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NSW OC · Selective · Timeline & caps

NSW OC & Selective timeline and place caps for 2027–28

A government-adjacent reference for NSW Opportunity Class and Selective High School placement — verified 2027-entry dates and place caps, explicit unconfirmed 2028-entry windows as of 14 July 2026, and early-prep milestones for the next sitting year.

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Quick Answer

For Year 5 OC and Year 7 Selective entry in 2027, the NSW Department of Education published applications open 6 November 2025 and close 20 February 2026; Selective tests sat 1–2 May 2026 and OC tests 8–9 May 2026 (one day each), with make-up tests on 22 May 2026. Across NSW there are 1,840 Year 5 OC places and 4,338 Year 7 selective places. Official 2028-entry sitting dates were not yet published as of 14 July 2026 — treat expected early-May 2027 sittings as unconfirmed until the Department updates key dates.

  • OC Year 5 places1,840 (2027 listing)
  • Selective Year 7 places4,338 (DoE listing)
  • 2027-entry Selective test1–2 May 2026
  • 2028-entry sittingsUnconfirmed (as of 14 Jul 2026)

NSW Opportunity Class (OC) and Selective High School placement share one Department portal, overlapping application months, and May computer-based tests — but different year levels, place caps, and outcome months. This page is a 2027–28 factual reference: verified 2027-entry dates and published place caps from NSW Department of Education pages, plus explicit unconfirmed 2028-entry windows as of 14 July 2026 so parents and answer engines stop citing a generic about page for calendar questions. For the step-by-step 2026 application walkthrough — documents, portal steps, and test-day logistics — see NSW OC Test 2026 Dates & Application Guide for Parents instead.

Cycle canon: NSW labels cycles by entry year. The current prep focus for the next sitting is 2028 entry (test expected in 2027). Confirmed dates below for 2027 entry are the completed/closing application cycle (tests sat May 2026) — labelled as such, never as “the cycle to prepare for now”.

Caps at a glance (published for 2027 listing)

Pathway Entry year on DoE listing Places / capacity School network (DoE wording) Preference limit
Opportunity Class (Year 5) 2027 1,840 Year 5 places 89 opportunity classes; 57 metro + 31 rural/regional schools (plus Aurora hosts) Up to 4 school choices
Aurora College (OC stream) Year 5 100 places (50 boys / 50 girls) ~600 authorised rural/remote host primary schools Included in OC application choices
Selective High School (Year 7) Year 7 entry 4,338 places 17 fully selective; 27 partially selective; 4 agricultural; Aurora College See choosing-schools guidance each cycle
Aurora College (Selective stream) Year 7 100 places (50 boys / 50 girls) ~180–185 host high schools (rural/remote) Aurora host enrolment required

Sources: Opportunity classes; Selective high schools. Gender-balanced place allocation for co-educational selective intakes and OC intakes from 2027 is published on those pages — re-check per school before you finalise preferences.

Dated timeline — verified 2027 entry + unconfirmed 2028 windows

Rows marked Confirmed are published by the NSW Department of Education on its placement-test and application-process pages, or in the Selective placement timeline PDF. Rows marked Unconfirmed follow the Department's recurring pattern but have not been published for 2028 entry — treat them as planning guides only, and check the official page before booking travel or leave.

Milestone (ISO / year) Pathway Activity Status (as of 14 Jul 2026)
2025-11-06 OC + Selective (2027 entry) Applications open Confirmed — Selective timeline PDF / DoE news
2026-02-20 OC + Selective (2027 entry) Applications close (no late applications) Confirmed — Selective timeline PDF / DoE news
2026-05-01 / 2026-05-02 Selective (2027 Year 7 entry) Placement Test (one day per student) Confirmed — placement-test page
2026-05-08 / 2026-05-09 OC (2027 Year 5 entry) Placement Test (one day per student) Confirmed — placement-test page
2026-05-22 OC + Selective Make-up Placement Test Confirmed — placement-test page
2026-06-05 OC + Selective Last day to change school choices Confirmed — application-process key dates
2026-08-19 Selective Placement outcomes expected Confirmed (expected) — application-process key dates
2026-09-09 OC Placement outcomes expected Confirmed (expected) — application-process key dates
2026-11 (expected window) OC + Selective (2028 entry) Applications usually open early November Unconfirmed — not yet on 2028 key-dates table; as of 14 Jul 2026
2027-02 (expected window) OC + Selective (2028 entry) Applications usually close in February Unconfirmed — as of 14 Jul 2026
2027-05 (expected window) OC + Selective (2028 entry) Placement tests (early May pattern) Unconfirmed — as of 14 Jul 2026; no Event emitted

Placement stages on the application process page describe the recurring pattern: apply November–February, test early May, Selective outcomes in August, OC outcomes in September. That pattern informs the unconfirmed 2028 rows but is not a published 2028 calendar.

From 2026, both placement tests are held only in NSW; interstate and overseas applicants must travel to a NSW centre (placement test).

2028 early-prep milestones (before dates unlock)

Use these as planning checkpoints while 2028-entry dates remain unpublished. They are prep milestones, not Department sitting dates.

  1. 2026-Q3 — Name the pathway. Confirm whether the child is aiming at Year 5 OC (sit in Year 4), Year 7 Selective (sit in Year 6), or both in successive years — OC placement does not grant automatic Selective entry.
  2. 2026-Q4 — Watch the portal. Re-check application process and shsoc.education.nsw.gov.au when the 2028 tab appears; do not lock travel on third-party calendars.
  3. Before applications open — Draft preferences against caps. Shortlist schools using the published Year 5 OC place list and Year 7 selective place list (1,840 / 4,338 statewide) and travel reality for NSW-only test centres.
  4. Application window (expected late 2026 – early 2027) — Submit once, update later. The Department allows post-submit updates and a last school-choice change date after the sitting; late applications are not accepted once the cycle closes.
  5. Term 1–2, 2027 — Format stamina. Practice on-screen Reading, Mathematical Reasoning and Thinking Skills (OC three papers; Selective adds Writing) against the Department practice-test timings — not a generic “selective” mixed mock alone.
  6. After outcomes — Reserve-list logistics. Use official outcome dashboards; historical band timing notes live on NSW Selective reserve-band timing 2024–2025 and are not forecasts.

Preparation hubs: Opportunity Class preparation and Selective school preparation. Format detail: OC test FAQ and NSW Selective test format guide. Computer-based Thinking Skills structure for 2027–28 sits on Selective Thinking Skills new format guide.

Deadlines parents miss

The application and test dates get the attention, but three later deadlines decide whether a problem on test day can be fixed. All three are published by the Department for the 2027-entry cycle.

  • Test admission tickets are issued around two weeks before the test (April 2026 for the 2027 cycle). The ticket carries the allocated test centre — check it as soon as it arrives, because centres are assigned by primary school location and may not be the closest school to home.
  • Illness and misadventure requests close 8 May 2026 for Selective and 15 May 2026 for Opportunity Class. If your child is unwell on the day, the make-up test on 22 May 2026 is the remedy, but only if the request is lodged inside that window.
  • Appeals close 26 August 2026, 11:59pm for Selective and 16 September 2026, 11:59pm for Opportunity Class — roughly a week after each outcome is released. That is a short window to decide, so read the appeal grounds on the Department's site before outcomes day, not after.

Late applications are not accepted once the cycle closes, and the Department notes that published dates are subject to change. Confirm each one on the application process page for your child's intake year.

What this page does not tell you

  • There are no published school-by-school cut-off scores. The Department ranks applicants statewide and fills places from that ranking, so a fixed "score to beat" for a named school is not something it publishes. Any figure you see quoted as a cut-off is an estimate from a third party, not an official target.
  • Place numbers can change between intake years. The 1,840 Opportunity Class and 4,338 Year 7 selective places above are the currently listed figures. Check the Department's place tables for the intake year that applies to your child.
  • Dates for 2028 entry do not exist yet. As of 20 July 2026 the Department has published nothing for that cycle. The expected windows above come from the recurring pattern, not from an announcement.

Related reading

At a glance

Key facts.

OC capacity (Year 5)
1,840 places · 89 opportunity classes · 100 Aurora College places
Selective capacity (Year 7)
4,338 places (incl. Aurora College stream places in the list)
2027-entry applications
Opened 6 Nov 2025 · closed 20 Feb 2026
2027-entry Selective outcomes
Expected 19 August 2026
Confirm always
education.nsw.gov.au selective / OC key dates
Primary sources

Data sources and references.

FAQ

Common questions, plainly answered.

5 questions Australian parents ask most often about this topic.

Not as of 14 July 2026. The NSW Department of Education key-dates tables on the placement-test and application-process pages list confirmed activities for Year 5 OC and Year 7 Selective entry in 2027. For 2028 entry, treat expected November–February applications and an early-May 2027 sitting as unconfirmed until the Department publishes the next cycle — do not rely on coaching calendars.

The Opportunity Classes page states there are 1,840 places available in Year 5 opportunity classes across NSW for the 2027 listing, across 89 opportunity classes, plus 100 Aurora College Year 5 places (50 boys and 50 girls) for rural and remote students via authorised host schools.

The Selective high schools page states there are 4,338 places available in selective high schools across NSW for entry to Year 7. That page also lists 17 fully selective high schools, 27 partially selective high schools for Year 7 entry, 4 fully selective agricultural high schools, and Aurora College’s online selective stream (100 Year 7 places).

On the Department placement-test page: Selective High School Placement Test Friday 1 – Saturday 2 May 2026 (one day per student); Opportunity Class Placement Test Friday 8 – Saturday 9 May 2026 (one day per student); make-up tests for both pathways Friday 22 May 2026. Applications for that cycle opened 6 November 2025 and closed 20 February 2026 (Selective timeline PDF / Department news).

No. From 2026 the Selective High School Placement Test and the Opportunity Class Placement Test are held only in NSW, so interstate and overseas applicants must travel to a NSW test centre. Students are allocated to a centre based on their primary school location, and each student sits on one day only — the two-day window is scheduling, not two sittings.
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