Choosing school preferences for your child’s OC/Selective application can be a confusing and daunting process.

How far should my child be traveling to school? Will my child be able to get the entry score required? What else does the school offer outside of academics? 

We know how hard it is to answer those questions (especially when school selection will have an impact on how your child spends some really important years of their life) so we’ve put together a helpful list of factors that you should consider when picking an OC or Selective School.

1. Location

As a real estate agent would say, “location, location, location”. 

Availability of public transport and travel time are reliant on where you live relative to the school’s location. Keep in mind that if your child has to travel for large quantities of time to and from school, they will have less time for sleep, spending time with the family, extracurriculars, as well as before/after school classes. In some cases, students are better off attending a more convenient school than one that is highly ranked so they can devote more time to more meaningful and productive activities. 

Safety is also an important factor to take into consideration - keep in mind whether or not your children will have friends to travel with. The closer you live to the school, the more likely other students will be commuting with them.

2. Minimum entry results

Students and parents are quite limited in terms of the number of school preferences they can choose, with only 2 available for OC and 3 for the Selective Test. Of these options, students will only be offered 1 school - the highest preference they are eligible for. Therefore it is crucial parents have a good understanding of which schools their child is likely to gain admission to.

Unfortunately, recent changes from receiving an overall mark to bands (top 10%, next 15%, next 25% and bottom 50%) have made this rather difficult for parents to figure this out. In response, Alpha One has developed a new OC/Selective Test calculator to help parents determine which schools students are likely to receive admission into.

It is key to note that students continue to improve over their preparations as they become more familiar with the content and develop their test taking skills. We recommend inputting results according to the student’s estimated final results to have the most accurate recommendations. The deadline for modifying school preferences falls after the exam so parents will have plenty of time to make edits.

From the Selective Test calculator results, we recommend parents choose a school in the low reds or high yellows as first preference in case students do exceptionally well in the exam. For second preference, low yellow/high green is a good area to stay in as students should generally be able to achieve this score with minor improvements. For the last choice, we recommend a school safely within the green section to act as a backup option. 

From the OC Test calculator, we would recommend parents to pick a school in the yellow section as their first preference and have their second option safely in the green zone as a backup. This school should be the lowest school you are willing to attend.

These are general guides to choosing preferences and ultimate selections will be highly impacted by the other factors listed in this blog. Other things to keep in mind are whether or not your child is consistent in their mock exams as well as the amount of effort a student undertakes in the leadup to the exam. For students who struggle with consistency, a lower ranking backup school is recommended in case the student struggles to perform to their potential.

Parents of students who attend our trial test classes (OCTT, STTC) will receive a weekly report that also includes these admission guides. You may notice that some of the results are not consistent with the ones given on the calculator. This is due to the fact that the calculator does not have access to test difficulty information as well as how your child ranks against a larger cohort. These pieces of data help make our OCTT/STTC report estimates more accurate than the calculator results.

3. HSC rankings (Selective Test only)

While minimum entry scores are well correlated with HSC rankings in the top 10 Selective schools, the rankings can vary a fair amount for schools beyond that. For example, Penrith High School has a HSC rank of 33 (in 2022) while Chatswood High School has a HSC rank of 61 (also in 2022). While Penrith has a much higher HSC ranking, it has a lower cutoff, making it far easier to gain admission into.

4. Extracurriculars, subjects offered and other opportunities

Many OC and Selective schools provide more opportunities and extracurricular activities than small local schools. These activities and opportunities can really help a child grow and develop in ways outside of academics. For students going into high school, this is especially important as this is where they'll be spending the next six years.

A few things to consider are:

• Subjects offered as well as any accelerated subjects in Selective Schools

• Extracurricular and sports offered e.g. Duke of Edinburgh, concert bands, representative sports, other leadership opportunities

• Availability of opportunities for students to be challenged and pushed out of their comfort zones e.g. chance to travel overseas as part of certain subjects

These factors have a profound impact on how fulfilling students find their schooling years and how they develop as well rounded individuals. 

More information can be found about these features on each school’s website and also at their open day events. 

If you would like to discuss what would be the best options for your child or you think your child might need some extra support to perform their best, please contact us for a free consultation.

Published 31st October 2020, last edited 1st July 2023