Thinking Skills can feel like the least familiar section of the NSW Selective test, because it tests critical thinking and problem solving rather than school content. The Department says no previous knowledge is required.
That makes it very practisable: the logic patterns repeat, so practice with feedback builds a bank of approaches your child can draw on under time pressure.
The Main Question Types
Note: These groupings are ours, not the Department's. The Department describes the section only as testing critical thinking and problem solving.
1. Logical Deduction
These questions give you a set of clues or constraints and ask you to determine a unique arrangement: seating orders, schedules, rankings, or who holds which position.
Example structure: "Five students (Ana, Ben, Cara, Dan, Eve) each chose a different instrument. Ben chose neither piano nor violin. Cara is directly next to Eve in the room arrangement..." followed by: "Who plays guitar?"
Key skill: Process of elimination. Never guess — work through what is definitely ruled out first. The question must have exactly one valid answer; if you find two, you missed a constraint.
Common trap: Assuming constraints that are not stated. If the question says "Ben did not choose piano," that does not mean Ben chose violin. Write down only what is explicitly given.
2. Argument Analysis
These questions present a short argument or claim and ask you to identify the conclusion, an assumption the argument relies on, what would strengthen or weaken it, or which option is a logical flaw.
Example: "All our top-selling products are locally made. This product is locally made. Therefore it will be a top seller." → "What is the flaw in this reasoning?"
A format that appears often in the Department's published past papers (which predate the computer-based test) gives two named people a rule or statement and asks which of them has reasoned correctly from it. It rewards reading the rule exactly as written and testing each person's conclusion against it.
Key skill: Separate what is stated from what is assumed. The correct answer to "what assumption does this rely on?" is something that is not stated in the argument but must be true for the conclusion to follow.
Common trap: Choosing an answer that is true but not relevant to the logical structure of the argument. Focus on the reasoning, not the topic.
3. Mathematical Reasoning
These are Thinking Skills questions, not maths questions — they require logical setup more than arithmetic. They often involve working backwards from a total, setting up a system to eliminate options, or identifying relationships between quantities.
Example: "Anna has some sweets. She gives half to Ben, then one-third of what remains to Cara. She is left with 8. How many did she start with?"
Key skill: Work backwards when you know the final state. Try all the answer options if needed — the time cost is low and elimination is reliable.
4. Data Interpretation
These questions provide a table, chart, or graph and ask you to read, compare, or draw conclusions from the data.
Key skill: Read exactly what is asked. Questions ask about specific rows, differences, totals, or trends. Students lose marks by answering a related but different question.
Common trap: Charts with multiple series are easy to misread. Always verify which line or bar corresponds to which category before calculating.
5. Codes and Rules
These questions test the ability to follow a rule carefully: a code in which letters map to numbers, or a set of instructions to apply step by step.
Example format: "If A→3, B→5, C→2, what number does BACAB produce?"
Key skill: Apply the rule mechanically and carefully. These questions reward methodical step-by-step processing. Do not try to find shortcuts.
6. Spatial Reasoning
Students might be asked what a shape looks like when folded, how many cubes make up a 3D figure, or how many faces of a painted cube have exactly two painted faces.
Key skill: Visualise step by step rather than all at once. For paper-fold questions, fold one crease at a time and track where each feature ends up.
Common trap: Paper-fold questions where the punch goes through several layers. Count the layers carefully — if you fold a piece of paper in half twice, a single hole punch makes four holes, not one.
Timing and Triage
Thinking Skills has 40 questions in 40 minutes — 60 seconds per question on average — and counts for 25% of the result. If a puzzle is taking more than two minutes, skip it and return to it; there are quicker questions elsewhere in the paper.
The Improvement Playbook
A common reason students struggle in Thinking Skills is that they have never practised these specific reasoning patterns. Deliberate practice against the clock, with review of every wrong answer, is the way to change that.
- Do timed sessions of 20 questions at 60 seconds each. If you finish early, check your work.
- For every wrong answer, identify which of the question types it belongs to and why your reasoning failed. Patterns emerge quickly.
- Logical Deduction puzzles are the most time-consuming. Practise these offline — newspapers and puzzle books have variants. Speed comes from pattern recognition.
- Argument Analysis improves with reading: newspaper editorials, opinion pieces, and structured debates expose you to the same logical moves.
Practising with feedback matters. Knowing you got a question wrong is not enough — understanding the reasoning path that leads to the correct answer is what builds the pattern library your brain draws on under time pressure.