Making Valid Inferences

Inference questions are among the most challenging in UCAT Verbal Reasoning. They ask you to go beyond what is explicitly stated in the passage — but only slightly. The critical skill is knowing where the boundary lies between a valid inference (something that logically follows from the passage) and an over-inference (something that might be true but is not supported by the passage). Getting this right is what separates high scorers from average ones.

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What Is a Valid Inference?

A valid inference is a conclusion that must be true (or is very strongly supported) based on the information in the passage, even though it is not directly stated.