A guide for parents
If your child is in Year 5 or Year 6 in NSW, you may be hearing a lot about the Selective test. The Selective High School Placement Test is used for entry into Year 7 at NSW selective high schools.
Selective high schools are public high schools for high potential and gifted students. They are designed for students who may benefit from learning with other students of similar ability and working at greater depth and complexity. Here is how the test and application process work.
Selective high schools are for students in Years 7 to 12. For Year 7 entry, parents usually apply when their child is at the end of Year 5 or the beginning of Year 6. The child then sits the Selective High School Placement Test while they are in Year 6. You can apply for selective schools outside your local area.
For Year 7 entry, you can choose between 1 and 3 selective high schools. Put them in the order you genuinely prefer. Your first choice should be the school you would most like your child to attend. Choosing a school first does not give your child extra marks or an advantage. The order matters because if your child qualifies for more than one school, the offer will come from the higher choice.
Entry after Year 7 works differently. For Years 8 to 11, you apply directly to each selective high school. Each school manages its own vacancies, application process and any assessments it may use.
| Step | When |
|---|---|
| Applications | November to February |
| Test | Early May, in Year 6 |
| Outcome | August, in Year 6 |
For Year 7 entry in 2027, the Selective High School Placement Test was held on 1 and 2 May 2026. Each child sat the test on one of those days. The make-up test was held on 22 May 2026. Placement outcomes were released on 19 August 2026.
The exact dates change each year. For 2028 entry, check the NSW Department of Education website when the new application dates are released rather than relying on the previous year's dates.
The Selective High School Placement Test has 4 sections. Each section is worth 25 percent of the test.
Three of the questions have more than one part. Children read different types of texts, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, magazine articles and reports. The test is not only asking whether your child can find information in a passage. They may need to compare texts, work out meaning from clues, understand why something was written in a certain way and think carefully about what the writer means.
This section tests how well your child can use maths to solve problems. The challenge is often working out which maths to use and how to approach an unfamiliar problem. Calculators are not allowed. Children can use paper for working out.
This section tests critical thinking and problem solving. No special subject knowledge is needed. Children may need to:
Some children find this section strange at first because the questions may not look like normal school work.
Your child is given a topic and instructions and must write a response on the computer. The Department says the writing test assesses the creativity of the ideas, the ability to write effectively for a purpose and audience, and the use of language for effect.
It is very important that the child actually answers the topic they are given. The Department says a response that does not address the topic is marked lower, however fluent or creative it is.
The OC test does not have a Writing section. The Selective High School Placement Test does. That means children preparing for selective school also need to be comfortable reading a writing task, planning quickly and producing a complete piece of writing within 30 minutes.
A child may be a good writer at school but still find timed writing difficult at first. Writing well when you have plenty of time is different from planning, writing and checking a response in 30 minutes.
The test is computer based. Children normally sit it at a test centre, often at a local high school. They read the questions and enter their answers on the computer. The Writing response is also typed on the computer. Children can use paper for working out and planning. There are short breaks between sections and a longer break during the Selective test.
It is worth making sure your child is comfortable:
Yes. Different versions of the test are used because students may sit on different days. Some questions are shared between versions so the Department can compare the tests fairly. Those shared questions do not count towards the child's final score.
Yes. The NSW Department of Education provides free practice tests. There are computer based practice tests and PDF practice tests. The computer version is especially useful because it helps children become familiar with the actual testing system, including the timer and how questions appear on screen. These official practice tests are a good place to start because they show parents and children what the real test format looks like.
Not exactly. The test is not designed simply to check how much of the school curriculum a child remembers. The Department says the test is designed to allow students to show their reading, reasoning, thinking and writing ability, and that children do not need to memorise facts about specific subjects. The challenge is applying what they know to unfamiliar problems.
There is no single score that guarantees a selective school place. Your child's offer depends on:
Different schools therefore need different levels of test performance. The Department does not publish a fixed minimum score for each school.
Yes. You can choose up to 3 selective high schools. List them in the order you actually prefer: first, the school you want most; then your next choice; then your next. If your child performs well enough for more than one school, the initial offer comes from the higher choice. There is no advantage in putting a school first because you think it will improve your child's chance of qualifying for it. Your child's test performance is what determines whether they qualify.
When outcomes are first released, your child may be placed on a reserve list for a higher-choice school. Places can become available when another family declines an offer. If your child's position on the list is reached, they may receive a later offer.
Up to 20 percent of places at each selective high school can be held for high potential students from groups that have been under-represented in selective education:
These students still need to sit the placement test. Offers are still based on their test performance. There is no separate application; eligible students are considered through the normal application. The Equity Placement Model is designed to improve access for students who may have faced educational disadvantage.
From the 2027 intake, gender parity applies to coeducational selective and partially selective high schools. This means an equal number of selective places are made available for girls and boys. If all places allocated to one gender are not filled, the remaining places can be offered to students of the other gender who qualify. Entry is still based on performance in the placement test.
No. The Department does not provide parents with the child's individual test score or placement rank. Instead, parents receive a performance report. For each of the 4 sections, the report shows whether the child performed in:
These are ranking bands. For example, if your child is in the top 10 percent for Reading, it does not mean they scored 90 percent. It means their Reading result was in the top 10 percent of students who sat that test. There is no pass or fail mark for each section.
There is no fixed cut-off score published by the Department. You may see old selective school scores online. Be careful with them. The test performance needed for a school changes depending on how many students apply, how those students perform, how many places are available, and how many offers are later declined. A score from an old year cannot tell you exactly what will happen in a new year.
Good preparation should be about building the skills behind the questions, not just doing endless practice papers.
Children should learn to read beyond the basic story. They should practise questions such as:
Children need more than fast calculations. They should practise:
A child can be very good at school maths and still need practice with unfamiliar reasoning problems.
Thinking Skills can feel very different from ordinary school work. Children can practise how to:
The goal is not to memorise hundreds of question types. It is to become better at thinking through unfamiliar problems.
Children need to practise writing to a task within a time limit. This includes:
Children should not spend so long planning that they do not finish the writing. They also should not start writing immediately without understanding what the task is asking.
Children should practise on a screen as well as on paper. They need to become comfortable with:
At SelectiveCoach, we do not want children to simply sit test after test and hope their score improves. We break the Selective test into the skills behind the questions. If a child keeps getting something wrong, we look for the reason. For example:
Once we know what the problem is, we can teach that skill directly. That is the difference between targeted teaching and simply giving harder questions.
Before the test, check that you have:
Ask us where your child stands. See our OC and Selective preparation, or use the form below and tell us your child's year.
Checked on 21 September 2026 against the NSW Department of Education: What are selective high schools and opportunity classes, Placement test, Application process and Outcomes, Opportunity class practice tests and Selective high school practice tests, Using the application website and Fair access, Choosing your schools and Years 8 to 12 applications. Dates change every year. Always confirm the current ones with the department before you rely on them.
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