The Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal is the most widely used aptitude test in UK law firm recruitment. It assesses your ability to think critically — distinguishing facts from inferences, recognising assumptions, and evaluating the strength of arguments. Firms including Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Linklaters, Hogan Lovells Cadwalader and DLA Piper use it as an early screening stage, often before inviting candidates to assessment days. This practice bank gives you Watson Glaser-style questions drawn from legal, business and everyday contexts to help you prepare.
Used by 8 of 49 profiled firms
Inference
You are given a statement of facts. For each inference, decide whether it is True, Probably True, Insufficient Data, Probably False, or False. Judging the probable answers can draw on commonly accepted knowledge as well as the facts given.
Recognition of Assumptions
Given a statement, decide whether an unstated assumption is actually made in that statement. Choose "Assumption Made" or "Assumption Not Made".
Deduction
Given a set of premises, decide whether each conclusion necessarily follows. Choose "Conclusion Follows" or "Conclusion Does Not Follow" — treat the premises as true even if they seem unusual.
Interpretation
Given a passage and a proposed conclusion, decide whether the conclusion follows beyond reasonable doubt from the passage alone.
Evaluation of Arguments
Given a question, assess whether each argument is Strong (directly relevant and important) or Weak (not directly relevant, trivial, or based on a generalisation).
In Deduction and Interpretation, base every answer strictly on the information given. In Inference, Pearson's own directions expect you to draw on commonly accepted knowledge when weighing "Probably True" against "Probably False".
In Inference questions, "Probably True" and "Probably False" are valid answers; resist the urge to always pick True or False.
For Deduction, treat all premises as true even if they contradict reality — the test is about logical validity, not factual accuracy.
Practice under timed conditions: the real test gives roughly 30 seconds per question.
Read the question type carefully before answering — switching between subtypes mid-test is a common source of errors.
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Watson Glaser-style and SJT simulations, timed or feedback mode, with instant explanations.
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