Selective Practice Mock 1 — Reading (Year 5, early preparation)
A free NSW Selective High School placement test practice paper for Year 5 in the format of the real test: 38 questions in 45 minutes, covering Section A — Read the texts and answer the questions; Section B — Multi-part questions. Read each text carefully and choose the best answer. Answer every question — there is no penalty for a wrong answer. Attempt it online — every question is marked instantly and the correct answers are shown at the end.
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Nell had been counting the gulls on the jetty rail for so long that she had started giving them names. Captain Grumble. Mrs Fidget. The one with the bent foot she called Lucky, although he did not look it.
"Twenty minutes late," said Grandpa Ted, glancing at his watch for the fourth time. He did not sound worried. Grandpa Ted never sounded worried. He sounded the way he always did, as if the world were a slow joke that only he understood.
Nell was worried enough for both of them. The sky over the bay had turned the colour of a bruise, and the wind was tugging at the flags outside the kiosk until they snapped like wet towels. Somewhere out there, beyond the grey water, was the ferry that was supposed to carry them home to the island before dark.
"What if it doesn't come?" she asked.
"Then we'll sleep in the kiosk with the meat pies," said Grandpa Ted. "I've slept in worse places."
Nell did not laugh. She pulled her jacket tighter and pressed her face against the cold rail. Her mother would be waiting at the island jetty, torch in hand, pretending not to watch the horizon.
Then, just as the first fat drops of rain began to fall, a light blinked through the gloom. It dipped, rose and dipped again, like a firefly that had lost its way.
"There she is," said Grandpa Ted softly, and for the first time that afternoon Nell noticed that his hand, resting on the rail beside hers, was gripping it so tightly that his knuckles had gone white.
He saw her looking and winked. "Told you," he said. But he did not let go of the rail until the ferry bumped against the jetty.
Q1. Why had Nell started giving the gulls names?
Q2. The phrase 'as if the world were a slow joke that only he understood' suggests that Grandpa Ted usually seems
Q3. The writer says the sky 'had turned the colour of a bruise' to show that the sky was
Q4. Nell imagines her mother 'pretending not to watch the horizon'. This suggests her mother would be
Q5. What do the last two paragraphs reveal about Grandpa Ted?
When the sea steps back from the rocks at noon,
it leaves behind a small, still moon:
a bowl of water, clear as glass,
where tiny, careful creatures pass.
A crab in armour, rusty red,
goes sideways where it means ahead;
an anemone, a jelly flower,
waits without a clock for hours.
I kneel and hold my breath to see
this kingdom no one made for me:
a world entire, a hand's width wide,
kept safe until the turning tide.
Then back the ocean rolls to claim
its little world without a name,
and all I carry home with me
are sandy knees and memory.
Q6. In line 2, what is the 'small, still moon'?
Q7. What does the line 'this kingdom no one made for me' suggest about how the speaker feels?
Q8. In the last stanza, the word 'claim' suggests that the ocean is
A honeybee that finds a patch of flowers full of nectar has a problem. She cannot draw a map, and she cannot speak. Yet within minutes of her return to the hive, dozens of her sisters may be flying straight to the very same flowers. How do they know where to go?
The answer is one of the most remarkable discoveries in the study of animal behaviour: the bees dance.
Inside the dark hive, the returning forager climbs onto the upright surface of the honeycomb and moves in a figure-eight pattern. In the middle of each loop, she runs in a straight line while waggling her body rapidly from side to side. This is called the waggle dance.
The direction of that straight run tells the other bees which way to fly. If she runs straight up the comb, the food lies in the same direction as the sun. If she runs at an angle to the right of straight up, the food lies at that same angle to the right of the sun. The length of the waggle run carries information too: the longer she waggles, the farther away the flowers are.
The bees crowded around her cannot see much in the darkness, so they follow the dance by touch, keeping their antennae close to the dancer. They also pick up the scent of the flowers she has visited.
Scientists have spent many years testing these ideas, and they have found that bees are extraordinarily accurate. A tiny insect with a brain smaller than a sesame seed can share directions to a spot several kilometres away.
Q9. What is the main purpose of the first paragraph?
Q10. According to the article, what does a longer waggle run tell the other bees?
Q11. A bee does her waggle run straight down the honeycomb. Using the information in the article, where are the flowers most likely to be?
Dear Sam,
You asked in your last letter whether I have got used to the farm yet. The honest answer is: nearly.
The first week was awful. The nearest shop is forty minutes away, the internet drops out whenever it rains, and our rooster starts shouting at half past four every morning as if the house were on fire. I told Mum I would never forgive her. I think I actually meant it.
But something happened on Saturday. Mr Okafor from the next property asked if I wanted to help him bring the sheep in from the top paddock. I said yes mostly because I was bored. We rode out on his old quad bike, and his dog, Pepper, did most of the work while I did most of the falling over. By the time we got back, I was covered in mud, and I had laughed more than I had in a month.
Mr Okafor says I can come again next weekend. He also says I am the worst sheep-herder he has ever met, which I have decided to take as a compliment.
Please write back soon and tell me everything about school. I still miss you all, even if I'm starting to like it here.
Your friend,
Leo
Q12. How do Leo's feelings about the farm change during the letter?
Q13. Why did Leo first agree to help Mr Okafor?
Q14. Leo says he has 'decided to take' being called the worst sheep-herder 'as a compliment'. This shows that Leo
Six sentences have been removed from this text. Choose the sentence that best fits each gap. There is one extra sentence that you do not need to use.
For more than a hundred years, lighthouses along the Australian coast were looked after by keepers who lived beside them. [Gap 1] Many of these lighthouses stood on lonely headlands or small islands, far from the nearest town.
The keeper's most important job was to make sure the light never went out. Every evening before sunset, the lamp had to be lit. [Gap 2] If the light failed on a stormy night, a passing ship might be wrecked on the rocks.
During the day, there was still plenty to do. The great glass lens at the top of the tower had to be polished until it sparkled, because even a thin film of salt or soot could dim the beam. [Gap 3] Keepers also recorded the weather several times a day and sent reports that helped to warn others of approaching storms.
Life at a remote light station could be hard. Supply boats might arrive only once every few weeks, and bad weather sometimes delayed them for much longer. [Gap 4] Children who grew up at light stations often did their schooling by correspondence, with lessons arriving by mail.
Yet many keepers' families remembered those years fondly. [Gap 5] They explored rock pools, watched whales pass along the coast and learned to read the sky like a book.
Today, Australia's working lighthouses are automated, and the keepers have gone. [Gap 6] Some old keepers' cottages have even become holiday homes, where visitors can spend a night beside the light and imagine what life was like when someone climbed the stairs every evening to keep the ships safe.
Q15. Which sentence best fits [Gap 1]?
Q16. Which sentence best fits [Gap 2]?
Q17. Which sentence best fits [Gap 3]?
Q18. Which sentence best fits [Gap 4]?
Q19. Which sentence best fits [Gap 5]?
Q20. Which sentence best fits [Gap 6]?
Four young people describe their hobbies.
Text A — Ruby, 11
I started birdwatching when my aunt gave me her old binoculars. At first I could only tell magpies from crows, but now I keep a notebook listing more than sixty species. My favourite is the superb fairy-wren, because the males turn bright blue in the breeding season. The hardest part is staying still, because birds notice everything. Last spring I spent two hours in the rain waiting for a powerful owl, and it never came. I still count that as a good day.
Text B — Jai, 12
My hobby is building model bridges out of craft sticks and glue. I test each one by hanging a bucket from it and adding sand, a cupful at a time, until the bridge collapses. My record is a bridge that held eleven kilograms, which is about three hundred times its own weight. Mum says the garage now smells permanently of glue. I want to be an engineer one day, so I tell her it's research.
Text C — Mei, 10
Every Sunday I visit a nursing home with my grandmother to play chess with the residents. Mr Albert taught me the rules when I was seven, and he still beats me most weeks. Some of the residents can't remember my name, but they remember every chess opening they ever learned. I've started a small club at my school so that other students can come along too. Last month six of my friends joined us, and the room was so noisy the nurses had to close the door.
Text D — Oscar, 11
I collect old keys. Some come from garage sales, and some were given to me by neighbours who heard about my collection. I have more than two hundred now, and I have no idea what most of them used to open, which is the best part. Instead, I make up stories about them: this rusty one opened a pirate's chest; that tiny silver one locked a diary full of secrets. One day I'd like to write all the stories down in a book.
Q21. Which text is written by someone whose hobby began with a present from a relative?
Q22. Which text is written by someone who deliberately breaks things they have made?
Q23. Which text mentions people who have lost some of their memory but kept a skill?
Q24. Which text is written by someone who enjoys not knowing the answer to a question?
Q25. Which text mentions a personal best?
Q26. Which text describes waiting for something that did not happen?
Q27. Which text is written by someone who has encouraged classmates to join in?
Q28. Which text mentions a family member's complaint about the hobby?
Q29. Which text is written by someone who hopes the hobby will lead to a piece of writing?
Q30. Which text explains why one particular example is the writer's favourite?
Two writers give their views on homework in primary school.
Writer 1
Homework has a bad reputation, but a small amount can be valuable. Ten or fifteen minutes of reading or times tables each night helps children remember what they learned in class, and it builds habits of organisation that will matter in high school. It also gives parents a window into what their children are learning. I do agree that some homework is pointless: worksheets that simply repeat classwork turn learning into a chore. And no child should be up late finishing a project while the whole family argues over it — homework like that starts more fights than it teaches. The answer is not to abolish homework but to set less of it, and to make every task count.
Writer 2
By the end of a school day, most children have spent six hours sitting, listening and concentrating. The afternoon should belong to them. Kicking a ball, building a cubby, helping to cook dinner or simply being bored are all ways of learning, just not the kind that fits on a worksheet. Homework often causes arguments at home, and children whose parents work late or cannot help are left behind. Reading for pleasure is different: I would encourage every child to read each night. But that should be a joy, not a task to be marked. Primary schools should stop setting homework altogether.
Q31. Which writer believes that reading at home each night is worthwhile?
Q32. Which writer wants primary schools to stop setting homework completely?
Q33. Which writer argues that homework helps children get ready for high school?
Q34. Which writer wants children to spend more time on homework than they do now?
Q35. Which writer suggests that homework can lead to arguments in families?
Q36. Which writer points out that some children get less help at home than others?
Q37. Which writer believes that worksheets repeating classwork are a good use of time?
Q38. Which writer says that homework shows parents what their children are learning?
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