The NSW Department of Education says coaching for the OC test is not necessary, and that there is no credible research showing coaching helps a child gain a place. That is the right place to start, because it takes the pressure off.

What does help is narrower and cheaper: your child knowing what the three papers look like, having used the free official practice material — including the online practice test, on a computer — and doing a little practice often rather than a lot at the end.

This page is for families whose child is in Year 3 now and will sit the test in early May of Year 4. It works backwards from test day.

What your child will actually sit

Three papers, one after another, on a computer at a test centre — usually a local high school. Every question is multiple choice.

Paper	Questions	Time	Roughly per answer
Reading	14 (33 answers — three questions have several parts)	40 minutes	about 70 seconds
Mathematical Reasoning	35	40 minutes	about 70 seconds
Thinking Skills	30	30 minutes	60 seconds

Each paper counts for a third of the result. No calculators, no rulers. Your child gets paper for working out, but answers go into the computer.

The time per answer is the number worth sitting with. A minute is not long. A child who knows the material but has never worked at that pace can lose marks to the clock rather than to the questions.

Now to November: nothing intensive

There is no benefit in drilling a Year 3 child for a test seven months away. The things that help most at this stage are not test preparation at all:

Reading widely, including non-fiction and poetry, not just the books your child would pick. The Reading paper uses a range of text types.
Talking about arguments. When someone says something should happen, ask why, and what would change their mind. That is the habit the Thinking Skills paper tests.
Ordinary school maths, done well. The Mathematical Reasoning paper applies what children already know to unfamiliar problems. Secure basics matter more than advanced content.

November to February: apply

Applications open around November and close around February, and no late applications are accepted. Apply early in the window — see how to apply for the steps and the preference rule that catches families out.

This is also a sensible time to look at a handful of sample questions together, just so the format is not a surprise later.

February: one PDF practice test, as a diagnostic

The department’s free practice material comes in two forms, and they are not equal:

One online computer-based practice test, with Reading, Mathematical Reasoning and Thinking Skills sections. The department says it simulates the real test. It marks answers and lets your child review them.
Three PDF sample tests, with answers and explanations. The department says these come from the older paper-based test and do not reflect the current format.

So spend the PDFs early and keep the online test for last. See the official OC practice tests for what each contains.

Early in Term 1, have your child work through one PDF test. Not timed strictly, not as a performance — as a way to find out which paper is weakest. It is often Thinking Skills, because it is not taught at school and children meet it cold. See what the Thinking Skills paper asks.

February to April: short and regular

Fifteen to twenty minutes, a few times a week, beats a long session at the weekend. Focus on the weakest paper from the diagnostic, but touch all three. The other two PDF tests are useful here, a section at a time, for their explanations.

Practise some of this on a screen. Reading a long passage on a monitor and scrolling back to find a line is a skill in itself, and the PDFs will not teach it.

The most useful thing you can do in these sessions is talk through wrong answers — not just which option was right, but why the wrong one looked right. A child who can explain why they fell for an option has learnt something. A correct guess teaches nothing.

Speed comes last. Build accuracy first, then start watching the clock in April.

April: the online practice test, timed

Three to four weeks out, sit the online practice test under real conditions: on a computer, timed, one paper after another, the way the day will run. The whole real test is about an hour and fifty minutes of working time plus breaks, which is long for a nine- or ten-year-old.

It is the only official practice in the current format, so it is worth more used late than early. Use it to check pacing. If your child is running out of time on one paper, practise moving on from a hard question and coming back to it.

The final week

Stop adding new material. Sleep, ordinary routines, and a calm morning matter more than anything learnt in the last few days.

Get the logistics settled early. The department’s list for test day is short: two 2B pencils, an eraser, a sharpener, a printed copy of the test admission ticket, a clear water bottle, and school uniform. Check the address of the test centre, and how long it takes to get there on a weekday morning.

What not to do

Do not start timed papers in Year 3. Speed practice before the habits exist just teaches a child to guess faster.
Be wary of paying for “past papers”. The department’s practice material is free. Start there before buying anything.
Do not make it the most important thing in the house. An OC place is an offer you are free to decline, and missing out does not affect the Selective test in Year 6. See OC or Selective.

A realistic summary

When	What
Now – November	Read widely, talk about arguments, solid school maths
November – February	Apply early; look at a few sample questions
Early Term 1	One PDF practice test, as a diagnostic
February – April	15–20 minutes, a few times a week; weakest paper first
April	The online practice test, timed, on a computer
Final week	Rest, routine, logistics

A printable version of this kind of plan is on the study planner page. If you want short daily practice across all three papers in between the official tests, Cognora has an OC mode that adapts to your child’s level, and it is free to start.

Test structure and test-day requirements on this page were checked against NSW Department of Education published information on 24 September 2026. The department may change the test format — always confirm current details on education.nsw.gov.au before acting on them.

How to prepare for the OC test: a realistic plan working back from May