Free online OC practice tests

What it looks like

A page or so of fiction with dialogue, followed by six multiple-choice questions. One might ask why Mei slips a letter under her pillow instead of opening it; another might ask which single word best sums up the way Grandad treats the new puppy from beginning to end.

Skill tested

Inference about feelings, motives and character; close reading of a quick sequence of events; noticing how a writer uses language across a whole text.

Tip

The early questions follow the story in order, so answer each one from the part of the text it points to. For “throughout the extract” questions, pick the option you can back with at least two separate moments, not one striking line.

What it looks like

A short text with eight single words taken out. For each gap your child chooses the word that fits best from a set of options, all of them real words and several close in meaning.

Skill tested

Vocabulary in context: what a word means, whether it fits the grammar of the sentence, and which word naturally goes with the words around it.

Tip

Read the whole sentence, and the one after it, before choosing. Then say the sentence in your head with each option in the gap: the wrong ones usually mean nearly the right thing but sound wrong with the words around them.

Not in our Reading papers yet. The Department’s Practice Test 1 Reading paper (PDF) has one.

What it looks like

A poem of roughly 20 to 35 lines, often with numbered lines or verses, followed by five questions. One might quote a phrase like “the rain taps with impatient fingers” and ask what mood it sets; another might check which earlier word a pronoun is standing in for.

Skill tested

Similes, metaphors and personification; pronoun reference across lines; the purpose of a verse; the mood of a person in the poem; where the scene is viewed from.

Tip

In comparison questions, one option is often a word lifted straight from the line that is not the thing being compared. Ask two questions: what is being described, and what is it being likened to?

What it looks like

An information text, usually on a nature, science or history topic, with six sentences removed. Your child places the right sentence in each gap from a list that includes one spare.

Skill tested

How a text holds together: words that point back (this, they, here), linking words (however, for comparison) and the topic of each paragraph.

Tip

Check both sides of the gap. The right sentence links back to the sentence before it and sets up the one after. Fill the gaps you are sure of first, and expect the spare sentence to match a paragraph’s topic while breaking one of its links.

What it looks like

Four short extracts on one theme, each written in a different style, then eight statements to match to them, such as “Which extract suggests the writer found a new job harder than expected?” Our practice sets split the eight statements into two questions of four.

Skill tested

Reading for meaning across several texts at once, and recognising the same idea when it is put in different words.

Tip

The statements paraphrase the extracts rather than repeating their words, so be suspicious of an extract that simply shares a keyword. One extract can answer three statements and another only one, so do not answer by elimination.

What it looks like

Elapsed time across midday or midnight, days between two dates, reading a scale whose marks are not all labelled, perimeter and area on a grid, balancing masses and reading a timetable.

Skill tested

Converting between units, reading unusual scales and timetables, and choosing the right measure (perimeter or area, mass or capacity) for the question.

Tip

On any scale, work out what one small mark is worth before reading the arrow. For time, jump to the next whole hour first, then count on in hours and minutes.

What it looks like

Everyday problems that need two or three steps, such as “Ravi reads 18 pages a day and Ella reads 6 fewer. How many more pages has Ravi read after a week?”, plus missing-number grids and working backwards from a result.

Skill tested

Deciding which operations a situation needs before calculating, keeping track of a middle result, reasoning with rates and simple ratios, and working backwards.

Tip

Write down what each number stands for before calculating. Several wrong options are the answer to the first step only, or the answer with one condition forgotten.

What it looks like

Turning a shape a quarter-turn, counting the faces you can see on a stack of cubes, following compass directions on a grid map, folding and cutting paper, and completing a symmetrical pattern.

Skill tested

Visualising shapes as they turn, fold or join; properties of 2D and 3D shapes; angles; grid position and direction.

Tip

Follow one distinctive corner or edge through a turn instead of the whole shape. For cube stacks, count where cubes touch: each join hides two faces.

What it looks like

Shading a fraction of a shape, finding a fraction of what is left, comparing fractions on a number line, the cheapest way to buy an amount, and making change with coins.

Skill tested

Fractions as parts of a shape, a quantity and a number line; money calculations with more than one step.

Tip

Watch for a fraction taken of a remainder: half of the leftover part is not half of the whole. For money, list the combinations in order rather than guessing.

What it looks like

Column graphs, dot plots and picture graphs where one symbol stands for several items, often with three statements and the question “Which statements are correct?”, plus questions about how likely it is to pick a certain object from a bag.

Skill tested

Reading a graph’s scale or key accurately, combining values to meet a target, and describing chance with words like certain, likely and equally likely.

Tip

Read the key or the scale before reading any bar. With “which statements are correct?”, test every statement separately; do not stop at the first true one.

What it looks like

Numbers written in words or in unusual groupings, rounding to estimate, making the largest or smallest number from given digits, and odd and even totals.

Skill tested

Place value, rounding and estimation, and flexible mental calculation.

Tip

Rewrite any unusual form as an ordinary number before comparing or calculating. When estimating, round first and calculate second.

What it looks like

Number sequences with a doubling or two-step rule, repeating picture patterns on a grid, markers spaced evenly along a line, and counting every possible pairing or combination.

Skill tested

Finding and extending a rule, working a rule backwards, and counting systematically without missing or repeating a case.

Tip

Draw the smallest case first: three markers, two gaps. For combinations, make an ordered list or a table so nothing is counted twice.

Problem solving

What it looks like

A handful of clues about the order of runners, who sits where, the value of letters or who is telling the truth, followed by a question that only one arrangement answers.

Skill tested

Combining several constraints, testing cases, and ruling options out systematically.

Tip

Draw a line or a small grid and place the fixed facts first. Then test each remaining option against every clue, not just the first one it satisfies.

Problem solving

What it looks like

Nets that fold into dice, a model seen from above or from one side, tile patterns, pieces that fit together to fill a shape, and comparing sizes in pictures drawn to different scales.

Skill tested

Mental rotation and folding, viewpoint, and reasoning about size and position.

Tip

Mark one feature, such as a single dot or the tallest block, and track only that. With dice, work out which faces end up opposite each other first.

Critical thinking

What it looks like

A short argument such as: “Since the canteen started selling fruit cups, more students have been late to class, so the fruit cups must be making them late.” Your child picks the option that exposes the weak step.

Skill tested

Recognising flawed reasoning: treating two things that happen together as cause and effect, relying on a small or unfair sample, or assuming the only possible explanation.

Tip

Before reading the options, say in one sentence what the person has assumed. The right answer names that gap; the wrong ones attack something the person never claimed.

Critical thinking

What it looks like

Someone argues, for example, that every class should have ten minutes of silent reading after lunch. Your child picks the one extra fact that would do most to back that argument up.

Skill tested

Telling a reason that supports a conclusion apart from one that is merely on the same topic.

Tip

Find the claim’s actual conclusion, then ask of each option: if this were true, would it make the conclusion more likely? Options that are true and on topic but do not help are the traps.

Problem solving

What it looks like

A timetable, price list or table of results with a set of conditions: which choice meets every condition, or how many sessions happen in a given week.

Skill tested

Reading structured information carefully and applying several conditions at once.

Tip

Apply one condition at a time and cross out every row it rules out before moving to the next. Then reread the question, because the same table can be asked about in several ways.

Critical thinking

What it looks like

A rule, such as “if it rains at lunch, the library opens”, followed by two people who each draw a conclusion from it. Your child decides whether one, both or neither of them has reasoned soundly.

Skill tested

Conditional logic: what “if”, “only if” and “always” do and do not allow you to conclude.

Tip

Judge each person separately against the rule. The classic mistake is running a rule backwards: the library being open does not mean it rained.

Problem solving

What it looks like

If-then rules for choosing a team, a pattern rule to check a sequence against, or a chain of events where each step sets off the next, followed through to what must happen.

Skill tested

Applying rules step by step and following a chain of consequences to the end.

Tip

Write down the situation after every step rather than holding it in your head. Most wrong answers come from one skipped link in the chain.

Problem solving

What it looks like

Counting forward from a known weekday to a later date, finding when two club sessions overlap, or comparing how long two walkers take over the same distance.

Skill tested

Date and day-of-week arithmetic, overlapping time intervals, and speed and rate.

Tip

Use sevens for days of the week: 21 days later is the same weekday. For overlaps, draw both intervals on one time line.

Critical thinking

What it looks like

A few facts, such as “everyone in the choir also plays an instrument”, and four conclusions. Just one follows for certain from the facts given.

Skill tested

Drawing only the conclusions the information forces, and nothing more.

Tip

“Must” means there is no possible exception. Rule out options that could be true, or are probably true, but are not forced by what you were told.