The NSW OC test, explained for parents

What an opportunity class is

Opportunity classes are full-time classes for high-potential and gifted students in Years 5 and 6, run in NSW public primary schools. There are 89 of them across the state, with about 1,840 Year 5 places, and Aurora College runs online classes for children in rural and remote areas.

It is a two-year program. Parents apply at the end of Year 3 or the start of Year 4, the child sits the test in Year 4, and the class starts in Year 5. There is no entry for Year 6 alone. Most children who take a place move schools, and you can apply to classes outside your local area.

What is on the test

Three papers, every question multiple choice, each paper worth a third:

• There is no writing paper. Writing is on the selective high school test, not the OC test.
• It is sat on the department's computers at a test centre, most of them public high schools — and from 2026, only in NSW.
• No calculator. Each child gets two A4 sheets for working out.

Mathematical reasoning and thinking skills both come to about a minute a question. Reading gives a little over a minute an answer, with the texts to read as well.

Key dates

The dates for Year 5 entry in 2028 — the test your child sits in Year 4, in 2027 — have not been announced yet. Going by past cycles, applications open in November of Year 3 and close in February of Year 4, the test is in May, and outcomes come out in September. Closing dates are strict: the department accepts no late applications.

The cycle that has just run, for Year 5 entry in 2027:

Dates can change. The department's key dates page is the one to trust.

How places are offered

• On performance in the test. There is no minimum score: the cut-off for a school depends on how many apply, how many places it has and how many offers are declined.
• Up to 20% of places at each school are held for children from low socio-educational advantage backgrounds, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children, children from rural and remote areas, and children with disability.
• Classes are balanced: where a school takes 15 Year 5 students, 7 places go to boys, 7 to girls and one on merit alone.
• Each school you list comes back as an offer, a reserve place, unsuccessful, or not applicable. A child is offered a place at one school only.
• A reserve list is a waiting list: places pass down it as offers are declined, as late as the end of Term 1 in Year 6. If you accept an offer while waiting on a school you ranked higher, the reserve decision date is when that choice falls due.
• Scores and ranks are not given to parents; the department sends a performance report instead.
• An appeal goes in within about five business days of outcomes, to a panel of two principals and a Director, Educational Leadership. Its decision is final.

Who can apply

Children at NSW public schools, non-government schools, in home study, or at interstate or overseas schools. The family must live in NSW by the start of the year of entry, and meet the enrolment conditions before any offer is made. The age range is on the department's opportunity classes page.

Does my child need coaching?

The department says not: coaching is not necessary, and it does not recommend or endorse it. It publishes free practice material instead —

• an online practice test in the real computer format, the best way to see the screen your child will sit at;
• three older PDF practice papers on its practice tests page, which it says no longer match the current format.

What does help, in our view, is the ground under the test — reading widely, quick and accurate number, careful thinking — and a child who has seen the question types before the day. How to prepare, year by year →