Every question here is written by Prism in the style of the tests. None is copied from a real paper, and a fresh one is drawn each time a child practises.
From foundation to exam standard
Two questions at each level. Tap an option to check it.
Foundation where a child in Year 3 or 4 starts
Question 1Aim for about 35 seconds
Read the clues. Who is the youngest?
Ada is younger than Gita.
Finn is older than Dev.
Dev is older than Hal.
Finn is younger than Ada.
Show the worked answer
Answer: D, Hal
How to work it out
Put the clues in order from oldest to youngest: Gita, Ada, Finn, Dev, Hal.
Who is the youngest: Hal.
Why the other options are wrong
A (Dev): Dev is fourth from the oldest end, in the middle of the line, so is neither the oldest nor the youngest.
B (Gita): Gita is the oldest, the other end of the line. The question asks for the youngest.
C (Ada): Ada is second from the oldest end, in the middle of the line, so is neither the oldest nor the youngest.
E (Finn): Finn is third from the oldest end, in the middle of the line, so is neither the oldest nor the youngest.
Question 2Aim for about 35 seconds
Read the clues. Who is the fastest?
Gita is slower than Cara.
Dev is slower than Ben.
Ben is slower than Gita.
Dev is faster than Ada.
Show the worked answer
Answer: A, Cara
How to work it out
Put the clues in order from fastest to slowest: Cara, Gita, Ben, Dev, Ada.
Who is the fastest: Cara.
Why the other options are wrong
B (Dev): Dev is fourth from the fastest end, in the middle of the line, so is neither the fastest nor the slowest.
C (Gita): Gita is second from the fastest end, in the middle of the line, so is neither the fastest nor the slowest.
D (Ben): Ben is third from the fastest end, in the middle of the line, so is neither the fastest nor the slowest.
E (Ada): Ada is the slowest, the other end of the line. The question asks for the fastest.
Standard the 11 Plus standard, Year 5
Question 3Aim for about 35 seconds
Read the clues. Who is the youngest?
Dev is younger than Esme.
Ben is younger than Gita.
Esme is younger than Cara.
Cara is younger than Ben.
Show the worked answer
Answer: B, Dev
How to work it out
Put the clues in order from oldest to youngest: Gita, Ben, Cara, Esme, Dev.
Who is the youngest: Dev.
Why the other options are wrong
A (Ben): Ben is second from the oldest end, in the middle of the line, so is neither the oldest nor the youngest.
C (Esme): Esme is fourth from the oldest end, in the middle of the line, so is neither the oldest nor the youngest.
D (Gita): Gita is the oldest, the other end of the line. The question asks for the youngest.
E (Cara): Cara is third from the oldest end, in the middle of the line, so is neither the oldest nor the youngest.
Question 4Aim for about 35 seconds
Read the clues. Who is the second tallest?
Hal is taller than Ben.
Esme is shorter than Ben.
Ada is shorter than Esme.
Cara is taller than Hal.
Show the worked answer
Answer: E, Hal
How to work it out
Put the clues in order from tallest to shortest: Cara, Hal, Ben, Esme, Ada.
Who is the second tallest: Hal.
Why the other options are wrong
A (Esme): Esme is second from the shortest end. The question counts from the tallest end, where Hal is second.
B (Cara): Cara is first from the tallest end, not second. The clues put Hal second.
C (Ada): Ada is fifth from the tallest end, not second. The clues put Hal second.
D (Ben): Ben is third from the tallest end, not second. The clues put Hal second.
Exam standard what the papers ask in Year 6
Question 5Aim for about 35 seconds
Read the clues. Who is the youngest?
Dev is younger than Ada.
Ben is younger than Gita.
Ada is younger than Esme.
Ben is older than Esme.
Show the worked answer
Answer: C, Dev
How to work it out
Put the clues in order from oldest to youngest: Gita, Ben, Esme, Ada, Dev.
Who is the youngest: Dev.
Why the other options are wrong
A (Esme): Esme is third from the oldest end, in the middle of the line, so is neither the oldest nor the youngest.
B (Ada): Ada is fourth from the oldest end, in the middle of the line, so is neither the oldest nor the youngest.
D (Gita): Gita is the oldest, the other end of the line. The question asks for the youngest.
E (Ben): Ben is second from the oldest end, in the middle of the line, so is neither the oldest nor the youngest.
Question 6Aim for about 35 seconds
Esme, Isla, Ada, Finn and Jude each chose a different sport: football, athletics, hockey, netball and swimming. Read the clues. Who chose swimming?
Ada chose either hockey or netball.
Jude chose either swimming or athletics.
Isla chose neither swimming nor netball.
Esme chose either football or athletics.
Finn chose neither swimming nor hockey.
Show the worked answer
Answer: D, Jude
How to work it out
Rule people out one clue at a time: Esme chose football or athletics, so not swimming; Isla chose neither swimming nor netball; Ada chose hockey or netball, so not swimming; Finn chose neither swimming nor hockey.
That leaves Jude, who chose swimming.
Why the other options are wrong
A (Ada): Ada chose hockey or netball, so not swimming, so Ada cannot be the one who chose swimming.
B (Esme): Esme chose football or athletics, so not swimming, so Esme cannot be the one who chose swimming.
C (Finn): Finn chose neither swimming nor hockey, so Finn cannot be the one who chose swimming.
E (Isla): Isla chose neither swimming nor netball, so Isla cannot be the one who chose swimming.
The kinds of question in this topic
Each kind asks something different of a child, even when the numbers or shapes look alike.
Who plays what
Five children, five sports and a handful of clues: work out who does which.
Standard
Question 7Aim for about 35 seconds
Esme, Hal, Dev, Isla and Ben each chose a different sport: cricket, tennis, rounders, swimming and hockey. Read the clues. Who chose rounders?
Hal's sport has 6 letters.
Isla chose either swimming or cricket.
Ben did not choose rounders.
Esme chose either cricket or hockey.
Show the worked answer
Answer: C, Dev
How to work it out
Rule people out one clue at a time: Esme chose cricket or hockey, so not rounders; Hal's sport has 6 letters and rounders has 8; Isla chose swimming or cricket, so not rounders; the clue says Ben did not choose rounders.
That leaves Dev, who chose rounders.
Why the other options are wrong
A (Esme): Esme chose cricket or hockey, so not rounders, so Esme cannot be the one who chose rounders.
B (Ben): The clue says Ben did not choose rounders, so Ben cannot be the one who chose rounders.
D (Hal): Hal's sport has 6 letters and rounders has 8, so Hal cannot be the one who chose rounders.
E (Isla): Isla chose swimming or cricket, so not rounders, so Isla cannot be the one who chose rounders.
Must, could or cannot
From a few facts about who is taller, decide which statement is certain.
Standard
Question 8Aim for about 35 seconds
Ben, Finn, Cara and Isla are compared. Read the clues. Which statement cannot be true?
Ben is older than Finn.
Finn is older than Isla.
Show the worked answer
Answer: D, Isla is older than Ben.
How to work it out
The clues do not fix the whole order: 4 orders fit them.
“Isla is older than Ben.” is true in no order that fits the clues (for example the order Ben, Finn, Cara, Isla fits them), so it cannot be true.
Why the other options are wrong
A (Ben is older than Cara.): “Ben is older than Cara.” is true in some orders that fit the clues (Ben, Finn, Cara, Isla) and false in others (Cara, Ben, Finn, Isla), so it could be true but need not be.
B (Isla is the youngest.): “Isla is the youngest.” is true in some orders that fit the clues (Ben, Finn, Cara, Isla) and false in others (Ben, Finn, Isla, Cara), so it could be true but need not be.
C (Ben is older than Isla.): “Ben is older than Isla.” is true in every order that fits the clues, so it must be true.
Is there enough information
Two statements: which of them, alone or together, settles the question?
Exam standard
Question 9Aim for about 35 seconds
Is Ben taller than Dev? Decide which statements are enough to answer the question.
Statement 1: Isla is taller than Ben.
Statement 2: Isla is taller than Dev.
Show the worked answer
Answer: B, Even both together are not enough
How to work it out
Ask of each statement on its own: does it fix the order of Ben and Dev?
Statement 1 does not.
Statement 2 does not.
Together they still leave both answers possible.
Why the other options are wrong
A (Either statement alone is enough): Neither statement answers the question on its own.
C (Statement 1 alone is enough): Statement 1 (Isla is taller than Ben.) leaves orders where Ben is taller than Dev and orders where Dev is taller, so on its own it does not answer the question.
D (Both statements together are needed): Even with both statements, Ben could be taller than Dev or the other way round, so together they are still not enough.
E (Statement 2 alone is enough): Statement 2 (Isla is taller than Dev.) leaves both answers possible on its own.
Find the flaw
A short argument with a weak step: name the weak step.
Exam standard
Question 10Aim for about 35 seconds
Tom says: “All birds can fly. Penguins are birds. Therefore penguins can fly.” What is wrong with Tom's reasoning?
Show the worked answer
Answer: E, The first statement is false: not all birds can fly.
How to work it out
The first statement is false: not all birds can fly.
An argument needs true statements and a conclusion that really follows from them; here one of those fails.
Why the other options are wrong
A (Two statements are not enough for a conclusion.): Two true statements can give a sound conclusion; the number is not the problem.
B (Penguins are not birds.): Penguins are birds; the slip is in the claim that every bird can fly.
C (Tom has not said how fast penguins fly.): Speed is not part of the argument.
D (The conclusion does not follow from the statements.): If both statements were true the conclusion would follow; the problem is that the first is not true.
Put them in order
Clues about who is first, last and in between.
Standard
Question 11Aim for about 35 seconds
Read the clues. Who is the oldest?
Cara is older than Ada.
Finn is younger than Ben.
Cara is younger than Dev.
Dev is younger than Finn.
Show the worked answer
Answer: B, Ben
How to work it out
Put the clues in order from oldest to youngest: Ben, Finn, Dev, Cara, Ada.
Who is the oldest: Ben.
Why the other options are wrong
A (Cara): Cara is fourth from the oldest end, in the middle of the line, so is neither the oldest nor the youngest.
C (Finn): Finn is second from the oldest end, in the middle of the line, so is neither the oldest nor the youngest.
D (Ada): Ada is the youngest, the other end of the line. The question asks for the oldest.
E (Dev): Dev is third from the oldest end, in the middle of the line, so is neither the oldest nor the youngest.
The clue you do not need
Four clues about an order; which one could be left out and still settle the question?
Standard
Question 12Aim for about 35 seconds
Read the clues. One of them could be left out and you could still put everyone in order from fastest to slowest. Which clue?
Esme is faster than Hal.
Ada is faster than Finn.
Esme is faster than Ada.
Finn is faster than Hal.
Show the worked answer
Answer: A, Esme is faster than Hal.
How to work it out
“Esme is faster than Hal.” follows from the other clues (the order is Esme, Ada, Finn, Hal from fastest to slowest).
Each of the others, left out, leaves more than one possible order.
Why the other options are wrong
B (Ada is faster than Finn.): Nothing else says where Ada stands against Finn: without this clue there would be 5 possible orders, not one.
C (Finn is faster than Hal.): Nothing else says where Finn stands against Hal: without this clue there would be 3 possible orders, not one.
D (None: every clue is needed): Leaving out “Esme is faster than Hal.” still leaves one answer, because it follows from the other clues.
E (Esme is faster than Ada.): Nothing else says where Esme stands against Ada: without this clue there would be 3 possible orders, not one.
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