Resources · Thinking Skills
How to Improve at Thinking Skills
Thinking Skills is the most coachable section once you learn to strip a problem down to its clues. These are the habits that do it — how to read a clue, how to catch yourself assuming, and what to do when the puzzle is one you have never seen.
Put these into practiceNew to this section?What the Thinking Skills section actually contains
Turn every clue into must, might or cannot
- ✓Write down what each clue forces, not what it hints at.
- ✓Start from the most certain clue, not the first one you read.
- ✓“Some” never means “all” — a lot of wrong answers live in that gap.
Check what you have assumed
- ✓Having chosen, ask which of your steps the question never actually stated.
- ✓If an answer needs one extra fact to work, it is the wrong answer.
- ✓The tempting option is often true in real life but unsupported by the puzzle.
Say the relationship out loud
- ✓Put the pair in a sentence: “A is to B as ___ is to ___.”
- ✓Apply that exact relationship to the second pair — not a looser version of it.
- ✓If two options both fit, make the sentence more specific until one fails.
Change one thing at a time
- ✓Track a single feature through the sequence — size, then position, then number.
- ✓Rotate a shape one step at a time rather than picturing the whole move at once.
- ✓Predict the next item before you look at the options.
When the problem is unfamiliar
- ✓Unfamiliar is the point — almost nobody has seen these question types before.
- ✓Say the puzzle back in your own words before trying to solve it.
- ✓Solve a smaller version first: three items instead of six, then scale it up.
Know when to move on
- ✓Flag anything stuck for more than about a minute and come back.
- ✓A question you return to is often obvious the second time.
- ✓Two easy questions are worth more than one hard one.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Assuming more than the clues allow (“must” vs “might”).
- Spending too long on one puzzle instead of flagging it.
- Rushing visual questions instead of tracking one feature.
Try these on a real paper
Realistic Selective-style mock tests, worked solutions and progress tracking — start today.