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Two separate NSW tests, two separate years. The Opportunity Class placement test is sat in Year 4, for entry into an opportunity class in Year 5. The selective high school placement test is sat in Year 6, for entry into Year 7. Both are run by the NSW Department of Education, and both are sat on a computer.
Last updated: 5 October 2026
Meritly has timed papers for the Reading, Thinking Skills and Mathematical Reasoning sections, at both levels. Each paper is built fresh, and it is marked the moment your child finishes, with a worked solution on every question.
Try each section free, no account needed.
More on each section: Reading · Mathematical Reasoning · Thinking Skills
The section most families have not seen before. It tests logic and inference rather than curriculum content: following a chain of reasoning, spotting the assumption a statement depends on, working out what must be true if a set of facts is true. Children rarely meet these questions in a classroom, which is why capable students can find the section jarring on the day.
Problem solving rather than computation. The content is school content — the difficulty is in seeing which piece of it applies.
Not one long passage with questions after it. The reading section is built from short task blocks: a cloze passage with words removed, sentences to slot back into a text, and a set of short texts to match against statements. Our papers use the same task blocks.
The selective test also includes a typed writing task. We don't offer it, for the same reason we don't offer NAPLAN Writing: it's marked by a human against a criteria rubric, and we won't pretend to do that automatically.
The OC test has three sections, all multiple choice, and no writing section. The NSW Department of Education publishes the current year's question counts, timings and dates — check them there before you plan anything around them.
Try each one first, then open the answer and worked solution under it.
OC Placement — Mathematical Reasoning
1. What fraction of the circle is shaded?
Correct answer: D
The circle is cut into 3 equal slices.
1 slice is shaded, so the fraction is 131 over 3.
131 over 3 of the circle is shaded.
OC Placement — Thinking Skills
2. The tins are stacked on the bench as shown. From straight in front, which of the patterns A to D is in view?
Correct answer: A
Seen from the front, a square fills wherever a tin stands at that height, whether it is at the back or the front.
A tin at the back hides behind one at the front and adds no new square.
Take the lower level first, then the upper one, and match what you get against the four patterns.
That pattern is the stack seen from the front.
Selective High School — Mathematical Reasoning
3. 343 over 4 of the 28 students in 5M play summer sport. How many students play summer sport?
Correct answer: A
Find one quarter first: 28 ÷ 4 = 7.
Three quarters is three of those: 7 × 3 = 21.
21 students play summer sport.
Practise free, no account needed. Every paper is marked the moment your child finishes, with a worked solution on every question.
Free practice draws from a limited set of questions, so some will repeat. Subscribers get the full question bank and fewer repeats.
Meritly is an independent Australian service and is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the organisations that write or run the tests we cover.