What is Thinking Skills in the NSW Selective Test?

Thinking Skills is one of the three multiple-choice papers in the NSW Selective High School Placement Test, alongside Mathematical Reasoning and Reading; a Writing task is the fourth component. It has no curriculum to revise: it tests reasoning itself — reading an argument and working out what must follow, solving logic puzzles, and picturing how shapes fit together. Since the 2025 sitting all four components have been weighted equally, at 25% each, so no section outweighs another.

How many questions are on the Thinking Skills paper, and how long do I get?

40 multiple-choice questions in 40 minutes — the same shape as the Thinking Skills sample papers published by the NSW Department of Education.

What does Thinking Skills cover?

Verbal reasoning, deductive puzzles, numerical logic, and spatial thinking — based on our analysis of the published official samples.

How many answer options does each question have?

Four (A to D) — matching the real NSW Selective Thinking Skills paper. This is one fewer option than Mathematical Reasoning, which uses five.

Is there a free Thinking Skills paper?

Yes — one full paper in the series is free. It is sat in the online test mode, with the correct answer and an explanation shown in the review screen after each attempt, with 24-hour access. Claiming the free full paper requires an email, a child’s first name and agreement to receive practice tips. The ten free questions on this page need no sign-up.

Thinking Skills Selective Test — 2027 Practice Papers

Ten questions · No sign-up

Year 6 Thinking Skills, taken from Practice Paper 01. The full paper is 40 questions in 40 minutes — about 60 seconds each. There is no clock here.

0 of 10 answered

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Q1Identify flaw
Question 1.
A hospital found that the more doctors a patient sees, the sicker the patient tends to be.

Hugo: "Seeing lots of doctors must be bad for you, so patients should see as few as possible."

Which one of these sentences shows the mistake that has been made?
ASeeing many doctors in one day can be tiring for a patient who needs rest.BHospitals in big cities usually employ more doctors than country hospitals.CSome doctors have far more experience than others.DIt could be that patients who are already very sick need to see more doctors.
Q2Table analysis
Question 2.
Students test water filters using two batches of cloudy water. The table records clear water collected (litres). Each student's device is rated using its larger reading.

student test 1 test 2
1 5.0 5.4
2 5.3 4.8
3 5.2 5.2
4 4.4 4.3
5 5.9 5.1
6 5.7 4.1
7 4.7 5.3
8 4.7 5.5
9 4.6 5.2
10 5.0 5.8
11 5.6 4.1

There are 6 places in an exhibition. They go to the devices with the highest ratings. Which student gets the final place when the devices are selected from highest rating downwards?
Astudent 7Bstudent 8Cstudent 1Dstudent 2
Q3Conditional single claim
Question 3.
"In Room 6, whenever a library book is overdue, a reminder note has been sent home." If this is true, which one of the following sentences must also be true?
AIf a reminder note has been sent home, then the book is overdue.BAn overdue book and a reminder note sent home always occur together.CIf a book is not overdue, then no reminder note has been sent home.DIf no reminder note has been sent home, then the book is not overdue.
Q43d views and pieces
Question 4.
Five differently-shaped keys lie flat on a glass-topped table. The top-down view (from above the table) is shown in the first picture below — each arrow represents one key, with the arrowhead pointing towards the key's teeth.

You now crouch underneath the table and look straight up through the glass. The keys have not moved. In every picture, the top of the grid represents the same edge of the table. Four candidate views labelled A, B, C, D are shown. Which one is what you see from underneath?
AView ABView BCView CDView D
Q5Knights and liars
Question 5.
I am hiding in one of three rooms. On the door of each room I have written two statements, some true and some false. However, no more than one statement on each door is false. My name is either Leo or Sana.

Room 1:
• My name is Leo
• I am in Room 3

Room 2:
• I am in Room 3
• My name is Sana

Room 3:
• My name is Leo
• I am not in Room 3

Which one of the following statements must be true?
AMy name is SanaBI'm in Room 1CI'm in Room 2DI'm in Room 3
Q6System equations wordy
Question 6.
At a fête, darts can land in the Blue zone (worth A points each) or the Red zone (worth B points each).

• Joey hit the Blue zone 3 times and the Red zone 2 times, scoring 29 points.
• Ruby hit the Blue zone 1 times and the Red zone 3 times, scoring 19 points.

How many points is one Blue-zone dart worth?
A8B4C7D6
Q7Deductive ordering
Question 7.
At a holiday workshop, 4 students each rank kayaking, archery, coding from favourite to least favourite, with no ties.

• Layla ranks archery ahead of kayaking.
• Layla ranks kayaking ahead of coding.
• Rohit ranks archery ahead of coding.
• Wesley ranks kayaking ahead of archery.
• Wesley ranks coding ahead of archery.
• Olivia ranks archery ahead of kayaking.

What is the largest number who could rank archery first?
A3B1C0D2
Q8Modify argument strength
Question 8.
Wei argued that giving every student a laptop would improve their marks, because students could look up information quickly during lessons.

Which one of these statements, if true, most weakens the argument?
ASome teachers are not confident using laptops in their lessons.BPrinted textbooks can also contain a great deal of useful information.CLaptops need to be charged overnight to last the whole school day.DStudies show many students spend class time playing games on their laptops instead of working.
Q9Assembly and layout
Question 9.
The shapes on the top row are the pieces of a puzzle, together with the 6 by 6 square they have to fill. Four larger pieces, labelled A, B, C and D, are shown below them.

Only one of the larger pieces can be combined with the five pieces above to fill the 6 by 6 square completely, with no gaps and no overlaps.

The pieces may be turned around, but they may not be flipped over or resized.

Which of the larger pieces is it?
APiece ABPiece BCPiece CDPiece D
Q10Conditional single claim
Question 10.
A librarian claims: 'Every book borrowed by a teacher is returned within a week.' Four books were checked against both conditions; the four unknown answers are labelled (a), (b), (c) and (d).

Borrowed by a teacher? Returned within a week?
Book 1 YES (a)
Book 2 (b) YES
Book 3 NO (c)
Book 4 (d) NO

Which two of the missing answers must be known to test the truth of the claim?
Aa and bBa and dCb and dDc and d

student	test 1	test 2
1	5.0	5.4
2	5.3	4.8
3	5.2	5.2
4	4.4	4.3
5	5.9	5.1
6	5.7	4.1
7	4.7	5.3
8	4.7	5.5
9	4.6	5.2
10	5.0	5.8
11	5.6	4.1

	Borrowed by a teacher?	Returned within a week?
Book 1	YES	(a)
Book 2	(b)	YES
Book 3	NO	(c)
Book 4	(d)	NO

You will get the correct answer and the full working for all ten — including the ones you skip. Nothing to sign up for.

Thinking Skills selective test — 2027 practice papers

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Thinking Skills in the Selective Test, answered.

student	test 1	test 2
1	5.0	5.4
2	5.3	4.8
3	5.2	5.2
4	4.4	4.3
5	5.9	5.1
6	5.7	4.1
7	4.7	5.3
8	4.7	5.5
9	4.6	5.2
10	5.0	5.8
11	5.6	4.1

student	test 1	test 2
1	5.0	5.4
2	5.3	4.8
3	5.2	5.2
4	4.4	4.3
5	5.9	5.1
6	5.7	4.1
7	4.7	5.3
8	4.7	5.5
9	4.6	5.2
10	5.0	5.8
11	5.6	4.1

student	test 1	test 2
1	5.0	5.4
2	5.3	4.8
3	5.2	5.2
4	4.4	4.3
5	5.9	5.1
6	5.7	4.1
7	4.7	5.3
8	4.7	5.5
9	4.6	5.2
10	5.0	5.8
11	5.6	4.1