A Comprehensive, If Overwhelming, Guide to GEP Selection: My Deep Dive into the Ace GEP 11 Book

The English section’s verbal analogy questions (e.g., painter : brush :: sculptor : ? ) are excellent. They go beyond simple synonyms to include part-whole, cause-effect, and even obscure category relationships. One question asked: dewdrop : morning :: tear : ? with options like sorrow, eye, evening, glass. The answer ( sorrow ) forces the child to see the emotional context, not just a literal association. That’s true GEP thinking.

The GA section’s non-verbal puzzles (rotations, overlay patterns, 3D cube nets) are some of the clearest I’ve seen. The worked examples use a step-by-step elimination method—identifying the rule in two dimensions first, then checking consistency. My weaker students made visible progress here after just two sessions.

For motivated students and dedicated tutors, this book is a top-tier resource. Just keep a notebook handy to fill in the gaps the answer key leaves open.

The book is linear: you finish English, then math, then GA. But most students have spikes and troughs. My current student, for example, excels at math patterns but struggles with figure matrices. There’s no index or “quick diagnostic test” to tell you, “If you got questions 3, 9, and 14 wrong, focus on pages 210–225.” You have to flip through manually.

4.2/5

Every “Challenge Yourself” set has a suggested time limit (e.g., “4 questions – 6 minutes”). This trains the child to move on, not obsess. The mock papers also include a bubble answer sheet, which feels authentic. Where It Falls Short 1. Explanation Quality Is Inconsistent The answer key provides one-line explanations for most questions, which is insufficient for the hardest 20% of problems. For instance, a complex math heuristic involving “working backwards with a fraction tree” got the answer ( 42 ) but the explanation just said: “Reverse the operations step by step.” A struggling student or busy parent would be lost. I had to create my own video solutions for several GA puzzles.

The English section includes a 12-page “High-Frequency GEP Word List” with words like obfuscate, loquacious, recondite – fine for a 11-year-old advanced reader, but the practice questions don’t teach context inference. They feel like a vocabulary drill, not a reasoning exercise. The real GEP English paper often gives you a word in a bizarre sentence and asks you to deduce meaning from roots and clues. This book misses that nuance.

Your child enjoys intellectual challenges and you’re willing to sit with them for the hardest 15% of problems. Skip it if: You want a gentle introduction or need detailed video explanations for every answer.