Clear guides for Selective parents
No jargon, no scare tactics, just plain-English explanations of what the test really involves and how to help your child prepare. Grounded in the official test materials.
Preparing in Year 5: A Term-by-Term Plan
Year 5 is the year that decides how Year 6 feels. A term-by-term plan that starts slowly, ends with real papers, and never eats the whole year.
How Much Practice Is Enough?
The honest answer is less than most families do, arranged better. What the practice week should look like, and the three signs you have gone too far.
The Reading Habit That Shows Up in the Test
Reading is the one component you cannot cram and the one that lifts every other paper. What kind of reading counts, and how to start when your child says no.
What to Do With a Wrong Answer
Most practice is thrown away at the moment it becomes useful. A wrong answer is the only part of a paper that can teach anything, and there are four kinds of them.
Helping With Writing at Home
Writing is the component parents feel least able to help with, and the one where ordinary help works best. What to do at the kitchen table, and what to stop doing.
When Practice Makes Them Anxious
Some anxiety is the cost of caring about something. Some of it is a signal that the preparation is wrong. Telling the two apart, and what actually helps.
Getting Better at Thinking Skills
It maps to no school subject, so parents cannot help the way they can with maths. What actually moves this paper, and why it has to be little and often.
Do We Need a Tutor?
An honest answer from a company that sells practice software. What a tutor is genuinely good at, what they cannot fix, and the questions worth asking before you pay.
Starting in Year 4: What Is Actually Worth Doing
Two years out, almost everything that helps is not test practice. What to do in Year 4, and why starting the papers now usually costs more than it gains.
Alternatives to Selective Schools in NSW
There are 4,338 Year 7 selective places in NSW and far more children who want one. Partially selective streams, agricultural schools and Aurora College.
The Thinking Skills Test Explained: 40 Questions
The Thinking Skills test is 40 multiple-choice questions in 40 minutes, and it maps to no school subject. What it measures, and why it can't be crammed.
The Selective Test Timeline: Every Key Date, in Order
Selective high school key dates run on a fixed annual rhythm: applications open in November of Year 5, the test is sat in May, outcomes arrive in August.
The Selective Writing Test: One Task, Thirty Minutes
One task, 30 minutes, and the only component that isn't multiple choice. What the department says it is marking, and why parents underestimate it.
The Selective School Reserve List, Explained
A reserve list place means your child is in the queue if places open up. What the A to F bands estimate, why the list moves, and how long it stays open.
The Selective Reading Test: 17 Questions, 45 Minutes
The Selective reading test is 17 questions in 45 minutes, three of them in multiple parts. That shape tells you the questions are dense, not quick.
Choosing Your Three Selective School Preferences
You may nominate up to three selective schools in order of preference, and the department advises choosing only schools you genuinely want.
What Score Do You Need for Selective Schools?
There is no minimum entry score for NSW selective schools, and no scores or ranks are released at all. What to aim at instead of a number.
Should My Child Sit the Selective Test? An Honest Guide
There are 4,338 Year 7 selective places in NSW, so most applicants will not get an offer. An honest guide to deciding whether your child should sit.
What's Actually on the Selective Maths Test
Thirty-five questions, forty minutes, no calculator. Here's exactly what the Mathematical Reasoning paper looks like, and what it's really testing.
The 68-Second Question: Helping Your Child Beat the Clock
Forty minutes for thirty-five questions is the test's real challenge. Here's how to train pacing, and why your child should never leave a single answer blank.
Reasoning, Not Memorising: Why Top Students Struggle
Top marks in class don't always translate to the Selective test. The reason is a different kind of thinking, and it can be taught.
The Traps Hidden in Multiple Choice
The wrong answers aren't random. Each one is engineered to catch a specific, predictable mistake. Teach your child to recognise the bait.
Fractions, Nets and Protractors: The Topics Worth Drilling
A practical map of what comes up most, organised by the three primary-maths strands, so practice time goes where it counts.
OC vs Selective: What's the Difference?
Two tests, two year groups, one common confusion. A quick guide to which is which and how the maths expectations differ.
The Test Is on a Computer Now: What Changes
The Selective test moved to a computer-based format. Reassuringly, almost everything about the maths paper stayed exactly the same.
Reading is good. Practising is better.
Put these guides into action. Your child can sit a full, realistic practice exam free, and the platform builds a plan from how they actually perform.