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NSW SelectiveYear 7 entry

Spatial reasoning in Selective Thinking Skills

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Spatial reasoning means picturing a shape in your mind as it turns, flips, folds or is seen from another side. In Selective Thinking Skills, your child can name the move, follow one corner and treat each fold as a mirror.

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The full lesson is in the SelectiveReady app. A free account opens How and Why Authors Write; this lesson needs a paid plan.

Updated 16 October 2026 · Facts checked 12 October 2026

Seeing Shapes in Your Mind (lesson preview)

A short preview from the SelectiveReady lesson “Seeing Shapes in Your Mind”, on spatial reasoning for the NSW Selective test.

Published:

Read the video transcript

Okay, let's walk through this together in our minds. Picture a perfect square of paper. Got it? Now fold it exactly in half from the left side over to the right. All right, now imagine you take some scissors and snip a little triangle out of the top right corner of that folded paper. Now for the big moment. What does it look like when you unfold it? And here it is. This is the golden rule you need for every single paper folding puzzle you will ever see. The cut you make doesn't just go through the top layer, it goes through both layers of the paper. That fold line is the secret. It's a perfect line of symmetry. So when you unfold the paper in your mind, that one little cut you made gets mirrored across the fold. You don't end up with one notch on the right side. You end up with two perfectly symmetrical triangular notches, one on each of the top corners. See how that works? Fantastic.

Seeing Shapes in Your Mind is a full lesson in the SelectiveReady app. A free account opens one lesson, How and Why Authors Write; the other lessons need a paid plan1SelectiveReady · 13 October 2026 · Published. Play the preview here, with English or Chinese captions.

2

What will your child learn in this lesson?

Your child learns to move shapes around in their head, like a video game played in the mind. They'll be able to tell a turn from a flip, unfold paper in their mind, and switch between front, side and top views.

The clip folds a square in half, snips a corner and asks what the unfolded paper looks like. The full lesson adds handedness, views of solid objects and the three common traps.

3

How does spatial reasoning show up in Selective Thinking Skills?

Shape puzzles are one of the kinds of question in the Thinking Skills test. The Department says the test has a range of question types, shown in the practice tests2NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published, and it publishes no fixed list.

The testWhat it means for shape puzzles
Thinking Skills checks critical thinking and problem solving, with no previous knowledge needed2NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · PublishedNo geometry facts to learn, just careful seeing
a zoom function on every page3NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · PublishedSmall grids and holes can be enlarged
24NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published sheets of working-out paperRoom to sketch a net or a fold
42NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published options per questionSeveral pictures that look alike: check each one
402NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published questions in 402NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published minutesA quick sketch is faster than staring
4

What is spatial reasoning?

Spatial reasoning is seeing a shape in your mind and moving it: turning it, flipping it, folding it or looking at it from a new side. Children use it to pack a bag, read a map or build from instructions.

The lesson treats it as a mental muscle. It gets faster with practice, like any skill.

Kind of puzzleThe rule that cracks it
Turn (rotation)The shape spins but keeps its handedness
Flip (reflection)The shape becomes its mirror image, so left and right swap
Fold and cut or punchThe fold line is a mirror, and the cut goes through every layer
Cube netsIn a straight line of three squares, the two ends are opposite faces
ViewsFront, side and top each give a different flat shape
5

What is the method for spatial puzzles?

Name the move first, then follow one mark through it. A sketch on working paper helps when the picture is busy.

The fold is a mirror: fold a square in half, cut through both layers, and unfold to see the cut mirrored.

  1. Name the move

    Is it a turn, a flip, a fold or a new view? Each one has its own rule.

  2. Pick one mark

    Choose a corner, a dot or a shaded square that's easy to follow.

  3. Follow it through

    Move that mark only. For a fold, copy it across the fold line like a mirror.

  4. Check a second mark

    Confirm with another mark, then cross out pictures where either mark is wrong.

6

What does a worked spatial question look like?

We wrote this cube-net puzzle to show the method. Each square of the net has a picture.

LeftMiddleRight
star
moonsunheart
cloud
leaf

Question: When the net folds into a cube, which face is opposite the sun?

  • A. star
  • B. heart
  • C. cloud
  • D. leaf
StepWhat your child does
Choose a basePut the sun face flat on the table.
Fold the neighboursStar folds up at the back, cloud at the front, moon on the left, heart on the right.
Fold the far squareLeaf is joined to cloud, so it folds over to become the top.
Read the answerSun is the base and leaf is the top, so the answer is D.

The shortcut agrees. In each straight line of three squares, the ends are opposite: star and cloud, moon and heart, sun and leaf.

7

Which mistake catches children on spatial puzzles?

The most common mistake is mixing up a turn with a flip. The lesson's test is handedness: a turn keeps it, a flip swaps it.

TrapHow it catches childrenThe fix
Turn or flip?A turned shape and a flipped shape can look alikeAsk whether left and right have swapped
One layer onlyThe cut seems to go through the top layerThe fold is a mirror: copy every cut across it
Lost left and rightWalking round an object in the mind mixes up sidesMove slowly and name each side
8

Can my child try one on their own?

Here is a paper-folding question from our free Thinking Skills set. It matches the clip, with two folds instead of one.

Practice question · SEL-TS-TST-18

A square sheet of paper is marked in a 6 by 6 grid. It is folded twice, and then two holes are punched through all the layers.

The paper is unfolded. Which picture shows the holes in the unfolded sheet?

  1. A
  2. B
  3. C
  4. D
Show answer and explanation

Answer: A

Answer: A

Undo the folds in reverse order. Each fold line works like a mirror.

  1. The punched holes are in column 4, row 5 and column 6, row 6.
  2. Open fold 2 (the top half comes back up). Each hole is copied in the line between rows 3 and 4: row 5 matches row 2 and row 6 matches row 1. Holes now: column 4 rows 2 and 5; column 6 rows 1 and 6.
  3. Open fold 1 (the left half comes back). Every hole so far is copied in the line between columns 3 and 4: column 4 matches column 3 and column 6 matches column 1. This adds column 3 rows 2 and 5, and column 1 rows 1 and 6.
  4. There are 8 holes: row 1 columns 1 and 6; row 2 columns 3 and 4; row 5 columns 3 and 4; row 6 columns 1 and 6.

Why the other options are wrong

  • B: This shows holes only in the bottom rows, but the top half of the sheet was folded down and punched too.
  • C: This misses two holes: when fold 1 is opened, the holes in rows 1 and 2 must be copied too, so the top-left quarter needs holes in column 1 row 1 and column 3 row 2.
  • D: The holes have been slid across and up instead of flipped over the fold lines.

  1. Undo the folds in reverse

    Open the last fold first. Each fold line is a mirror, and the punch went through every layer.

  2. Open the second fold

    Copy each hole across the line between the top and bottom halves. Two holes become four.

  3. Open the first fold

    Copy every hole again across the line between the left and right halves. Four holes become eight.

  4. Match the picture

    Option A shows eight holes in mirror pairs. B and C miss holes, and D slides them instead of flipping.

9

How can my child practise spatial reasoning at home?

Hands-on play builds the picture in the mind. Ask your child to predict first, then check.

Fold and snip

Fold paper, cut a notch and predict the unfolded shape before opening it.

Block towers

Build a small tower and draw what it looks like from the front, the side and the top.

Mirror letters

Write a few capital letters and decide which ones look the same in a mirror.

10

Questions parents ask about spatial reasoning for Selective

Is spatial reasoning something children are born with?

The lesson treats it as a skill that grows with practice, like packing a bag or reading a map. Short, regular play helps.

Do solid shapes come up in the Maths test as well?

They can, since the Department publishes no fixed topic list for Mathematical Reasoning. 2NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published Our 3D Shapes & Space lesson covers the maths side.

Is the full lesson free?

A free account opens one lesson, How and Why Authors Write; the other lessons need a paid plan1SelectiveReady · 13 October 2026 · Published.

Next questions

Selective Thinking Skills →Lesson: Visual Pattern Puzzles →Lesson: 3D Shapes & Space →Free Selective practice test →The NSW Selective test explained →

Sources and checks

  1. SelectiveReady

    SelectiveReady · Checked 13 October 2026

  2. Selective high school practice tests

    NSW Department of Education · Checked 13 October 2026 · Practice materials: personal or non-commercial use only; CC BY 4.0 does not apply (page notice). Page text: CC BY 4.0.

  3. Using the application website (selective high schools and opportunity classes)

    NSW Department of Education · Checked 13 October 2026 · CC BY 4.0 (NSW Department of Education copyright notice); quotes credited

  4. Placement test

    NSW Department of Education · Checked 12 October 2026 · CC BY 4.0 (NSW Department of Education copyright notice); quotes credited

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