How to Help Your Child Prepare for the NSW Selective High School Test

Welcome back to Selective School Ready: A Parent's Guide. With the test now just over a week away, many families are in active preparation mode. The instinct to want to do more, cover more, and prepare more thoroughly is completely understandable when something feels important.

But one of the most useful things you can do for your child right now is to help them prepare smartly rather than exhaustively. Here is how.

Familiarity Beats Cramming

The Selective test does not reward rote learning. It rewards clear thinking, the ability to read carefully, and the capacity to work through unfamiliar problems methodically. None of those things are improved by last-minute content cramming.

What does help is being comfortable with the format, so that the test itself holds no surprises. Online practice tests gives your child the chance to work through practice questions across all four sections in a format that closely mirrors the actual test experience. The goal is not to memorise answers, but to build confidence and rhythm with the types of questions they will encounter.

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Key Strategies Worth Practising

Time Management

Each section has a firm time limit, and students often feel the pressure of the countdown timer. Help your child get comfortable with pacing. A rough guide is about one minute per question in the multiple-choice sections, though this will naturally vary.

The key message is to keep moving. A question that is taking too long is better flagged and returned to than laboured over at the expense of others.

The Flag and Move-On Approach

The test software includes a flag button that lets students mark questions and come back to them. Encourage your child to use this. Putting in a best guess, flagging the question, and moving on is a far better strategy than leaving blanks or losing time on a question they are stuck on. There is no penalty for a wrong answer.

Reading Questions Carefully

This sounds obvious, but it is one of the most commonly cited pieces of advice from students who have sat the test. Reading each question at least twice, identifying the key words, and working through the options methodically can make a significant difference, particularly in the Thinking Skills section.

Managing the Writing Section

Thirty minutes to plan and write a full creative response goes quickly. Encourage your child to spend only a few minutes on a quick plan before diving into the response. The bulk of the time should be spent writing. Staying on topic is essential.

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What Not to Do This Week

Don't:

• Schedule intensive study sessions every evening right up to the test
• Arrange additional tutoring hours in the final week
• Create anxiety by discussing worst-case outcomes

Do:

• Keep your child's routine stable and familiar
• Prioritise sleep — it matters more than extra study at this stage
• Help them feel confident in what they already know

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A Word on Expectations

This is also a good week to have a gentle conversation with your child about expectations. The test is challenging by design — students are supposed to find some questions difficult. Remind them that not knowing every answer is completely normal, and that their job on the day is simply to give each question their best shot and keep moving forward.