1
Mathematics
Applying Year 6–8 maths to unfamiliar, worded contexts.
Students translate a real-world situation into maths, choose a strategy and solve it cleanly. Questions reward clear thinking and flexibility rather than memorised procedures.
Core skills tested
- Fractions, decimals and percentage conversions
- Percentage of a quantity and simple financial reasoning
- Ratios, equivalent ratios and best-buy comparisons
- Setting up algebra from words and solving equations
- Angles, triangle and quadrilateral facts, transversals
- Perimeter, area and volume in real contexts
- Circle work: circumference, area, semicircles and quarter-circles
- Order of operations under time pressure
2
Quantitative Reasoning
Patterns, number logic and spatial transformations.
Less about computation and more about recognising a rule, working backwards from conditions and seeing how shapes or numbers relate. Great students stay calm on abstract setups and keep moving.
Core skills tested
- Number sequences and rule detection
- Working backwards from given conditions
- Part-whole numerical logic with fractions and ratios
- Visual and spatial transformation of shapes or dot patterns
- Abstract relationships between numbers and quantities
- Reading tables, sample spaces and simple Venn diagrams
3
Reading
Reading for meaning, inference and viewpoint — not trivia.
Short texts test whether a student can retrieve information, infer the unstated, spot the main idea, compare viewpoints and notice loaded vocabulary. Recall of literary facts is not the goal.
Core skills tested
- Retrieve explicit information under time pressure
- Infer ideas that are implied but not stated
- Identify the central idea of a passage
- Compare two viewpoints or writers' positions
- Detect assumptions behind an argument
- Evaluate claims and evidence
- Understand vocabulary in context and recognise tone
4
Verbal Reasoning
Thinking in words — analogies, logic and precision.
Students work with meaning relationships, classify words by category, draw "must be true" conclusions from stated conditions and choose vocabulary with fine-grained precision.
Core skills tested
- Analogies and semantic relationships
- Odd-one-out classification by meaning
- Synonym and antonym nuance
- Must-be-true logic from given conditions
- Consequence and assumption reasoning
- Vocabulary precision under exam timing
5
Writing
Two tasks · planning, structure and precise language.
Markers reward clear task response, well-organised ideas, precise vocabulary and controlled sentences. Students should be comfortable planning fast, drafting tightly and editing on the fly.
Core skills tested
- Respond directly and fully to the task
- Generate and develop relevant ideas quickly
- Organise paragraphs and transitions coherently
- Use precise, varied vocabulary
- Maintain accurate grammar, punctuation and spelling
- Practise narrative, persuasive and discussion forms
