diff --git a/lib/helpers/projection/isExclusive.js b/lib/helpers/projection/isExclusive.js
index 8c64bc50fe2..cbf1b78787f 100644
--- a/lib/helpers/projection/isExclusive.js
+++ b/lib/helpers/projection/isExclusive.js
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ const isDefiningProjection = require('./isDefiningProjection');
  */
 
 module.exports = function isExclusive(projection) {
+  if (projection == null) {
+    return null;
+  }
+
   const keys = Object.keys(projection);
   let ki = keys.length;
   let exclude = null;
diff --git a/lib/helpers/query/selectPopulatedFields.js b/lib/helpers/query/selectPopulatedFields.js
index 0419425d1af..82f52aa5dd5 100644
--- a/lib/helpers/query/selectPopulatedFields.js
+++ b/lib/helpers/query/selectPopulatedFields.js
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 'use strict';
 
+const isExclusive = require('../projection/isExclusive');
+const isInclusive = require('../projection/isInclusive');
+
 /*!
  * ignore
  */
@@ -10,7 +13,7 @@ module.exports = function selectPopulatedFields(query) {
   if (opts.populate != null) {
     const paths = Object.keys(opts.populate);
     const userProvidedFields = query._userProvidedFields || {};
-    if (query.selectedInclusively()) {
+    if (isInclusive(query._fields)) {
       for (const path of paths) {
         if (!isPathInFields(userProvidedFields, path)) {
           query.select(path);
@@ -18,7 +21,7 @@ module.exports = function selectPopulatedFields(query) {
           delete query._fields[path];
         }
       }
-    } else if (query.selectedExclusively()) {
+    } else if (isExclusive(query._fields)) {
       for (const path of paths) {
         if (userProvidedFields[path] == null) {
           delete query._fields[path];
diff --git a/lib/query.js b/lib/query.js
index 9d3df0931c6..117dddcb893 100644
--- a/lib/query.js
+++ b/lib/query.js
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ const promiseOrCallback = require('./helpers/promiseOrCallback');
 const getDiscriminatorByValue = require('./helpers/discriminator/getDiscriminatorByValue');
 const hasDollarKeys = require('./helpers/query/hasDollarKeys');
 const helpers = require('./queryhelpers');
+const isExclusive = require('./helpers/projection/isExclusive');
 const isInclusive = require('./helpers/projection/isInclusive');
 const mquery = require('mquery');
 const parseProjection = require('./helpers/projection/parseProjection');
@@ -5369,21 +5370,7 @@ Query.prototype.selectedInclusively = function selectedInclusively() {
  */
 
 Query.prototype.selectedExclusively = function selectedExclusively() {
-  if (!this._fields) {
-    return false;
-  }
-
-  const keys = Object.keys(this._fields);
-  for (const key of keys) {
-    if (key === '_id') {
-      continue;
-    }
-    if (this._fields[key] === 0 || this._fields[key] === false) {
-      return true;
-    }
-  }
-
-  return false;
+  return isExclusive(this._fields);
 };
 
 /*!