Paper I is the part of the Scholarship exam parents ask about most. Paper II brings its own questions, above all how to practise the written answers at home. This page sets out what each paper asks, and what a family can do at home.
What is Paper I?
The 2025 Paper I had 40 questions, each with three answers to choose from. They cover pictures, patterns, codes, time, a poem, a passage and maths problems. In the 2025 and 2026 sittings the paper ran for 60 minutes, about a minute and a half a question. In 2019 it was 45 minutes, so check each year's time in the Department of Examinations' notice on doenets.lk.
Wizder holds 170 reasoning questions taken from past papers. They fall into the kinds below.
The kinds of question in Paper I
- Number patterns: the next or missing number in a sequence, table or shape.
- Shape patterns: the next figure, the odd one out, turning shapes and symmetry.
- Time, clocks and calendars: days between dates, "the day before yesterday" puzzles, timetables.
- Directions and maps: turns, compass points, simple maps and routes.
- Grouping and conclusions: which ones belong together, and what follows from a statement.
- Word relations: "a bird is to a nest as a bee is to ..." pairs and letter patterns.
- Codes and balances: letters standing for numbers, symbols and balance puzzles.
- Folding and cubes: folded and cut paper, cube nets, faces of solid shapes.
- Counting shapes: how many triangles, how many ways to choose or arrange.
- Order and family: queues and rows, taller and shorter, family relations.
How to practise Paper I at home
- Take one kind of question a week, and do a few of that kind in a short session.
- Before saying whether an answer is right, ask "how did you find it?". The method matters more than the answer.
- When a question is hard, practise skipping it and coming back at the end.
- Start full timed papers from May of the Grade 5 year. Before that, do not time the child.
When to start each kind, by grade, is in the Sinhala Scholarship training plan.
What is Paper II?
The 2025 Paper II had 60 questions and came first that morning. In the 2025 and 2026 sittings it ran for 75 minutes. It has five parts.
- Questions 1 to 9: Sinhala. Passages, grammar, spelling, punctuation. Written answers.
- Questions 10 to 14: English and Tamil words.
- Questions 15 to 29: maths. Written answers, with units.
- Questions 30 to 59: environment. The child picks one of three answers and underlines it.
- Question 60: three sentences about an event.
How to prepare for Paper II at home
Paper II has written answers, so practise by reading and writing. Read a short passage together, ask two questions, and let the child write the answers in full sentences. Ask for three sentences about something that happened that day. Practise a few English and Tamil words at a time from the school book.
Wizder marks only the tap-to-answer questions: Paper I and the environment part of Paper II. Show essays and written answers to the teacher.
සිසුන් කණ්ඩායමක නායිකාව ලෙස එම කණ්ඩායමේ තාරකි තෝරාගන්නා ලදී. ඉතුරු සිසුන්ගෙන් උපනායිකාවක් හා උපනායකයෙකු තෝරාගත හැකි ආකාර ගණන 6කි. එම කණ්ඩායමේ සිටින ගැහැනු ළමයින් ගණන සහ පිරිමි ළමයින් ගණන වීය හැක්කේ පිළිවෙළින්,
- A2 සහ 3 කි.
- B2 සහ 4 කි.
- C3 සහ 3 කි.
- D4 සහ 2 කි.
Common questions
How long is Paper I?
In the 2025 and 2026 sittings Paper I ran for 60 minutes, after Paper II on the same morning. The 2019 paper gave 45 minutes on its cover, so the time can change. The Department of Examinations sets it each year in its notice on doenets.lk.
Can reasoning be practised, or is it something a child has or lacks?
It can be practised. Paper I asks the same kinds of question year after year: number and shape patterns, codes, time, directions, folding and cubes. A child who has met each kind a few times reads the next one faster.
How do we prepare for Paper II at home?
Paper II has written answers, so practise by reading and writing. Read a short passage together, ask two questions, and let the child write the answers in full sentences. Wizder marks only the tap-to-answer questions. Show the essays and written answers to the teacher.