OC Thinking Skills if-then questions

An if-then rule says that when one thing happens, another thing always happens. "Every child who finishes the obstacle course gets a gold sticker" means: if a child finishes, then they get a sticker.

A rule like this works like a one-way street. Going forward is safe: Hana finished, so Hana has a sticker. Going backwards is not: Leo has a sticker, but he might have got it for something else, and the rule never said finishing was the only way to get one.

Your child reads a rule on a sign or about a class, then decides whose reasoning is correct or which sentence must be true. The Department says Thinking Skills checks critical thinking and problem solving, with no previous knowledge needed, and the section has a range of question types, shown in the practice tests.

The Department doesn't publish a fixed list of question types. If-then reasoning is how our lessons group these questions.

Four steps. Saying the rule out loud in if-then words does half the work, because it shows which way the rule runs.

When there are two rules, join them like a chain: kite club leads to science club, and science club leads to no handball.

Three questions from easier to harder: one rule, an only-if sign, and a chain of two rules.

Each one shows the answer and the working, so read them with your child. The explanation says why each wrong option is wrong: ask your child which one looked right at first, because that's the habit to fix.

Most wrong options run a rule backwards. These are the three to watch. Each has a quick check your child can run before choosing.

The preview has English and Chinese captions. It shows a safe way to turn a rule around: flip it and make both parts the opposite, as in if the ground is dry, it didn't rain.

The full lesson in the SelectiveReady app adds the one-way street, the U-turn trap and chains of rules. A free account opens one lesson, How and Why Authors Write; the other lessons need a paid plan.

Start with Practice test 1, which has Thinking Skills at its real length and time. It's one full practice test with results, with a free account. Every answer is explained, and the results by skill show whether your child loses marks on if-then rules.

After that, the app has drills by section and topic; a free account drills the free test's questions, and a paid plan opens the rest. At home, hunt for rules on signs and in games. Say each one as an if-then rule, and ask: does it work backwards?

Isn't this just reading carefully?

Partly. Careful reading finds the rule, but children also need to know that a rule only works one way. That habit takes practice.

Does my child need to know about clubs or farms to answer?

No. The Department says there's no new or special knowledge needed. Only the rule on the screen counts, even when real life seems to say something else.