The Essential Selective Prep Bundle is Test Academy's entry-level option for the NSW Selective test. It gives your child exam-realistic practice across all four sections at a lower price point than the Complete bundle — ideal for families starting early or topping up other preparation.
- Exam-realistic practice across all four Selective sections
- Entry-level pricing — a budget-friendly way to start
- Instant automatic marking with worked solutions
- The same trusted question bank as our Complete bundle
- A great first step before stepping up to full coverage
Essential is the entry-level paid tier of our Selective practice-test platform — the right starting point for families who want structured, exam-accurate practice across the three multiple-choice sections without committing to the full 12-month Complete program just yet. It suits early starters in Year 5 building good habits, and it works equally well as a focused top-up in the months before the Year 6 sitting.
How Essential compares to Free and Complete
Every tier draws on the same exam-accurate question bank, built in Parramatta and refreshed after each year’s sittings to mirror the NSW Department of Education digital test format. What changes between tiers is how much practice you get, how long you keep access, and whether Writing and the higher AI limits are unlocked.
| Feature | Free | Essential | Complete |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access period | Forever | 6 months | 12 months |
| Reading tests | 30 | 50 | 50 |
| Maths (Mathematical Reasoning) tests | 30 | 50 | 50 |
| Thinking Skills tests | 30 | 50 | 50 |
| Writing stimuli + WritingHub marking | — | — | 100 stimuli, marked |
| Step-by-step explanations | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Testy Coach AI tutor | — | 5 / day | 25 / day |
| LearningHub targeted practice | — | 3 / day | Unlimited |
| Adaptive weekly schedule | — | Yes | Yes (refreshes every Monday) |
| Analytics dashboard | — | Yes | Yes |
| Weekly performance summary & percentile rankings | — | — | Yes |
| Leaderboard | — | — | Yes |
What stepping up to Complete adds
If Writing is on your list — and for most families sitting in Year 6 it should be — Complete is the natural next step. It adds 100 Writing stimuli marked by WritingHub, lifts Testy Coach from 5 to 25 chats a day, makes LearningHub unlimited (up from 3 a day), and doubles access from 6 months to 12. It also unlocks the weekly plain-English performance summary, percentile rankings against the NSW cohort and the leaderboard. Weigh it up on our Essential vs Complete comparison.
The weekly practice loop Essential is built around
- 1
Sit a full-length test under timed conditions. Pick the section your adaptive schedule suggests and work through it the way the real digital exam runs.
- 2
Read the analytics. Your dashboard shows your percentile against NSW peers, which questions you got wrong, and whether you were Efficient, Overthinking, Rushing or Struggling on timing.
- 3
Review every miss with the explanation. Each question carries a step-by-step worked solution, so you learn the method rather than just the answer.
- 4
Drill the weak skill. Use a LearningHub session (3 a day on Essential) or ask Testy Coach (5 chats a day) to rebuild the specific skill behind your errors before you move on.
- 5
Repeat next week. Your schedule updates to point you at the next priority, so practice keeps compounding instead of going in circles.
Is Essential enough?
Honestly, it depends on timing. If you’re starting in Year 5 and want to build habits, or you only need to sharpen the three multiple-choice sections, Essential covers it well. If you’re close to the Year 6 sitting and need Writing marked plus longer access and unlimited skill drilling, go straight to Complete. New to all of this? Start with the free trial — 4 free tests, no credit card — then read how to prepare for the Selective test.
Prefer guided teaching alongside the practice?
Self-paced practice and live teaching work best together. Our Selective Mastery class gives Year 5–6 students a 3.5-hour weekly lesson under real exam conditions, capped at a maximum of 8 students, taught by selective-school graduates with 98+ ATARs. It runs in-person in Parramatta and live online via Google Meet across NSW, and includes LearningHub, WritingHub, personalised printed booklets and weekly analytics — so the platform practice and the classroom reinforce each other. You can also explore Thinking Skills practice and Writing practice with marking as you decide where to focus.