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The Opportunity Class test, also known as the OC test, is an exam taken by Year 4 students for a place in academically selective Year 5 Opportunity Classes located in 77 primary schools across NSW.
Getting a placement in an Opportunity Class can be an important experience for academically gifted students and offers a step-up in preparation for the later Selective School Placement test.
In this article:
The Opportunity Class is a 2-year program developed by the NSW government to cater for academically gifted Year 5 and Year 6 students with high potential. The Opportunity Class placement program starts in Year 5 and ends in Year 6.
Students stay with the same group of students from Year 5 to 6 and are exposed to more academically advanced topics.
Although these classes are incredibly academically selective, it may be worthwhile investing the time and effort into OC test preparation. After all, being surrounded by other like-minded and academically gifted students can be an empowering experience for your child.
Not only will the classroom environment be different, but the teaching methods and educational materials used in Opportunity Classes are also specifically chosen to suit academically gifted students.
There are 77 primary schools that offer opportunity classes across NSW (see map below).
In 2023, there are 1840 places available in Year 5 opportunity classes in the 77 NSW primary schools.
Most schools offer 15 or 30 OC placements. Artarmon public school and Woollarah public school offered 60 OC placements for 2023 and Aurora college offered 100 virtual OC placements (remote and online).
The map below shows the primary schools with opportunity classes in Greater Sydney region.
See the full list of 77 NSW primary schools that offer opportunity classes.
All applicants must submit their application online by the closing date. You can apply for an Opportunity Class on the NSW Department of Education website by following their ‘Steps to apply’ section.
Remember, you can only choose up to two schools when applying, so make sure you consider the location and the number of places available in each school. Read our OC school overview article to find out how many places are available in each school.
Parents are advised to monitor the Department’s OC website regularly for updates throughout the application and placement process.
There are residency requirements for applicants:
Your child will be eligible to sit the OC test only when they are in Year 4 and there are no late entries to the class in Year 6 apart from students on the reserve list.
Key dates for 2024 Opportunity Class are listed below.
While the specific application date may vary from year to year. Applications normally open towards the end of the first school term. We recommend you regularly check the Opportunity Class application process page to make sure you don’t miss out.
To be considered, students must sit the OC Placement Test.
Students are ranked in order of academic merit based on their performance in the OC Placement Test. This rank will then be reviewed by the selection committee to make placement decisions.
The OC Placement Test is a paper-based exam for a place (out of 1840) in academically selective classes offered in one of 77 NSW public schools.
The test will begin at 9am sharp, so make sure you arrive at the test centre a little earlier. There’s nothing worse than rushing into the exam hall with seconds to spare.
The OC test is a 1 hour and 40 minute paper-based test that is completed in one day.
The OC test consists of three sections: (1) Reading test (25 questions in 30 min), (2) Mathematical Reasoning test (35 questions in 40 min), and (3) Thinking Skills test (30 questions in 30 min).
All three tests consist of only multiple choice questions and there is no writing section in the OC test.
The three OC test sections are:
| Test Section | Questions | Test Duration |
| Reading | 25 | 30 minutes |
| Mathematical Reasoning | 35 | 40 minutes |
| Thinking Skills | 30 | 30 minutes |
So, you’ve received your OC placement outcome on Friday 7 October this year, what does it all mean?
If your child has managed to receive an offer for Opportunity Class placement it’s time to respond to that offer. You must respond to the offer for placement before the specified due date. Otherwise, your child may have been placed on the OC reserve list for their selected schools. If this is the case, it’s important to remember that this list remains active until at least the end of Term 1 of Year 6.
When an Opportunity Class student chooses not to accept their OC placement offer or moves away during Year 5 or Term 1 of Year 6, their spot goes to the next student on the reserve list for that school.
If your child was unsuccessful at attaining a place in an Opportunity Class, the next opportunity lies in the Selective School or Scholarship tests for entry in Year 7.
The OC test is sat by Year 4 students in July. To adequately prepare for the OC Test, students should start the process in Year 3. This will give Year 3 students approximately 12 – 18 months of preparation time.
Step 1: Understand what the structure, format and content of the OC test. The tests require students to solve one question per minute!
Step 2: Build strong foundations in English and Maths. The Reading test and Mathematical Reasoning test require students to apply their fundamental skills to solve questions efficiently.
Step 3: Allocate enough time to learn the theory and techniques for each module. We recommend that you learn these modules over a period of 9 – 12 months.
Step 4: Master the techniques to solve 48 question types efficiently. Do not rote-learn the questions. There are many different questions types. If you were to introduce 8 different variations for each question type, there are at least 384 different questions!
Step 4: Take mock exams under-timed conditions. All the information in the world won’t beat the most important aspect of any test preparation. Practice.
Take a look at the individual articles in this guide for more details on what to expect and how to prepare for each test section.
The OC test for 2024 entry is on 27 July 2023.
No. There are three sections in the OC test consisting of Reading, Mathematical Reasoning, and Thinking Skills.
The test is 1 hour and 40 minutes long. It consist of three test sections
There are 90 questions in total.
Students are ranked in order of academic merit based on their performance in the placement test.
Enrol into the Matrix OC Preparation Course and develop your child’s critical thinking ability. The structured course teaches all essential techniques and comprehensive coverage of all question types for the OC test.
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