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Opportunity Class Placement Test

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Thinking Skills Question Paper

21 July 2021 30 minutes

INSTRUCTIONS FOR CANDIDATES

Please read this page carefully.

DO NOT OPEN THIS QUESTION PAPER UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SO.

A separate answer sheet is provided for this test. Please fill in the following information on
your answer sheet and on this question paper:

• Student application number

• First name(s)
• Family name

There are 30 questions in this paper. For each question there are four possible answers,
A, B, C, and D. Choose the one correct answer and record your choice on the separate
answer sheet. If you make a mistake, erase thoroughly and try again.

You will not lose marks for incorrect answers, so you should attempt all 30 questions.

You must complete the answer sheet within the time limit. There will not be any extra
time at the end of the exam to record your answers on the answer sheet.

You can use the question paper for working out, but no extra paper is allowed.

Calculators and dictionaries are NOT allowed.

PV2
education.nsw.gov.au

© Cambridge University Press & Assessment, 2022. This material was prepared for NSW Department of Education. You
may only use this material (or any part of it) for your personal, non-commercial use. For any other use not expressly
indicated, prior written permission must be obtained from NSW Department of Education and Cambridge University
Press & Assessment.
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2
1 A community club offers the following sports:

sport days available

netball Monday, Thursday
boxing Monday, Friday
football Tuesday, Wednesday
swimming Wednesday, Thursday
tennis Tuesday, Friday

I want to do a sport on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

One of my sports must be football.

Which sport will I not be able to do?

A netball

B boxing

C swimming

D tennis

2 Four friends want to go to the movies. There are four kinds of movies showing: cartoon,
comedy, drama and action. Andrew likes all movies except dramas and action. Rishi
and Audrey only like comedies and dramas. Yifan would like to watch any movie so
long as it is not a cartoon or an action movie.

Which kind of movie would all four friends like to see?

A comedy

B action

C cartoon

D drama

3
3 The school chess coach has told the team that if they want to do well in chess
competitions, they should go running or play tennis every day.

Which one of these statements, if true, best supports the coach’s claim?

A Chess is not a physical sport.

B Regular exercise improves concentration.

C Chess players are often good tennis players.

D Running builds physical strength and stamina.

4
4 A piece of a construction kit is shown below.

Which one of the following shows a side view of the construction kit piece?

A B

C D

5
5 There are five school teams: Red, Yellow, Green, Orange and Blue. A member of each
team competes in the 100 m race. You don’t see the race but a friend tells you the
following facts:

Yellow finished third.

Green finished after Red but before Yellow.
Blue beat Orange but finished after Yellow.

Who won the race?

A Red

B Green

C Orange

D Blue

6 The arrow snake got its name because of its long and thin body and
quick-as-lightning movements. It is a popular belief that an arrow snake can
leap great distances, and even that its head can pierce the body of its prey.

Gabriel: “That can’t be true. I’ve seen arrow snakes plenty of times, and I’ve never
seen one jump – let alone pierce its prey!”

Which one of the following sentences shows the mistake Gabriel has made?

A He has ignored the reason the arrow snake got its name.

B He has denied the well-known fact that some snakes can jump.

C He has denied something just because he has not witnessed it himself.

D He has assumed that no popular belief can be true.

6
7 Rainfall in 3 cities during the driest months of the year is shown below in the bar chart.

40
35
30 Chitaquin

25 Fentan

20 Shishain

15
10
5
0
May June July Aug Sept Oct

What is the total rainfall in the city with the highest total rainfall during the months of
May to October?

A 35

B 55

C 82

D 91

7
8 You cannot write good poetry without having interesting life experiences.

Rose: “My brother has been on some adventures and met some interesting people, so
his poetry is certain to be good.”

Elsie: “Well, my great aunt won prizes for her beautiful poetry, so she must have had
an interesting life.”

If the information in the box is true, whose reasoning is correct?

A Rose only

B Elsie only

C Both Rose and Elsie

D Neither Rose nor Elsie

9 Izzy is taller than Caitlin; Caitlin is shorter than Melissa. But when they stand on a short
flight of three stairs, one on each step, their heads are all level.

Which one of these sentences cannot be true?

A Izzy is on the bottom step.

B Melissa is on the middle step.

C Caitlin is on the middle step.

D Melissa is the tallest of the three girls.

8
10 In a game, players take it in turns to draw shapes in a line.

The following rules apply (going from left to right):

● The shape immediately after a square must be a circle.

● The second shape after a triangle must be a square.

Which one of the following sequences is not allowed?

11 Michael says: “I don’t like this book I’ve been told to read. I think students should be
free to choose what books they study at school.”

Which one of these statements, if true, best supports Michael’s claim?

A Students are allowed to choose what they study in some other subjects.

B Students often want to read books that have been made into films.

C Other students in the class also disliked the book they were told to read.

D Students learn more when they enjoy what they read.

9
12 Four boys are riding their bicycles and have a race to see who can go fastest. Marcel’s
bicycle is blue and Ralph’s is purple. The boy on the red bicycle, Barry, finishes the
race ahead of Ralph, but behind Will on his green bicycle. Marcel is level with the boy
on the purple bicycle.

Which colour bicycle is the winner?

A green

B blue

C purple

D red

13 The lights in four rooms of my house automatically switch on and off during day and
night, when I am away from home, so that it always looks like there is someone at
home.

The diagram below shows when lights are on or off for each room.

midnight 6 am midday 6 pm midnight

bedroom
hall
kitchen
bathroom

light on light off

What is the longest continuous period of time that more than 1 light is on in my home?

A 3 hours

B 4 hours

C 5 hours

D 6 hours

10
14 Ms Chen’s class will be allowed to watch a movie on the last day of term. There are
two classrooms available and two televisions, so the class can be split into two, and
watch two different movies, if needed.

Ms Chen does a survey of the class, asking them what they would like to watch. She
notices that most of the girls in the class want to watch Harry Potter, and most of the
boys want to watch Star Wars.

Ms Chen: “There are the same number of boys and girls in the class. So I should put
the girls in one classroom and show them Harry Potter, and put the boys in the other
classroom to watch Star Wars.”

Which one of the following sentences shows the mistake Ms Chen has made?

A Harry Potter and Star Wars may be different lengths.

B There may be some boys who would prefer Harry Potter, and some girls who
would prefer Star Wars.
C Some of the boys might only have chosen Star Wars because their friends did.

D Different numbers of boys and girls might miss the last day of term.

11
15 A secret agent uses a code to send messages. It involves shifting each letter of the
alphabet forwards or backwards two letters, so for example the letter ‘C’ could be
represented by either ‘A’ or ‘E’. There are no spaces between words in this code.

You receive the following message from the secret agent:

YFCPBKFVFGWCTPKXG?

Which of the following could be the intended message?

A WHERE ARE YOU HIDING?

B WHO READ THE MESSAGE?

C WHEN DID THEY ARRIVE?

D WHAT DID HE DISCOVER?

12
16 I have recently tiled the wall of my bathroom using a set of identical tiles. I have laid the
tiles so that the black sections on one tile do not join along the edge of the black
sections on another tile.

I have one tile left to put in place.

Which way up will the last tile be placed?

A B

C D

13
17 Patricia’s friend Aditya recently won a gold medal for the 200 metre freestyle.
He trains for six hours per day, six days a week.

Patricia: “I’m going to start a new programme, swimming for six hours a day, six days
a week. Then I’ll get a gold medal too!”

Which one of the following sentences shows the mistake Patricia has made?

A Some gold medallists may train far less than Aditya.

B Patricia’s training programme alone may not guarantee her a gold medal.

C The training programme may prevent Patricia from doing other things she likes.

D Patricia may not be able to afford the cost of the training programme.

18 An actor came to visit a local school. She gave the principal this advice: “It is important
for children to be given the chance to perform in a school play or concert.”

Which one of these statements, if true, best supports the actor’s claim?

A The actor has given similar advice at many other schools.

B Children spend a lot of time playing sports and other games.

C Many people enjoy watching plays or listening to concerts.

D Performing in front of other people helps to build confidence.

14
19 A dentists’ surgery opens at 8:00 am and closes at 5:00 pm each day. Each
appointment is 20 minutes and every dentist has a 60-minute lunch break but no other
breaks.

Three dentists work in the surgery.

What is the maximum number of appointments that can be made in the surgery in a
day?

A 63

B 72

C 81

D 90

20 There are six lunch boxes lined up on a shelf and each is a different colour: blue,
green, orange, purple, red and yellow. There is one box between the green box and the
orange box. The purple box’s only neighbour is blue, and there are three boxes
between the red box and the blue box.

What colour lunch boxes are at each end of the line?

A orange and blue

B red and purple

C green and yellow

D purple and orange

15
21 The school principal, Ms Flint, is looking at the school records for last term to see
which class has the best-behaved students.

She notices that students in Class 1, who are taught by Mr Avery, were given
47 lunchtime detentions in total last term. Students in Class 2, who are taught by
Mr Bailey, were only given 18.

Ms Flint: “That’s interesting – it clearly shows that students in Class 2 are much better
behaved than students in Class 1.”

Which one of the following sentences shows the mistake Ms Flint has made?

A Good behaviour may not be the most important thing for students in Class 1 to
focus on.
B There may be good reasons why students in Class 1 have problems with
behaviour.
C Students in Class 1 might do just as well as students in Class 2 in their
examinations.
D Students in Class 1 may be more likely to be given detention when they are badly
behaved than students in Class 2.

16
22 The side view of an airport terminal building is shown below.

Which one of the following is the only possible view of the terminal building from
above?

A B

C D

17
23 The Kingdom of Chromatica has five traditional festivals which are held every year.
During these festivals, all the citizens of Chromatica wear the same colour. The colours
are shown in this table:

Festival Colour
Chromatican Independence Day Red
The King’s Official Birthday Yellow
Women’s Day Blue
The Ice Carnival Blue
Chromatican New Year Red

Shiro is visiting Chromatica and sees that everyone is wearing the same colour, so he
knows they are celebrating a festival, but he doesn’t know which one. Even after
checking the table above, he’s still not sure.

What can we say about the colour that Shiro saw everyone wearing?

A It was either red or yellow.

B It was either yellow or blue.

C It was either blue or red.

D It could have been red, yellow or blue.

18
24 Darren has a deck of fifteen special playing cards:

Five red cards, numbered 1−5

Five blue cards, numbered 1−5
Five yellow cards, numbered 1−5

He shuffles the deck randomly, and then draws a number of cards from the top.

Lily: “To be certain of having all three colours, he has to draw eleven cards.”

Tom: “To be certain of having three different numbers, he needs to draw seven cards.”

If the information in the box is true, whose reasoning is correct?

A Lily only

B Tom only

C Both Lily and Tom

D Neither Lily nor Tom

19
25 In a competition, 10 students were allowed two attempts at running 200 metres as fast
as possible. The fastest time in the two attempts was counted as their ‘result’. The
attempts for the 10 students are shown in the table.

student attempt 1 attempt 2

number (in seconds) (in seconds)
1 25.6 24.1
2 25.0 26.4
3 27.4 25.8
4 25.3 24.9
5 24.8 26.3
6 26.1 27.2
7 26.4 28.1
8 27.7 26.9
9 25.8 24.5
10 25.2 25.6

Which student came 3rd in the competition?

A student 4

B student 5

C student 9

D student 10

26 Dylan was keen to get fitter and stronger so he took up running. His friend Angela said
to him: “If you want to strengthen your whole body, you should take up swimming as
well as running.”

Which one of these statements, if true, best supports Angela’s claim?

A Swimming uses more of the body’s muscles than running.

B Swimming can be quite relaxing and help reduce stress.

C Being able to swim well is good for your own personal safety.

D People who run too much can sometimes damage their knees or ankles.

20
27 The majority of the Bulbo trees in the world are in the Manu Forest in Peru.

Ravi: “So if you were to randomly choose a tree from all the Bulbo trees in the world, it
would probably be in Peru.”

Luca: “And if you were to randomly choose a tree in the Manu Forest, it would
probably be a Bulbo tree.”

If the information in the box is true, whose reasoning is correct?

A Ravi only

B Luca only

C Both Ravi and Luca

D Neither Ravi nor Luca

21
28 A pyramid of 9 layers is shown below.

Which one of the following arrangements shows all 9 layers of the pyramid?

A B

C D

22
29 The Crown Jewels of the Kingdom of Animalia have been stolen!

The horse says that the rabbit stole the jewels. The rabbit says that the tiger did it. The
owl claims to be innocent. The tiger says that the rabbit is lying.

If only one of them is telling the truth, who stole the Crown Jewels?

A the horse

B the rabbit

C the owl

D the tiger

30 There are three ways to cross the Korra River:

Archer Bridge is only open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Djorlom Bridge is only open on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

The Korra Ferry is used on Sundays. It is also sometimes used on other days, but
only if the bridge that would normally be open is damaged.

Robbie: “If the ferry operates for two days in a row, it must mean that both the bridges
are damaged.”

Declan: “If you don’t use the Archer Bridge, you’ll never be able to cross the river on
Friday.”

If the information in the box is true, whose reasoning is correct?

A Robbie only

B Declan only

C Both Robbie and Declan

D Neither Robbie nor Declan

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