NSW Selective Year 6 vocabulary list

This list targets vocabulary that appears in NSW Selective High School Placement Test Reading and Thinking Skills sections. The test is sat in Year 6 and rewards precise word meaning, inference, and reasoning — not spelling lists from school.

Five-day revision routine

Day	Focus	What to do
Monday	Reasoning and logic	Learn four words; each child writes one sentence.
Tuesday	Describing change	Learn four words; parent reads example aloud.
Wednesday	Argument and opinion	Learn four words; explain each in your own words.
Thursday	Quantity and measure	Learn four words; match each to a maths or science context.
Friday	Character and feeling	Learn four words; recall test — no list visible.

Sample words from the printable pack

The downloadable PDF includes 100 words grouped by theme. Here is a sample from the reasoning and logic group:

• analogy — a comparison showing how two pairs relate
• infer — draw a conclusion from evidence
• deduce — work out an answer from clues
• hypothesis — an idea to test

Each entry in the full pack includes a plain meaning and an example sentence your child can model.

Check understanding, not recognition

NSW Selective Reading and Thinking Skills often test whether your child can relate words — not whether they have memorised a list. After each theme, pick three words and ask: “Can you use this in a sentence about school?” or “What is the opposite?” Short, spoken checks beat copying definitions.

Next step

For exam format and section timing, see our NSW Selective preparation hub. The printable pack includes the full 100-word list. For structured weekly preparation, see the Selective Test Preparation course outline.