OC or Selective: which test should my child sit?
For most families this is not a choice. They are two different tests, sat two years apart, and a child who is eligible for one will usually be eligible for the other when they reach that year.
- Opportunity Class — sat in Year 4, for entry to an OC in Year 5 and 6.
- Selective High School — sat in Year 6, for entry to a selective high school for Years 7 to 12.
If your child is in Year 4, the question this year is OC. If they are in Year 6, it is Selective. You do not pick between them. You reach them in order.
The real question underneath is usually one of three, so this page answers those instead.
“My child missed out on OC. Is Selective still worth trying?”
Yes, and the OC outcome does not carry over.
They are separate applications with separate tests, two years apart. Selective placement is based on the Selective test your child sits in Year 6. Missing an OC place does not stop your child applying.
There is one thing an OC result genuinely tells you: how your child performs on this kind of test, against this kind of field, under time pressure. That is useful information. It is not a prediction.
“Is skipping OC a disadvantage for Selective later?”
No. An OC place is not a requirement for applying to Selective, and the Selective application does not depend on the OC test.
What an Opportunity Class does offer is two years in a class of similarly-placed children, which some children thrive in and others find harder than the class they left. That is a question about your particular child, not about their odds in Year 6.
“Should we apply for both?”
You cannot apply for both at once — they belong to different years. But there is a real decision when your child is in Year 4: whether to sit the OC test at all.
Reasons to sit it:
- Applying commits you to nothing: if a place comes, you can decline it.
- Your child learns what this style of test feels like, two years before the one that decides their high school.
Reasons to skip it:
- An OC place usually means changing schools in Year 5, then changing again in Year 7. For some children that is two disruptions too many.
- If your child would find the test itself distressing, and you would decline a place anyway, there is nothing to gain.
The common mistake is treating the OC test as a verdict that has to be won. It is one morning, and an offer you are free to refuse.
What the two tests actually ask
They test similar ground at different depths. Both are computer-based and both now sit in early May, one week apart.
| Opportunity Class | Selective High School | |
|---|---|---|
| Sat in | Year 4 | Year 6 |
| Entry to | Year 5 | Year 7 |
| Papers | Reading, Mathematical Reasoning, Thinking Skills | Reading, Mathematical Reasoning, Thinking Skills, Writing |
| School choices | 1 to 4 | 1 to 3 |
The significant difference is Writing, which the selective test includes and the OC test does not. It is the paper families most often leave until last, and the one that cannot be crammed in April.
Thinking Skills is the section most children have never seen before in either test. It is not on the school curriculum, so a child who is strong at school maths and reading can still meet it cold.
The honest summary
If your child is in Year 4 and would accept a place, apply. If they are in Year 6, apply. If they are in Year 5, your window is next year and this year is for reading widely and writing often.
And if you are reading this the week an OC result arrived and it was not the one you wanted, the useful fact is the one at the top of this page: it does not carry forward, and the next test is a genuinely fresh start.
Test structure and dates on this page were checked against NSW Department of Education published information on 11 September 2026. The department may change dates and processes — always confirm current details on education.nsw.gov.au before acting on them.