NSW Selective vs OC: Which Test Is Your Child Sitting?

Parents in NSW meet these two exams as a single blur of acronyms: the OC test and the selective test, both run by the Department of Education, both computer-based, both with the word "placement" in the name. It's reasonable to assume one is a junior version of the other.

They're closer than most test pairs, but they aren't the same exam, and the differences matter for what you do this year rather than next. Here's what actually changes between them.

They sit two years apart, for two different things

The Opportunity Class test is sat in Year 4, for entry into an Opportunity Class — a two-year enriched program in Years 5 and 6, run inside a regular primary school. There are OC classes in over 75 NSW primary schools.

The Selective High School Placement Test is sat in Year 6, for entry into a selective high school for Years 7 to 12. That's a change of school, not a change of class.

So the practical question isn't usually "which one should we do?" — it's "are we at the Year 4 door or the Year 6 door?" Families who go through OC often meet the selective test two years later anyway. The application steps, windows and school-choice rules for both pathways are set out in our guide to applying; this post is about the tests themselves.

What differs on test day

Three of the four components are shared, with the same names and — for two of them — the same clock:

Component	OC test (Year 4)	Selective test (Year 6)
Reading	40 minutes	40 minutes
Mathematical Reasoning	40 minutes	40 minutes
Thinking Skills	30 minutes	40 minutes
Writing	Not included	30 minutes
Total testing time	About 110 minutes	About 150 minutes

Both totals are the sections added together, before administration, breaks and settling the room — so plan the morning around rather more than that.

Question counts, section-by-section detail and what each part covers live in the two format guides — the OC test and the selective test — rather than being repeated here.

Two of those rows are worth pausing on.

Writing. The OC test has no Writing section at all. The selective test has one 30-minute written response, and since 2025 all four selective components carry equal weighting — 25% each — so writing can't be treated as the optional extra it once was. For a Year 4 family, none of that applies yet.

Typing. Both tests are fully computer-based, but only the selective test asks a child to type an extended piece under time. That makes keyboard fluency a real preparation item in Year 6 and a non-issue in Year 4, where the skills that matter are reading on screen and clicking accurately.

Thinking Skills: the same idea, two years apart

Thinking Skills is the component with no classroom equivalent, which is why it's the hardest of the three to picture from the outside. It appears in both tests — 30 minutes in Year 4, 40 minutes in Year 6.

The clearest way to see the difference is to answer a couple. Here are two from our Year 4 question bank. Tap a choice to grade it and read the explanation.

And two from the Year 6 bank — same kind of thinking, more moving parts to hold at once:

Neither set is a measure of your child. They're a sample of question styles, and the useful thing to watch is whether the format itself is the obstacle — a child who understands the puzzle but has never seen one written that way is in a very different position from one who's stuck on the reasoning.

What carries over, and what doesn't

If your family goes through the OC test and later looks at selective, most of the preparation is cumulative rather than repeated:

• Reading on screen, under time. Same 40 minutes in both, with the Year 6 paper pitched two school years further on.
• Mathematical reasoning without a calculator. Both tests use familiar maths on unfamiliar problems; neither rewards rote calculation on its own.
• Thinking Skills. The style of question is recognisably the same family in both tests, so a child who met it in Year 4 will recognise the Year 6 version rather than meeting it cold.
• Working steadily to a clock. The habit transfers even when the content doesn't.

The one genuinely new thing in Year 6 is Writing — a stimulus, 30 minutes, typed. It's worth treating as its own small piece of preparation rather than assuming general reading will cover it.

A note on age

The OC test is sat by nine- and ten-year-olds, and that changes what sensible preparation looks like more than the syllabus does. Short, regular sessions suit this age far better than long ones, and the department's own position is that the test measures academic potential rather than what's been covered in class — which is an argument for familiarity with the format, not for volume.

Our post on when to start preparing for the OC test sets out a term-by-term version of that for Year 3 and Year 4 families, and what the department says about coaching quotes the policy in full for both tests.

If you're deciding whether to sit the OC test at all

Some families skip Year 4 and aim at Year 6 instead. That's a normal choice. A few things worth weighing, none of which are about scores:

• An OC place is a change of class, not a change of school — for many children that's a smaller step than moving schools at Year 5.
• They are two separate applications, made in different years — Year 3 or 4 for OC, Year 5 or 6 for selective, as set out in the application guide. One isn't a form of entry to the other.
• Places are limited at both levels. Deciding in advance what you'll say to your child if an offer doesn't come is worth more than another practice session.

Where to look next

• The Opportunity Class test: a parent's guide — sections, placement, and preparing a nine-year-old.
• NSW Selective test: format, sections and what to expect — the four components in detail.
• How to apply — the November-to-February window, school choices and equity places for both pathways.
• Selective place or scholarship? — for Year 6 families also looking at independent school scholarships.
• Free question sets with instant feedback and no account: OC practice and selective practice.

Whichever door you're at, one practical way to settle the question is to sit down together for twenty minutes with a handful of real questions. Most of what parents want to know — is this format a shock, is the reading level a stretch, does the clock panic them — shows up in that first sitting.