Australia · Year 9 entry

EduTest Year 9 Verbal Reasoning free practice questions with answers

Read question 1 and its full worked answer from paper 1 of our 20-paper EduTest Year 9 Verbal Reasoning set, then download the 4-page PDF. These are original practice questions, not official past papers. Page updated 3 November 2026.

Question 1

Remove one letter from the word CHEAT to make a new word that means 'an informal talk'. Which letter must be removed?

A letter C

B letter T

C letter A

D letter E

E letter H

Worked answer

Correct answer: D — letter E

Step 1: The new word must mean 'an informal talk', and it must use the letters of CHEAT in the same order with one letter missing.
Step 2: Take away the E from CHEAT. That leaves 'chat', which means 'an informal talk'.
Why the other options are wrong:
A (letter C): Removing C from CHEAT leaves 'heat', which does not mean 'an informal talk'.
B (letter T): Removing T from CHEAT leaves 'chea', which does not mean 'an informal talk'.
C (letter A): Removing A from CHEAT leaves 'chet', which does not mean 'an informal talk'.
E (letter H): Removing H from CHEAT leaves 'ceat', which does not mean 'an informal talk'.

Read the clue first: it tells you what the shorter word means, so you only need to find which letter to drop.

Download the free sample: 3 questions and answers (PDF)