NSW Selective & OC — Thinking Skills
Thinking Skills Practice Test (NSW Selective & OC)
On the NSW Selective test, Thinking Skills is 40 questions answered in 40 minutes — roughly one minute per question. It measures logical reasoning, evaluating arguments and spotting patterns, not curriculum knowledge, so there is no maths formula or spelling list to memorise. Every question is multiple choice with four options. Because the section is so tightly timed, pacing is the real challenge: strong reasoners still lose marks by over-thinking early questions and running out of time. Below you will find the question types, five worked examples at genuine test difficulty, the traps that catch children out, and a pacing plan that works.
What Thinking Skills tests
Thinking Skills questions fall into three families. Recognising which family a question belongs to is half the battle, because each has a reliable method.
Logic and deduction. You are given a set of statements and must work out what mustbe true. These reward careful use of premises and contrapositives — if “all A are B” and something is not B, then it cannot be A.
Evaluating arguments. A short argument is presented and you identify its hidden assumption, the flaw in its reasoning, or what would most strengthen or weaken it. These test whether you can separate what an argument proves from what it merely suggests.
Number and visual patterns. You continue a sequence, complete a grid, or predict how a shape changes after rotations or reflections. These reward spotting the rule, not guessing the next-looking number.
Timing on Selective is fixed: 40 questions in 40 minutes. The section is multiple choice with four options each.
| Section | Time | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Reading | 45 min | 17 questions (about 38 answers) |
| Mathematical Reasoning | 40 min | 35 questions |
| Thinking Skills | 40 min | 40 questions |
| Writing | 30 min | — |
Five worked examples
These are original FunThinkers questions written at Selective difficulty — one for each of the main question types. Work each out on paper, then reveal the answer.
Example 1
Deduction: All members of the debating club study Latin. No one who studies Latin takes the early bus. Tomas is a member of the debating club. Which statement must be true?
- A. Tomas takes the early bus.
- B. Tomas does not study Latin.
- C. Tomas does not take the early bus.
- D. Everyone who studies Latin is in the debating club.
Show answer
Answer: C — Tomas does not take the early bus.
Tomas is in the club, so he studies Latin; nobody who studies Latin takes the early bus, so Tomas does not. Option D reverses the first premise, which is not permitted.
Example 2
Assumption: An editorial argues, 'The council should replace the town's streetlights with LED bulbs, because that will cut the council's electricity bill.' Which assumption does the argument rely on?
- A. LED bulbs last longer than the current bulbs.
- B. The current streetlights use more electricity than LED bulbs would.
- C. Residents have asked for brighter streetlights.
- D. The council can afford to buy the new bulbs.
Show answer
Answer: B — The current streetlights use more electricity than LED bulbs would.
The bill only falls if LEDs draw less power than the current lights, so the argument depends on B. Longevity (A) and affordability (D) are about cost, not the electricity claim, and C is irrelevant.
Example 3
Flaw: 'Every time I have worn my red socks, our team has won. So if I wear my red socks on Saturday, we will win.' What is the main flaw in this reasoning?
- A. It treats a coincidence as if it caused the wins.
- B. It assumes the team will play on Saturday.
- C. It uses a word that has two different meanings.
- D. It appeals to what most people believe.
Show answer
Answer: A — It treats a coincidence as if it caused the wins.
Wearing socks happening alongside wins does not make it the cause; the argument leaps from correlation to cause. The other options describe flaws that are not present here.
Example 4
Number pattern: What number comes next in this sequence? 2, 6, 12, 20, 30, ?
- A. 36
- B. 40
- C. 42
- D. 44
Show answer
Answer: C — 42.
The gaps grow by 2 each time (4, 6, 8, 10), so the next gap is 12: 30 + 12 = 42. Equivalently each term is n × (n + 1): 6 × 7 = 42.
Example 5
Visual pattern: An arrow starts pointing north. At each step it rotates 135° clockwise, so after the first step it points south-east. Which direction does it point after the third step?
- A. South-west
- B. North-east
- C. East
- D. West
Show answer
Answer: B — North-east.
From north, clockwise turns of 135° give: step 1 = 135° (south-east), step 2 = 270° (west), step 3 = 405°, which is the same as 45° — north-east.
Common traps
Most lost marks come from a handful of predictable traps rather than difficult reasoning:
True but not supported. An option can be a real-world fact yet still be wrong, because the question asks what the passage or premises establish — not what happens to be true. Answer only from the information given.
Over-inference.Children stretch a “some” into an “all”, or a “might” into a “will”. If a statement uses “some”, do not choose an answer that requires “all”.
Reversing a conditional.“All A are B” does not mean “all B are A”. Distractors that quietly flip the direction of a rule (as in Example 1, option D) are the single most common trap in deduction questions.
The plausible-first pattern. In sequences, the most obvious next number is often planted as a distractor. Confirm the rule works for every earlier term before choosing.
Pacing strategy
With 40 questions in 40 minutes, the section averages one minute per question, so a plan matters as much as ability.
Skip and return. If a question is not yielding within about 90 seconds, mark it, choose your best guess, and move on. One hard question is worth the same one mark as an easy one you might miss at the end.
Do not over-invest early. Early questions are not always the easiest. Spend your saved time on flagged questions during a second pass, not on polishing answers you already have.
Eliminate options. With four choices, ruling out two doubles the odds on any guess. In argument questions, cross off options that are irrelevant or reverse the premise before weighing the rest.
Answer everything. There is no penalty for a wrong answer, so never leave a question blank — guess from the remaining options before time runs out.
Practise Thinking Skills free
Sit timed Thinking Skills questions in the real Selective format and get an instant, marked report.
Practise Thinking Skills freeFrequently asked questions
How long is the Thinking Skills test?
On the NSW Selective test, Thinking Skills is 40 minutes for 40 questions — about one minute per question. On the Opportunity Class test it is shorter at 30 minutes.
What's the difference between Thinking Skills and Maths?
Mathematical Reasoning tests problem solving with number, measurement and space concepts from the curriculum. Thinking Skills tests reasoning itself — deduction, evaluating arguments and patterns — and needs little arithmetic. A Thinking Skills question can be answered without any calculation; a Maths question usually cannot.
Can you study for Thinking Skills?
Yes, but not by memorising content. Practice helps children recognise recurring question types (syllogisms, assumptions, flaws, sequences), learn to eliminate options quickly, and build the speed needed for one-minute-per-question pacing. Timed practice matters more than cramming facts.
Is Thinking Skills on both OC and Selective?
Yes. Both the Opportunity Class test (Year 4, for Year 5 entry) and the Selective test (Year 6, for Year 7 entry) include a Thinking Skills section. Selective allows 40 minutes; OC allows 30 minutes.
Source: NSW Department of Education — Selective High School Placement Test. Last verified: July 2026.