Opportunity Class Placement FAQ
Everything you need to know
Apr 29 2026
Confused about the Opportunity Class (OC) placement process?
Many parents find the application rules and procedures quite complex. To help you navigate this journey with confidence, I’ve summarized the official answers provided by the NSW Department of Education to the most frequently asked questions. This guide will provide you with the clarity you need to support your child’s OC journey.
| Q1. Anyone got a trial SMS message from the government? I got an email about the trial message last Friday, but still haven’t received it. |
| A. Please do not be concerned if you didn’t receive the trial SMS message. The testing was completed with a random number of parents. Should we need to contact you during the placement tests we will send SMS texts to the mobile number listed under Parent/Carer 1 in your application. |
| Q2. Struggling to help teach my daughter how to highlight online during the reading test or mark questions to come back to later to recheck? |
| A. The best way to help your daughter prepare is using the department’s free student resource hub – https://edu.nsw.link/OChub. There’s information too on ‘How to navigate the test’ in the instructions section for each of the practice tests – edu.nsw.link/OC-practise, and your daughter can click the ‘Flag’ button and check on her progress on each page of the online tests. She will also have working out paper to help with answering questions. We hope this information helps and please note that students aren’t able to highlight text in the computer-based tests. |
| Q3. Hi, could you please advise what transition opportunities are provided for students accepted into OC, such as orientation programs, open days, or meet-and-greet activities, to help them adjust smoothly when moving from their current school and friendship groups? |
| A. We know students and parents may feel uncertain about changing primary schools. To support this transition, OC schools run orientation programs or open days, which often include students on reserve lists. These activities give students a chance to meet teachers, check out the new school, and start making new friends. Every OC school runs these programs a little differently, and this support is all part of the department’s guidance on moving between schools. Our OC schools also know that students may be worried about making new friends. From the first day of school, OC teachers plan activities to help students bond. Students often tell us how surprised they were that they made new like-minded friends so quickly and easily. Hopefully this information will help you and your child feel more reassured as you prepare for this possible change. |
| Q4. Hi everyone, can I please have some ideas about the OC test? |
| A. The student resource hub (https://edu.nsw.link/OChub) is a great place to go to find out information about the Opportunity Class placement test and you can also help your child to prepare by asking them to complete the online practice tests (edu.nsw.link/OC-practise). |
| Q5. Hi, last year’s OC testing process in Sydney felt quite chaotic for many families. Could you please advise whether any measures or improvements have been put in place to ensure a more organised process this year? |
| A. We understand your concern. And yes, there are many new changes to the testing process this year to help ensure a good experience for both students and parents and carers. This year, most students will sit the test in a local high school close to their primary school. So there will be many more test locations with smaller numbers of students. School staff will also be at test centres to help guide parents and students at drop off and pick-up times. |
| Q6. Hi, with the test running over two days, how can we ensure that students taking the test on the second day do not gain an advantage if questions from the first day get leaked? It’s probably too late to ask since we’re almost there, but it just crossed my mind. |
| A. There are different versions of the computer-based test so that it can be run on different days. There are steps in place to make sure no one has an advantage based on which day they sit the test, and results from the different versions can be fairly compared. Our test page is a has more information about the tests – edu.nsw.link/se-test. |
| Q7. We have already arranged an overseas trip scheduled for May 9. Could you please advise how we should proceed if my son is scheduled for the OC exam on that date, as we are hoping he may be able to sit it on May 8 instead? |
| A. If you haven’t already, please submit this enquiry through your application dashboard, and a member of our team will contact you. |
| Q8. Hi, I have a question about the scoring process for the OC test. Is there any additional component, such as a school assessment score, that gets added to the test score when calculating the final total? |
| A. Placement is based on performance in the placement test only. Students must sit a placement test to be considered. Visit our website for more information on the placement test – edu.nsw.link/se-test. |
| Q9. Hi, can you please also confirm that a student’s attendance at school does not affect the placement offer? I saw this on the department’s website and it is a bit concerning. For example, after the OC test we are planning to go overseas and our child might have 8 days of unjustified absence from school. Would this matter for the placement? Also, can you explain how much is “too many” as mentioned here? |
| A. The best way to help your child get ready for the test is by making sure they attend school regularly. If a student misses a lot of days without a good reason, we do let the selection committee know. The committee may not place students who do not have good attendance. The department recommends that you don’t take your child out of school during term time. |
| Q10. I wonder if the Department of Education has a curriculum, knowledge framework, or key points that summarise the knowledge expected for Year 4/6 students entering an OC/selective test in NSW. It would be helpful to have a systematic overview of the expected knowledge. |
| A. The test will not require your child to know any new or special knowledge. Our tests are carefully panelled with department curriculum experts to ensure that there is no knowledge beyond Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4) required to be successful in the OC placement test or Stage 3 (Years 5 and 6) for the selective high school placement test. You can experience practice tests online and find further information relating to selective education on our website: Selective high schools and opportunity classes – information for students |
| Q11. Hi, I am new to the OC application process, so do I have to submit an application for each school? So, four applications if I want to apply to four schools? I found that Ryde Primary OC mentions submitting a separate application form for each school. |
| A. You will only need to make one application. Within the application, there is a section where you can select your school choices. For Opportunity Class, this is limited to four school selections. Each student should only have one application. |
| Q12. I have a question regarding the reading OC test. There are 14 main questions but 33 smaller questions in total. Does each question carry the same weight in scaling? For example, is one vocabulary gap-filled cloze question weighted the same as each poem question, or not? |
| A. Each response is worth one mark. Some questions require multiple responses. |
For more detailed information about the Selective High School Placement Test,
Please visit the official NSW Department of Education page.
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