Verbal Reasoning · Spotting the word that cannot be formed
Built from DESPERATE
Four of these words can be spelt using the letters of DESPERATE. One cannot. Tap the word that cannot be made.
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Why this works
Letters from a word are a supply, not a menu: DESPERATE hands you each of its letters once, and once a letter is spent it is gone. TEST fails on the T. DESPERATE has only one T, and TEST needs 2. That kind of failure cannot be found by scanning, because the letter IS there. It is found by counting, which is why these questions catch out children who only look. The reliable method is to cross letters off as you spend them, one word at a time, and to pay particular attention to any word that wants the same letter twice. A repeated letter is the commonest way a word runs out, and it is the one thing a quick glance never checks.
Helping a child through Built from DESPERATE
Hints, least revealing first
- Each letter of DESPERATE can only be used once. Cross a tile off as you use it and see whether you run out.
- Every letter of the impossible word IS in DESPERATE somewhere, so scanning will not find it. Count how many times each letter appears instead.
- Watch the repeated letters. DEER needs the same letter twice and still works, so a repeat is not proof on its own.
When they finish it: “That one runs out of letters!”
11+ skill this exercise practises
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Built from DESPERATE practises one skill. Verbal Reasoning has 26 of them
A free diagnostic covers every verbal reasoning skill and the other three subjects, and comes back with a shortlist rather than a list.