Year 4 Thinking skills practice for selective school tests

What the section covers

Deduction

Working out what follows for certain from a handful of statements.

Flawed arguments

Finding the step that does not hold, and the assumption nobody stated.

Ordering and matching

Seating plans, timetables and league tables reconstructed from clues.

Weighing evidence

Deciding which extra fact would strengthen or weaken a claim.

Sample questions

8 real questions from our Year 4 papers, covering the different ways this section asks things. Answer the ones you can click; the rest show how they work. Nothing to sign up for.

1. Question 1

   Choose the missing picture.

   
   

2. Question 2

   Sophie: "There's a nice blue shirt at Parker's clothing store that I really like. Could you buy it for my birthday, please, Mum?" Later, Mum (in Parker's clothing store) says: "Here's a nice blue shirt. It must be the one Sophie wants. I'll buy it for her birthday."

   Which sentence best points out the flaw in Mum’s reasoning?

   She didn’t ask Sophie’s birth date.Sophie might prefer a different shirt.Mum is in the wrong clothing store.Mum can’t be sure she has found the exact blue shirt.

3. Question 3

   Coach Mason says: “To have any chance of winning the tennis round-robin you need to practise at least 5 hours each week.”

   If Coach Mason’s statement is true, whose reasoning is correct?

   
   Harper: “I practise 5 hours every week. I’m guaranteed to win.”Ella: “I practise more than 5 hours a week, so I must have a good chance of winning.”Jay: “I practise 10 hours a week, so I’m sure to win.”Caleb: “I only practise 2 hours a week, so I have no chance of winning.”

4. Question 4

   Which tile should go in the empty space to complete the pattern?

   
   

5. Question 5

   Some parents give phones or tablets to their toddlers to keep them entertained, especially when eating out. While it keeps children quiet, new research shows that too much screen time can cause language delays and slower cognitive development.

   Which of the following statements, if true, would best support this argument?

   Children learn best by talking and interacting with people.Toddlers copy their parents and act like them.Children know that mobile phones are important to parents.The younger a child is, the greater the radiation risk from mobile phones.

6. Question 6

   A cube has faces in six different colours: red, blue, green, yellow, pink and grey. Here are two views of the cube:

   When the grey face is on the top, what colour is the bottom face?

   
   redbluepinkgreen

7. Question 7

   Jamie must choose exactly one colour from each numbered group shown in the image.

   Which colour is he definitely not using?

   
   redgreybrownblack

8. Question 8

   People shouldn’t feed wild animals. Eating people-food and expecting food from humans is bad for wildlife.

   If the sentences below are true, which one does NOT help this argument?

   Giving bread to animals can make them sick and may cause deformities in young animals.When animals fight over people-food, they can become aggressive to each other.When animals fight over people-food, they can become aggressive towards people.Animals lose their natural fear of humans, which can lead to other dangers such as road accidents.