The selective high school placement test takes place in May of Year 6. If your child is
reading OC results in September of Year 4, you have roughly 18–20 months. That is a
substantial preparation window, long enough to build properly but also long enough to waste
if the pace isn't right from the start.
The goal of this timeline is not to describe an intense programme. It's to describe a
sustainable one, where each stage has a clear purpose and preparation builds logically
toward test day without burning a child out along the way.
There's something this timeline makes obvious the moment you read it: no parent should be
expected to carry all of it alone. Planning eighteen months of preparation across four
components, knowing which material to introduce when, and judging whether your child is ready
to move on is not a fair thing to ask of someone who hasn't sat the test themselves. And it's
harder still because every child starts in a different place, with different strengths and gaps.
There is no single script that fits all of them. That is precisely why guided, personalised preparation matters: the right tool sequences the content, watches how your child is genuinely progressing,
and adapts what comes next to them, so the planning doesn't fall on you and your energy can go
where it actually counts.
What's your job here, and what isn't
Reading a term-by-term plan like this, it's easy to feel you're now expected to teach the
selective course yourself: to know which questions to introduce when, to spot the gaps, to
find the right material. You're not.
That's what a structured preparation plan is for. It sequences the content term by term,
surfaces where your child is struggling, and shows you what to focus on next, so you don't have
to design any of it.
Your role is simpler, and more important: protect the routine, help explain a concept when
your child is stuck, keep the mood calm, and keep showing up consistently. The plan handles the
what and the when. You provide the steadiness.
Year 4 Term 4 · Transition
After OC results: rest, then gentle reentry
Give your child a genuine break after OC results. A few months with no structured practice is not wasted time. It's necessary recovery. A child who goes straight from OC preparation into selective preparation without a gap is at real risk of arriving at the selective test exhausted and resistant.
The summer holidays after OC are a sensible time to ease back in, but keep it light. This window is for two things only: light diagnostics to see where your child actually stands, and rebuilding the routine of regular short sessions after the break. It is not for serious content work.
There's a reason not to rush into content. Selective material is pitched at Year 6 level, and a Year 4 child simply hasn't covered the underlying schoolwork yet. Drilling Year 6 content now is inefficient and demoralising rather than a head start. The child grows into much of it naturally over Year 5. Use this window to understand their starting point and re-establish good habits, not to push ahead.
Term focus
- Light diagnostics to gauge where your child currently stands
- Short maths and thinking skills sessions to rebuild the routine
- No serious selective content yet; it's pitched at Year 6 level
- Reading for pleasure, not practice
- If writing hasn't started yet: introduce it in very small pieces (planning, opening sentences)
Year 5 Term 1 · Foundation
Start writing. Build fluency. Set the routine.
Year 5 Term 1 is the most important term of the entire preparation window, not because it's the most intense, but because it's where the right habits are established or the wrong ones are.
Writing must start here at the latest. Not full selective-style responses every week, just the building blocks. Planning ideas, writing a strong opening paragraph, structuring a response, finishing within a time limit. A little, often, with feedback where possible.
Mental maths fluency is also a priority at this stage. Selective mathematical reasoning moves faster than OC. The students who handle it best aren't necessarily the ones who know the most. They're the ones whose core arithmetic and number skills feel automatic, freeing up cognitive load for harder reasoning.
Term focus
- Establish a consistent weekly routine across all four components
- Writing: 1–2 short practice pieces per week (planning + paragraphs, not full responses)
- Maths: targeted fluency work alongside reasoning practice
- Selective-level questions start to appear in maths and thinking skills, gradually
Year 5 Term 2 · Building
Selective material starts across all subjects
By Term 2 your child should have a working routine in place and have started writing regularly. Now the content shifts more deliberately toward selective level, sequencing that a good plan handles for you.
Selective reading passages are longer and require more sophisticated inference than OC passages. This is the term selective-level reading material replaces OC material. The adjustment takes time. Expect your child to find it harder than they're used to, and be patient with that.
Thinking skills at selective level involves multi-step reasoning that resists pattern-matching. Thinking skills practice extends to harder problems that require working through multiple conditions simultaneously.
Term focus
- All subject practice moves to selective-level material
- Reading: longer passages, inference and analysis questions
- Writing: begin attempting full timed responses (one per week or fortnight)
- Thinking Skills: multi-step problems, time management practice
- First section-level timed practice (one subject at a time under time pressure)
Year 5 Term 3 · Developing
Deepen and extend. Identify gaps.
By Term 3 your child has been working with selective-level material for a full term. This is the point to take stock: where are the remaining weaknesses? What question types are still causing difficulty? What writing genres need more work?
Section-level practice tests are what surface the gaps systematically, rather than just continuing with general practice. A good plan uses those results to show what to focus on in the second half of preparation, instead of doing more of everything.
Term focus
- Section-level timed practice across all subjects
- Writing: focus on the genres your child finds hardest
- Let the results point to the top 2–3 areas to prioritise in Year 6
- First full simulation (all four components in one sitting) toward end of term
Year 5 Term 4 · Refining
Target weaknesses. Build stamina.
By Term 4 of Year 5 the emphasis shifts toward addressing the weaknesses identified in Term 3 and building the stamina required for a four-part test. That doesn't mean stopping new material; there's still plenty of selective content to extend into where gaps remain. But the balance now tilts toward strengthening and consolidating what's already been started.
Full simulations should become a monthly fixture. These are not just about getting more practice. They're about teaching your child what it feels like to maintain concentration and accuracy across a long, varied test. That's a skill in itself.
Term focus
- Targeted practice on identified weakness areas
- New content still gets introduced where gaps remain; winding down comes later
- Monthly full simulations
- Writing: consistency over ambition, with regular timed responses across all four genres
- Review process: every practice session should include structured review, not just completion
Year 6 Term 1 · Consolidation
Consolidate, simulate and finish any remaining content
Year 6 Term 1 is the last full term before the test in May. The emphasis is firmly on consolidation, simulation and stamina, but this is not yet the point to stop learning. If there are still gaps to close or writing genres to strengthen, there's still time to work on them through this term. The test is months away, not weeks.
Alongside that, full simulations should become a fortnightly fixture, with review sessions that reinforce what's known and writing practice that produces increasingly polished responses. The goal of the term is to make the test feel familiar.
The one hard rule is the final month before the test. By roughly four weeks out (which falls across the Term 1–2 holidays and the start of Term 2), stop introducing new question types, approaches or writing genres, and switch entirely to light review. The goal is to arrive on test day rested, familiar and calm, not exhausted from a last-minute push.
Term focus
- Close any remaining gaps; new content is still fine early in the term
- Fortnightly full simulations under test conditions
- Review sessions that reinforce known patterns
- Writing: move toward polished, consistent responses
- Final month before the test: no new content, light review only, prioritise rest and routine
May, Year 6 · Test day
Test day
The selective high school placement test. A child who has followed a sensible, consistent preparation programme over 18 months should arrive here with real familiarity and confidence. The test is not a mystery at this point. It's something they've practised extensively.
A note on rhythm over volume
The most common mistake in selective preparation isn't doing too little. It's doing too
much, too early, and burning out before the test. A consistent routine of three to four
sessions per week, across all four subjects, sustained over 18 months, will outperform
intensive bursts followed by long gaps every time.
If you can only do one thing consistently, make it writing. It's the component that
benefits most from time, the one families most consistently underinvest in, and the one
where early starts pay the largest dividends.
Updated: 
Reading time: 5–6 minutes
For parents of Year 4–5 students preparing for selective entry in Year 7