"Cannot say" is your best friend in verbal reasoning

“Cannot say” is the correct answer whenever the passage does not provide enough information to prove True or False. Most candidates under-use it because their brain fills in gaps. Learn the three traps that cause wrong answers and the fast decision method to choose confidently.

Most candidates treat “Cannot say” like a failure state. It is not. It is the correct answer whenever the passage does not provide enough information to prove True or False.

The three traps that create wrong answers

• The plausible trap. The statement is reasonable but unsupported by the text. Your brain wants to say True because it is “probably” true. Resist.
• The causal trap. The statement adds a “because” where the passage only shows correlation. Always a red flag.
• The quantifier trap. The statement shifts “some” to “most”, or “most” to “all”. Small word, wrong answer.

The fast decision method

Underline what the statement needs to be true. Then check: does the passage actually give you that exact information? If no → Cannot say. No exceptions.