SEHS reading practice: two sources on the same event

Quick Answer

When two sources describe one event, ask who wrote each one, when, and why. Then decide what each source can and cannot tell you. This page has two invented sources about an invented event and eight questions. It needs no history knowledge: every answer is in the two texts.

Who is this practice for?

Year 8 students in Victoria preparing for the Selective Entry High Schools (SEHS) exam for Year 9 entry, and the parent who sits beside them. This is a labelled original practice set written by Braintree. It does not claim that the SEHS exam uses historical sources. The skill it trains is reading closely and asking where a text comes from. ACER's official sample questions are the place to see real exam items: ACER's Victorian selective entry prepare page (ACER says its samples are "not necessarily reflective of the difficulty of the exam").

What should I ask of any source?

1. Who wrote it, and were they there?
2. When was it written: the same day, or years later?
3. Why was it written, and who was it written for?
4. What can it establish, and what could it not know?
5. Which words are fact and which are opinion?

Source A and Source B

Invented for practice

Source A. From the diary of Hester Garrow, who runs the ferry at Pellwick Bend. Written on the evening of 14 March 1911.

My hands still smell of rope tonight. The new footbridge opened at noon and the whole town walked over it. I counted about sixty people on the first crossing, although the mayor's men said a hundred. The mayor cut the ribbon and spoke for too long. The band played badly and nobody minded. The ferry has been in my family for thirty years, and my father taught me to read the river before I could read a book. The baker crossed the new bridge twice, just to say she had done it. It rained for an hour at one o'clock, which may have kept some people away from my landing. By two o'clock my ferry had carried only four passengers, where on an ordinary Tuesday it carries thirty. A boy told me the bridge was a marvel. Perhaps it is. I told the mayor to his face that it was a costly mistake, and he did not enjoy hearing it. The planks creaked under the crowd, and two men stepped back from the middle. I will not say what I think of the council's sums until I see the figures. Tomorrow I will tie up the ferry early and watch how many walk across.

Invented for practice

Source B. From an article in The Pellwick Courier, "Fifty Years of the Bridge", by Alan Thorne, editor. Published on 14 March 1961.

Fifty years ago today the people of Pellwick Bend gathered in glorious sunshine to open the footbridge that made our town. A crowd of one hundred cheered as the mayor cut the ribbon, and the band played with fine spirit. The old ferry had served the town since the 1880s, but it could carry only twelve people at a time and stopped whenever the river ran high. On the opening afternoon, children ran back and forth across the new planks until the light failed. Within a month the ferry had lost nearly all its customers, and its owner soon left the district. The bridge was built by the town's own labourers for £1,200. It was a bargain by any measure. Shopkeepers on the east bank reported that trade doubled. Many of the families who crossed that day still live in the town. Some old residents complained that it cost too much, but the town's progress since proves them wrong. Your editor's grandfather chaired the committee that raised the money, and the family is proud of his work. The bridge is the reason Pellwick Bend has a school, a hall and a future.

The questions

Question 1. Source B was written for the newspaper's readers on an anniversary. What is its most likely purpose?

• A. To record the writer's private feelings about the ferry.
• B. To celebrate the bridge and remind readers of its success.
• C. To report the news of an opening that happened this week.
• D. To instruct readers how to cross the bridge safely.

Question 2. A student says, "Source A is more reliable because it is older." Which reply is best?

• A. Correct, because older sources are always more reliable than newer ones.
• B. Incorrect, because a diary can never be a reliable source.
• C. Age is not the reason: Source A was written the same day by someone who was there, but it is still one person's view.
• D. Incorrect, because Source B was written by an editor, so it must be accurate.

Question 3. Which statement do both sources support?

• A. The mayor cut the ribbon at the opening.
• B. The footbridge cost £1,200.
• C. The ferry carried four passengers by two o'clock.
• D. The bridge needed repairs within a month.

Question 4. On which point do the two sources give different figures?

• A. The date of the opening.
• B. The size of the crowd at the first crossing.
• C. The name of the town.
• D. The person who cut the ribbon.

Question 5. Which sentence from Source B states an opinion rather than a fact that could be checked?

• A. The bridge was built by the town's own labourers for £1,200.
• B. Shopkeepers on the east bank reported that trade doubled.
• C. Within a month the ferry, an outdated and unreliable service, had lost nearly all its customers.
• D. It was a bargain by any measure.

Question 6. Which detail appears in Source A only?

• A. The planks creaked under the crowd.
• B. The ferry's owner soon left the district.
• C. The mayor cut the ribbon.
• D. The bridge cost £1,200.

Question 7. Hester Garrow was an eyewitness who ran the ferry. Which statement about her account is best supported?

• A. She has no bias, because she was present.
• B. Her loss of passengers gives her a reason to dislike the bridge, so her opinions need care, though what she counted may still be accurate.
• C. Everything she wrote is false, because she lost money.
• D. Her account is useless, because she wrote it the same day.

Question 8. A student wants to know how the ferry was doing on the afternoon of the opening day. Which source is more useful, and why?

• A. Source B, because it was written by an editor and covers a longer time.
• B. Source B, because it is written in a more formal style.
• C. Source A, because it records the ferry's passengers that afternoon, though the writer may have a reason to stress the figure.
• D. Source A, because it is older, so it must be right.

Answers and worked explanations

Question	Key	Why	Tempting wrong option
1	B	Written on an anniversary, in praise of the bridge, by someone whose family built it.	C: it is an anniversary piece, not this week's news.
2	C	Reliability here comes from being written the same day by a person present, and it is still one person's view with a stake in the matter.	A: "older means more reliable".
3	A	Source A: "The mayor cut the ribbon". Source B: "as the mayor cut the ribbon".	B: the cost appears only in Source B.
4	B	Source A: "I counted about sixty people ... the mayor's men said a hundred." Source B: "A crowd of one hundred".	D: both name the mayor.
5	D	"Bargain" is a judgement. The cost, the report of trade and the loss of customers can all be checked against records.	C: it sounds negative, but it states a loss that could be counted.
6	A	Only Hester Garrow mentions the creaking planks.	B and D come from Source B.
7	B	Being present does not remove a stake in the outcome; it also does not make her counts false.	A: "an eyewitness has no bias".
8	C	She recorded the figures herself that afternoon: four passengers by two o'clock. Source B only says the ferry lost customers "within a month".	D: "older means right".

Key count: A 2, B 3, C 2, D 1.

Can my child write a question a source could not answer?

For each source, write one question that the source cannot answer, and say why. Example for Source A: "How much did the council spend on the bridge?" Hester says she has not seen the figures. Example for Source B: "How many passengers did the ferry carry on the opening afternoon?" The article gives no count for that day.

Where are the official SEHS samples?

ACER publishes sample questions for the Victorian Selective Entry High Schools exam on its prepare page: ACER's Victorian selective entry prepare page. Start there. Related Braintree pages: Victoria SEHS practice resources and the SEHS exam format.

Sources and review

Official source (checked 2026-10-15): ACER, Selective Entry High Schools Victoria: prepare, for the official sample questions.

Where the questions came from: both sources and all eight questions are original Braintree Coaching Australia material. No real event, person, place or newspaper is used. None is taken from an official or third-party paper.

Author: James Rush, content writer, Braintree Coaching Australia.

Answer check: every answer was solved a second time before publication. A named teacher review has not yet been recorded for this set. If you find an error, please tell us.

Last updated: 2026-10-15.