Selective entry letter series and hidden words

They use letters and words as the raw material: a pattern through the alphabet, a word that joins others, or a word tucked inside a sentence. ACER says Verbal Reasoning tests thinking and reasoning with words, concepts and logic, and these are the most puzzle-like of the word questions.

They look different, but one habit solves them all: test every idea against every part of the question. These are our own questions, from easier to harder, and each one shows the answer and the working.

Work through each one out loud together. Say the alphabet between the letters, or test a wrong option with every part, until you find the step that breaks.

Count, test, then read the rule in the question again. This works because each kind has a near-miss option that only fails one part of the question, and testing every part finds it. It's our method, not ACER's.

Verbal Reasoning shares 55 minutes with Reading, and counting letters can eat time. If a series won't come out, ACER suggests your child make an informed guess and come back to it at the end if there is time.

Each wrong option in our questions works for part of the question but not all of it. After the worked questions, read these together and ask which one would have caught your child. The check is the same for each: try the option against every part again.

• Taking the very next letter. In the first question, S comes straight after T going backwards, but the series skips a letter each time, so the answer is R.
• Testing only the first word. In the second, dragon and fire both make a word with fly, but neither works with cup and milk. Butter fits every word.
• A hidden word inside a single word. In the third, crow is in "crowd", but it doesn't cross a gap between words. Swan does, in "boys wanted".

These are word games, and families can play them anywhere, with no paper. Short rounds keep them fun.

• Say the alphabet backwards together, then again skipping a letter each time.
• Build compound-word chains: butterfly, flyway, wayside, and so on.
• Hide a word across the gap in a sentence, such as an animal or a colour, and let your child find it.

ACER says these skills grow over time, through a culture of learning, varied engaging material and talking freely about ideas, and playful word games are an easy way in. Our worked questions show the method; a full practice test shows whether your child can still count and check carefully with Reading on the same clock.

More worked questions are on our selective entry verbal reasoning sample questions page. Our selective entry practice tests keep the real timing, and Practice test 1 is free. Afterwards you'll see results by skill, so you know which kinds of question to practise first.