Selective Test 2027: When to Start Preparing & Your Early Preparation Guide

Start with a free selective mock test to get that diagnostic, then use our selective school preparation hub to plan the year around it.

When should your child start preparing for the 2027 selective test?

The practical starting point is mid-2026, about twelve months before your child sits the test in Year 6. That lead time exists because the placement test measures reading comprehension, mathematical reasoning, thinking skills and written communication, and those develop across months rather than weeks. A twelve-month plan makes room for a diagnostic, steady skill building, then timed practice and full simulations in the final stretch. It also keeps the work inside a normal week instead of turning the final term into a scramble.

Which test cycle will your Year 5 child sit?

NSW DoE names each placement-test cycle by the year of Year 7 entry, not by the year of the test, and that is where most family calendars go wrong. A child in Year 5 during 2026 sits the placement test in 2027, for Year 7 entry in 2028.

Two consequences follow, and both matter for planning:

• The cycle the department currently labels 2027 is finished. Its test was sat on 1 and 2 May 2026, applications had closed on 20 February 2026, and placement outcomes were released on 19 August 2026.
• The cycle your Year 5 child is aiming at, Year 7 entry in 2028, has no published dates yet. As at August 2026 the department has not released the application window, the sitting dates or the outcomes date for it. Plan against the shape of the previous cycle, a sitting in Term 2 and an application window opening the preceding November, and confirm the real dates when DoE publishes them.

There are 4,338 Year 7 places across NSW DoE selective high schools. For a sense of scale, the department's own performance report states that 16,487 students sat the 2024 placement test, about 16 per cent of the roughly 101,800 children in Year 6 in NSW that year. The department does not publish an annual applicant count, so treat any figure of that kind you see elsewhere with caution.

What to do while the dates are unpublished

Waiting for dates is not the same as waiting to start. Two things are worth doing in the meantime. First, work from the shape of the previous cycle rather than its exact dates: applications for Year 7 entry in 2027 opened on 6 November 2025 and closed on 20 February 2026, so an application window opening around the November before the sitting is the reasonable planning assumption. Second, start shortlisting schools early, because the application asks for up to three selective or partially selective school preferences in order, and that order affects which offer your child can receive. Travel time, single-sex or co-educational, and whether a school is fully or partially selective all matter more to a Year 6 child's daily life than any ranking does. Check the department's page each term and confirm the real dates the moment they appear.

In this guide, you'll discover:

• Why Year 5 is a sensible time to begin structured selective test preparation
• What the test involves, all four components explained
• A month-by-month preparation timeline from mid-2026 to the sitting in 2027
• How to build the four foundational skills your child needs
• Why typing matters, and what to aim for when there is no official minimum
• How Year 5 NAPLAN results can guide, and mislead, your preparation strategy
• A selective test practice progression from diagnostic to full simulation
• Practical selective test tips for keeping preparation inside a normal week

Why does starting selective test preparation in Year 5 matter?

Starting in Year 5 matters because it separates skill building from test technique, and lets each have its own months. Compressed preparation forces a child to learn question formats, build underlying reasoning and manage a deadline at the same time, and the reasoning is the part that loses.

The case against last-minute preparation

The placement test is not a knowledge exam that rewards memorisation. It assesses reasoning ability, reading comprehension, analytical thinking, and written communication. A child who has only had a term to prepare often learns to recognise familiar question types without building the reasoning needed for an unfamiliar one, and unfamiliar questions are exactly what the test is designed to present.

The advantages of a Year 5 start

Gradual skill development. Mathematical reasoning and analytical writing improve incrementally. Starting early lets your child build them layer by layer, with each new idea resting on the one before.

Reduced pressure. With twelve months rather than three, preparation sits inside a normal routine instead of taking the household over. That tends to produce better retention and a calmer child on the day.

Time to find and fix gaps. An early diagnostic shows where the weaknesses actually are. With a year in hand, a child who struggles with reading inference can spend months on inference specifically, through targeted reading and structured practice, rather than a fortnight.

Confidence through familiarity. By test day a well-prepared child has worked through hundreds of varied selective test questions across all four components. That familiarity is the realistic goal of consistent selective test practice, and it is what steadies a child in an unfamiliar exam room.

What does the 2027 selective test involve?

The NSW Selective High School Placement Test is a computer-based test in four equally weighted components, totalling 155 minutes of testing plus scheduled breaks. It is administered by the NSW Department of Education, and children sit it on computers the department provides. The department's official practice materials are published with Cambridge University Press & Assessment copyright. Full structure and administration detail is published on the NSW Department of Education's placement test page.

The four test components

Reading (45 minutes, 25%) — 17 questions drawn from three multi-part reading passages, giving 38 answers in total. The passages span genres and difficulty, testing comprehension, inference, vocabulary in context, and the ability to analyse an author's purpose. Children who read widely and talk about what they read have a clear advantage here.

Mathematical Reasoning (40 minutes, 25%) — 35 multiple-choice questions that go beyond standard school mathematics into logical reasoning, problem-solving and pattern recognition applied to unfamiliar scenarios. Calculators are not permitted in this or any other section, so mental arithmetic and estimation carry real weight.

Thinking Skills (40 minutes, 25%) — 40 questions in 40 minutes, testing general critical thinking and problem-solving. The department states that no previous knowledge is required and describes a range of question types without naming them, so treat any list of subtypes, including ours, as a teaching structure rather than published exam structure.

Writing (30 minutes, 25%) — one open response, typed, in 30 minutes. It must address the topic given or it is marked lower, and two different examiners mark each response. Because it is typed, keyboard fluency affects how much of a child's thinking reaches the page.

For a component-by-component breakdown, see our complete guide to NSW selective school test components, and the NSW selective test format guide for how the sections fit together on the day.

What should a month-by-month preparation plan look like?

A workable plan runs in four phases across twelve months: foundation building, targeted skill development, consolidation, then simulation. The timeline below assumes your child is in Year 5 during 2026 and sits the test in Term 2 of Year 6 in 2027.

Key milestones to track

By the end of Phase 1 your child should have a clear diagnostic profile. By the end of Phase 2 you should see measurable movement in their weakest area. Phase 3 is where stamina and speed come together, and Phase 4 is about polish and confidence.

The common mistake is spending too long in Phase 1 and rushing Phase 4. Aim to enter 2027 with foundation skills settled, so the final months can be spent on practice, simulation and refinement. Our NSW selective test preparation strategies go deeper on what each phase looks like week to week.

If the first diagnostic comes back weaker than you expected, resist the urge to compress the plan by adding hours. The more useful response is to narrow it: pick the single component with the widest gap, give it the majority of the weekly time for a term, and leave the other three ticking over with short maintenance sessions. A child who moves one weak component up over a term gains more marks than one who spreads the same hours evenly across four. Re-diagnose at the end of that term before deciding where the next block of time goes, and expect the priority to change at least once across the twelve months.

How do you build the four foundational skills?

The four skills that carry the test are reading comprehension, mathematical reasoning, writing fluency, and typing. Each needs its own deliberate approach, and none of them improves much from doing test papers alone.

Reading comprehension

Reading is built by reading widely, deeply and critically, not by working through comprehension worksheets. Encourage fiction, non-fiction, news articles, opinion pieces, science writing and historical accounts. The test draws passages from a range of sources, and a child who has met different writing styles handles an unfamiliar one better under time pressure.

Practical strategies:

• Set a daily reading target of 20–30 minutes of self-selected reading
• Discuss what your child reads, asking about the author's purpose, main arguments, and what is implied rather than stated
• Keep a vocabulary journal for new words met during reading
• Practise comprehension questions that require inference rather than recall

Mathematical reasoning

This section tests logical thinking applied to mathematical contexts rather than calculation speed. Your child needs solid number sense, comfort with fractions, decimals and percentages, and a systematic way into multi-step problems.

Practical strategies:

• Focus on understanding concepts rather than memorising procedures
• Practise mental arithmetic daily, since no calculator is allowed in any section
• Work through problems that need several steps and a chosen strategy
• Ask your child to explain their reasoning aloud, which is where misconceptions surface

Writing fluency

With 30 minutes for the writing task, efficiency decides how much of the thinking gets written down. Your child needs to plan quickly, write coherently and review, all while typing.

Practical strategies:

• Practise one timed piece per week (25–30 minutes) on a computer
• Teach a simple planning frame: 3 minutes to plan, 22 to write, 5 to review
• Focus on paragraph structure, varied sentence openings and precise vocabulary
• Read high-quality writing together to build an ear for effective expression

Typing

Typing is the skill families most often underestimate, because it is invisible until the clock is running. A child typing at 15 WPM produces roughly half the text of a child at 30 WPM with the same thinking time. Our phase targets below are Braintree coaching targets, not departmental requirements.

How can NAPLAN Year 5 results gauge readiness?

Year 5 NAPLAN results are a useful starting point and a poor predictor, and it is worth holding both ideas at once. NAPLAN assesses Reading, Writing, Conventions of Language, and Numeracy for children in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9, mostly through online adaptive tests, and reports each result against four proficiency levels: Exceeding, Strong, Developing, and Needs additional support, as published on ACARA's NAP results and reports page.

Important caveats

NAPLAN and the placement test are fundamentally different assessments. NAPLAN is a broad curriculum-based assessment; the placement test is built to differentiate among high-achieving children. A child at Exceeding in NAPLAN may still find the placement test hard, because it deliberately pushes past standard curriculum expectations.

NAPLAN also has no Thinking Skills analogue. There is no school-based equivalent either, which means dedicated work on critical thinking and problem-solving is needed regardless of what NAPLAN says.

Use NAPLAN to decide where to start, not whether to start. It can point to the first thing to work on; it should not be the sole basis for deciding whether your child is "ready" to pursue a selective placement.

How should practice tests progress from diagnostic to full simulation?

Practice tests work in three stages: an untimed diagnostic to find the gaps, targeted practice to close them, then full simulations to build stamina and timing. Running full papers from the start inverts that order and mostly teaches a child that the test is hard.

Getting the most from practice tests

The review after a practice test is worth more than the test itself. Have your child sort every error into one of four categories:

• Careless errors — understood the concept but slipped (fix with checking habits)
• Knowledge gaps — did not know the concept or skill (fix with targeted teaching)
• Strategy errors — knew the concept but chose the wrong approach (fix with worked examples and discussion)
• Time pressure errors — would have been correct with more time (fix with speed-building work)

This analysis points preparation at the highest-impact area. A child making mostly careless errors needs very different support from one with genuine knowledge gaps.

Explore our selective test practice papers for test-aligned materials, work through a sample reasoning paper for question-type exposure, or start with a free mock test as the initial diagnostic.

How much preparation is too much alongside school?

Preparation is too much when it starts costing sleep, school engagement or the things your child does for enjoyment. Our academic panel's recommended cap for Year 5 and Year 6 is five to six hours a week including any class time, and the Australian Government's national 24-hour movement guidelines recommend 9 to 11 hours of sleep a night for children aged 5 to 13. Schedule study around that sleep range, never over it.

Practical scheduling guidelines

During Year 5: most families sit near the lower end of the cap, with roughly 30 to 45 minutes on most school days plus one longer weekend session, alongside regular homework. Weight it towards foundations, reading, mathematical reasoning and typing, rather than test papers.

During Year 6, before the test: the mix shifts towards full practice tests on weekends, and total time drifts towards the upper end of the cap. It should not go past it. A tired, anxious child does not test well, and the last fortnight should be lighter, not heavier.

Protecting wellbeing

Watch for the signals that preparation has tipped over: reluctance to start, rising anxiety, slipping school performance, or dropping activities they used to enjoy. Any of those is a reason to step back and rebuild the schedule with more room in it.

Leveraging school learning

Much of Year 5 and Year 6 classwork supports this preparation directly. School literacy and numeracy programmes build the same foundations the test draws on, so look for overlap rather than treating them as competing demands. A persuasive-writing assignment doubles as writing practice; a fractions unit reinforces mathematical reasoning. Supplement school learning with test-specific strategy instead of replacing it.

For the wider planning picture, see our selective school preparation guide and our article on selective school success strategies.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Year 5 too early to start preparing for the selective test?

No. Year 5 is a sensible time to begin structured preparation, about twelve months before the sitting. Starting then lets reading comprehension, mathematical reasoning, thinking skills and typing develop gradually, and it leaves time to address a weakness methodically rather than in the last term. What Year 5 should not include is a diet of full-length timed papers, which teaches stamina before it teaches skill.

How many hours a week should a Year 5 child spend on selective preparation?

Braintree Coaching Australia's academic panel recommends a maximum of five to six hours a week for Year 5 and Year 6 children, counting any class time, not a target to reach. Most families land near the lower end during Year 5 with short weekday sessions and one longer weekend block. Cut the hours if sleep, mood or family time suffers.

Does my child need a tutor, or can we prepare at home?

Both work. Home preparation suits families who can hold a routine and source quality materials with worked solutions. Coaching adds structured test strategy, realistic timed conditions and an outside read on progress. Many families combine the two: a structured course for the four components, independent reading and typing practice at home. Neither route removes the need for consistency across the year.

What if my child's NAPLAN results are not in the Exceeding band?

A Strong result still indicates a workable foundation. NAPLAN is reported against four proficiency levels, Exceeding, Strong, Developing and Needs additional support, and it measures curriculum achievement rather than the reasoning the placement test targets. A Developing result means more foundational work before timed practice, not exclusion. Twelve months of focused work closes real gaps.

How important is the writing component compared with the other sections?

Every component carries 25 per cent, so writing counts exactly as much as reading, mathematical reasoning or thinking skills. It is the one many families under-prepare, because it needs typing fluency on top of writing skill and it runs for only 30 minutes. Two examiners mark each response, and it must address the topic given or it scores lower.

When will the 2027 selective test be held, and are the dates published?

NSW DoE names each cycle by its entry year. The 2027-entry test has already been sat, on 1 and 2 May 2026, with outcomes released on 19 August 2026. A child in Year 5 during 2026 sits in 2027 for Year 7 entry in 2028, and as at August 2026 the department has not published the application, sitting or outcomes dates for that cycle.

Can my child apply to more than one selective school?

Yes. Applicants list up to three selective or partially selective school preferences in order. NSW DoE currently lists 17 fully selective high schools, 27 partially selective high schools and 4 agricultural selective high schools. Entry is decided by the placement test rather than by catchment or interview, and a child receives an offer from only one school, the highest preference where performance and capacity allow.

What selective test practice papers should we use?

Use papers that match the current computer-based structure: Reading with 17 questions in 45 minutes, Mathematical Reasoning with 35 questions in 40 minutes, Thinking Skills with 40 questions in 40 minutes, and one 30-minute typed writing task. Start with the department's own online practice tests, which simulate the software, and note that its downloadable PDF samples are older paper versions.

How does the year 6 selective test differ from school exams?

It is a placement test built to separate high-achieving children, not a curriculum test of what a class has covered. Thinking Skills has no school equivalent, Mathematical Reasoning runs past standard Year 6 content, and the writing task is typed under a strict 30-minute limit. That gap is why specific preparation sits alongside school work rather than replacing it.

Other state selective pathways

• Victoria SEHS preparation hub — Victorian selective entry for Melbourne High, Mac.Robertson, Nossal and Suzanne Cory

Last updated: 24 August 2026