NSW Selective Test 2027: Key Dates & How to Apply

If you have typed "selective test 2027" into a search bar, you are almost certainly a parent trying to work out one thing: has my child missed anything, and what do I need to do next? This guide is the admin half of that answer. It walks through the key dates, the online application, the school-choice rules and the recent policy changes for the NSW Selective High School Placement Test, all checked against the Department of Education. For how to actually get your child ready, see our companion guide on the NSW Selective High School Placement Test.

When is the selective test in 2027?

As of now, the Department has published dates only up to the current round (the one it calls entry in 2027). It typically releases the next round's key dates around the time applications open, so the exact 2028-entry dates should appear in late 2026. Until then, the safest guide is the cycle itself, which has been stable for years. Here is that pattern next to the most recent confirmed dates, so you can see how tightly the calendar repeats.

Read across any row and the message is the same: for a test in early May 2027, your child's application needs to be lodged over the summer beforehand, and you will be waiting until roughly August 2027 to hear. You can confirm each date as it firms up on the Department's selective high schools key dates page.

To see how those months line up against today, here is a month-by-month countdown and timeline for the 2027 test. Tap any stage to see what it involves.

How to apply: the five online steps

Applications are made through the Department's online application website, and the process is the same for selective high schools and opportunity classes. It is genuinely short. The Department breaks it into five steps.

1. 1

   Register

   As the parent or carer, enter your own details (not your child's) to create the account. This trips people up every year, so start with your own name and email.

2. 2

   Verify your email

   Open the verification email and confirm your address. If it has not arrived, check your junk folder and give it a little time, as it does not always land instantly.

3. 3

   Log in

   Return to the application website and log in. Forgotten passwords can be reset, using the required mix of characters.

4. 4

   Complete the eight sections

   Answer every question, upload a recent photo of your child for the test admission ticket, list your school choices in true preference order, and lodge any reasonable-adjustment request. You can save and come back, but saving is not the same as submitting.

5. 5

   Submit

   Select submit, then check you receive both the confirmation email and the dashboard message. You can still update details, upload documents and change choices from the dashboard until the published deadlines.

One hard rule worth repeating: closing dates are strictly observed and no late applications are accepted. Put the close date in your calendar the day applications open.

Choosing your schools: up to three, in true order

For selective high schools you list up to three schools: a required first choice, then an optional second and third, in your genuine order of preference. (Opportunity class applications allow a fourth.) The order is not a formality. Offers are made on test performance and the order of your choices together, and an offer comes only from your highest-ranked school whose result you meet.

Two things follow from that, and both catch families out. First, there is no tactical advantage to ranking a school first: every school considers your child on test performance alone, so list them in the order you actually want. Second, you cannot decline an offer in the hope of a later offer from a lower choice. If your child would meet the mark for, say, James Ruse as a first choice and North Sydney Girls as a second, the offer arrives for James Ruse only. Rank the school you want most at the top. If you are still weighing schools up, our guides to the top 30 selective schools in NSW and whether a selective school is the right fit are a good place to think it through. You can read the full rules on the Department's choosing your schools page.

Documents, the photo and disability adjustments

The application asks less of you than most parents expect. The one file you must upload is a clear, recent photo of your child, which goes on the test admission ticket and is used to check identity at the test centre.

If your child has a disability or medical condition, you can request reasonable adjustments for the test, such as extra time or a separate room. These are requested inside the application, and you will need to attach supporting documentary evidence. The deadline to request adjustments is the application closing date, and you are told what has been arranged about two weeks before the test, with the admission ticket. Request early, because the Selective Education Team needs time to consult with schools before the end of Term 4.

Who can apply, and the NSW-only rule

Children in NSW public schools, non-government schools, home study, interstate schools and overseas schools can all apply. There is one catch that has changed recently and that families interstate or abroad must plan around: from 2026 the placement test is held only in NSW. A child living interstate or overseas has to return to NSW to sit the test, and if they cannot, they will not be considered for a selective place. Your family also needs to be living in NSW by the start of the school year of entry.

What is new for the 2027 test: equal places for girls and boys

From the 2027 intake onward, every selective and partially selective high school, and every opportunity class, offers an equal number of places to girls and boys. Because that applies from the 2027 intake, it is already in force for the test sat in 2027 and 2028 entry.

It is worth being precise about what this does and does not change, because the rumours run wild. The test does not change, and entry is still decided purely on placement-test performance. There are no bonus points and no score adjustments for either gender. If places set aside for one gender are not filled by students who meet the standard, they pass to the next-highest-scoring students. The Department made the change because the mix had drifted, to about 58 per cent boys and 42 per cent girls in selective schools and roughly 60/40 in opportunity classes, with some cohorts more than 75 per cent male. You can read the announcement in full at the NSW Government's release. For the other recent changes, including the move to equal section weighting, see our summary of the changes to the selective and OC tests from 2025.

Prepare in parallel with the paperwork

The admin is one track. The other is getting your child ready, and working back from an early-May test, a Year 5 child in 2026 has a genuinely long runway, not a scramble. The test is built to measure reasoning rather than memorised facts, which is exactly why practice matters: a capable child who has never seen the on-screen format, felt the per-section timing or met a Thinking Skills question tends to underperform a similarly capable child who has. It is telling that the Department itself publishes sample tests for families to use.

You do not have to spend anything to start. Test Academy's practice platform has a free-forever tier with full mock tests on the real on-screen interface and a dashboard that ranks your child against the NSW cohort, no card needed. If they outgrow it, the Selective Test Bundle adds volume and written-feedback marking as a one-off, and families who prefer weekly structure use Selective Mastery classes. Plenty of children get there with self-directed practice and no classes at all, so start with the free format and see where your child stands.

Common questions about the 2027 selective test

Your one job for now: the day applications open in November 2026, register, note the February close date, and lodge early. Everything else on this page has a comfortable runway if you start there.