Years 4 to 6
Selective Test Preparation
Closely aligned with the OC test, the Selective test is more challenging in scope and depth. Elite prepares students for its Mathematical Reasoning and Thinking Skills sections.
Who it is for
Students in Year 4 and Year 5 working towards the Selective High School Placement Test, which is sat in Year 6 for entry to Year 7, and Year 6 students in their final run.
Section by section
The Selective sections Elite teaches
Mathematical Reasoning and Thinking Skills in the Selective test, 80 minutes between them. Select a section.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Questions
- 35
- Minutes
- 40
- Each
- 69 s
- Of the mark
- 25%
What it covers
Problems drawn from the NSW maths curriculum up to Year 6
Thinking Skills
- Questions
- 40
- Minutes
- 40
- Each
- 60 s
- Of the mark
- 25%
What it covers
Critical thinking and problem solving, in a range of question types. No previous knowledge is needed
From the NSW Department of Education, November 2026. The test is sat on computer, with no calculators or rulers.
What Elite teaches
Across both sections
What every Selective class at Elite works on.
Start with the entry assessment-
The UPSL problem-solving strategyUnderstand, plan, solve and learn
-
Multiple choice technique, including when to eliminate and when to move on
-
Timing under the real per-section limits, not generous practice limits
Try the paper
A question for each section
Questions from Elite's own papers, against the clock at the real test's pace. All twelve sample questions.
- Choose an answer. The clock starts.
- Check it against the key.
- Read the worked solution and the skill it tests.
Mathematical Reasoning
Worked solution
For a fixed total the product is largest when the two numbers are equal, so 11 times 11 gives 121. The distractor 484 is 22 times 22, which multiplies the total by itself instead of splitting it in two. 120 is 10 times 12: close, but numbers that differ give a smaller product than equal ones.
This tests Number properties, part of Mathematical Reasoning. The answer is C.
Show the worked solution
For a fixed total the product is largest when the two numbers are equal, so 11 times 11 gives 121. The distractor 484 is 22 times 22, which multiplies the total by itself instead of splitting it in two. 120 is 10 times 12: close, but numbers that differ give a smaller product than equal ones.
This tests Number properties. The answer is C.
From Elite's own Week 1 Mathematical Reasoning paper, with a fifth option added because the real test gives five. The clock runs at the real test's pace: 35 questions in 40 minutes is about 69 seconds a question.
Thinking Skills
Worked solution
- Understand the question. Argument / Weaken (W2, counter-explanation)
- Use the strategy. W2 keeps the premise true but reads it a different way. Then the same fact no longer supports the conclusion. Ask yourself: could this fact mean something else?
- Apply the strategy. Conclusion: students are reading a third less, so the school needs a reading push. Premises: loans have fallen by a third. Support gap: Ms Adeyemi thinks one loan means one amount of reading. That is only true if a loan is the same thing this year as last year. Check each option: C says the loan time went from one week to three. Think about one book. Last year it could go out three times, one week each. That was three loans. This year it goes out once for three weeks. That is one loan. Same reading, one third of the count. So fewer loans does not mean less reading. The busy shelf and the full reading corner fit this. A says the counting is accurate, which nobody doubted. B is about books at home. D says the hours did not change, which supports Ms Adeyemi.
- Confirm the answer. C is W2 because the fall in loans is real, but now it shows longer borrowing, not less reading.
This tests Argument: strengthen and weaken, part of Thinking Skills. The answer is C.
Show the worked solution
- Understand the question. Argument / Weaken (W2, counter-explanation)
- Use the strategy. W2 keeps the premise true but reads it a different way. Then the same fact no longer supports the conclusion. Ask yourself: could this fact mean something else?
- Apply the strategy. Conclusion: students are reading a third less, so the school needs a reading push. Premises: loans have fallen by a third. Support gap: Ms Adeyemi thinks one loan means one amount of reading. That is only true if a loan is the same thing this year as last year. Check each option: C says the loan time went from one week to three. Think about one book. Last year it could go out three times, one week each. That was three loans. This year it goes out once for three weeks. That is one loan. Same reading, one third of the count. So fewer loans does not mean less reading. The busy shelf and the full reading corner fit this. A says the counting is accurate, which nobody doubted. B is about books at home. D says the hours did not change, which supports Ms Adeyemi.
- Confirm the answer. C is W2 because the fall in loans is real, but now it shows longer borrowing, not less reading.
This tests Argument: strengthen and weaken. The answer is C.
Chosen by Rex for the website, 9 November 2026, with his own answer and four-step explanation. The clock runs at the real test's pace: 40 questions in 40 minutes is about 90 seconds a question.
Where every child starts
Book the free entry assessment
A Thinking Skills paper of 60 questions and a Maths paper of 70, sat online. Elite then places your child in a class of 8 to 12 at their level.
After every class, targeted homework on the learned topic is assigned to help kids master the knowledge solidly, and the teachers will send the wrong answers from the homework to parents via email, making it easy for kids to review and truly understand their mistakes.