Prepare for the Selective Test in 6 Months: A Weekly Plan

Six months is a comfortable runway for the NSW Selective test — long enough to build real skill, short enough to stay motivated. The families who use it well don't cram; they run a steady, low-drama routine and let the weeks do the work. Here's a plan you can adapt to your child, built around one idea: consistency beats intensity.

Before you start, it helps to know exactly what you're preparing for. If you haven't already, skim our guide to the NSW Selective test format — four equally-weighted sections (Reading, Maths, Thinking Skills, Writing), fully computer-based.

The golden rule: 20 minutes, five days a week

Twenty focused minutes on most days will out-perform a three-hour Saturday session almost every time. Most Year 5 and 6 students concentrate well for 20–30 minutes before they need a break, so work with that rhythm, not against it. Ten questions understood deeply — mistakes reviewed, not just marked — teach more than fifty rushed. Keep a light touch and the routine will survive six months. Push too hard and it won't survive six weeks.

Month 1 — Baseline and habit

Don't start with a study blitz. Start by finding out where your child stands and building the daily habit.

• Week 1: Do a relaxed diagnostic. A free sample quiz across the sections shows you the starting point without pressure.
• Week 2: Set the routine — same time each day, 20 minutes, a tidy spot, on a computer (the real test is digital).
• Weeks 3–4: Rotate through all four sections so nothing is neglected. You're not fixing weaknesses yet — you're building the muscle of showing up.

End of month goal: your child practises most days without a fight, and you know their strongest and weakest sections.

Month 2 — Foundations

Now shore up the fundamentals. In Maths, that means fluency with number, fractions, decimals and measurement — the ground everything else stands on. Our five maths tricks for the selective test are a good, motivating place to start. In Reading, keep reading widely — comprehension is built by volume, not worksheets. In Thinking Skills, get familiar with the question families (deduction, analogies, patterns) so none of them feels alien.

This is where a structured sequence earns its keep. PrepKit's Program lays the topics out in order — from foundations towards test-level work — so you're never guessing what to do next. Your child gets a single "Continue" button; you get a legible sense of where they are.

Month 3 — Breadth across all four sections

With equal 25% weighting, no section can be an afterthought. This month, make sure Writing gets real attention — it's the one most families under-invest in. Practise one timed piece a week, typed (not handwritten), and read our guide on helping your child with selective writing. Meanwhile keep Maths and Thinking Skills ticking over, and start lengthening Reading passages so screen stamina grows.

A useful checkpoint here: can your child sit and read a demanding passage on a screen for a solid stretch without drifting? If not, that's worth building now, gently.

Month 4 — Target the gaps

By now you'll see clear patterns — the topics that keep tripping your child up. Spend this month there. Focused, topic-by-topic practice (rather than random mixed questions) turns a wobbly area solid. The Program's checkpoints are handy for this: they're short mixed reviews at the end of each part that show whether a section of work has genuinely stuck before you move on. Passing one is real evidence, not a guess.

Resist the urge to only practise what your child is already good at — it feels nice but changes nothing. The gains this month come from the uncomfortable topics.

Month 5 — Timing and exam conditions

Skill is in place; now build exam-day fluency. The test is fast — Thinking Skills gives roughly 60 seconds a question, Maths around 70. This month, introduce timed practice and teach the single most valuable exam skill: knowing when to move on. A reasoned guess, flagged for later, beats sinking three minutes into one puzzle and losing four easier ones. Do a full-length practice run or two under near-real conditions so the format holds no surprises.

Keep typing practice going for Writing — a slow typist loses thinking time to the keyboard, and 30 minutes disappears quickly.

Month 6 — Taper and confidence

The last month is not for cramming. It's for arriving calm and rested. Ease the volume, review favourite mistakes rather than piling on new material, and protect sleep. A relaxed, well-slept child outperforms an exhausted one — every time. In the final week, do a little light practice to stay warm, confirm the logistics, and then trust the six months of steady work behind them. Our last-minute tips cover the final stretch.

Watch for over-preparation

At any point in these six months, stop and reassess if your child dreads practice, if performance drops despite more effort, or if sleep, appetite or mood take a hit. The test measures potential, not endurance. A selective place is one good pathway among many, and it is never worth damaging a child's relationship with learning to chase it.

If you'd like the sequence handled for you — topics in order, checkpoints to prove progress, and a weekly pace you can actually read — that's exactly what the Program is built to do. But the plan above works with any good practice material. The structure matters more than the source.