Opportunity classes are located in selected NSW government primary schools, and focus on the education of students with high academic ability.\u00a0 The rationale behind these classes is that academically gifted students often learn better in a cohort of students of similar ability, and often have different learning styles which cannot always be accommodated in the mainstream classroom.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In NSW, there are 76 primary schools which have dedicated OC classes.\u00a0 Although many of these are located in Sydney, there are OC classes in some schools in major regional centres, and the online Aurora College caters for high ability primary students from remote areas.\u00a0 Aurora College students are hosted by another primary school in their local area.\u00a0\u00a0 In 2022, there will be 1830 places available in Year 5 opportunity classes.<\/strong>\u00a0 It should be noted that students in OC classes are not guaranteed places in selective high schools.\u00a0 They still have to complete the selective high school application and testing process.\u00a0 However, they are more likely to be admitted to selective high schools because of their high academic ability.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Students generally attend their local primary school for kindergarten until year 4, before transferring to a different primary school for years 5 and 6.\u00a0 OC class admission is administered by the NSW Department of Education\u2019s High Performing Students Team and is made on the basis of a school assessment and the completion of the Opportunity Class placement test.\u00a0 The school assessment is made on the basis of the student\u2019s performance relative to other candidates from the same school in English and Mathematics.\u00a0 If it is not possible to provide a school assessment, the student will be considered on the basis of the test score alone.\u00a0 Students sit the placement test early during their time in year 4.\u00a0 Parents make an online application for admission, in which they list two schools at which they would like their child to be placed.\u00a0 It is important to list these preferences in order of preference as if your child is made an offer for admission to the first selected school, there will be no offers made for the second selected school.\u00a0 There is no application fee, and the online form is generally made available in April and closes in early May each year. \u00a0Details of the application process are available on the NSW Education website: https:\/\/education.nsw.gov.au\/public-schools\/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes\/year-5\/application-process<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0The Opportunity Class tests are held in July, and parents are notified of the outcome of their child\u2019s placement in early October.\u00a0\u00a0 At this point, the child may be offered a place at one of his or her school choices, placed on a reserve list for one or both choices, or be unsuccessful for one or both choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The opportunity class test is held in a designated test centre on a specified date each year. Students will be allocated to test centres on the basis of their area of residence. Students will receive a letter giving them \u2018Authority to sit the Opportunity Class Placement Test\u2019 in early July and must take this with them to the allocated test centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The format of the Opportunity Class Placement Test was changed in 2021 in response to the report from the 2018 Review of Selective Education Access. It will continue to be paper-based and tests students on their reading, mathematical reasoning and thinking skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The test has three sections, including 25 multiple choice questions on reading, 35 multiple choice questions on mathematical reasoning and 30 multiple choice questions on thinking skills.\u00a0 All tests are marked by the computer.\u00a0 Students are given 30 minutes for the reading test, 40 minutes for the mathematical reasoning test and 30 minutes for the thinking skills test.\u00a0 The texts chosen for the reading test cover a range of different genres, including non-fiction, fiction, poetry, magazine articles and reports.\u00a0 The mathematical reasoning test aims to test the student\u2019s ability to apply their mathematical knowledge to problems drawn from the full range of the primary school curriculum.\u00a0 Calculators are not permitted in this test.\u00a0<\/strong> The thinking skills test covers a wide range of critical thinking and reasoning skills. It is not based on any curriculum area, and contains a wide range of different types of questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sitting a test in a formal exam centre can be a daunting task for a primary school student.\u00a0 In order to make your child more comfortable with this process, it is vital that they become familiar with the format of the test, the types of questions that they are likely to be asked, and the way the answer sheet needs to be filled out.\u00a0\u00a0 It is also a good idea for them to gain practice in reading and interpreting questions, and in isolating the important information and using it to draw the required conclusions.\u00a0 In order to achieve these goals, it is important for your child to practice as many sample or online OC practice tests<\/a> as possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The NSW department of Education provides some sample tests on its website: https:\/\/education.nsw.gov.au\/public-schools\/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes\/year-5\/the-test<\/a>.\u00a0 While these are a good first step in helping your child to understand the format of the test, the types of questions they may be asked and will help to familiarise them with the answer sheet, it is important to find other examples of similar tests.\u00a0 Unfortunately, in 2021, many of the published books and websites pertaining to the OC class placement test provided sample tests in the old format.\u00a0 While these continue to provide a useful source of practice questions, many of the questions are irrelevant and are in a different style from those on the sample tests provided by the NSW Department of Education.\u00a0 SubjectCoach currently has a range of practice OC placement tests in development that follow the new OC test format<\/a>.\u00a0 These will form a very useful source of practice tests for your child.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, these tests require prolonged concentration from your child. In order to give them the best possible chance of performing to the best of their ability, it is important to make sure that your child is well rested and well nourished on the morning of the tests. You should send water, nutritious snacks and lunch with them on the testing day so that they have something nourishing to eat and drink during their breaks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At present, NSW is the only state that offers full-time opportunity classes for academically gifted primary students.\u00a0 However, the other states do provide opportunities for these high potential students in a different format.\u00a0 Details about many of these programmes are available on the Aussie Educator website: http:\/\/www.aussieeducator.org.au\/education\/gifted.html<\/a>.\u00a0 These opportunities include early school admission programmes, enrichment activities, online learning opportunities and\u00a0 specialised courses and programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Opportunity Class in NSW Opportunity classes are located in selected NSW government primary schools, and focus on the education of students with high academic ability.\u00a0 The rationale behind these classes is that academically gifted students often learn better in a cohort of students of similar ability, and often have different learning styles which cannot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.subjectcoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.subjectcoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.subjectcoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.subjectcoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.subjectcoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.subjectcoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":429,"href":"https:\/\/www.subjectcoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425\/revisions\/429"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.subjectcoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.subjectcoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.subjectcoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.subjectcoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Opportunity Class Test<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Preparing for the OC Class Placement Test<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Opportunities in Other States<\/h2>\n\n\n\n