Year 6 · Reading Beta
NSW Selective Reading practice papers.
Five parts — a fiction extract, a vocabulary cloze, a poem, a gapped-text passage, and a multiple-matching set — in 45 minutes, built from real literature the way the actual test is.
Our Reading papers are brand new and still being refined against the real test. They're fully sittable now — you may just spot the odd rough edge. There's a feedback button at the end of every paper, and we read every note.
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Frequently asked
Questions about the Reading paper.
Why is Reading marked "Beta"?
Reading is our newest subject. The papers are complete and fully sittable, but we are still refining them against the real test, so we have opened them early and invited feedback. Every paper ends with a feedback button, and we read every note.
How is the Reading paper structured?
Five parts in 45 minutes: a fiction extract, a vocabulary cloze, a poem, a gapped-text passage, and a multiple-matching set across four short extracts — the same shape as the NSW Selective Reading test.
Where do the passages come from?
From real, out-of-copyright literature — writers like Katherine Mansfield, Henry Lawson, Kenneth Grahame, Banjo Paterson and Emily Dickinson — plus purpose-written informational passages. The real test uses published texts, so we do too, rather than inventing our own fiction.
Is the Reading paper sat online like the others?
Yes. It is sat in the same online test mode as Mathematical Reasoning and Thinking Skills, with the correct answer and an explanation shown in the review screen after each attempt.