer would be false. How you can it be "impossible to say" if something may/might/could have happend? It would only be "impossible to say" if the statement had said that Stuart did/was/is a member of the gang?
I have read through a few more practice questions and there are sveral using MAY in the statements, some with the ansers as A-True and some with C-Impossible to tell. Its not an official booklet so Im planning to bin it and try a different one!
Jim RTFQ!!!!! From the limited information and the question asked. Is it true he may have been invovled - yes, possibly, he has a motorbike and that is it. Is it false that he may have been involved - yes, possibly, because all you know is that he has a motorbike. He may not be a youth as the information has in it. Is it impossible to tell - definitely because you've answered yes to the first two answers, true or false, and they are both definite answers therefore if both are yes it can't be right can it? Because of that the only viable answer is C.
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micky g
1,187 posts
65 months
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Er, no.
He 'may' have been involved.
It isn't false because you don't have enough information to tell.
It is impossible to tell if he 'was' involved.
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Greendubber
2,056 posts
33 months
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s2art said: Greendubber said: Yep, you dont know enough to say its true. Go with C. Nope. You have no information that precludes the possibility. Therefore he may be one of the youths. FFS, this is not difficult. I know its not, which is why I got the correct answer based on the info given!. Only go on what you have, dont assume anything, read the question and go with what you can see. these questions are designed to catch people out.
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14-7
2,050 posts
21 months
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micky g said: Er, no.
He 'may' have been involved.
It isn't false because you don't have enough information to tell.
It is impossible to tell if he 'was' involved. He may have been involved. He may not have been involved. Therefore it is impossible to tell. Again don't read too much in to questions like that because they aren't asking you to think for yourself. They are asking for an answer based on a) the information provided and b) the answers provided. They aren't asking you to hypothecate on the situation. Only to answer on the information provided and the answers provided.
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carmonk
1,177 posts
17 months
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Vandals were on motorbikes
Stuart owns a motorbike
A) True or B) False or C) Impossible to Tell ~
Stuart may have been one of the vandals
B is not correct because there is nothing to exclude him
C is not correct because it is perfectly possible to speculate, given the evidence
It's basic logic. Answer A is correct
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cs02rm0
2,067 posts
21 months
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There's nothing wrong with answer A. They've cocked their English up by using the word may.
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