In order to knock the verbal section of your standardized test or even the reading portion of your test in school right out of the ballpark, you need to know what an inference is, first. An inference is an assumption made based on specific evidence. We make inferences all the time in real life. For instance, your girlfriend might say to you, "Nice hair," and you could make the inference that she is being rude because she was smirking when she said it. In life, it's pretty easy to infer the implied meaning – the meaning not stated directly – because you can use context clues like body language, tone, and gestures to help you get the real meaning.