1 Mangoes are best eaten when they are ripe and golden.
Despite this, farmers
always pick their mangoes when they are still green and a week before ripening.
This practice needs to change.
Which one of the following statements, if true, most weakens the above argument?
A Mangoes are extremely popular fruits that provide large amounts of vitamin C.
B It usually takes 7 days for a mango to leave a farm and be bought by a
customer.
C Farmers have been using this method to pick mangoes for centuries now.
D Some people prefer to eat lemons that have not completely ripened yet.
2 The school athletics carnival will be held tomorrow, and only those
participating in at least three events are allowed to take the bus back to
school.
Lance: “I completed a relay race already, but everyone knows I am a very strong
thrower and a high jumper, so I will definitely get to take the bus back.”
Victor: “Cheryl is only running tomorrow and not throwing or jumping so she will
have to find another way back to school other than the bus.”
If the information in the box is true, whose reasoning is correct?
A Lance only
B Victor only
C Both Lance and Victor
D Neither Lance nor Victor
1
3 Shirley’s car can only travel in a straight line, and travel either North, South, East or
West. Her car cannot travel in diagonal lines. She left her home in a car, driving
3km east, turning 90 degrees to the right and driving 8km forward and then finally
driving 4km north.
What is the shortest path back home for Shirley?
A 3 km East and then 4 km South
B 6 km East and then 8 km North
C 3 km West and then 4 km North
D 5 km West and then 6 km South
2
4 Cherry was solving a special jigsaw puzzle when she accidentally broke a piece into
three separate smaller pieces. These are the three pieces now:
Allowing only rotations and no flipping, which one of the following options could be
the original jigsaw piece?
A B
C D
3
5 At the local fish market, customers pay based on the weight of their purchase. Each
type of fish weighs a different amount.
Cod 300g
Trout 1kg
Mackerel 250g
Bass 1.5kg
Herring 100g
Carp 400g
Snapper 500g
A new customer comes in and buys a cod, bass, two herrings, half a carp and a
snapper. The typical rate for all fish is $5/kg, however, today there is a sale. Any
fish over 400g is half price.
How much does the customer have to pay today?
A $6.00
B $8.50
C $13.50
D $15.00
4
6 All triangles have three sides and three corners.
Jonas: “This figure has three sides but only two corners, it must not be a triangle.”
Brody: “I drew a shape with three corners so I must have drawn a triangle.”
Given the information in the box is true, whose reasoning is correct?
A Jonas only
B Brody only
C Both Jonas and Brody
D Neither Jonas nor Brody
7 A robot chose four arrows, each pointing in a random direction, to begin with. It then
changed the four arrows in a special way, and repeated the same transformation
over and over again.
Which one of the following options shows the four arrows at the beginning of the
sequence?
A B C D
5
8 There were fifteen students in Mr. Allen’s art class. He needs to buy some art
supplies for the next lesson:
One canvas for each student, at $4 per canvas.
Three paint buckets, at $2 per bucket and a “buy two get one free deal”.
Two paintbrushes for each student who didn’t bring their own.
If ten students brought their own paintbrushes, and paintbrushes cost 50c each,
how much does Mr. Allen need to spend altogether?
A $48
B $64
C $69
D $73
9 Sandra has a drawer full of different coloured socks. She has four yellow socks,
three orange socks, six blue socks and two red socks. Sandra decides to blindfold
herself and pull socks out at random.
How many socks does Sandra need to pull out before she can be certain that she
has pulled out at least two different colours?
A 3
B 5
C 7
D 10
10 In the printer industry, there are colour printers and monocolour printers.
Monocolour printers can only print in black and white, while colour printers can print
in any colour. Since monocolour printers cannot do as much, you would think they
would be much cheaper. However, they’re only slightly cheaper than colour printers,
a seriously unwise business move by printer companies. Why would anyone not
buy a colour printer if it only costs a bit more?
Which one of these statements, if true, most weakens the above argument?
A Some customers only ever want to print in black and white.
B Colour printers are smaller than the average monocolour printer.
C Both printers use the same type of ink and paper.
D All printers are cheap on average.
6
11 When it comes down to renewable energy, the two main contenders are solar
energy and wind energy. Even though solar energy is more popular, wind energy is
the more efficient of the two, producing more energy while requiring less energy to
operate. If we’re trying to stop climate change, wind energy is the clear solution.
Which one of these sentences, if true, most strengthens the above argument?
A Wind farms produce less gas pollution than solar farms.
B Some countries have much more wind than others.
C It is cheaper to build a solar farm compared to a wind farm.
D Some countries don’t regularly get sunlight.
12 In baseball, a batter can only run if they have touched the ball and the ball must
have been properly thrown.
Michael: “I’ve just thrown my worst ball today so surely the batter won’t run.”
Owen: “The batter didn’t run so I must have either thrown an improper ball or they
didn’t touch it.”
If the information in the box is true, whose reasoning is correct?
A Michael only
B Owen only
C Both Michael and Owen
D Neither Michael nor Owen
7
13 When the bus started, there were a few people on board. At the first stop, ten
people boarded the bus, but four got off. At the second stop, half of the passengers
got off the bus and five people boarded. In the end, there were 17 people on the
bus.
How many people were on the bus before the first stop?
A 12
B 15
C 17
D 18
14 Jason: “I always eat my breakfast in the car on the way to school.”
Emily: “You must prefer eating food in a car than at your home.”
Which one of these sentences shows the mistake Emily has made?
A Jason may enjoy eating lunch and dinner at home.
B Jason’s school may provide lunch for all students.
C Jason may not have enough time to eat breakfast at home.
D Jason might have a very large car.
8
15 Shane and Trent are playing with a ball together. Shane walks North 10 metres,
turns around 90 degrees clockwise, walks forward 5 metres, turns to his right and
walks forward again 15 metres. He then passes the ball straight to Trent by
throwing it. Trent then walks East 10 metres, rotates 90 degrees anti-clockwise and
walks 5 metres forward.
Trent is now standing in the same position as where Shane started off.
Which direction did Shane throw the ball in?
A West
B East
C South – West
D North – East
16 Teachers are supposed to be intelligent and informative, educating children about
the different skills required in life. However, no matter how smart a teacher is, they
will never know more than the entire internet. With testing already on the way,
robots linked to the internet are being trialled in classrooms. In time, they will
replace all teachers.
Which one of these sentences, if true, most weakens the above argument?
A Thousands of Australians will be out of jobs.
B Robots cannot properly teach the information they know.
C The robots will cost around the same as hiring a teacher.
D The internet doesn’t know everything.
9
17 Caroline was at her local cinema, about to watch the new Marvel movie. She first
buys herself two buckets of popcorn and a medium smoothie.
Size Popcorn Smoothie
Small $2 $1.50
Medium $4 $3
Large $9 $4
Jumbo $14 $10
Which one of the following prices is not a possible value for how much Caroline
spent on snacks?
A $7
B $11
C $14
D $27
18 Jolly was playing a game of tag, where one person starts off as the ‘chaser’ and
tries to tag as many people as possible. Every time the chaser tags someone, that
person becomes a chaser too and then tries to tag those who haven’t been tagged
yet. This continues until everyone has been tagged.
After the game, everybody recounts who they tagged:
Jolly Holly Matthew Nate Lizzie Rachael
Holly and
Nate Lizzie Nobody Jolly Nobody
Rachael
Who was the original chaser?
A Jolly
B Holly
C Matthew
D Lizzie
10
19 Students must return the school soccer ball to the P.E staffroom after lunchtime,
if they borrowed it.
Bert: “My friend borrowed the school soccer ball so he is going to return it after
lunch is finished.”
Robert: “The same rule would apply to borrowing the school basketball.”
If the information in the box is true, whose reasoning is correct?
A Bert only
B Robert only
C Both Bert and Robert
D Neither Bert nor Robert
20 Charlie, John and Clarissa are all siblings. Charlie is not the oldest and Clarissa is
not the tallest. John is in between Charlie and Clarissa in either height or age, but
not both.
None of them are the same age or height.
Which one of the following statements must be true?
A If Charlie is the second-oldest, then Clarissa must be the shortest sibling.
B If John is taller than Clarissa, then John is also older than Charlie.
C John cannot be the shortest.
D Charlie is always older than Clarissa.
11
21 The McDonald’s family has five children. Kylie is one year older than Kim. Three
years ago, Rob was half Kendall’s age. Chris is three years younger than Kylie and
Kendall’s age added together. Kim and Kendall are twin sisters.
If Kim is seven years old.
How much older than Rob is Chris?
A 5
B 6
C 7
D 10
22 There are two main types of lines on a road.
1. A dotted line means that you are allowed to cross the line.
2. A solid line means you are not allowed to cross the line, unless it is an
emergency or you need to turn into a driveway.
Bernie: “There are two lanes on the road I’m driving on, and the lanes are
separated by a dotted line. That must mean I can cross between the two lanes.”
Quentin: “That must also mean you are only allowed to drive in one direction on
that road. Cars cannot drive from the other direction on that road.”
If the information in the box is true, whose reasoning is correct?
A Bernie only
B Quentin only
C Both Bernie and Quentin
D Neither Bernie nor Quentin
12
23 Roy is 20 years younger than his brother. Roy’s brother is two times younger than
their dad. The difference between Roy and their dad’s age is 42.
How old is Roy?
A 2
B 10
C 20
D 22
24 “If I am hungry then I will either eat or sleep.”
If the statement above is true, which one of the following statements must also be
true?
A I am eating so I must be hungry.
B I am not sleeping or eating or planning to do so, so I must not be hungry.
C I am not hungry so I will not go to sleep.
D I am sleeping so I must have been hungry.
25 Mr. Sommer is a mathematician and wants to play around with a number. The rules
of his game are:
1. From left to right, look at the first two digits.
2. If the right digit is larger than the left digit, then swap the two digits around.
3. Look at the second and third digit of the transformed number. If the right digit
is larger, then swap the two digits around.
4. Continue this until the end of the number.
If the number is 315840, what is the final number after all the swaps?
A 351840
B 358140
C 315408
D 358410
13
26 I wish to visit the stadium on the following dates on December:
1, 3, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 15, 20, 29, 31
There are three types of passes that I can buy to gain entry:
Day pass = $4
Week pass = $15
Month pass = $44
What is the cheapest I can spend to get entry for every desired date?
A $35
B $42
C $44
D $45
27 A cattle farmer newly bought a number of both cows and bulls. The cows he bought
greatly outnumber the cows, at a ratio of 4 to 1. During this breeding season, the
cows either didn’t give birth or gave birth to only one calf.
Bulls, cows and calves all have four legs each.
If the farmer has 4 bulls and there is a total of 132 legs from his cattle combined,
how many calves are there?
A 0
B 3
C 8
D 13
14
28 Any student who is done with their exam early can hand it in to a teacher and
go home.
Mrs. Russel: “Bob just handed in his exam to me but there are still 5 minutes left of
this 40-minute examination. That means he only needed 35 minutes to complete
every question.”
Which one of these sentences shows the mistake that Mrs. Russel has made?
A Bob may have finished his exam more than 5 minutes early.
B The exam may have been very easy.
C Other students may have finished early too.
D Bob may have given up on the exam early.
29 The Covid-19 pandemic has showed the world that we do not have enough doctors,
with every hospital understaffed and calling their doctors to work over-time. This
issue was our own fault and we need to fix it.
Which one of these sentences, if true, best supports the above claim?
A Medical schools only accept a very small number of students each year.
B Nurses and other medical workers were also understaffed.
C Doctors are paid very well for their work.
D Pandemics occur typically once every couple decades.
15
30 Samuel is thinking of three random numbers, and wants his friend, James, to guess
one of them.
The only hint Samuel gives is that the three numbers all belong between one and
thirteen, including the numbers one and thirteen.
How many guesses should James ask for to guarantee that he’ll get at least one of
Samuel’s numbers?
A 3
B 10
C 11
D 12
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Solutions
1 B
The mango is supposed to be ripe when it reaches the customer, so a farmer should pick
it before it ripens. Option B best explains why farmers pick mangoes a week before ripe
and why the practice shouldn’t change.
2 D
Lance is incorrect because he might not do any other event than the relay that day, he
may get injured. Victor is incorrect because Cheryl could be running in 3 separate events.
3 C
Altogether she travelled 3km east and 4km south. To get back home, travel 3km west and
4km north.
4 A
Perform guess and check by breaking apart each option and seeing if it can perfectly fit
the three pieces. Pay extra attention to unique features, such as the slanted and pointy
parts.
5 B
Divide every fish that the customer bought that is over 400g by 2, rather than halving the
costs. That would be 0.3kg + 0.75kg + 0.2kg + 0.2kg + 0.25kg = 1.7kg. Multiplied by $5/kg
is $8.50.
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6 A
Jonas is correct here because the figure does not follow the criteria that ALL triangles do
(three sides and three corners). Brody is incorrect because it might not have three sides so
it may be another random irregular shape.
7 D
The top two arrows rotate 45 degrees clockwise each time. The bottom two arrows rotate
45 degrees anti-clockwise each time. If we work backwards, we can see that the top-left
arrow should be pointing North-East, leaving only option D.
8 C
Doing a bit of maths, $60 is spent on canvases. Mr. Allen only has to pay for 2 buckets
($4) and ten paintbrushes (50c x 10), that is $69 altogether.
9 C
Read the question very carefully. It says how many does she need to pull out to get two
different colours. If she is blindfolded, that means she needs to account for the worst
possible scenario (unluckiest). The unluckiest scenario is if she pulls out six socks and
they are all blue, so if she pulls out a seventh sock it MUST be a different colour.
10 A
The argument is the colour printers are more worth for customers since they’re only a bit
more expensive, but there are customers out there who do not want to print in colour, and
only want to print in black and white. Option A defeats the whole point of spending more
money on a colour printer since they’ll never use the colour option.
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11 A
The argument here is that wind energy is better than solar energy. The option that best
strengthens is option A, that explains how wind energy is superior to solar in the context of
being “environmentally friendly”, which is what the argument is ultimately about. Option B
doesn’t support wind energy exactly and option D doesn’t necessarily mean wind energy is
BETTER than solar.
12 D
Michael is incorrect because his ‘worst’ ball could still be a proper throw, it may just be
slow or low quality. Owen is incorrect because the passage said, “the batter CAN only run
if …”, but doesn’t specify that the batter MUST run if he touches it.
13 D
You must work backwards. Before the final five people boarded there were 12 people. This
was AFTER half of the passengers left, so that means there were 24 people before the
second stop. If four got off and ten got on at the first stop then (minus 6), there are 18
people to begin.
14 C
The mistake is clear that Jason is likely eating breakfast in the car because he’s always
late to school.
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15 A
Please draw a diagram. If Shane threw the ball to Trent, it would be directly West.
16 B
The argument is that robots will replace teachers since they know more. Option B explains
that teachers TEACH, and that robots cannot actually teach the things they know,
effectively destroying the argument that robots can replace teachers.
17 D
Subtract $3 (medium smoothie) from all options. Option A is two small popcorns, option B
is two medium, option C is one small and one large and option D is not possible.
18 C
The original chaser wouldn’t ever be tagged since they’re already a chaser, so cross off
anyone who has been tagged before. That leaves only Matthew.
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19 D
Neither of them are correct. Bert is incorrect because his friend may forget or try steal the
ball, against the school rules. Robert is incorrect because there’s no mention of
basketballs.
20 A
Using guess and check, if Charlie is second-oldest then John MUST be the middle for
height (John is middle for one of them). That means Clarissa must be shortest, since she
isn’t the tallest. Option A.
21 C
Kim is seven so Kendall is also seven, and Kylie is eight years old. Three years ago,
Kendall was four so Rob was two. Right now, Rob is five. Chris is twelve years old (7+ 8 –
3 = 12). The difference between Chris and Rob is 7.
22 A
Bernie is correct because you are allowed to cross the dotted lines. Quentin is incorrect,
however, because the given information never said anything about roads only being one
direction. Just because you can cross into any lane on a road doesn’t mean a car can’t
drive from the other direction.
23 A
Since Roy’s brother is 20 years older than Roy, the difference between Roy’s brother and
their dad must be 22. Since Roy’s brother is half their dad’s age, then the difference
between their age (22) is the same as the brother’s age. Roy’s brother is 22, and he is 2.
24 B
If you are not sleeping or eating then you cannot be hungry, because if you WERE hungry
then you must be either eating or sleeping, and nothing else, so the fact that you aren’t
means you cannot be hungry. Contrapositive.
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25 D
Starting with the first 2 digits.
1. 315840
2. 351840
3. 358140
4. 358410
5. 358410
26 B
The week pass is the best choice here; month pass might be too much since you aren’t
visiting the stadium every day. Days 1-6 can be covered by one week pass, days 11-15
covered by another week pass, and days 20, 29 and 31 are each covered by a day pass.
That adds up to $42, which is cheaper than buying a month pass ($44).
27 D
First eliminate all the legs from bulls and cows. We know there are 4 bulls and 16 cows, so
that is 20 x 4 = 80 legs. That leaves 52 legs leftover, which must all be from the calves. 52
divided by 4 is 13 calves.
28 D
Bob may have handed his exam early because he couldn’t finish some of the questions
and gave up, rather than because he was smart and finished all the questions quickly.
29 A
The claim is that there are not enough doctors, which is an issue that we are to blame for
and an issue we can fix. Option A best supports this claim, providing evidence that there is
a shortage of doctors and that we can have more.
22
30 C
There are 10 numbers between 1 and 13 that are incorrect, and 3 numbers that are
correct. If James wants to guarantee that he’ll get one of Samuel’s numbers, all he has to
do is guess 11 times; worst-case scenario he guesses all 10 incorrect numbers and the
11th number will then have to be correct.
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