The Test Is on a Computer Now: What Changes
From the 2026 entry round, the Selective and OC tests are delivered on a computer rather than on paper. For a lot of parents that headline sets off a small panic, a new format on top of an already high-stakes day. Take a breath: for the maths component, the change is mostly cosmetic.
What stays exactly the same
- Still 35 questions in 40 minutes.
- Still five options, A to E.
- Still no penalty for a wrong answer, so attempt everything.
- Still the same reasoning-first style, and the same primary-level topics.
In other words, every piece of advice about the maths itself, pace yourself, never leave a blank, watch for the traps, re-read the question, carries over untouched. The skills that win marks haven't moved an inch.
What's genuinely worth getting used to
The real shift is working out on a screen. On paper, a child scribbles freely in the margins; on a computer there's less room to do that, and the answer is selected with a click rather than a pencil mark. There's also an on-screen timer, a flag-for-review tool, and a navigator for jumping between questions, small things that are easy on the day if you've seen them before, and a distraction if you haven't.
This is the one area where the format change should change your preparation: have your child practise on a digital interface, not just paper, so reading a problem off a screen and managing on-screen working feels ordinary. Familiarity removes a layer of friction precisely when nerves are highest.
Don't over-rotate on the format
Digital practice is about comfort with the interface, the buttons, the timer, the navigator, not relearning the maths. An hour spent getting used to the screen is worth it; a week spent worrying about it is not.
Practising in an environment that mirrors the real platform, the same flag tool, the same countdown clock, the same one-question-at-a-time flow, is the simplest way to make test day feel like just another session your child has already done a dozen times.
Selective Edge is not affiliated with the NSW Department of Education or the Selective High Schools Test administrators. This guide is general information for parents, drawn from publicly available test materials.