Free NSW OC Practice Questions (Thinking Skills and Maths)
Six free NSW Opportunity Class (OC) practice questions with worked answers: three Thinking Skills and three Mathematical Reasoning. Try them here.
The short answer
- The OC placement test has three parts: Reading (40 minutes), Mathematical Reasoning (35 questions, 40 minutes) and Thinking Skills (30 questions, 30 minutes).
- Each part counts for a third of the result.
- The department says the questions draw on the NSW curriculum up to Year 4, and that paid coaching is not necessary.
- The six questions below give your child a feel for the question styles. Read the explanation even when the answer was right.
The Opportunity Class placement test is the first big test many NSW families meet. Parents often don't know what the questions look like until a few weeks before test day. The quickest way to find out is to try some.
Below are six free practice questions: three Thinking Skills and three Mathematical Reasoning. Tap an answer to check it and see the worked explanation. The explanation is where your child learns the most, so it's worth reading even when they got the question right.
What is on the OC test?
The test has three parts, and each counts for a third of the result. The figures below come from the NSW Department of Education's OC practice test page.
- Reading: 14 questions in 40 minutes. Three of them have several parts, so there are 33 answers in total. The texts include fiction, non-fiction, poetry, magazine articles and reports.
- Mathematical Reasoning: 35 multiple-choice questions in 40 minutes, each with five possible answers.
- Thinking Skills: 30 multiple-choice questions in 30 minutes, each with four possible answers.
The department says the questions "draw upon concepts from the NSW curriculum up to Year 4". Your child is not expected to know anything beyond what they learn in class.
Try three Thinking Skills questions
Thinking Skills is the fastest section, at one minute per question. These three cover working out who has what from a set of clues, checking options against rules, and spotting the single example that proves a statement wrong.
Try three Mathematical Reasoning questions
These three are short word problems: a perimeter worked backwards, a money question and a number pattern. The arithmetic is simple; the harder part is deciding which steps to take. Our questions have four answer options, while the real Mathematical Reasoning test has five.
How to help at home
The department's own advice is that coaching or tutoring for the test is not necessary, because the test does not ask for any new or special knowledge. Families can still help in useful ways:
- Ask "how do you know?" In a clue puzzle like the first question above, ask your child to explain each step out loud. If they can explain the reasoning, they can do the next puzzle on their own.
- Check every option. In the second Thinking Skills question, two orders put Poetry first, and only the second rule rules one of them out. Checking each option against every rule is a habit that saves marks.
- Know when to move on. Thinking Skills allows a minute per question. If a question isn't working out, it's better to make a sensible choice and move on than to lose time needed for easier questions later.
- Practise a little, often. Ten questions done carefully, with the explanations read, help more than a long session done in a rush.
The department also publishes full practice tests on the page linked above. They are the closest you can get to the real format, so it's worth saving one for a timed run closer to test day.
Where to go next
If your child enjoyed these, they can try a longer free OC practice test covering all three sections. For the bigger picture, read our parents' guide to the OC placement test. If you're deciding when to begin, see when to start preparing for the OC test.
Where these facts come from
The test facts in this guide are checked against these pages.
- Opportunity class practice tests · NSW Department of Education, checked 30 Sep 2026
Try Thinking Skills with your child
Five NSW OC Thinking Skills questions, each with an explanation. No account needed.
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