Selective High School Placement Test

Test 01
THINKING SKILLS

Question
Answer Solution
Number

1 A A is correct as Leanne is unable to take the rubbish bins out due

to not being at home.
B is incorrect as Tina is only not at home for a part of the day, so she
has time to take out the bins.
C is not the answer as Tina’s reasoning is incorrect.
D is not the answer as Leanne’s reasoning is correct.

Tip: Consider how long it takes to take out rubbish bins. Tina can take
them out before she goes shopping or after she comes back from
shopping on Sunday.

2 A A is correct as this statement provides advantages of getting

extra sleep.
B is incorrect as this statement does not support getting extra sleep.
C is incorrect as this statement supports waking up early.
D is incorrect as this statement relates to the birds and not to Selena.

Tip: Select the option which supports Selena getting more sleep. The
correct option supports that whereas the other options are stating the
pros of getting less sleep and waking up at dawn.

3 D A is incorrect as you are not working hard, which goes against the initial
statement.
B is incorrect as you may still have talent even if you do not play
basketball.
C is incorrect as talent is not related to hard work.
D is correct as it is true to the initial statement of hard work and
talent.

Tip: You can pick the correct answer through a process of elimination.
The other three options do not contain both talent and hard work
being present. Excelling at basketball can only be achieved if both
hard work and talent are there.

4 D A is incorrect as the second rectangle is thin. Also, the base of the

triangle is longer than the height of the large rectangle in the
question.
B is incorrect as there is only one triangle whereas this shape appears
to be made of one rectangle and two triangles.
C is incorrect as the base of the triangle is longer than the height of the
large rectangle.
D is correct as the two rectangles can be stacked on top of each
other to form a larger rectangle whose height can be the same
as the base of the triangle.

Tip: Try to rotate the triangle and visualise in your mind. The two
rectangles have the same length and can be placed on top of each

© Trinity Tuition College 1 www.trinitytuitioncollege.com.au

TEST 01 THINKING SKILLS ANSWER
other to form a larger rectangle. The triangle can then be placed
beside the rectangle to form the final shape.

5 C A is incorrect as although John is correct, Paul is also correct.

B is incorrect as although Paul is correct, John is also correct.
C is correct as both people’s reasoning is correct.
D is incorrect as both are correct.

Tip: The maximum score of each component is 50 points. If 80 is needed

to pass, John needs (80 – 36 = 44) at least 44 points to pass. If Paul
gets the maximum score for the theory component which is 50 (25 +
50 = 75) his overall score of 75 is still less than 80 so he is not able
to pass the semester.

6 B A is incorrect as Anna is 7 years old.

B is correct as he is 10 years old.
C is incorrect as Jay is 7 years old.
D is incorrect as Anthony is 2 years older than Seth.

Tip: It is given that Anna is 7 years old. Jay is the same age as Anna (7).
Seth is 1 year older than Anna (8). Jay is three years younger than
Anthony. Anthony must be 10 years old. Also, Tony is not the oldest
child in the family. Therefore, Anthony must be the oldest.

7 C A is incorrect as the number of kids created will be wrong.

B is incorrect as the number of kids created will be wrong.
C is correct as 112 cows has one kid and 35 had two kids.
D is incorrect as the number of kids created will be wrong.

Tip: Do the question by trial and error. If 112 cows had 1 kid, then 147 –
112 = 35. 35 cows would have had 2 kids, creating (35 x 2 = 70) 70
kids. 112 + 70 equals 182 which is the correct number of kids given
in the question.

8 A A is correct as this statement provides advantages of drinking

juice
B is incorrect as it supports eating fruit.
C is incorrect as is does not support drinking juice.
D could be correct, but option A strengthens the statement more.

Tip: Pick the statement that supports drinking juice rather than eating
fruit. B and C weakens Rafael’s argument. Option D can strengthen
the statement, but it does not justify drinking juice as much as Option
A which directly provides benefits of drinking juice compared to
eating fruit.

9 B A is incorrect as the question states at least 2.

B is correct as it is unclear from Isabelle’s statement how many
people will receive prizes.
C is incorrect as this information is irrelevant.
D is incorrect as it does not have to do with the question.

Tip: Process of elimination. The other three options do not have to do with
the mistake that Isabelle has made. According to the question,
anyone who scores two and above 3-pointers gets a prize. It is

© Trinity Tuition College 2 www.trinitytuitioncollege.com.au

TEST 01 THINKING SKILLS ANSWER
therefore unclear how many people scored enough 3-pointers to get
a prize.

10 A A is correct as it fits the pattern of having the star and the square.
B is incorrect as it does not fit the pattern.
C is not correct as it does not fit the pattern.
D is not correct as it does not fit the pattern.

Tip: Look at what part of the tile is missing. In the second box, the square,
curve, and triangle are present. The star is missing. In the bottom
box, the star, curve, and the triangle are present. The square is
missing. Therefore, the missing shapes are the star on top and the
square on the bottom.

11 D A is incorrect as Ryan will end up with too many.

B is incorrect as Ryan will end up with too many.
C is incorrect as Ryan will end up with too many.
D is correct as the final number matches the question.

Tip: They start with 20 dumplings each and work from there. If Lewis rolls
a 3, then Lewis gives 6 and Darren and Ryan gain 3 each. This
leaves 14, 23, 23. If Darren rolls a 4 then he will get 8 dumplings.
The becomes 10, 31, 19. For the answer to become 15, 36, 9, Ryan
must have given away 10 dumplings (5 each). This means he must
have rolled a 5.

12 D A is incorrect as Isaac lives on the left end of the row.

B is incorrect as Yong lives in the middle.
C is incorrect as Amelia lives second from the right.
D is correct as Eva lives on the right.

Tip: Some of the information is not useful to the question. Isaac lives on
the left, Brad lives second from the left. Eva likes baseball and the
person who likes ping pong lives in the middle. If Eva lives 2 houses
from Yong, then Yong must be in the middle and Eva must be at the
end of the row.

13 A A is correct as Blair has 163 and Lucy has 152. If Lucy gets 100 in
the third test, then Blair must get at least 90.
B is incorrect as Blair only needs 90.
C is incorrect as then he could have the same score as Lucy.
D is incorrect as this score is too low.

Tip: You do not have to add each student’s scores, just the higher ones.
Blair has (88 + 75 = 163) and Lucy has (60 + 92 = 152). If Lucy gets
100 on the third test, she will have 252. Blair must get 253 or higher,
so for the third test he must get a score of 90. (253 - 163 = 90)

14 B A is incorrect as it supports chewing on ice.

B is correct as it provides another reason to not chew ice.
C is incorrect as it does not support that chewing ice is bad.
D is incorrect as it supports chewing on ice.

© Trinity Tuition College 3 www.trinitytuitioncollege.com.au

TEST 01 THINKING SKILLS ANSWER
Tip: Pick the statement that supports not chewing ice. The other options
states that chewing on ice is either good or neutral. We need to pick
the option that supports that chewing ice is detrimental.

15 C A is incorrect as it could be quite easy to think of random words.

B is incorrect as it is just wrong.
C is correct as the words may not form sentences which is
required in the task.
D is incorrect as that does not affect the task.

Tip: Process of elimination. The other options do not have to do with the
mistake that Derek has made. If random words are put together,
there is a high chance that they will not make sense together and will
not form an appropriate sentence.

16 D A is incorrect as there are four separate shapes.

B is incorrect as there are four separate shapes.
C may be correct, but spheres will not be able to stand stably on each
other.
D is correct as the shapes could be cylinders or rectangular
prisms.

Tip: Try to visualise what each option looks like from the top and think
about cylinders and rectangular prisms. The top view shows four
distinct shapes. Therefore, it could be option C or D. The top two
shapes could be spheres or cylinders and the bottom two shapes are
rectangular prisms. However, spheres are not able to be stacked on
top of each other. Therefore, it must be two cylinders, and the side
view of a cylinder is a rectangle.

17 D A could be correct, but he did not need to get an excellent score.

B is incorrect as he did not need to do the interview.
C is incorrect as he did not need to do the interview.
D is correct as all he had to do was pass the test.

Tip: Read the requirements if the student is already in a course. If the

student is already in a course, he only needs to pass the test. He
does not need to achieve the other requirements, so the other
options can be eliminated.

18 B A is incorrect as the chocolates could be from another store in the mall.

B is correct as Haigh’s only sells chocolates.
C is incorrect as Lydia is wrongs.
D is incorrect as Jane is correct.

Tip: A mall could have multiple other stores. If somebody buys chocolates
from the mall, they could have bought them from Haigh’s or another
store than sells chocolates. Therefore, Lydia is wrong. Since Haigh’s
only sells chocolates, they are not able to buy a kettle from that store.

19 B A is incorrect as you will not have a pass for some days.

B is correct as the 7 day plus 4 day plus 1 day equals $40.
C is incorrect as only $40 is needed.
D is incorrect as only $40 is needed.

© Trinity Tuition College 4 www.trinitytuitioncollege.com.au

TEST 01 THINKING SKILLS ANSWER
Tip: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 can use the 7-day consecutive pass. It is cheaper
to buy the 7-day pass for days 2-8 rather than the other options, even
if the pass is not needed for the 4th. The 1-day pass must be bought
for the 11th and the 4-day pass should be bought for days 13, 14, 15
even though it is only 3 days as it is cheaper than the other options.
Therefore, 5 + 10 + 25 = $40, which is the cheapest combination.

20 A A is correct as this shows that dogs can also like spicy food.
B could be correct, but other humans still like spicy food.
C is incorrect as birds are not mammals.
D is incorrect as this supports the statement.

Tip: Process of elimination. Options C and D are wrong as they do not

weaken the argument. B does not exactly weaken the argument as
some humans hate spice but other humans still like spicy food.
Option A weakens the argument as the dog can be a third mammal
that also likes spicy food.

21 A A is correct as 48 shoes equals 16 shirts.

B is incorrect as the number of shirts is wrong.
C is incorrect as it is too many shirts.
D is incorrect as it is too many shirts.

Tip: From the question, 3 pairs of shoes equal 1 shirt. If two pairs of shoes
equal one pair of pants and two pairs of pants equals 4 pairs of socks
(one pair of pants equals 2 pairs of socks), then one pair of shoes
equals one pair of socks. If 3 pairs of socks equal one shirt, then 3
pairs of shoes also equal one shirt. Therefore, 48 pairs of shoes can
get (48 divided by 3 is 16) 16 shirts.

22 D A is incorrect as it is flipped.
B is incorrect as it is flipped.
C is incorrect as it is flipped.
D is correct as it is the initial image rotated.

Tip: Try to visualise and use process of elimination. The other three
options are the original image flipped and so can be eliminated. We
can see that option D is the original image rotated clockwise and so
therefore is the same image.

23 A A is correct as each person has different deals.

B is incorrect as this does not relate to the question.
C could be correct, but Kim was just talking hypothetically.
D is incorrect as they are talking about McDonald’s deals.

Tip: Use process of elimination. The other options do not relate to the
mistake that Kim has made. Kim has assumed that her friend will
also have the Big Mac deal from McDonald’s, which is the mistake.

24 C A is incorrect as is could be true but it could also be false.

B is incorrect as there is not enough information.
C is correct as people who like basketball like swimming, and
nobody who likes swimming likes running.
D is incorrect as there is not enough information.

© Trinity Tuition College 5 www.trinitytuitioncollege.com.au

TEST 01 THINKING SKILLS ANSWER
Tip: Use a process of elimination. If Alice likes basketball then she must
like swimming, as stated in the question. Also, nobody who liked
swimming liked running. Therefore, Alice must not like running,
making option C the correct choice.

25 A A is correct as the answer matches with the question.

B is incorrect as it is divisible by 5.
C is incorrect as it is divisible by 4.
D is incorrect as it does not match with the question.

Tip: Use trial and error. With option A, 27 divided by 4 is 24 with 3 left
over. 27 divided by 3 is 9 with none left over. 27 divided by 5 is 5 with
2 left over. The other options will not be correct when divided and
related to the question. Therefore, option A is the correct answer.

26 A A is correct as it does not support the advantage of Australia

being surrounded by water for swimmers.
B is incorrect as it supports the statement.
C is incorrect as it does not weaken the statement.
D is incorrect as it supports the statement.

Tip: Pick the statement that does not support the initial statement. The
other three options strengthen the argument by saying that there is
a link between Australia’s waters and good swimmers. However, only
option A has stated that being surrounded by water may not
necessarily lead to better swimmers.

27 A A is correct as his reasoning matches with the statement.

B is incorrect as just because Cameron performed in the musical does
not mean that he cannot perform in the concert.
C is incorrect as Cameron is wrong.
D is incorrect as Luke is correct.

Tip: The guaranteed places in the concert may not fill up all the potential
spots to perform. Cameron is not guaranteed a spot, but he can still
try to get a position in the concert as there is no rule stating that he
is not able to perform in the concert if he already performed in the
musical.

28 D A is incorrect as the shape can be made by placing the triangle beside

the rectangle.
B is incorrect as the shape can be made.
C is incorrect as the shape can be made by placing the triangle on top
of the rectangle.
D is correct as the shape cannot be made using the triangle and
the rectangle.

Tip: Process of elimination. Placing the base of the triangle against the
side of the rectangle can create options A and B. The base of the
triangle placed on the length of the rectangle can create option C.
Option D appears to have been created from a rectangle and two
triangles, which is incorrect.

29 C A is incorrect as Christine’s cat is smaller than May’s.

B is incorrect as Zoe’s cat is larger than Alex’s.

© Trinity Tuition College 6 www.trinitytuitioncollege.com.au

TEST 01 THINKING SKILLS ANSWER
C is correct as May has the largest and Alex has the smallest.
D is incorrect as Dom’s cat is larger than Alex’s.

Tip: List the cats in order of size. May’s cat is larger than Christine’s which
is larger than Alex’s. Dom and Zoe’s cats are the same size and
larger than Alex’s but smaller than Christine. The order should be
May, Christine, Dom and Zoe, Alex.

30 D A is incorrect as they are on separate days.

B is incorrect as they are on separate days.
C is incorrect as they are on separate days.
D is correct as they are booked on the same day.

Tip: It is given that Lauren is booked on Monday. Therefore, Elliot must

be on Tuesday. Tyler is Wednesday, Hubert is Thursday and Max is
two days after Tyler which is Friday. Vicky is three days after Elliot,
she must also be coming in on Friday. Therefore, Max and Vicky are
both booked on Friday.

31 D A is incorrect as it will cost $30.

B is incorrect as it will cost $24.
C is incorrect as it will cost $25.
D is correct as it will cost $22.50.

Tip: Calculate the costs of the apples. Shop A: If she buys 2, the third will
be $3. If she buys 4, 2 of them will be $3 each, making the cost (4 x
6 + 2 x 3 = 24 + 6 = 30).
Shop B: 6 x 4 = $24.
Shop C: If she buys three, the fourth will be free. She still must buy
the 5th and the 6th, so she is buying 5 for $5, which is $25.
Shop D: If she buys 1, the 2nd will be $2.50. Every 2 apples are (5 +
2.50 = $7.50) Therefore, 6 apples will be $7.50 x 3 = $22.50)
Shop D will be the cheapest.

32 A A is correct as the statement correlates to working longer hours.

B is incorrect as it supports working less hours.
C is incorrect as it supports working less hours.
D is incorrect as it is not relevant to the statement.

Tip: Pick the statement that supports the initial statement of working
longer hours. Options B and C are showing how people are working
less hours which does not strengthen the argument. Option D is not
relevant to the argument.

33 B A is incorrect as Car D arrives after A.

B is correct as every other car arrives before it.
C is incorrect as it arrives before Car A and Car B.
D is incorrect as it arrives before Car B

Tip: List the cars in the order that they arrive. C arrives after E but before
A and B. D is faster than B but slower than A. Therefore, Car B must
be the slowest and the last to arrive at the destination.

34 A A is correct as the 23 is closest to that size on the pie chart.

B is incorrect as it is too large.

© Trinity Tuition College 7 www.trinitytuitioncollege.com.au

TEST 01 THINKING SKILLS ANSWER
C is incorrect as it is too small.
D could be correct, but the portion is slightly too large for 17.

Tip: Try to fit each number on the pie chart and eliminate 54 and 6. The
largest section will be 54 and the smallest will be 6. That leaves 23
and 17, and a is the larger of the two. Therefore, 23 is the correct
answer.

35 D A is incorrect as it lists a disadvantage of a mask.

B is incorrect as it supports not wearing a mask.
C is incorrect as it supports not wearing a mask.
D is correct as it provides another advantage of wearing a mask.

Tip: Pick the statement that provides advantages for wearing a mask. The
other statements give reasons as to why wearing a mask is bad and
so do not weaken the argument. Only option D weakens the
argument.

36 D A is incorrect as Dog 1 is heavy.

B is incorrect as Dog 2 is yellow.
C is incorrect as Dog 3 is yellow.
D is correct as the other options are wrong.

Tip: Process of elimination. Dog 1 is heavy, as stated in the question. Dog

5 is also heavy. Dog 2 and 3 are the same colour, which are yellow.
The question asks for a light, red-furred dog.

37 D A is incorrect as there are 37 green apples altogether, but some have

worms in them.
B is incorrect as there are 37 green apples.
C is incorrect as 27 is the number of red apples.
D is correct as that is the maximum number if all red apples have
worms.

Tip: Maximum green apples are if every single red apple has worms in it.
64 – 27 = 37. There are 37 green apples altogether. If all 27 red
apples have worms, then 11 green apples have worms in them too
(38 – 27 = 11). Therefore, the maximum number is 37 – 11 which is
26 green apples without worms.

38 A A is correct as there could be overlap.

B is incorrect as this statement does not affect this year’s swimmers.
C is incorrect as this statement does not relate to the question.
D is incorrect as this statement does not relate to the question.

Tip: Use a process of elimination, think about how the other options could
be wrong. The other options do not relate to Nick’s mistake. The
swimmers that were faster than 1 minute must be in the top two. If
the third and fourth swimmers was faster than 1 minute, then they
would be the fastest two swimmers already.

39 B A is incorrect as $18 is how much Paul has.

B is correct as $13 is how much Andrew has.
C is incorrect as the amount is wrong.
D is incorrect as the amount is wrong.

© Trinity Tuition College 8 www.trinitytuitioncollege.com.au

TEST 01 THINKING SKILLS ANSWER

Tip: Trial and error. By testing Andrew with $13, then Paul must have $5
more which is $18. Also, (18 + 8 = 26) which is twice of 13. Therefore,
Andrew must have $13.

40 B A is incorrect as the shape cannot be made.

B is correct as a rectangle can be made first then place the large
triangle next to the rectangle.
C is incorrect as the shape is just the third shape by itself.
D is incorrect as the shape cannot be made.

Tip: Try to visualise and use a process of elimination. The smaller triangle
can be placed on the slope of the largest shape to make a complete
rectangle. The side of the large triangle can be placed beside the
complete rectangle to form the correct shape.

© Trinity Tuition College 9 www.trinitytuitioncollege.com.au