If your child is preparing for a reasoning test — verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, critical thinking assessments — it’s very easy to become obsessed with scores, timings and getting the right answer.

But the bigger opportunity is often being missed, because reasoning isn’t about the correct answers.

It’s about how you came to find an answer. It’s about how you think.

And arguably, the reasoning behind an answer is just as important as the answer itself. Maybe even more important if you care about the long-term picture beyond standardised tests.

Verbal and non-verbal reasoning tests were originally designed to measure what psychologists called fluid intelligence. The idea was that these tests assessed something fixed. An innate ability. A kind of built-in mental capacity that couldn’t really be taught.

If that were true, preparation would be pointless.

But it isn’t strictly true.